Transoceanic Connections
and Global Encounters
Readings: Smith, et al., 474-505
Eurasia and Africa Very
Connected
 Center
of
Trade—
Asia:
 Japan
 Moluccas
 China
 India
More Peripheral but still
involved in Trade

Swahili
Trading
Cities—Kilwa
 Sahara Desert
Cities—
Timbuktu
 MAIN GOODS



Spices—
Pepper,
Cloves, Gold,
Frankincense
, Myrrh
Chinese
Porcelain
Silk
Main Source of Gold: Africa

West Africa
along Niger
River

East Africa:
The Great
Zimbabwe
Central Area of Early Modern Trade and Empire
Centered on Inida


India Early Began
Exporting Cotton,
especially to Egypt, the
Mediterranean, and East
Africa
400 C.E. Malay sailors
trading goods from Easter
Island to East Africa


Rode the monsoons
without a compass
Used square pivot sails
that allowed them to sail
into the wind, by tacking
against it—the prototype of
the triangular lateen sail
China and Early Trade



Cities on China’s
southern coasts became
centers of overseas
commerce
Exported silk, porcelain,
iron hardware—needles,
scissors, and cooking
pots
To facilitate commerce,
conquest, and
government—invented
printing and paper,
gunpowder, and the
compass
Muslim Trade





Spread crops developed or improved in India to Middle East, North
Africa, and Islamic Spain: Sugar, cotton, and citrus fruits
Arabs first to import large numbers of enslaved Africans to produce
sugar
By 1000 sugarcane major crop in Yemen, Arabia, Syria, Lebanon,
Palestine, Egypt, the Mahgrib, Spain and Mediterranean areas
controlled by Muslims—in many places had to develop sophisticated
irrigation
Also spread cotton from Iran and Central Asia to Spain and the
Mediterranean
Used silver from mines they developed in Afghanistan and gold
from across the Sahara
East Africans, Muslims, and Europe’s
Problem
 East Africans—the



Swahilis controlled the
Indian Ocean Trade until
Annihilated by the
Portuguese.
Arabs controlled overland
trade to Asia
Triple threat: economic,
religious, cultural
Turned to seaborne
exploration

Complicated by winds and
currents
EUROPE’S PROBLEMS

Europe increasingly on
Periphery

Rise of Great Islamic
Empires, especially the
Ottoman Empire

Problems gets worse
With Conquest of
Constantinople, the Great
Byzantine City
Europe’s Problem and Solutions

Columbus Solution:
Sail across the
Atlantic

Why was Columbus’
voyage possible?
 The European
Printing Press
 New Maps
 Travel Accounts like
Marco Polo’s
 Inventions
WHY NOT CHINA?


Zheng He and Ming
Treasure Ships,
which were largest
ships, largest in the
World At Time
Got to Africa, But
then China
Threatened from the
North—Emperor
Ends Voyages
Timeline
 1492—Thinking he




reached islands near
China, Columbus probably
hit what is now the
Dominican Republic
1497 Vasco Da Gama
sails around Cape of Good
Horn (Africa)
1501—Amerigo Vespucci
1513—Vasco Nunez de
Balboa
1519-1522—Ferdinand
Magellan
Timeline (Continued)





1493-1494 Treaty of Tordesillas - happened with the blessing of
the Pope
1501—Slaves brought to Americas
1505—Portuguese destroy Kilwa
1522—Spanish conquer the Americas and the Americas are
incorporated into Eurasian trade
1542 Spanish claim the Philippines and later create the Manila
Galleon