Welcome to the second unit of AP World History! This unit focuses on the inter-connectivity of the 1200-1450s. At this point, the world is a global network with different regions. During this time Afro-Eurasian worlds are connected via the Silk Road, Trans-Saharan and Indian Ocean. You should be able to explain the effects of the networks of exchange culturally and environmentally on the various regions that are connected.

You should also be able to explain the similarities and differences among the various networks. (Topic 2.7)

A deepening and widening of networks of human interaction within and across regions contributed to cultural, technological, and biological diffusion within and between various societies.

• Improved commercial practices led to an increased volume of trade and expanded the geographical range of existing trade routes—including the Silk Roads—promoting the growth of powerful new trading cities.

• The growth of interregional trade in luxury goods was encouraged by innovations in previously existing transportation and commercial technologies, including the caravanserai, forms of credit, and the development of money economies.

Changes in trade networks resulted from and stimulated increasing productive capacity, with important implications for social and gender structures and environmental processes

• Demand for luxury goods increased in Afro-Eurasia. Chinese, Persian, and Indian artisans and merchants expanded their production of textiles and porcelains for export; manufacture of iron and steel expanded in China.