World Cilvilizations 112Week 1In the 1270’s, nestorian christian monks traveled from the court of Mongol. In what isnow modern day Beijing. They were not Europeans but instead Uighurs, the Turkish peopleof central Asia. Their names were Bar Sāwmā and Markōs. On their journey westward theytravled a world of economic and cultural change together. The monks parted ways atBaghdad. In 1287 Bar Sawma was appointed an ambassador by the Buddhist Mongol Khan ofPerisa. In hopes to gain support among European leaders for an attack on Jeruleseum towrest it from Muslim control. Bar Sawma visited Constantinople, Rome, Paris, and Bordeaux.In the end, neither monk reached Jeruleseum or returned to China. Bar Sawma ended hisdays in Baghdad and Markos becamed patriarch of the Nestorian branch of Christianity,centered in modern day Iran.Global StorylineThe Emergence of the World We Know Today…- Advances in maritime technology lead to increased sea trade, tranfrorming coastalcities into global trading hubs and elevating Afro-Eurasian trade to unprecedentedlevels.- Intesifed trade and religious integration shape for major cultural “spheres”: theIslamic world, India, China, and Europe.- Sub-Saharan Africa is drawn into Eurasian exchange, resulting in a trueAfro-Eurasia-wide network, while the Americas experience more limited political,economic, and cultural integration.- The Mongol Empire integrates many of the worlds cultural spheres.Development of Maritime TradeBy the 10th century sea routes were becoming more and more important thanland networks for long distance trade. Seabron trade was easier and slashed the costof trading. A new navigational instrument spurred this boom, the compass. Thechinese invention was originally used for locations for houses and tombs. However,by the 11th century sailors were finding ways to used it on the open seas. Longdistance trade spawned growth of commercial cities. These cosmopolitan entrepotsserved as transshipment centers located on land between borders or in ports whereships could drop anchor. In these cities traders exchanged and replenished goods.Cairo and Alexandria were the Mediterraneans main maritime commercial centers.From the Mediterranean they traded, olive oil, glassware, flax, coral and metals. InIndia they traded gemstones and aromatic perfumes. From elsewhere, minerals,chemicals, raw materials such as timber and bamboo. Paper and books were alsotraded as well.The Islamic World in Time of Politcial FragmentationMuslim traders started to increase in commerial hubs from the Mediterran tothe South China sea. In the 9th and 10th century Muslims became a majority in theirown Abbasied Empire. Even the rulers struggled to unit to diverse the Islalamic world.Muslim lands were free to choose their own religious leaders and to settle internaldisputes in their own religious courts. They did however have to pay a special taxcalled, the Jizya.Environmental Challanges and Political DivisionsSevere climate conditions, including freezing temperatures and lack of rain,afflicted the Eastern Mediterranean and Islamic lands. The Niles low water levelsdevastated Egypt, the breadbasket for majority of the area. Driven by drought Turkishnomadic pastoralists left the steppe lands of central Asia in search of better lands. Bythe 13th century the Islamic heartland had fractured into 3 regions, central Asia, Iran,and eastern Iraq.The Spread of SufismEven in the face of this political splintering, Islam’s spread was facilited by apopular, highly mystical, and communal form of religion called, Sufism. The term Suficomes from the Arabic word for wool (suf). Which many of the early mysticswrapped themselves in. Sufi Mystics peforemed in rituals and desired to experienceGod’s love through expression in poetry.India as a Cultural MosaicDue to the location India became an intersection for both land and sea trade.With 80 million inhabits it had the second-largest population in the region. As the14th century began India was a blend of many cultures. Politically, the TurkishMuslim regime of the Delhi Sultante dominated the region. Before the Turks arrived,India was splintered among rival chiefs known as rajas. These leaders gained supportfrom Brahmans by doling out land grants to them. Since most of the land wasuncultivated, the Branhmans first built temples. Before the Turks arrived, the rajashad neither the will nor the resources to resist them after centuries of fighting offinvaders. The most powerful and enduring of the Turkish Muslim regimes ofNorthern India was the Delhi