Diffusion of Cultures

Trade, Beliefs, and Goods

Diffusion of Cultures

spread of ideas from central points adaptation of ideas to local needs creative additions Innovation, Diffusion, Acculturation

Major Trades Routes Where were the major trades routes in the Eastern

Hemisphere from 1000 to 1500AD?

Six Major Routes on or crossing three continents.– Africa– Asia– Europe

Trade routes connected most major civilizations.

Major Trades Routes All of these routes would connect with others

at certain points.

This meant the world was connected by trade, even if most people never knew it.

These trade routes are one of the biggest reasons cultural diffusion took place.

These routes helped ideas, technologies, etc spread across the entire world.

Silk Road

Runs across Asia to the Mediterranean.

Indian Ocean

Routes from India to the Arabian Peninsula and

Africa

Sahara Desert

Trans-Saharan Routes spread goods such as

Gold and Salt across the great desert.

The Black Sea

Northern Europeans traveled by land and river to the black

Sea to trade with places like Constantinople and beyond.

Western Europe

Western Europeans depended on major rivers

and seas/the ocean to trade their goods.

Southeast Asia

People crossed the China Sea and “hopped” from

Island to island in Southeast Asia to trade

their goods.

Cultural diffusion

Religions ideas Trade innovations

Agents of movement

ChristianityIslamBuddhism

Classical philosophyMathematicsMedicineLiteratureReligious architectureAgricultural methodsurbanization

TributeBankingPaper currencyGuildsLetters of creditMaritime technology

NomadsMerchantsMissionaries“barbarians”Empires

Silk Route Indian Ocean

Black Sea Mediterranean

Trans-Saharan

Camel caravanSpread of Islam and BuddhismAbbasid, Byzantine and Tang/SongtributeMongolsDelhi SultanateSilk, perfumes, dyes, porcelain, lacquer wareMongol open it up from one side to nextIbn Battuta and Marco PoloBanking, letters of credit paper moneyPaper making spreadSilk production spreadIndian cottonMerchants, missionariesBlack deathSamarkand, Constantinople, Chang An,Baghdad,Mongol Ilk Khanate

Spice trade (nutmegs, cloves, cinnamon, ginger)Sugar introducedGoa, Calicut, Guang ZhouSpread of Buddhism and IslamSwahili city-States, Hindu MerchantsDhows, Lateen sails, junk shipsAfrican GoldIndian cottonCommercial elements of Dar Al Islam (guilds, banking, letters of credit)Europe omitted

Constantinople, Novgorod, Kiev, RusByzantine EmpireEastern Orthodox ChristianityCyrillic alphabet, Onion domed cathedralsMongol Golden Horde

Crusades, Caliphate of Cordova, Venice. Constantinople, ByzantineIslam, PersiaItalian city-statesBlack DeathEuropean commercial revolutionGuilds, banking, joint stock companiesBourgeoisieRoman CatholicismHigh Middle Ages

AnimismGold-SaltIslamMaliTimbuktu, Jene-JeneIslamic ScholarshipsConnection to Arab north then to Europe (2/3 of European Gold came from W Africa)Ghana, Mali, SonghaiDumb BarterTributeConnection to East AfricaCamel caravanseraiSlaveryUniversity of Timbuktu

From 600-1450 interregional trade in both the Indian Ocean and Trans Sahara were dominated by Muslim merchants interconnected through regulations of the Sharia and fostered by guilds, banking systems and Islamic Scholarships, both utilized Arabic as the lingua franca (language of trade) to foster trading relationships, however, the influence of the Sudanic Kingdoms of Ghana, Mali and Songhai would be felt only as far as the Mediterrean trading Gold for Salt whilst the Swahili city-state’s exports and imports of sugar, spices and ivory could be felt as far away as the Indian sub-continent, South China and the Malay peninsula

Or

The Silk Route and Western Europe interregional trading networks 600-1450 were both predominantly overland routes connecting civilizations and empires through the spreading of goods like textiles and foodstuffs, both would utilize merchants whose advancements in financial institutions (guilds, banking, letters of credit) would facilitate more intensive trade, however, the Silk route had been in existence for many hundreds of years interconnection great trading empires like the Abbasid and Tang/Song Dynasties while Western European cities and guilds (Hanseatic League, Italian city-states) entered the picture later after the Middle Ages and did not flourish economically for many hundreds of years later.

Diffusion of Cultures

Trade, Beliefs, and Goods