1200-1450 Trade/Culture

Due to improved technology such as saddles for camels, the safety that came the Mongol Empire with trade routes all being done through one state, and more established roads paved by the Mongols, this period of time saw an explosion in trade. With trade came the diffusion of culture - Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism spread up and down the trade routes & especially Islam and Christianity saw rise during this time period. It brought a spread of science: Mongols would teach Greco-Islamic medicine and the Arabic numbering system to Europe to the Europeans. It saw a spread of technology: the Mongols would introduce gunpowder to the Europeans, something that would have an 💥 explosive 💥 impact later.

Prior to this period, nomadic people were primary facilitators of cross-region tech and culture spreading. This period is the first time period that saw the wane of their importance, as organized groups of merchants arised.

After 1450s, nomads were no longer as important for cross-origin resource sharing cross-region culture sharing because Europeans would mostly rely on their own sea routes + the decline of the Silk Road.

However, even during this period, Christianity would mostly not spread through nomads, but through merchants and active preaching via missionary work (missionaries is caused by trade - they travelled through established trade routes).

The Middle Ages were before Europeans got all rich and powerful. During this time, the Europeans were actually lacking. The Ottoman, Mughal, and Safavid empires were the real powerful and scientifically advanced ones.

The Muslims would also control Indian Ocean trade. They control land trade; they control ocean trade. In order for Europe to get their sweet sweet spices, they sure need to pass through Muslims. No wonder Portugal was so happy to find their own sea route to the Orient in the 1490s.

AP world doesn't care much about specific empires isolated. It really does care more about the time period and how different nations act together in that time period. It doesn't care about the formation of Spain but rather the spread of Islam. It doesn't ask once about something like the rise and fall of the Byzantines or Ottomans. It cares more about culture than numbers.

In Europe - Before: feudal manors. After: towns. The Hanseatic League, an alliance of said towns established in the 1350s, controlled trade in large parts of northern Europe. Now, with these towns, people can move between nations more easily. and the idea of a nation is emerging.

By the end of the Middle Ages, people in western Europe began to group themselves under culture and language, creating the first sense of modern day countries.

These trade routes would also have cultural influences:

Universities were founded at this time, and so, European men were able to learn knowledge, philosophy, medicine, and law from the more scientifically advanced Muslims. The knowledge was brought to Europe through interactions with the Muslims during crusades and trade routes. This progression is called scholasticism.

But the trade routes would also carry something less pleasant: the black death. Originated in 1330s in China, spread to Europe via trade routes, killed 1/3 of European population within the first 2 years. Traditional social structures collapsed. The pandemic sped up a shift towards a more commercial economy, more individual freedoms, and overall a more "modern" societal structure.

Would COVID 19 cause similar societal effects?

3 important global trade routes at this time:

• Silk road (heavily used 1200-1600 CE)

• Mongol routes

• Trans-Saharan

• Hanseatic league - not a trade route and not global (only European) but gets an honorary mention

But don't know much details between them because the 3 routes are the same on the macro level. They specialised in different traded goods and had some different religions that spread through and used different forms of tech to enable trading but you don't need to memorize them.



Pic taken from AP World History UNIT 2 REVIEW—1200-1450