Chapter 22
Reaching Out: Cross-Cultural Interactions
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Patterns of Long-Distance Trade
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Silk roads
Sea lanes of Indian Ocean basin
Trans-Saharan caravan routes
Development of trading cities, emporia
Nomadic invasions cause local devastation but
expand trade network
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E.g. Mongols in China & Persia, 13th c.
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Marco Polo (1253-1324)
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Example of long-distance travel
to China with merchant father, uncle
Served Mongol Khublai Khan
Back to Venice, after 17 years
Told account to fellow prisoner in Venice-Genoa
conflict
Great influence on European trade with far east
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Travel and trade from the twelfth to the
fourteenth century.
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Political and Diplomatic Travel
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Trade required diplomatic relations after 1000 CE
Mongols, Christians saw Muslims as common
enemy, 13th century
Pope Innocent IV invited Mongols to convert to
Christianity
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Mongols counter-offer: Christians accept Mongol rule
or face destruction
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Diplomatic Travellers
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Rabban Sauma
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Nestorian Christian Priest sent to Pope by Mongols in Persia,
1287, about proposed attack on Jerusalem
Did not win European support
1295 new leader of Persia accepted Islam
Ibn Battuta (1304-1369)
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Islamic scholar, worked in governments on extensive travel
Strict punishment given ;sharia law
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Lashes for alcohol, theft = cut off hand [still taught/done]
Couldn’t get women of Maldive islands to cover breasts
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Missionary Travelers
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Sufi missionaries traveled in new Muslim lands,
1000-1500 CE
Christian missionaries went with & after
Crusaders
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Roman Catholic priests went east to serve expatriate
communities
John of Montecorvino traveled to China in 1291
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Translated Biblical texts, built churches
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Cultural Exchanges
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Narratives, Stories
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European troubadours sang Muslim-style love songs
European scientists learned from early Muslim, Jewish
scientists
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Spread of Crops
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Citrus fruits, Asian rice, cotton
Sugarcane
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Muslims introduce crystallized sugar to Europeans
Demand increases rapidly
Europeans used Muslim way of having lots of slaves
work sugarcane plantations
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Gunpowder Technologies
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Muslims, Mongols spread gunpowder
Technology reached Europe by 1258
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Bubonic Plague
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The Little Ice Age, c. 1300 CE
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Decline of agricultural output led to big famine
Bubonic Plague spread from south-west China
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Carried by fleas on rodents
Mongol campaigns spread disease to Chinese interior
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Spread of Plague
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Mongols, merchants, travelers spread disease west
1346 Black Sea ports
1347 Mediterranean ports
1348 Western Europe
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Symptoms of the Black Plague
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Inflamed and discolored lymph nodes in neck,
armpits, groin area
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60-70% mortality rate, within days of onset of
symptoms
Extreme northern climates less affected
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Buboes, hence Bubonic
Winter hard on flea population
India, sub-Saharan areas unaffected
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Reasons unknown
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Population Decline (millions)
100
90
80
70
60
China
Europe
50
40
30
20
10
0
1300 CE
1400 CE
1500 CE
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Socio-economic Effects
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Massive labor shortage
Demand for higher wages
Population movements
Goverments attempt to freeze wages, stop serf
movements
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Riots result
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Recovery in China: The Ming Dynasty
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Yuan dynasty collapsed, 1368, Mongols depart
Poor orphan raised by Buddhist monks, rose
through military ranks, became Emperor Hongwu
Proclaimed new Ming (“Brilliant”) dynasty,
1368-1644
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Ming Centralization
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Reestablished Confucian educational system
Executed minister suspected of treason, began
tradition of direct rule by Emperor
Relied on emissaries called Mandarins
Heavy reliance on eunuchs
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Sterile, could not build hereditary power base
Centralized structure continued to 1911 (Qing
dynasty also)
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Economic Recovery
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Conscripted labor to repair, rebuild irrigation
systems
Promoted manufacturing of porcelain, silk
Cultural revival
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Attempt to eradicate Mongol legacy by promoting
traditional Chinese culture
Emperor Yongle commissioned Encyclopedia (was
3,000-rolls long)
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Recovery in Western Europe: State
Building
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China: centralized Empire
Europe: stronger regional states
Europe developed new taxes
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Italian states: bonds
France: salt tax, sales tax
England: hearth tax, head tax, plow tax
Established large standing armies
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French Louis XI (1461-1483) had army of 15,000
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Spain
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Fernando of Aragon marries Isabel of Castile,
1469
Major political and economic alliance
Completed reconquista, expanded beyond Iberian
peninsula to Italy
Funded Columbus’ quest for China
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The Renaissance,
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centuries
“rebirth” of classical culture
Italian artists used perspective
Dissected cadavers; depicted real human anatomy
and muscles
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th
th
14 -16
Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519)
Architecture: domed cathedrals
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Imitation of Roman domes
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The Humanists
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Humanities: literature, history, moral philosophy
Renaissance humanists deeply devoted to
Christianity
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Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536) published critical
Greek-Latin edition of New Testament
Also wanted to rediscover classical Latin texts,
often ignored in monastic libraries
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Humanist Moral Thought
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Rejection of monastic lifestyle in favor of morally
virtuous life while engaged in the world
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Marriage, business
Reconciliation of Christianity with rapidly
changing European society and economy
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Renaissance Europe and the Larger World
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Artists express interest in Byzantine, Asian
worlds
Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463-1494) tried
to reconcile Plato, Aristotle, Judaism,
Christianity, Islam, Zoroastrianism
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Illustrative failure
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Exploration and Colonization
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Ming dynasty fearful of large foreign populations
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Mongol experience
Allowed small populations in port cities
Yongle engaged Admiral Zheng He to mount seven
massive naval expeditions, 1405-1433
Placed trade under imperial control [like Incas]
Demonstrated strength of Ming dynasty
Expeditions were successful, but stopped as Mongols
threatened the north
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Chinese and European voyages of
exploration, 1405-1498.
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European Exploration in the Atlantic and
Indian Oceans
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Motives: “God, Gold, Glory”
Portuguese early leaders in Atlantic exploration;
had royally-funded school of navigation
Searched for sea route to Indian Ocean basin
Prince Henrique (Henry the Navigator) seized
Strait of Gibraltar, 1415
Encouraged major Atlantic voyages
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Colonization of the Atlantic Islands
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Madeira, Azores Islands, etc.
Invested in sugarcane plantations
Explored west African coast
Greatly increased volume of slave trade
Ultimately, 12 million Africans taken to Americas
for slave labor
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Indian Ocean Trade
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Attempt to avoid using Muslim middlemen in
trade with east
1488 Bartolomeu Dias sailed around Cape of
Good Hope
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1497-1499 Vasco da Gama sailed this route to India
and back
Portuguese gunships tried to maintain trade
monopoly
European imperialism in Asia began
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Cristoforo Colombo (Christopher
Columbus) from Genoa, Italy
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Searched for western sea route to Indian Ocean
Portuguese viewed his proposal impractical,
rejected it
Fernando and Isabel of Spain underwrote voyage,
departed in 1492
Landed in San Salvador
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Believed he had reached islands off coast of Asia
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