Connecting through the past

The most important thing I thought in chapter 9 was the that exchange between people of far away lands is not something new and has been around for centuries. In this day and age it may be easier to buy and sell things that are far away, but the trade itself is not new and I think that many people tend to forget that.

Chapter 9 divides the routes of trade into four different areas: Ground travel in Eurasia through the Silk Roads, transport over sea on the Indian Ocean, shipping across sand in the Sahara, and commerce in the Americas.The four different areas of trade all brought goods to different places but they also had more impacts than just trade. For example, the natural resources in one area could lead to a monopoly of a certain good by one country like China had of silk. This in turn encourages specialization of products to ship off to distant lands. Trade also changed consumption of regions because people were able to obtain goods that were foreign to their countries. It also brought up the question of taxing trade to make money, and what social group the traders would be placed in as they were wealthy but were not known for actually producing the goods themselves. Trading also allowed the spread of religion to different areas.

The silk road was defined as a relay trade, meaning that goods were passed between many different people before actually reaching its final destination. The silk road was more than just a trade route as it provided unity all across Eurasia because every civilization thrived on its trade and could not afford for the routes to be inactive for whatever reason. Like the silk roads, sea trade increased increased cultural and environmental changes. The transfer of foreign goods to distant places changed lives. One advantage of sea trade was that it was cheaper than silk road trading because more goods could be carried. Trade over the Sahara provided a connection between North Africa and the Mediterranean. The obvious problem that came with trading over the Sahara was the heat and desert. However, problems were effectively solved with the introduction of camels which could go for many days without water making the long voyages through the desert possible. The long distance trade over the Sahara encouraged peoples to form new cities along trade routes and many of the pastoral people were able to take advantage of it. Finally, the American network of commerce, which developed independently. Because of the distance, no trade took place between the Americas and Eurasia took place, and there were not many direct connections between American civilizations themselves. A lot of things that were developed in one region did not expand to other places. In any case, trade between distant lands has always existed, creating economic and cultural connections.

Chapter 7: Classical era variations

When we study societies in the classical era, there tends to be a focus on Eurasian societies which is understandable because Eurasian population made up around 80 percent of the world's people for about 1600 years from 400 B.C.E to 1000 C.E. However there were other societies around during this time period and we often don't hear or learn much about them. Chapter 7 was a nice respite from eurocentric history and it talked about other civilizations that were developing around the same time.

One society in particular was the Niger River civilization in Western Africa. The society existed far from the influences of other classical era peoples and because of this, it developed a unique culture and way of life. The biggest difference was the absence of an imperial system. Despite the lack of authority, they had still had complex urban areas that operated freely without government, in essence, it was a a true free market. Another interesting thing was that archaeologists found little evidence of wars taking place or even social inequality which is something that is still a problem for us today.

Another region which was talked about was Mesoamerica. Unlike the African and Eurasian civilizations, the Mesoamerican peoples had little chance for commerce and mingling between cultures that were on the other side of the Pacific and Atlantic. This isolation allowed Mesoamerica to develop independently in a way that was not impacted by any other cultures. And because of geographical restrictions, the societies of Mesomamerica did not have much direct contact with each other. Not unsimilar to other places, the Mesoamericans had an agricultural community and had religious beliefs that focused on many deities and monuments to the gods. Human sacrifice was also a part of their religion and they even had a calendar. Mesoamerica was also home to Teotihuacan which was a huge planned city with a population between 100,000 and 200,000 which was easily the largest city in the Americas.