Archipelagos: The Foundation of the Global Trade System

The Afro-Eurasian trade system of the 1200s and 1300s was not exactly global. At the time, however, it was the biggest joined trade network in the world. Everyone used this system in pretty much equal terms. The system depended on the trades of silk from China. It also depended on spices from Southeast Asia. Hundreds of other products were also traded in this system. These included gold, copper, diamonds, ivory, fur, honey, wax, glass, wine, and fruits. There were products made of leather, brass, copper, wool, cotton, glass, and iron. Animals were traded, too. The system allowed people to share their knowledge. It allowed them to share technologies. This brought about the intellectual and material development of this large section of the world.

Most of its products were luxury items. So, this trade network centered around key urban centers. The system ignored huge rural areas. The cities were, therefore, like islands of trade in a sea of rural areas. That is why the system of long-distance trade is described as an “archipelago of trade.” An archipelago is a chain of islands.

Hundreds of important cities and ports dotted a complex network of land and water routes. This was known as “the Silk Road.” Long before Europeans began to explore the world in the 1400s, global trade was possible. The Silk Road connected eight geographical regions. They were:

1. The Persian Gulf
2. Central Asia’s Northern Passage
3. The China Sea
4. Southeast Asia
5. The Arabian Sea
6. North Africa
7. The Eastern Mediterranean
8. Western Europe

Let’s visit some important urban centers of these regions.

The Persian Gulf Region

The rise of the religion of Islam likely brought together this global network. The Prophet Muhammad died in 632 AD. About 100 years later, the Abbasid Caliphate ruled a huge territory. A caliphate is an Islamic empire. Its leader was a caliph who claimed or had been nominated to represent the Muslim community. The Abbasid Caliphate extended from Spain in the west through North Africa to Pakistan in the East. Its capital was Baghdad.

Baghdad was at the heart of this global trade. It had easy access to the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean Sea. It had access to the northern passage of the Silk Road. Baghdad became the most important center of learning in the world.

In 1258, the Mongols attacked and destroyed Baghdad. However, knowledge from Baghdad was not lost. It had already spread to the libraries and minds of scholars along the Silk Road.

Central Asia’s Northern Passage

The city of Tabriz is north of Baghdad, in what is now Iran. It connected the Persian Gulf region with Central Asia’s northern passage. It extended from China in the east to the Black Sea in the west. The area was controlled by independent kingdoms. They were often at war with each other. In the early thirteenth century, Chinggis Khan conquered the whole of Central Asia and the Persian Gulf region. He turned most of the Silk Road into a safe and unified trade system. Europeans began traveling these roads soon after.

The Mongols were known for their military might. However, Chinggis Khan protected scholars, artisans, and administrators.

The China Sea

China was the key to making the whole system work. It controlled most of the silk and spice trade. Traders were constantly seeking access to China’s products and markets.

India and Southeast Asia

The port city of Palembang on the island of Sumatra in present-day Indonesia was very important. It was the main connection point between the Chinese Sea and Calicut in the Indian Ocean. It managed the flow of spices until the 1300s. Then China’s fleets of ships made Malacca in modern-day Malaysia the new port for trade.

Trading in Southeast Asia consisted of Muslim, Hindu, and Buddhist trading blocks. These groups continued after the Chinese left the area. None of these groups wanted to control the region. They were more interested in trade.

The Arabian Sea and East Africa

Muscat is a city in present-day Oman. It was the Arabian Sea’s most important port. No particular state dominated the Arabian Sea. Rather, many states controlled key ports. Among them, the Swahili-speaking port at Zanzibar was the main link from East Africa. They traded gold, ivory, and enslaved people from deep in Central Africa.

North Africa

Cairo and Alexandria in Egypt were the centers of the North African economy. The trans-Sahara trade system was a trading system in the west. It took goods through the Sahara Desert. It was not really part of the Silk Road. However, it was the main provider of gold, enslaved people, and iron to this trading system. The city of Timbuktu marked the west end of the trans-Sahara route.

Looking east, Egypt reaches the Red Sea at Jeddah. This port was the main access to the Muslim Hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca. Millions of pilgrims coming from all over the Muslim world were key to its economy. Jeddah bridged the Arabian Sea with Alexandria on the Mediterranean shore.

The Eastern Mediterranean Sea

Since the 1100s, the rivalry between the republics of Genoa and Venice often turned into full-on wars. Nevertheless, they made trade possible in the Mediterranean Sea. They connected all its ports. Constantinople (now Istanbul) was perhaps its most valuable. As the capital of Byzantium, the city was important for its wealth and power. Its location was key. It is the gate between Asia and Europe. It is also the connection between the Mediterranean and the Black seas.

Western Europe

The huge extent of the Abbasid Caliphate was seen as a threat to the Christian world. In the eleventh century, Pope Urban II had started the Crusades. He wanted to regain Christian control of the Holy Land. The Crusades failed. But, they had helped reopen a limited trade between Europe and the Muslim world.

The Black Death and the Emergence of the Modern Global Trade System

Unfortunately, not everything carried along this network was good. For example, the Black Death was a deadly disease. It was carried along the Silk Road. In the end, 200 million people died all over Afro-Eurasia.

Soon after, Portugal and Spain began searching for new trade opportunities. To almost everybody’s surprise, Spain bumped upon the Western Hemisphere. Portugal found a passage to India around Africa. They managed to stitch together the trading system destroyed by the Black Death. The result was a global trade system controlled by Europe. The West, then, became increasingly richer. The rest of the world grew vulnerable to the greedy nature of European trade.