Trade Networks During The 1400's Empires

“No nation was ever ruined by trade.” This quote was said by Benjamin Franklin in the late 1700s. These words are so simple, and it seems like anyone could have said them. However, this quote has a bigger meaning in that throughout world history, trade has been so important to so many countries and it has led to many empires successes. It has occurred for a very long time, and it has progressed dramatically. Trade has changed a lot, but some parts of trade stayed the same over a long periods of time. In the era between 300 CE and 1450 CE, trade between Eurasia and Africa changed because the empires and kingdoms in power were replaced and their control over trade differed;

During the time period 600 C.E. to 1450 C.E., trade networks were relied upon to transfer goods, ideas, and services. Both the Trans-Saharan and Silk Road trade routes depended on animals, luxury goods, and economic growth. However, the trade routes differed in animals, types of luxury goods, and success of economic growth.

If there was ever an important period historians, and people could put a finger on, this would be it. This is the important period where the world’s countries, kingdoms, and dynasties established trade routes. This is the period where countries were made and countries were destroyed because of the importance of trade and the importance of building a fundamental, religious, and economical way of life. This paper will discuss the goals and functions of trades, and traders, and a historical analysis of world trade. This paper will also get into world trade patterns, of The Americas, Sub-Saharan Africa, The Indian Ocean, The Silk routes, China and The South China Sea, Europe and The Mediterranean, and The Atlantic Exploration.

Although key elements of the trade between Africa and Eurasia changed during the era of 300-1450, a few factors stayed the same. In 300 C.E., trade routes were primarily between Europe and North Africa. The way that they changed by the time of 1450 was that they expanded southward and westward. By 1450, these trade routes went through West Africa, sub-Saharan Africa, and the Indian Ocean. One factor that stayed the same during this time period was that the northern coast of Africa was always involved in the trade between Africa and the rest of Eurasia.

1. Trade networks in the post-Classical era has seen a range variety of the established and new networks of people’s exchanges crossing several regions. Extraordinary amount of wealth and growth emerged through cultural exchanges. Advanced transportation, the many different governing policies and business practices led to the widespread connection of networks which also contributed to the cultural, biological and technological spread throughout societies.

Throughout early history, civilizations often sought to receive resources from afar to sustain their societies and keep themselves thriving, and to this end trade relations and eventually trade routes began to emerge. This aided civilizations in their discovery of foreign items that they may use to better their societies. These items traded ranged from complex technology to something as simple as nutmeg. The main trade routes that were utilized in East and South Asia were the silk road and the Indian Ocean Trade Network. In the 7th- 12th centuries, both the silk road and Indian ocean trade route had affected east and south Asia by the introduction of religions such as Buddhism changing government forms and altering the belief systems of society and changing how individuals live their daily lives, however differences were present in the impact that these routes had on daily lives, such as the Indian Ocean Trade Route giving rise to an entire new culture in Africa known as the Swahili and leading to the innovation of the sailing boat known as the Dhow, and the silk road led to the transmission of religion and resources throughout Eurasia and it led to utilization of caravans and animals as a means of trade.

    During the Classical Era, Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East all existed relatively isolated from each other, with minimal interaction. By the end of the Classical Era, trade routes had developed and connected the regions. This created cultural diffusion and led the world into the Post-Classical ERa. During this era, trade networks impacted civilizations and culture by creating a more tolerant global climate, increasing and improving education, and speeding different religions across the land. These trade routes still impact the world today, often bringing controversy with such effects.

______ 1) How was the global trade network of the 15th century different from that of previous eras?

routes only in that there was a new trade network that was becoming prominent so some other trade routes started to get used less and by different people. An example of this would be how the Europeans did not travel on the Silk Road as often because they had a new means of transportation and trade that took them to another part of the world. But overall there was not an extremely large impact on the pre-existing trade routes in the world.

With the ever emerging civilizations in numerous parts of the world, food aided in linking them together. Food-trade routes acted as inter-boundary communication networks that improved not just commercial exchange but religious and cultural exchange as well. Spice routes that spanned the ancient world resulted in cross cultural fertilization in fields which were very diverse, similar then to the fields of architecture, religion and science. The first geographers began to take interest in people and customs from far away places and put together the first efforts at world maps. But by far the biggest change caused by food trade was as a result of the European need to avoid the Arab spice domination. The result of this was the revelation of a new world, the establishment of first colonial outposts by the European nations and the opening of maritime trade routes

There are plenty of changes yet some no changes in the trade works between Africa and Eurasia from 300CE-1450CE. The motives for creating trade relations was to get the necessary goods to live on as well as becoming richer despite of living in different regions. However the goods that were traded changed like gold, salt, indigo, and Persian rugs. As well as the trading of ideas that changed technology and religion.

Throughout the development of human communication, no service proved more useful than that of the Silk Road. It was a network of trade, employing travelers to trek across the world to buy and sell goods along the eastern hemisphere. This constant web of bartering and trading led to societies becoming more intertwined and connected with one another, creating a large social and economic trades. Throughout 500 BCE - 1000 CE, the eastern hemisphere experienced a series of changes and continuities directly from the emergence of the Silk Road. The eastern hemisphere societies underwent heavy population increase due to trade, but the purpose of the Silk Road never changed. Some trade routes that comprised the entire network include overland trade from China to Rome and the Indian Ocean Sea Lanes that joined Asia, Africa,and the Mediterranean basin.

During the period of time between 200 BCE to 1450 CE, the silk road underwent copious amounts of changes. The silk road was a network of trading routes that comprised of the trading of goods between many of the colonizations, cities, and kingdoms of Eurasia. It spanned from the Mediterranean all the way to China. The major commodities of this passage included gold, jade, tea, spices, and as expected, silk. It’s other products comprised of religion, ideas, and deadly diseases.

The silk road and Christopher Columbus were the biggest impact on people in the terms of globalization because the silk road connected people by experiencing other cultures and religions through trading on the silk road. Christopher Columbus explored other places and then took people to other places to settle and make connections with other cultures and groups such as the first nations groups but then they took advantage of them. The silk road also let us change some of our ways regarding trading and learning other cultures. It changed people's lives from the things that we can get and the cultures that we can experience.

Many thousands of years ago, upon the earliest creations of civilization, there were two thriving civilizations. Both of which knew little to nothing about each other’s existence. In this ancient world, there was no connection of the two civilizations, no trade in commerce or culture. It was not until the second century BC that Europe and Eastern Asia interacted in a significant way. What is known as “The Silk Road” was established during the Han Dynasty of China, it was a network of trade routes that created a link between these two regions during this ancient world (ancient.eu). Though these routes have history prior to the Han Dynasty, this is when many historians see the routes in full practice. This time during the second century BC was crucial in the connection of these separately thriving civilizations, connecting them through commerce, religion, and exploration.