Analyze the changes and continuities in trading networks between Africa and Eurasia
Trade Networks Between Africa and
Eurasia from 300 CE to 1450 CE
“No nation was ever ruined by trade.” This quote was said by Benjamin Franklin in the late 1700s. These words are so simple, and it seems like anyone could have said them. However, this quote has a bigger meaning in that throughout world history, trade has been so important to so many countries and it has led to many empires successes. It has occurred for a very long time, and it has progressed dramatically. Trade has changed a lot, but some parts of trade stayed the same over a long periods of time. In the era between 300 CE and 1450 CE, trade between Eurasia and Africa changed because the empires and kingdoms in power were replaced and their control over trade differed; trade also changed because of new technologies. However, trade in this era stayed the same because some of the major trading goods were constant throughout this era.
From 300 to 500 CE, trade was starting to be more widespread because of new technologies and political change. The silk roads started during the Han dynasty in China in about 200 CE. The trade routes started at the Han capital Chang’an and then went around the dangerous Taklamakan desert. The trade routes stopped at various oasis towns, and one major city that was bustling with international trade was Kashgar in India. From Kashgar, the silk roads either went to India, Africa, or western Europe. Since other countries did not know how to manufacture silk, emperor Wu was very supportive of trading it because it was such a large profit. He tried to make the silk roads as safe as possible; however, much of the silk road went through central Asia, and since central Asia was mostly steppes and did not have great agricultural resources, there was no centralized power in central Asia. Since there was no centralized power, the trade routes were dangerous. The word Taklamakan literally means “he who enters does not come back out,” in Arabic. These dangers eventually change
Eurasia from 300 CE to 1450 CE
“No nation was ever ruined by trade.” This quote was said by Benjamin Franklin in the late 1700s. These words are so simple, and it seems like anyone could have said them. However, this quote has a bigger meaning in that throughout world history, trade has been so important to so many countries and it has led to many empires successes. It has occurred for a very long time, and it has progressed dramatically. Trade has changed a lot, but some parts of trade stayed the same over a long periods of time. In the era between 300 CE and 1450 CE, trade between Eurasia and Africa changed because the empires and kingdoms in power were replaced and their control over trade differed; trade also changed because of new technologies. However, trade in this era stayed the same because some of the major trading goods were constant throughout this era.
From 300 to 500 CE, trade was starting to be more widespread because of new technologies and political change. The silk roads started during the Han dynasty in China in about 200 CE. The trade routes started at the Han capital Chang’an and then went around the dangerous Taklamakan desert. The trade routes stopped at various oasis towns, and one major city that was bustling with international trade was Kashgar in India. From Kashgar, the silk roads either went to India, Africa, or western Europe. Since other countries did not know how to manufacture silk, emperor Wu was very supportive of trading it because it was such a large profit. He tried to make the silk roads as safe as possible; however, much of the silk road went through central Asia, and since central Asia was mostly steppes and did not have great agricultural resources, there was no centralized power in central Asia. Since there was no centralized power, the trade routes were dangerous. The word Taklamakan literally means “he who enters does not come back out,” in Arabic. These dangers eventually change