HISA04H3 Lecture 10: Lecture 10.docx
Document Summary
Lecture"s theme: how medieval piety and profit connected distant places and fostered long- distance trade and cross-cultural interactions. Trade facilitated biological, technological, and cultural exchanges that profoundly influenced all societies engages in cross-cultural trade. The first trade route is the mediterranean, overlapping networks of pilgrims, scholars. Initially, the products that were traded are the only things that travelled the full length, people moved certain distance. Caravans, massive group of people/animals that travel together. Annual pilgrimage to mecca and medina, huge commercial opportunity, people all gathering in one place, hajj was instrumental, the infrastructure of the hajj, means the same routes of pilgrimage were also trade routes. Trade intensive region where merchants enjoyed elevated social status. Commercial brokers, taxations systems, custom houses are all examples of developing technology. Chinese merchants who used their wealth to purchase land. Taxation and control of trade, caravans and land based routes are a good way to help economy in certain states.
