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1000 CE as Turning Point: The Birth of Globalization? - New Routes

9 important questions on 1000 CE as Turning Point: The Birth of Globalization? - New Routes

What basic innovation, aside from shipping technologies, lead to more trans-regional contacts?

- The final basic innovation in trans-regional contacts, particularly important for Africa and Europe but also embracing Japan and Southeast Asia, involved the development of feeder routes that connected additional societies to the Afro-Eurasian trading network.
- Many of these routes ran north-south - the most important one linked sub-Saharan West Africa to the Mediterranean and the Middle East - thus obviously helping new regions link to the fundamental east-west axis that the Arabs and others were extending.

When did trade from West Africa across the Sahara to the north began? What did the Africans bring?

- Trade from West Africa across the Sahara to the north, particularly from the emerging empire of Ghana, began fairly early, by 600 CE, or so, on the basis of African merchant activity moving out from growing cities.
- Africans brought goods from forested regions, including gold but also dried fish, copper, and other items, in dugout boats in the delta of the Niger River, where they met nomadic traders for the Sahara who offered salt and other products.

Why did African rulers encourage the trade?

African rulers vigorously encouraged the trade because of the new products in general but more obviously still for the tax revenues they could derive.

What did come from North Africa?

From North Africa came an increasing array of manufactured products, including glass beads and pottery, but also large stocks of horses, whose breeding was difficult in sub-Saharan regions.

What other routes, except the one linking West Africa to Middle East, developed?

By the ninth and tenth centuries, traders were actively working connections between Scandinavia and the Byzantine Empire, with Constantinople as a key exchange point.

What did Scandinavian traders carry? What did they trade it for? Where did they trade?

- Presumably Scandinavian traders introduced the first ventures, using overland and river routes through what is now western Russia and Ukraine, with intermediary cities like Kiev growing up in response.
- They carried honey, furs, amber, and craft goods, trading for textiles, pottery and glass, and spices, along with fine metal products.

What new Asian routes were constituted around 1000CE? What products were involved?

- New Japanese routes to Korea and China constituted another expansion of the overall system of connections, though the distances involved were less vast than in the case of the north-south routes in West Africa and Eastern Europe.
- Links to Korea came first, and for a while the Koreans served as middlemen between Japan and China, but then the Japanese organized direct seaborne links to China as well.
- Trade involved products like timber and mercury from Japan, in return for manufactured goods from Korea and China.

What cultural exchange followed from the new Asian routes?

Japan ultimately established fairly formal systems for finding out about Chinese ways. Buddhism spread, and although some Japanese objected the contact system itself provided persuasive motivation.

What routes in Europe opened in 1000 CE?

- Western Europe continued to engage in some Mediterranean trade even after the fall of the Roman Empire. Gradually, more north-south activity developed within this part of the European continent, bringing English, German, and Dutch merchants to the Mediterranean.
- Italian cities began to expand based on their obvious advantages in linking goods from other parts of Europe with the wider reaches of the Mediterranean, sponsoring exchanges with Arabs and Byzantines alike
- But southern French ports and merchants also played some role in connecting Western Europe generally to interactions with Asia, as mediated by merchants in Egypt or the Middle East.

The question on the page originate from the summary of the following study material:

Globalization in World History | 9780367279868 | Peter N Stearns

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1000 CE as Turning Point: The Birth of Globalization? - New Routes

9 important questions on 1000 CE as Turning Point: The Birth of Globalization? - New Routes

What basic innovation, aside from shipping technologies, lead to more trans-regional contacts?

When did trade from West Africa across the Sahara to the north began? What did the Africans bring?

Why did African rulers encourage the trade?

What did come from North Africa?

What other routes, except the one linking West Africa to Middle East, developed?

What did Scandinavian traders carry? What did they trade it for? Where did they trade?

What new Asian routes were constituted around 1000CE? What products were involved?

What cultural exchange followed from the new Asian routes?

What routes in Europe opened in 1000 CE?

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