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Ch. 7 Commerce and Culture




  • Different terrains produced different resources
  • 500-1500-ERA
  • Trade was important because people could trade for things they didn't have, like the africans imported salt.
  • Trade started to alter the economics of societies
  • Long distance trade allowed elites to separate themselves from commoners
  • Transformed political life:Taxes 
  • Trade became a way to spread religion, ideas, disease, animals
  • Eurasia: Inner and Outer zones that had different enviornments
  • Outer- better for agriculture and warmer, well watered
  • Inner- drier climate, not good for agriculture
  • Silk road was most popular when there were guards
  • Chinese homes were where most of textile production, mostly women were the labor force
  • The elite that had this fabric marked their status
  • Silk from China and Cotton from India were in high demand in the Roman Empire
  • Peasants gave up on growing food and focused on paper, porcelain and iron tools
  • Greece was affected by a new deadly disease from Egypt that killed twenty five percent of their population.
  • Africa: gold, iron goods, slaves
  • Arabia: myth, perfumes
  • India: grain, ivory, cotton, stones, spices
  • China: silk, porcelain, tea
  • Silk roads linked the world

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