Ch. 7: Commerce & Culture

Key Concepts/Ideas/Lessons:

• Silk Roads: Exchange across Eurasia

1. The Growth of Silk Roads

2. Goods/Culture/Disease in Transit

• Sea Roads: Exchange Across the Indian Ocean

1. Weaving the Web of an Indian Ocean World

2. Sea Roads as a Catalyst for Change: South East Asia and East Africa

• Sand Roads: Exchange across the Sahara

1. Commercial beginnings in West Africa

2. Gold, Salt, and Slaves: Trade and Empire in West Africa

We learned that trade routes impact both sides of the people involved. The Europeans traded along the Silk Road with the Chinese while the Africans and Muslims traded along the Sand Roads connecting East Africa and North Africa through the Sahara. Not only did this transfer goods across the world such as new technology for the Europeans and the Africans but also disease. The Black Death spreads from China to the European states and knocked out half of their population. Some of the goods exchanged were silk, gunpowder, spices, paper, etc. Religion also benefited greatly from the sand roads. Islam became a world-known religion thanks to the sand roads in Africa and through Asia. Eastern Africa and China use the Indian Ocean and Monsoons to quickly trade and travel. Spices from the Islands, Porcelain from China, Ivory and Gold from Africa, an Incense from Arabia. This creates a large trade network that connects all of theses countries together and becomes the main driver for the Europeans to move west to attempt to get in on this trade. The introduction of the camel to Africa sparked up multiple empires filled with trade. The 2 biggest empires in West Africa were Ghana and Mali. West Africa was rich in gold, an item the rest of the world wanted. The Africans were given new technology for the slaves and gold. The Europeans needed theses slaves for their plantations in the Americas.