Trade Networks of Asia and Africa

Chapter 1.3

Muslim Link in Trade

• Trade linked groups who lived at great distances from one another.

• Merchants carried their cultures with them as they traveled.

• The growth in trade was also linked with the rise of the religion of Islam.

Rise of Islam.

• The founder was Muhammad.

• Muhammad taught about one true God.

• Followers of Islam call themselves Muslim.

• Quran• The sacred book of Islam.

• Believed to be the exact word of God as reveled to Muhammad.

• Transmitted rapidly through conquest and trade.

Advances in Learning

• Arab scholar contributions:• Helped develop algebra, later passed on to Europe.

• Astronomers measured the size of Earth, supporting Greek belief that the Earth was a sphere.

• Built large ships with triangular sails that allowed captains to use the wind even if it changed direction.

African Link in Trade

• Egyptian sailers brought to Egypt cedar logs, silver, and horses.

• Following routes from Egypt, they traded for ivory, spices, copper, and cattle.

Zimbabwe

• Became the center if a flourishing empire in the 1400s.

• Lay on the trade route between the east coast and the interior of Africa.

• Traders passing through had to pay taxes on their goods.

Kilwa

• The chief trading center along the east coast of Africa.

• Attracted merchant ships from as far away as China.

• Kiowa traders did a brisk trade with the African interior, exchanging both clothing, pottery, and manufactured goods for gold, ivory, and furs.

• An active slave trade also developed between East Africa and Asia across the Indian Ocean.

West African Trade Centers

• Ghana was the first major center of trade in West Africa.

• Gold and salt trade

• Shifting trade routes and disruptions caused Ghana to weaken.• Empire of Mali took over.

Mali

• Reached its height with Muslim ruler Mansa Musa.

• As it prospered, it's great city of Timbuktu became a center of learning.

• Rulers of Songhai captured Timbuktu in 1468 and restored it as a center of Islamic learning.

East Asian Link in Trade

• The China empire had expanded and so had its trade.

• 1200s, the city of Hangzhou was one of the world's largest cities.

• China had a higher level of technology at the time.• Made great advances in navigation.

• Invented the magnetic compass.

Spice Trade and the Silk Road

• Chinese silks, bronze goods, pottery, and spices flowed west from China along a route known as the Silk Road.

• Silk Road was one of the great trade routes of ancient times.• Series of roads that stretched over 5,000 miles.

• The Silk Road declined in importance when alternative se routes were discovered.