AP World History
New Trading Cities
Unit 3
1. Novgorod, Russia - founded in the late 10th century. First mentioned in 862, when it was
purportedly already a major Baltics to Byzantium station on the Trade route from the Varangians
to the Greeks. The city's downfall was partially as a result of its inability to feed its large
population, making it dependent on the Vladimir-Suzdal region for grain.
The black lines show the routes of the Hanseatic League, the blue Venetian and the red Genoese routes. Purple lines
are routes used by both the Venetians and the Genoese. Overland and river routes are stippled.
2. Timbuktu, Mali - Starting out as a seasonal settlement, Timbuktu became a permanent
settlement early in the 12th century. After a shift in trading routes, Timbuktu flourished from the
trade in salt, gold, ivory and slaves. It became part of the Mali Empire early in the 14th century.
In the first half of the 15th century the Tuareg tribes took control of the city for a short period
until the expanding Songhai Empire absorbed the city in 1468. A Moroccan army defeated the
Songhai in 1591, and made Timbuktu its capital. Located on the Niger River.
AP World History
New Trading Cities
Unit 3
3. Swahili city states, East
African coast - The rise can be
attributed to the region's extensive
participation in a trade network
that spanned the Indian Ocean.
Trade expanded steadily from
about 1250, giving rise to between
30 to 40 separate city-states by
1500
A product of the multi-cultured
environment of the Swahili Coast
was the development of the
Swahili language, a fundamentally
Bantu language that contains
numerous Arabic loanwords
4. Hangzhou, China – Song Dynasty new capital at base of Grand
Canal. Arab merchants lived in Hangzhou during the Song dynasty, due
to the fact that the ocean going trade passages took precedence over
land trade during this time. During the later period of the Yuan dynasty,
Muslims were persecuted through the banning of their traditions, and
they participated in revolts against the Mongols.
5. Calicut, India – On the western side of India called the Malabar Coast. Prospered from
locally woven cotton textiles and locally grown grains and spices. They also served as clearing
houses for the long-distance trade of the Indian Ocean. It was dubbed the "City of Spices" for its
role as the major trading point of eastern spices. It was the capital of an independent kingdom
ruled by the Samoothiris (Zamorins) in the Middle Ages and later of the Malabar District under
British rule. Arab merchants traded with the region as early as 7th century, and Portuguese
explorer Vasco da Gama landed at Kozhikode on 20 May 1498, thus opening a trade route
between Europe and Malabar. A Portuguese factory and fort was intact in Kozhikode for short
period (1511–1525, until the Fall of Calicut), the English landed in 1615 (constructed a trading
post in 1665), followed by the French (1698) and the Dutch (1752). In 1765, Mysore captured
Kozhikode as part of its occupation of Malabar Coast. Kozhikode, once a famous cottonweaving center, gave its name to the Calico cloth. (Modern name Kozhikode)
AP World History
New Trading Cities
Unit 3
6. Baghdad, Iraq. The city of Baghdad dates from 764 C.E., when the Abbasid caliph Abu
Ja'far Al-Mansur founded the city. Mansur believed that Baghdad was the perfect city to be the
capital of the Islamic empire. Baghdad's location was on a trade route for the Khurasans where
caravans met and traded.
The area had abundant
water and a healthy climate.
The Mongols massacred
most of the city's inhabitants,
including the Abbasid Caliph
Al-Musta'sim, and destroyed
large sections of the city in
1258. The canals and dykes
forming the city's irrigation
system were destroyed. The
sack of Baghdad ended the
Abbasid Caliphate, a blow
from which the Islamic
civilization never recovered.
A stop on the Silk Road.
7. Melaka, Malaysia. Formerly spelled Malacca. In about the year
1400 the King of Tumasik (now known as Singapore), Paramesvara, fled
an attack by the kingdom Majapahit. Taking refuge in a small fishing
village on West Malaysia, he founded the kingdom of Melaka. For years,
Malacca flourished under the watchful eyes of the Malay Sultans and the
Chinese, until the struggle of power among the Europeans finally led to its
slow and painful demise. Because of its strategic location, Malacca was
an important stopping point for Zheng He's fleet. The local monarchy was
abolished when the Portuguese conquered it in 1511. Then controlled by
a variety of countires including the Dutch, British, Japan and then the
Malayan Union becoming part of Malaysia in 1963.
8. Venice, Italy. The town belonged to the
Byzantine Empire until after the 4th Crusade
and all trading ways opened up and a colonial
empire developed. Venice was not a
consumer center but rather developed
techniques of trade, textile industry, forms of
companies and methods of finance with control
of the money market. During the 1200s, trade
between Egypt, Syria, Southeast Asia, Iran and
China was present, especially with their trade
of spices, grain, wine, and salt. The spice trade
with the east was the reason for Venice’s
expansion of their high quality textile manufacturing. Thanks to Marco Polo’s opening of the silk
route between Venice and the East in the thirteenth century, Venetian merchants established
links between the Mongol Empire, Persia, Armenia, the Caucasus, and Asia Minor. The city was
able to acquire many exotic goods used for garments, such as porcelain and pearl from the Far
East; gems, mineral dyes, peacock feathers, and a profusion of textiles like silks, cottons, and
brocades from Egypt and Asia Minor; minerals from Germany; wool and woven cloth from
Flanders and England.
AP World History
New Trading Cities
Unit 3
9. Tenochtitlan, Mexico. The Aztecs traded with many people
in the area, but their main trade partners were the Mayans. The
Aztec capital of Tenochtitlán (at modern Mexico City) was
founded in 1345 on a muddy island in the lake that at that time
filled the Basin of Mexico. The surrounding chinampa or
‘floating gardens’ (mud rafts secured with willow trees) of their
immediate neighbors were, therefore, seized and developed to
meet the needs of the growing population in the city. It
remained the most important Aztec center until its destruction
at the hands of the conquering Spanish led by Hernán Cortés
in 1521 CE, which led to the final collapse of the Aztec Empire.
Had huge market places with basic and luxury items such as
jade, chocolate and vanilla
10. Cahokia, United States. Cahokia refers to the location
where Mississippian culture thrived before European explorers
landed in the Americas. From about 700 CE to 1400 CE, this
site flourished and was once one of the greatest cities in the
world. The early Native American cultural hub once boasted a
wide variety of edifices, including everything from monumental
structures to basic homes for practical living. This complex
society at Cahokia prospered in the fertile lands off of the
Mississippi River (situated across the river from modern St.
Louis, Missouri), and it was booming long before Europeans came to America. The Cahokians
began abandoning the city around the 1200s, and by 1400 CE the civilization was completely
deserted. It is unknown why these people
left or where they went.
Cahokia was the largest city ever built north
of Mexico before Columbus and boasted
120 earthen mounds. Many were massive,
square-bottomed, flat-topped pyramids -great pedestals atop which civic leaders
lived. At the vast plaza in the city's center
rose the largest earthwork in the Americas,
the 100-foot Monks Mound.
Around the great urban center, farmers grew
crops to feed the city-dwellers, who included
not only government officials and religious
leaders but also skilled trades workers, artisans and even astronomers. The city was the center
of a trading network linked to other societies over much of North America. Cahokia was, in
short, one of the most advanced civilizations in ancient America. As a corn-based economy
grew in the fertile Mississippi Valley, providing a reliable food source all year, population’s rose
and villages grew. About 1000 A.D., Cahokia underwent a population explosion.
Along with corn, Cahokians cultivated goosefoot, amaranth, canary grass and other starchy
seeds.
AP World History
New Trading Cities
Unit 3