You cannot forget the environmental consequences of all these connections. This includes foods and diseases. Specifically bananas, champa rice and citrus fruits should not be forgotten. Do not forget that environmental consequences incorporates the spread of disease - the big one the Bubonic Plague.

Most of the foods mentioned above originate in Southeast Asia and travel along the Indian Ocean.

For this topic you should be able to:

(ENV) Explain the environmental effects of the various networks of exchange in Afro-Eurasia from c. 1200 to c. 1450.

• There was continued diffusion of crops and pathogens, with epidemic diseases, including the bubonic plague, along trade routes.

• Diffusion of crops:

  • Bananas in Africa

  • New rice varieties in East Asia

  • Spread of citrus in the Mediterranean