Cultural CONSEQUENCES of Trade 1200 1450 AP World History Review Unit 2 Topic 5

Hi and welcome back to Heimler’s History. Now in the last video we talked extensively about trade routes and their importance throughout Afro-Eurasia. But as mentioned briefly in that video, there is more carried along trade routes than just goods and services. And in this video we’re going to look closely at the cultural consequences of the growing interconnectedness of the world from 1200-1450. Let’s get to it. First, let’s talk about the cultural exchanges that occurred along these trade routes. First let’s talk religion. As merchants carried their various religions along these routes and introduced them to diverse areas one of two things happened. Either the new religion served to unify the people and provide justification for the leadership. Or the religions syncretized with others. And that word just means the religions mixed together and produced something new. For example, as Buddhism spread into China, it met with Daoist beliefs about the way of nature and produced new baby religion: Zen Buddhism (aka Chan Buddhism). Some of the Confucian scholar gentry in the Song Dynasty opposed such religious baby-making (that’s not the best way to put that) but nevertheless, Zen Buddhism became popular among the common folk. Another example of religious syncretism is the advent of Neo Confucianism. This was basically fusion of rational thought with Doaist beliefs and Buddhist beliefs that originated in China but soon spread to Korea and Japan. And if we’re talking about trade and religion, we gots to talk about Muslim merchants. They showed up in droves on the shores of East Africa out of the Indian Ocean trade routes, and when they did, they couldn’t help but share about Allah and his prophet, Mohammed. major cultural consequence of that sharing was the birth of the Swahili language. When the Muslims encountered the Bantu-speaking Africans, they gladly became believers in Islam. And because many of the merchants spoke Arabic, the Bantu language and the Arabic language had baby language called Swahili. Alright, gotta come up with new metaphor—this is getting uncomfortable. But not only were there religious and linguistic consequences of trade, there were also scientific and technological consequences. For example, if we check in with the folks in Cairo, Egypt, we can see medical advances which led to improved care in hospitals. Also Physicians and pharmacists began to standardize their profession by studying for medical examinations and licensing. Which is great, because hate to think of what medical practices were like before standardization. Hey doc, I’m feeling like might die from this infection. Here, my cow just gave birth—I want you to eat the placenta and you’ll be fine. Do you even have medical license? What’s medical license…. This guy. Some of the most significant technological consequences of trade had to do with ships. It was during this time that the lateen sail was invented. This was large triangular sail that allowed sailors to tack into the wind and therefore they had much more flexibility to travel. Also during this time the stern post rudder was invented which gave ship much more precision in turning. And in other videos I’ve mentioned the advent of the magnetic compass and the astrolabe which essentially gave sailors the ability to navigate without relying on stars and other visual aids. Yet another cultural consequence of merchant activity was the growth of cities. Let’s go visit our friends in Hangzhou, China for good example. IN Hangzhou the increase in trade led to increasing urbanization. During this period it became one of the largest and most metropolitan cities in China boasting population over over million people. And as is always the case, when place becomes prosperous, and people don’t have to think about food and shelter, great art rises to the surface. In Hangzhou poetry and literature flourished, some of the most significant literary work came from the poets Lu Yu and Xin Qiji. And finally, Hangzhou was diverse city as we can see, for example, with its thriving Arab minority. Now the last thing I’ll say about cultural consequences of trade has to do with travellers, and we’ll focus on two: Marco Polo and Ibn Battuta. Now these folks weren’t really merchants, but because of the security of long distance trade routes, thanks to the rule of the Mongols, they were able to travel far and wide. So in the late 13th century Marco Polo left his home in Venice and travelled for many years among the Chinese. He arrived in the court of Kublai Khan (who was Ghengis Khan’s grandson) and the Khan was very interested to hear this traveller’s stories. In fact, so taken was Kublai Khan with Marco Polo’s stories, that he convinced Polo to stay and become his ambassador to various parts of China. And Polo served in this capacity for seventeen years. After that, Marco Polo travelled home and was captured by the enemies of the Venetians. As he sat in prison, he entertained his fellow prisoners with stories of his travels to China. Eventually these stories were written down and published and they became very popular with European audiences. They were astonished that such places could exist and Polo’s stories awakened their desires to visit such places, or at least find ways to purchase goods from those places. Ibn Batutta was Muslim traveller who made it his ambition to travel all throughout Dar al-Islam (which is to say, everywhere Islam is). Ibn Batutta made his pilgrimage to Mecca and eventually travelled throughout Persia, the East African coast, India, Mali, Spain, and elsewhere. He kept detailed journal and made much commentary on the people whose lands he visited. And the subsequent publication of those journals had similar effect on the Muslim population as the writings of Marco Polo had on the Europeans. Alright, that’s what you need to know about the cultural consequences of trade in 1200-1450. If you’re in to this kind of thing, then subscribe and I’ll help you get an in your class and 5 on your exam. If you like hearing about linguistic coupling and the baby-languages they make, then hit the like button and let me know. Okay, Heimler out.