Chapter 8: Commerce and Culture

Chapter 8: Commerce and Culture

Chapter eight proved to be quite interesting with its mixture of involving probably the three greatest trade routes in the world and the huge appreciation for camels because camels they provided long ways of transportation for most of these roads/trails that revolutionized history in agriculture, structures, technology, writing, language, religion, and changed most peasants’ lives.  We have the Silk Roads, Sea Roads, and The Sand Roads, which are all apart of long distance exchange of goods. With the growth of the Silk Road that provided a setting for great civilizations such as China, India, the Middle East and the Mediterranean. The Silk Road provided all kinds of all the luxury goods and quantities of silk it came to be a problem that the only time the Silk Road prospered was when security was provided. Amazingly Koreans, Japanese, Indians, and Persians learned how to produce silk because of its huge impact on the economy at this time period besides its use to trade later on it was equal to being currency. Restrictions of silk use was developed later on because it was able to determine elite status, eventually silk even was associated in the expanding wardrobes of Buddhism and Christianity.

Sea Roads linked Eurasian societies by land and sea-based trade routes which help connect civilians from multiple continents from the Indian Ocean. Most of the goods that were being imported and exported were shipped in bulk and the various goods were ivory, gold, eventually in its years the road carried mass market stuff like textiles, pepper, timber, rice, sugar, and wheat.  Then we have the sand roads which really surprised me because this is where the camel exchange was critical because it was a lot easier to transport gold, salt, and slaves! The sand roads provided North African with cloth, glassware, books, and other manufactured goods.