Regional and Trans regional Interactions, c. 600 to c. 1450 CE
Key Concept 3.1 Expansion and Intensification of Communication and Exchange
Networks
Answer
Concepts & Relevant Factual Examples in Underline
“Factoids”
How did trade networks in the post-Classical Era compare to the Classical Era?
Even though the Americas and Afro-Eurasia stayed separated, this era saw a deepening and widening of old and new networks of human interaction within and across regions. The results were extraordinary concentrations of wealth and the deepening of cross-cultural exchanges. Innovations in transportations, state policies and mercantile practices contributed to the expansion and development of commercial networks, which in turn served as supervisors for cultural, technological, and biological diffusion within and between various societies. cross-cultural exchanges mercantile practices cultural, technological, and biological diffusion
What new technologies, governmental policies, and merchant activities accompanied these developments?
Improved transportation technologies and commercial practices led to an increased volume of trade, and enlarged the geographical range of remaining and newly-active trade networks. commercial practices geographical range trade networks
What role did pastoral and nomadic groups play in these trade networks?
Pastoral and Nomadic groups played a vital role in making and sustaining these networks.
Pastoral groups
Nomadic groups
How did the physical size of post-Classical trade networks compare to the previous era?
Enlarging networks advanced greater inter-regional borrowing while at the same time sustaining regional diversity. The enlargement of existing including China, the Byzantine Empire, and the Caliphates. Also new empires like the Mongols facilitated trans-Eurasian trade and communication as new people were drawn into their conquerors’ economies and