The average person who wants to travel to China today, for instance, only has to go online, book the next Air Canada flight, go to the airport and leave without any fanfare. In Medieval Asia, travel between cities and countries was a difficult and arduous task, extremely expensive and could be dangerous. But as time went on, the modes of travel evolved and the effects on the region could be observed. The increasing prevalence of travel in Medieval Asia had an impact on the development and spread of knowledge, political alliances, trade and family, affected and changed the men involved culturally, with the various forms of travel present at the time indicating Medieval Asia was an origin of international trade. The surging rise of travel had …show more content…
The advent of travel had some positive impact in Medieval Asia. A major positive impact was the development and spread of knowledge. Initially, people were limited to whatever forms of knowledge that were present in the cities and towns they lived in. What could be classified as formal instruction was available in the local religious centres, like the monasteries from monks. The education from these monks was limited to what was available in the local monastery. With the advent of travel, people like Xuanzang and Ibn Battuta were able to travel to different cities and regions in search of knowledge. “Courts of Kings across Asia were often the venue for such debates, and the participants vied for truth, honor and patronage.” Xuanzang had decided he needed to fulfill his thirst for more knowledge and that travel was the answer. The ‘courts of Asia’ were seen ascongregation centres where intellectuals from all over the region came to discuss competing religious ideas and exchanged information which they took to their home cities in the process and disseminated. Another positive impact of travel across medieval Asia was the development of political connections across different regions. With the …show more content…
In the big cities, as time progressed, it was observed that there is a growing demand for foreign goods. This happens because either there was an increase in demand for different varieties of certain goods or a particular product is not produced locally. Since cities sometimes would specialize in producing a particular product, there will be demand for that product from a foreign state. It was also observed that the process of travel was easy. “Supporting institutions and similarities of court and administrative practice made it relatively easy for men to move long distances”. This shows that to travel to a foreign city or state, not much was required, as opposed to today in terms of documents and practices. There were also supporting institutions like locally funded hostels that helped accommodate travellers and ease their process. With the increasing popularity of travel, it was also noticed that a lot of people began migrating to foreign cities to seek employment. “Ibn Battuta met jurists and religious teachers from Spain, Central Asia and India…Soldiers had equally widespread opportunities for employment”. This showed the wide range of employment opportunities available in mostly bigger cities and some form of urban migration is noticed. People moved from smaller to bigger cites in search of work as jurists,
Through analyzing the five given documents, factors affecting cultural exchange through civilizations during 1000 and 1400 A.D. are noticeably those which result in the bringing of new ideas to a different area, such as missionary work, commerce, war, and travels. As new religions sprouted throughout Europe on other expansive areas, missionaries were sent out to foreign lands. Document 1 comes from the viewpoint of a Roman Catholic missionary attempting to spread his faith by presenting a letter from the pope to the emperor of the Tatars. This shows that by converting a powerful leader to your faith, such as an emperor, it is easier for others to follow said faith. Documents 2 and 4 also emphasize how travel can be accountable for the exchange of ideas between cultures. Both Ibn Battuta and Marco Polo traveled extensive distances, stopping in various cities. Throughout their journeys, they carried their ideas with them, but were also introduced to the ideas of the people in the places they were visiting. Document 3 presents what is most likely the culprit for the increase in cultural diffusion during 1000 to 1400 A.D. War is often the reason for major cultural diffusion because, as new lands are conquered and the people of that land are put under the rule of a different people, the beliefs, traditions, and cultures of the conquerors mesh with those of the conquered. Document 5 also introduces a driving force in cultural diffusion – commerce. During this time period, many people were traders. Products made by a people are characteristics of their culture, whether it is the skill, intelligence, cleverness, or religious inclination of those people. As traders made their way to foreign lands to conduct business, whole empires were int...
As new ideas traveled main trade routes, such as the Silk Road and the Mediterranean, the effects of such were felt through an influx of contact between countries due to increased desire for new information and countries gaining a larger presence on the world stage. This phenomenon can also be seen through the lens of cultural exchange that took place during this same time period in Eurasia. A major component of the Eurasian trade networks, such as the Silk Road and Indian Ocean, was that they fostered interregional contacts that had ceased to previously exist. When a country had a desire for study or technology, they earned more respect on the global stage. This can be further examined by looking at Marco Polo’s voyage into Asia.
The enlightenment period was full of social and intellectual growth. This time period changed the way people thought of the world and exposed the world to different cultures. It brought the world into several revolutions that will later contribute to great change for the modern world. Travel was significant during the enlightenment due to the enlightenment ideas that knowledge and information was gained through experience. In order for the people to get a better understanding of the world and gain information about other cultures, they had to travel to these people. During this era and time period of the enlightenment, travel was significant in order to get a quality and endless education. Denis Diderot shows the significance that travel did
Dawson, Christopher. “Mission to Asia.” Toronto: University of Toronto Press, for the Medieval Academy of America. 1980.
Nowadays the wide array of transportation means and infrastructures at our disposal has made it relatively easy for us to travel from one country to another; even when those countries are thousands of miles away from each other. However, during the 13th and 14th centuries, travelling was not that easy. Yet, two men, the Italian tradesman Marco Polo and the Moroccan Jurist Ibn Battuta became famous for having managed to perform extremely long distance journeys away from their home country. At the end of their long travels, both men shared their experiences with the world via the books, The Travels of Marco Polo and The Travels of Ibn Battuta. An analysis of those two texts reveals two things. On one hand, Marco Polo remained a cultural outsider to the people he met during his travels, thus enhancing his power of observation and stimulating his curiosity. On the other hand, Ibn Battuta travelled as an insider, and consequently he judged the people he met only in light of his Muslim background.
With the decline of the Western Roman empire Western Europe was a disjointed land that had no true unifying structure till the rise of Christianity. In Roman antiquity people used the State or empire of Rome to define themselves and give them a sense of unity despite having a diverse group of people within the empire. When Western Rome fell this belief based on a Roman cultural identity disappeared and no longer were people able to identify themselves with any particular group as they once have. The Christian religion was able to fill this vacuum by having the people associate themselves to a religion instead of a given state or cultural group. During Medieval Europe Christianity became the unifying force that would define what it meant to be European. Christianity gave political leaders legitimacy by showing that they have been favored by the gods. The clergyman that recorded the histories surrounding the kings of the Medieval Europe also provided a link to the Roman Empire to give the Kings a link to Roman empire of antiquity. Christianity became the center of the cultural life in western Europe and created a new social elite in Europe which would dominate literacy and knowledge within Europe for centuries. Christianity provided Europe with an escape from the disorder of the Medieval ages and give them a spiritual outlet for their fears and desires for a better life, whether in the physical life or in the spiritual world after death.
WAS THE TIME PERIOD BETWEEN 400 AD AND 1400 AD A “DARK AGE” FOR EUROPE?
Norman Davies, a leading English historian, wrote, “There is an air of immobility about many descriptions of the medieval world” (Davies 291). However, these descriptions he refers to do not capture the true essence of the Middle Ages of Europe, which were a continuation and a formation. They were a continuation of old Rome in race, language, institutions, law, literature, arts, and in cultures independent of Rome. Nevertheless, the Middle Ages were not merely a continuation; they were the formation of our world. Many modern-day historians argue that the so-called Dark Ages were a period of ascent rather than of descent, that with the withering of the pagan classic civilization came the first budding of a new culture that was to develop into our modern civilization. James M. Powell, a prominent historian, agreed with this argument concerning the untold progress of this age. Powell believed that the Medieval Ages was a multi-faceted period of time in which the roots of modern civilization began to emerge, and that it was. This time period was critical because, although it seemed to be a dark age, seeds were being planted for future generations such as ours. These seeds have sprouted and have given us templates to work with regarding issues of centralization, the economy, scholasticism, education, expressions of art, and religion.
This investigation attempts to analyze the Silk Road’s impact on cultural diffusion. The Silk Road was a trade route connecting Eastern China to the Mediterranean regions. It was incredibly important because it brought Europe, Asia, and the Middle East together in trade, and allowed them to trade goods and ideas. The parameters are the cultural diffusion east meets west and the spread of religion. It will focus on the time period between the 2nd and the late 17th centuries and the places investigated will be the west, (made up of Europe and the Middle-East) and the east (which refers to most of Asia, although in this investigation it will focus mostly on China). This will be accomplished through a thorough examination of historical books such as Horizon Book Division’s History of China, John S. Bowman’s Exploration in the World of the Ancients, and Daniel Waugh’s “THE SILK ROADS IN HISTORY”.
Throughout the history of the earth we have seen many countries leave their homeland. Most of these countries however, are those that are not landlocked. Countries which were not landlocked organized themselves and set sail for new territories to explore. Boat technology allowed for travel, resulting in the whole world becoming more accessible and allowing people to overcome what was thought to be indestructible geography. Obviously access to the sea lowers transport costs and aids economic growth. Yet this mattered less in earlier centuries. Even in some ancient civilizations, they learned to overcome the problem of not having technology. The original silk route from China to Europe used the camel rather than the ship. Only when ship design became advanced from the 15th century onwards did sea-borne trade gain centre-stage.
Ancient Egypt was a very important time in our time period. They had their own way of life. Egyptians had their own writing, burials, government, religion, cooking, and games. They were educated people with many talents. They were good with their hands and brains. Ancient Egyptians were a magnificent race of people.
The Old World system was mainly Asia-centric. European states were far behind the Asian and Middle Eastern ones. According to the article of Janet Lippman Abu-Lughod which is named “The World System in the Thirteenth Century: Dead-End or Precursor”, beside the world system there were subsystems which were not “depending on each other for common survival in the thirteenth century”. There were three big circuits: Westers European, Middle Eastern, Far Eastern. “At that times the strongest centres and circuits were located in the Middle East and Asia. In contrast the European circuit was an upstart newcomer that for several early centuries was only tangentially and weakly linked to the core of the world system as it had developed between the eight and eleventh centuries.” As she mentioned, Europe joined the advanced world system of that time after 11th century, yet till 15th century it was not so effective. Although the states in east were developed, this did not reflect to political arena. Every state was powerful in its own niche and as a result of this there was not a hierarchical form of political balance. These states could be thought as pockets. Nature of this system was production. As Janet L. Abu-Lughod mentioned “the production of primary and manufactured goods was not only sufficient to meet local needs but, beyond that, the needs for export as well. Then, the way of function of this system can be understood: trade. Trade was the main economic activity of the Old System. Trade was mostly depending on exchange of goods. In spite of this, Chinese merchants were using paper money like a credit card and Arabic dinar was the dollar of that time. All of these show us that the trade was also Asia-centric. The popular trade ways were through Middle East and Asia. Beside the economic side, trade was integrating cities and societies.
It is not possible to think clearly about the Silk Road without taking into consideration the whole of Eurasia as its geographical context. Trade along the Silk Road flourished or diminished according to the conditions in China, Byzantium, Persia, and other countries along the way. There was also competition for alternative routes, by land and sea, to absorb long-distance
Millions of years ago the procreant low lands in the river basins of Euphrates and Tigris was probably the home of some animal life, but no great civilizations. However, things change over time, and just a few thousand years ago the same fertile low lands in the river basins of Euphrates and Tigris became the home of a very rich and complex society. This first high society of man was located in what some still call "Mesopotamia". The word "Mesopotamia" is in origin a Greek name meaning "land between the rivers." The name is used for the area watered by the Euphrates and Tigris and its tributaries, roughly comprising modern Iraq and part of Syria. South of modern Bagdad, this alluvial plain was called the land of Sumer and Akkad. Sumer is the most southern part, while the land of Akkad is the area around modern Bagdad, where the Euphrates and Tigris are closest to each other. This first high, Mesopotamian society arose as a combined result of various historical, institutional, and religious factors. The reality of these factors occurring at a specific place within the fabric of space / time indeed established the basis for this first high civilization. Items like irrigation, topography, and bronze-age technical innovations played a big part along with the advent of writing and the practice of social conditioning (through the use of organized religion) in this relatively early achievement of man.
In conclusion, the Silk Road was an important landmark as it connected the west and the east which created an international trade system. Even after its disappearance due to the fall of Constantinople, its success was so huge that its existence in history still inspired and encouraged others to find ways to repeat its achievement. Although Christopher Columbus eventually failed to discover another path that links the east and the west, his endeavors that were inspired by the Silk Road led to the rise of maritime exploration, and even more importantly the discovery of the New World. Therefore, the Silk Road has demonstrated itself to be a significant aspect of the human experience, as from it, we are able to experience globalization, record the rise of some of the greatest civilizations, and also oversee the rise of maritime exploration.