Assignment: Global Literacy Research Essay
Research Question: How did trade networks before 1700 create global interdependence and cultural exchange between different regions of the world? Need Assignment Help?
The networks of long distance trade had a significant influence on the world history prior to 1700. These networks linked the societies of Asia, Africa, and Europe and other parts of the world. Although trade enabled merchants to share valuable goods, it also promoted sharing of ideas, religions, technologies and cultural traditions. Three notable examples that illustrate how the trade brought about cultural exchange and global interdependency in the pre modern world include the Silk Roads, the Indian Ocean trade system, and the trans-Saharan trade routes.
The Silk Roads was one of the earliest and the most renowned long distance trade systems. These trade routes linked China and East Asia to Central Asia, the Middle East and some parts of Europe. The merchants who utilized these routes used to trade luxury items like silk, spices, jade, precious metals, and ceramics. Trade along the Silk Roads was not just about exchange, however. Merchants and travelers also carried with them cultural and religious ideas.
As an example, the Buddhism religion was passed on to Central Asia and China through merchants and the movement of monks through the routes.
As time passed by, Buddhist beliefs affected the art, architecture, and philosophy in most parts of Asia. This shows how the trade routes contributed to the spread of religious and cultural traditions in various societies.
The Indian Ocean trade system was another significant trading system prior to 1700. This sea route linked East Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, South Asia and Southeast Asia. Long distance sea trade was also more predictable and efficient due to seasonal monsoon winds that merchants used to travel between ports. Spices, textiles, ivory, porcelain and precious stones were some of the goods that were traded along these routes. Since merchants of numerous other areas arrived in the same ports, these cities were centers of cultures.
The Indian Ocean trade system also led to the emergence of culturally diverse societies. To illustrate, some of the East African coastal cities including Kilwa and Mombasa turned out to be major trading places where African, Arab, Persian, and Indian traders intermingled. Such exchanges helped the Swahili culture to form, a culture that incorporated African culture with the Arabic language and Islamic faith. This indicates that trade networks promoted cultural mixing and formation of new identities in port cities.
Another example of how trade bonded the world was the trans-Saharan trade routes.
These were routes that traversed the Sahara Desert and connected the West African region to the North African region and the Mediterranean markets. Goods like gold, salt, ivory and textiles were carried between these regions by camel caravans4. Mediterranean and Middle Eastern economies were particularly interested in gold resources of West Africa. This saw the emergence of strong West African kingdoms like Ghana, Mali and Songhai who became rich by dominating trade routes and taxing traders.
Trade along the Sahara also helped in spreading religion and education. Islamic traders and scholars who passed by these routes brought the Islamic beliefs and learning tradition to the West African cultures. Cities like Timbuktu turned out to be great hubs of scholarship and Islamic learning, and students and scholars of other areas flocked them. This can be seen as a demonstration of the fact that trade networks facilitated economic development as well as cultural exchange.
Trade networks before 1700 therefore played a crucial role in creating interdependence between different societies. Areas which specialized in specific resources depended on trade to receive goods which were not local. Meanwhile, the ideas, beliefs, and knowledge were distributed over great distances by merchants and travelers. These interactions impacted the evolution of languages, religions, technologies, and cultural customs.5These early trade systems are significant to understand in order to become globally literate. They show that globalization and cultural exchange are not new things but have been in existence centuries ago. Relationships between the peoples via trade contributed to the formation of the cultural diversity and the connected globality as it is now.
In conclusion, the Silk Roads, the trade network of the Indian Ocean, and the trade routes of the trans-Saharan trade demonstrate how trade established both economic and cultural links throughout the globe prior to 1700. Through these networks, goods, ideas, and beliefs were transferred across regions, leading to permanent patterns of global interdependence and cultural exchange.
Bibliography
Bentley, Jerry H., and Herbert F. Ziegler. Worlds Together, Worlds Apart: A History of the World from the Beginnings of Humankind to the Present. 4th ed. New York:
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