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\clas{AP World}
\name{Holden} \last{Rohrer}
\prof{Wroblewski}
\header
\title{AP World Overview for Unit 2 (1200--1450)}
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\section Asia;;
  \ssection Silk Roads---A long-lasting series of trade networks which connected disparate parts of Asia, including China, Russia, the Middle East, and some of North Africa and Western Europe;;
    \sssection Mongol Backing (Governance)---The Mongols, in this time period, used the threat of violence to keep the network safe across their vast empire. Trade thrived because of it;;
    \sssection Caravanserai (Culture and Social Interaction)---To support the segmented journey across the Silk Road network, Caravanserai and trading cities like Samar\-kand were created as waypoints for merchants. This helped spread culture and religion across the region, along with some Mongol institutions like forcing immigration of useful workers like artists;;
    \sssection Monetary Systems---The Silk Road encouraged increased industrial productivity, especially luxury goods like fine china (porcelain), wine, or metals;;
    \sssection Cultural---The Mongols certainly had an impact on the cultural landscape because they struck fear in the hearts of many with the number of deaths under their belt;;
    \sssection Environment---Because of Silk Roads and other trading routes across the world, crops and disease spread readily with culture and wealth. Rice, for example, spread in a number of varieties across Asia, bananas in Africa, and citrus in the Mediterranean. Disease traveled less deliberately, hitchiking with or on merchants instead of a comfort brought by diasporic communities or other mercantile distribution;;
  \ssection After-Effects of the Mongol Empire;;
    \sssection Governmental/State---After the Mongol Empire broke up (internal division after Genghis Khan's death), individual Khanates ruled by individual emperors took its place, which didn't affect most peasants or the Silk Road because it remained maintained. The division had long-lasting effects because the cultural and national borders solidified in modern day nations such as Russia and China (from the Golden Horde and Yuan);;
  \ssection Indian Ocean Trade: The Silk Road's maritime analogue;;
    \sssection Economic Growth---Coastal trade cities began to be established across the Indian Ocean. These include Gujarat in India, the Swahili Coast City-States and a myriad of Indonesian islands. These provided new goods like spice and broadened the reach of Arabian or Chinese goods;;
    \sssection Technology---Sailing required navigation, which required navigational technology and incentivized specialized ships. For use in the trade of bulk goods or other large payloads, junks (large, flat-bottomed ships) were invented, significantly decreasing the cost of overseas shipping, specifically for the working class;;
      \ssssection Compass---A navigational technology that helps sailors orient themselves in the sea and thus made trade faster (and safer, because piracy was less viable if merchants could be on the open ocean for the majority of the journey);;
      \ssssection Lateen Sail---a triangular sail developed specifically for the Indian Ocean which was more effective due to its manoeuverability: it could absorb wind from many more directions than a square sail but had less power, improving the speed of merchants' travels;;
      \ssssection Dhow---The ship that uses lateen sails. Mostly used by Arabs to transport goods faster than the bulkier junks;;
      \ssssection Astrolabe---A navigational device that uses celestial bodies' angles to determine location. Allowed, with the compass, sailors to sail away from the coast;;
    \sssection Environment---the Indian Ocean had winds (monsoons) which provided regularity for merchants/sailors to travel between India and Africa, for example;;
    \sssection Culture---Because goods and people could travel easily, religion and ideas did too. Muslim traders formed ``diasporic communities'' (nonnative family groups) across the region, spreading their religion and establishing trade relations with locals, especially in Africa. This also occurred with Chinese merchants in SEA;;
    \sssection Zheng He---A sailor who recorded his journeys and established Chinese maritime presence, in the form of contracts and diplomacy throughout the Indian Ocean. China's expansion in this way was not unusual;;
\section Europe;;
  \ssection The Mongols and the Silk Road;;
    \sssection Even though the Europeans went unconquered, the Mongols still affected their technological growth: Europeans started to acquire Islamic medical or scientific knowledge/practices (including number systems and the scientific method), especially towards the end of the century when the Renaissance started to build due to increased interconnectedness;;
    \sssection Black Plague---Europe was ravaged by the Black Plague, which spread due to the interconnectedness of the Silk Road; what would have been relatively isolated in previous eras infected the elite and peasants alike spread by merchants walking between well-populated trade cities;;
\section Africa;;
  \ssection Trade Routes---Goods like gold, salt, or nuts connected Sub-Saharan Africa to Northern Africa and the broader trading landscape;;
    \sssection Technology---New Camel Saddles built for carrying heavier loads became available due to the weight of the material goods which were being trafficked;;
    \sssection Governance of the Economies---Empires which owned/administered these resources (like gold in Mali) took advantage of it to expand their own influence in their portion of the African continent;;
\section Cultural Developments;;
  \ssection Recorded History and Travelers---more is known about this era of history and its specific cultural/economic changes because recordings were much more prevalent, such as those by Ibn Battuta or Marco Polo;;
  \ssection Religious Diffusion;;
    \sssection Islam spread across Africa and parts of Asia because Muslim merchants played a major role in Indian Ocean and Trans-Saharan Africa trade, meaning that more favorable deals could be obtained by pandering to them;;
    \ssection Hinduism and Buddhism in SEA---the trade connections between India (a traditionally Hindu region which often maintained a Buddhist minority) and Indonesia were facilitated by this spread of religion between those regions;;

\bye
