2.1 The Silk Roads

THEMATIC FOCUS Economics Systems ECN

As societies develop, they affect and are affected by the ways that they produce, exchange, and consume goods and services.

LEARNING OBJECTIVE Unit 2: Learning Objective A

Explain the causes and effects of growth of networks of exchange after 1200.

HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENTS KC-3.1.I.A.i

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.

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

ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLES

Trading cities:

Kashgar

Samarkand New forms of credit and money economies:

Bills of exchange

Banking houses

Use of paper money