Exam 1 Study Guide UGC 112 1st Edition Lecture 1 Pages 363 378 Chinese Indian Islamic and European the four distinct cultural and political regions dominating the Afro Eurasian world Two main trends of this time maritime revolution that increased commercial contact and sharpened culture religion and political distinctions in this world Maritime Revolution from 1000 to 1300 sea routes took precedence over land routes The needle compass that Chinese sailor started incorporating helped navigation This soon spread to Southeast Asian and India There were new connections as well as divisions that came about from tis shift to sea routes There was protection Commercial Contacts Staple foods such as rice linen and cotton textiles were created in surplus Agriculture pushed into new regions which increased the population and provided for surpluses that could be shipped over great distances Global Commercial Hubs Long distance trade spawned the growth of commercial cities Entrep ts are areas where traders exchange commodities and replenish supplies The four main Entrep ts in the late tenth century 1 Alexandria and Cairo 2 Quanzhou 3 Melaka 4 Quilon Karim a loose confederation of shippers banding together to protect convoys page 365 These regularized ocean traffic Yemeni rulers offered shelter to karimi fleets in return for taxes collected on cargoes Cairo Muslim and Jewish trading firms Alexandria lookout post on the Mediterranean Silk yarn and textiles Through this Entrep t that Europeans acquired SILKS from China Quanzhou Zaytuni Satin The Islamic legal system promoted a favorable business environment Muslim traders formed partnerships between those who had capital to lend and those who needed money to expand their businesses The Anchorage of Quanzhou The Song government had offices of Seafaring Affairs These offices registered cargoes sailors and traders in return for a portion of the taxes Ships departing from Quanzhou were junks very large ships with internal sealed bulkheads and stern mounted rudders During the Song dynasty about 100 000 Muslims lived there Hindu traders living in Quanzhou worshipped in a Buddhist shrine where statues of Hindu deities stood alongside those of Buddhist gods Meleka this became a key cosmopolitan city Was located strategically near to Malayan tropical produce The tip of India The Chola dynasty in the tenth century in India supported an important center of maritime trade between China and the Red Sea and the Mediterranean This golden age Chola lasted only two generations but trade kept on flourishing Malabar where Muslim traders settled Quilon became a major cosmopolitan hub Sub Saharan Africa Comes Together This region of Africa s relationship to the rest of the world between 1000 and 1300 CE changed dramatically Africans were determined to overcome the sea river and desert barriers that had blocked sub Saharan peoples from partaking in long distance trade and intellectual exchanges West Africa and the Mande Speaking Peoples commodities and ideas linked sub Saharan Africa to the Muslim world of North Africa and Southwest Asia The Mande Mandinka homeland that was a vast area between the Senegal river bend and the Niger River to the east This was where the Kingdom of Ghana arose and where the Mandika state of MALI emerged around 1100 o The Mande speaking people were always on the go and believed their kings had descended from the gods and that they enjoyed gods blessing o 11th 15th century the most vigorous businesses were those that spanned the Sahara Desert The Mande speaking peoples with their great commercial networks and disperses populations of people dominated this trade Salt and gold were prized commodities here Slaves were equally as important and were shipped to the settled Muslim communities of North Africa and Egypt The Empire of Mali the empire of Mali became the Mande successor state to the kingdom of Ghana o Represented the triumph of horse warriors this was incorporated in The Epic of Sundiata which was an epic involving the dynasty s noteworthy founder Sundiata s victory in the 14th century marked the success of cavalry over foot soldiers o Commerce was in full swing o Mansa Musa made a hajj pilgrimage to Mecca in 1325 through Cairo He showed off his wealth while passing through Cairo This awakened much of the world to the fact that Islam had spread far below the Sahara o Mali boasted two of the largest cities in West Africa 1 Jenne an ancient Entrep t was a vital assembly point for caravans Originated in 200 BCE There was an eleven foot thick wall around this city 2 The city of Timbuktu was founded around 1100 as a seasonal camp of nomads It had the patronage of various Malian kings Renowned for its intellectual vitality and two large mosques East Afria and the Indian Ocean o East Africa was a logical end point for much of the Indian Ocean trade because of monsoon winds Swahili peoples living along the coast became brokers or the trade coming and going from the Arabian Peninsula The most valued commodity in the trade was gold o Great Zimbabwe was one of the many political and political centers that the Shona founded Built on the fortunes made from gold o Madagascar was one of the key meeting grounds of the Indian Ocean trading system It became one of the most multicultural places in the world at this time Became an import export market for traders crossing the Indian Ocean The Trans Saharan and Indian Ocean Slave Trade o African slaves were as valuable as African gold in shipments to the Mediterranean and Indian Ocean markets o Piety a strong sense of religious duty and devoutness often inspiring extraordinary actions The Quran attempted to mitigate the severity of slavery requiring Muslim slave owners to treat their slaves kindly and praising manumission as an act of piety o Main point African slave trade flourished under Islam Islam in a time of Political Fragmentation o The peoples of Islam remained politically fractured o In 1258 the Mongols sacked Baghdad and unlike China Muslim leaders were unable to reunite after their collapse Becoming the Middle East o Islam responded to political fragmentation by undergoing major changes Commercial networks sustained by Muslim merchants carried the word of the Quran far Islam spread and attracted more converts o A popular form of the religion called Sufism was highly mystical and communal Many clerics hated the Sufis but the movement still spread with great speed Sufi missionaries carried it to