Deck 8: B: Commerce and Culture 500-1500

Question 1

How did silk symbolize the networks of exchange within the Afro-Eurasian world?

Answer 1

•Silk originated in China but could be found throughout the Afro-Eurasian world.
•By the sixth century,the knowledge and technology for silk production had spread.
•Silk became associated with elite status.
•Silk became associated with the sacred in Buddhism and Christianity.
•Silk was used as currency in Central Asia.
•Europeans received much of their silk from the Islamic world.

Question 2

What factors inhibited the development of long-distance exchange networks in the Americas?

Answer 2

•The absence of large domesticated mammals in the Americas.
•The absence of large oceangoing vessels.
•The geographic and environmental realities of the Americas,especially the narrow bottleneck of Panama (which was largely covered by dense rain forests).
•The north/south orientation of the Americas,which required agricultural practices to move through,and adapt to,quite distinct climatic and vegetation zones.
A really good answer might note that long-distance exchange still took place in the Americas in spite of those obstacles.

Question 3

What positive and negative effects did long-distance trade bring?

Answer 3

•Positive effects:
oAccess to goods not ordinarily available
oShared ideas,technology
•Negative effects:
oDisease (Black Death)
oInequality and social stratification (elites bought luxury items produced by the lower classes)

Question 4

What was the relationship between the state and merchants in long-distance trade?

Question 5

How did the Silk Roads,Sea Roads,and Sand Roads evolve from earlier patterns of exchange?

Question 6

In which regions of the Afro-Eurasian trade network did religions from other areas arrive and have a profound impact between 500 and 1500 C.E.?

Question 7

Compare and contrast the Silk Roads across Central Asia and the Sand Roads across the Sahara.

Question 8

What role did geography and environment play in shaping the development of long-distance trade from 500 to 1500?

Question 9

How did international commerce affect the lives of women?