Topic 2.5 Flashcards
Cultural Consequences of Connectivity (23 cards)
What traveled through the networks of exchange in Afro-Eurasia? (1200-1450)
Goods, People, and Ideas traveled with relative freedom.
What was one reason for free trade in Afro-Eurasia?
The stability of the Mongol Empire and the protection is offered merchants and travelers
One big effect of the Afro-Eurasian Trade-Routes?
The known world became a much larger place.
What is diffusion?
The spread of cultures and them blending together.
What were the effects the diffusion of religious, cultural and technological effects of interaction?
- The arrival of a new religion served to unify people and provide justification for a kingdom’s leadership.
- Influenced the literacy and artistic culture or areas to which it spread
- Fused or coexisted with the native religions.
- Led to technological innovations that helped shape this era from increased trade
Where did Buddhism come from?
- Came to China from its birthplace in India via the Silk Roads and the 7th century Buddhist monk Xuanzhang helped make it popular.
Describe the syncretic faiths that sprouted from Buddhism
- Buddhist doctrines fused with elements of Daoist traditions to create the syncretic faith Chan Buddhism, also known as Zen Buddhism
How did Buddhism influence China?
- Development of printing had made Buddhist scriptures widely available to the Confucian scholar gentry
- Influenced Chinese literature by writing in the vernacular rather than the formal language of Confucian scholars
What was Neo-Confucianism?
- Fused rational thought with the abstract ideas of Daoism and Buddhism and became widespread in Japan and Vietnam
- ‘New Confucianism’
What kingdoms and countries did Hinduism and Buddhism spread to?
- Through trade they spread to Southeast Asia
1. Srivijaya: Hindu
2. Majapahit Kingdom: Buddhist
3. Sinhala Dynasties: Buddhist (very strong)
4. The Khmer Empire: both Hindu and Buddhist
How did Islam spread?
Through merchants, missionaries, and military conquests
What kingdoms or countries did Islam influence?
- Swahili: Bantu + Arabic
- Timbuktu: became a center of Islamic learning
- Urdu: Arabic + Farsi (Persian language)
Scientific and Technological Innovations
- Translated Greek literacy classics into Arabic
- Mathematics and Printing
- Improvements in Agriculture -> Champa Rice
- Paper making
- Seafaring Technology
- Gunpowder
Trade Cities in India, China, Africa, and Russia?
- Hangchou -> China
- Novgorod -> Russia
- Timbuktu -> Africa
- Calicut -> India
Trade Cities along trade routes?
Kashgar and Samarkand
What were the factors that contributed to the growth of cities?
- Political stability and decline of invasions
- Safe and reliable transportation
- Rise of commerce
- Plentiful labor supply
- Increased agricultural output
Which two cities declined?
Kashgar and Constantinople
What were the factors contributing to the Decline of Cities?
- Political instability and invasions
- Disease
- Decline of Agricultural productivity
What were the effects of the crusades?
- Knowledge of the world increased
- Diseases spread (Black Death)
- Contributed to the Reniassance
What were the effects of the Black Death?
- 25 million people died
- Economic activity declined
- Shortage of people to work on the land had lasting effects on the feudal system
How did Marco Polo inspire Europe?
- Visited the court of Kublai Khan
- Wrote a book about his findings
- Curiosity spread across Europe about the outside world
What was Ibn Battuta’s do in his travels?
- Traveled through central Asia, SE Asia, South Asia, China, Spain, North Africa, and Mali
- Wrote a book about his findings
- He wanted to learn as much as he could about Islam
Who was Margery Kempe?
- An English mystic whose book was one of the first autobiographies in English, she could not read or write
- Dedicated her book to scribes
- About her travels to Jerusalem, Rome, Germany, and Spain
- When she got to Spain, she was so overcome by the sight of it that she fell off her donkey
- It was a first-hand account of a middle-class medieval woman’s life
