Cross-Cultural Exchanges

Chapter 12

Long-Distance Trade and the Silk Roads Network

• LD trade was risky: bandits, pirates -> high costs• 2 developments: roads/bridges and empires• Hellenistic empires: more trade due to colonies– monsoon winds = access to Indian Ocean Basin– Maritime trade required military forces, construction,

bureaucracy

Hellenistic Trade• Costs paid off by stimulating economy and tax

revenue• Caravans and ships carried goods from China to

Mediterranean, linking empires, as well as smaller societies– Overland routes = Silk Roads

• Traded manufactured goods, agricultural commodities, slaves– Silk, spices, cotton, horses, glassware, art, jewelry,

olive oil, wine

The Organization of LD Trade• Few travelled far distances (e.g., Roman trading

posts in India)• Travelled to cities with markets, bought/sold,

returned home, etc.

Cultural and Biological Exchanges• Merchants, missionaries, and travelers carried

beliefs, values, and religions with them• Buddhism: spread by merchants into C Asia (esp.

in oasis towns, where monasteries were built), by nomads into E Asia (Chinese began to convert by 5th century CE), and by mariners into SE Asia

• Hinduism: along with other Indian elements, spread into SE Asia by mariners and was used by leaders to build power

Cultural & Biological Exchanges (cont.)• Christianity: – 1st century CE: persecution by Romans, but spread

along roads and sea lanes– 2nd-3rd centuries: became popular, Christian

communities throughout the Empire• Spread into SW Asia to India – not dominant, but influenced

Med. With practices of asceticism and abstinence

– By 5th century: Med and SW Asian Christianity diverged (Nestorians)

Cultural & Biological Exchanges (cont.)• Manichaeism: – Mani = Zoroastrian prophet from Babylon– Combined Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, and Christianity– Good vs. evil, rejection of worldly pleasures , personal

salvation– “the elect” and “the hearers” – strict moral code– Appealed to merchants, spread in Sasanid and Roman

Empires, but faced persecution in both

Cultural & Biological Exchanges (cont.)• Infectious diseases also spread along trade routes

(e.g., small pox, measles, bubonic plague)• Infected populations with no inherent or acquired

immunity– Especially bad in Rome and Han China -> population

decrease -> decrease in trade, contracting of economies, move toward regional self-sufficiency

Fall of Han Dynasty• Internal decay: factions, land distribution

issues (-> peasant rebellions)• Generals (-> warlords) fought for power, set

up puppet emperor• 220 CE: abolished dynasty – split into 3 large

kingdoms

Post-Han Culture Change• Disorder: warring kingdoms, nomadic invasions,

destruction of Han heartland and capitals• 2 major changes: – Nomads adopted many elements of Chinese culture– Confucianism lost credibility: many turned to Daoism

(became religion) or Buddhism (brought in by nomads)

The Fall of Rome• Combination of internal and external issues• Internal: factions/opposition to the emperor,

unmanageable size– Diocletian divided empire in 2 (with co-emperors and

other leaders), took control of armies, economic reforms (spent less, strengthened currency, decreased inflation -> stabilized econ.)

– But, once he retired -> civil war

Constantine • 340 CE: moved capital from Rome to

Constantinople and reunified E and W• But, with econ. problems, it was difficult to

govern and W part fell to invaders

Germanic Invaders• Settled along borders of the Roman Empire

(buffer societies)– Mid-5th century: Attila the Hun (Turkic) invades and

attacks Germanic groups– Forced Germanic groups to migrate into Roman

Empire to seek refuge – est’d settlements– 410 CE: Visigoths sacked Rome– 476 CE: imperial authority ended in west (but,

continued in east as the Byzantine Empire)• Germanic groups built kingdoms (incorporated Roman

elements) -> Medieval Europe

Christianity and Rome• 312 CE: Constantine’s conversion -> Edict of

Milan• 380 CE: Theodosius made Christianity the official

religion of Rome • Converts increased, esp. among elites • St. Augustine of Hippo tried to reconcile

Christianity with Greco-Roman philosophy -> intellectualized

Institutional Church • Standardized: hierarchy of officials (5 top

bishops/patriarchs – eventually, pope in Rome emerges as leader of W. Christianity), bishops over dioceses

• 325 CE: Council of Nicaea (ironed out beliefs)• Missionary campaigns