Trade & Culture, Strayer 8

2/10/2014

Well you guys have come a long way toward understanding how to manage your way through this course. As a reward for your efforts on the forum and the test this week, I'll go ahead and answer the first big picture question. Don't forget to use the 3rd Wave page for this period.

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73 Comments

Bingham

2/10/2014 12:39:02

BPQ 1: What motivated and sustained the long-distance commerce of the Silk Roads, Sea Roads, and Sand Roads?

The long distance trade Sand, Sea and Sild roads rose to world historical significance because of two main reasons. The desire of elites for hard-to-find luxury items from distant parts of the Eurasian network, as well as the accumulation of wealth, especially among merchants who participated in the trade, motivated long-distance trade. Then, forces sustaining the trade were the support of empires and smaller states that benefited directly from the trade; the spread of religious traditions, including Islam and Buddhism (these shared beliefs tied merchants and sometimes whole societies together over wide regions); and the development of technologies such as larger ships and the magnetic compass.

Notice I'm using a paragraph format. That doesn't mean that bullet points aren't a good way to manage your notes, just that you keep in mind that the bullets need to come together eventually as body paragraphs.

Cristina

3/10/2014 05:40:40

is it okay to put our answers on the test as bullet points? it helps me make sure i have answered everything and havent left any points out.

James O.

3/10/2014 05:45:31

I completely agree. I also think bulleting the answers helps the TA's read our answers, especially if they are longer.

Bingham

3/10/2014 06:22:22

Well, I suppose, if it will help. Just remember, you need to leave this class as academic writers, not justs rememberers of factoids.

Bingham

3/10/2014 06:33:06

See, I'm helping!

MQ1: What lay behind the emergence of Silk Road commerce, and what kept it going for so many centuries?

One important reason behind the Silk Road trade was the exchange of products of the forest and of the semi-arid northern grasslands of inner Eurasia, which were controlled by pastoral peoples, for the agricultural products and manufactured goods of the warmer, well-watered lands of outer Eurasia, including the Mediterranean, the Middle East, India, and China. Also important were the construction of classical civilizations and their imperial states during the last five centuries B.C.E.; classical civilizations invaded the territory of pastoral peoples, securing sections of the Silk Roads and providing security for merchants and travelers.

The Silk Road had the continued support of later states, including the Byzantine, Abbasid, and Mongol empires, which also benefited from the trade. There was a continuing demand for hard-to-find luxury goods among elites across Eurasia.

• Exchange of forest & grassland products for agricultural and manufactured goods from warmer, wetter outer Eurasia
• Classical empires invaded pastoral areas to secure parts of the trade network
• 3rd wave societies also supported the trade for their benefit
• Demand for hard-to-find luxury goods by elites continued

Bethany V

4/10/2014 12:21:58

I find it interesting how what strayer mentioned in Ch. 2 about pastoral people's often being jealous of the wealth and agricultural products of agricultural societies is starting to come into play here. I also find it interesting how the differences between the environments of outer and inner eurasia is what led in part to the development of these different societies, which led to the development of the silk roads.

Bingham

5/10/2014 04:40:50

Yes, geographic destiny/environmental determinism in action. And the forces of contingency. Those are precisely the connections you need to notice to get a 5 on the exam.

Isabella Jarosz

3/10/2014 08:50:50

I'm taking a shot at BP #3.
In what ways did commercial exchange foster other changes?:

SOCIAL
-traders often became a distinct social group
-trade became a means of of social mobility (Chinese merchants were able to establish themselves in as elite)
-allowed elites to distinguish themselves from commoners by acquiring prestigious goods from a distance

POLITICAL
-wealth available from controlling and taxing trade motivated the creation of states in various parts of the world
-helped sustained states once they had been constructed
-posed a set of problems for governments, such as: Should trade be controlled by the people or the state? How should state authorities deal with men of commerce, who were both economically useful and potentially disruptive?

INTERACTION-ENVIRONMENT
-trade impacted people's interaction with environment by helping them obtain goods from far away that would not have been native to their region otherwise
-spread of disease such as the Black Death
-vehicle for spread of technological innovations

CULTURAL
-vehicle for spread of religious ideas
-Buddhism made its way from India and East Asia
-Islam crossed the Sahara into West Africa

ECONOMIC
-altered consumptions (had access to food that was not native to their region)
-encouraged people to specialize in producing particular products for sale in distant markets rather than for use in their own communities
-diminished the economic self-sufficiency of local societies

Tell me if you guys have anything to add.

Bethany

5/10/2014 09:32:07

Is BP3 basically just rephrasing the question Strayer lists on pg. 218, In what ways was trade significant?

Isabella Jarosz

5/10/2014 09:52:57

I think so. That's where I got this answer, anyway

Lauren Bennett

8/10/2014 14:42:49

Regarding the political, would the spread of political ideas be something to add? I know that's a pretty general response, but (for example) Strayer mentions that Srivijaya "made use of imported Indian political ideas", so obviously there was some kind of spread.

Bingham

9/10/2014 00:04:32

I think that works as a specific example, but not so much as a generalization.

Bingham

3/10/2014 09:47:52

Great answer Isabella. I like the thematic organization. My only tweak would be to put the new foods/crops under environmental. That's demography and an environmental factor.
We'll done!

James O.

4/10/2014 07:28:19

The introduction to part three is a gold mine... Read it for understanding if you haven't already started the chapter! It is soo helpful!

Allie

4/10/2014 14:24:50

I made a mind map for the entire chapter. Mr. Bingham told me to try mind mapping and I loved it! I remembered an old mind mapping website I used in middle school. Here's the link for anyone who wants to take a look: https://cacoo.com/diagrams/XpBjA2I7TjVvpomg OR https://cacoo.com/diagrams/XpBjA2I7TjVvpomg-13666.png

Tell me if the link does not work.

Bethany

5/10/2014 09:38:22

That was really helpful! I just have one question. Are the Bubonic plague and the Black Death not the same thing?

James O.

6/10/2014 13:52:23

The Bubonic Plague was a specific pestilence, while the Black Death was a group of differing diseases including the bubonic plague, anthrax etc.

Bingham

5/10/2014 01:37:49

I think this is fantastic! Really good work. Had you noticed the one I had started at the top of the forum?

Let me caution others, it the making the mind map, not the reading it that works. Make your own if you like the idea.

Allie, this is what you study over and over as the week progresses. It's your touchstone. You still need to do the other things your been doing - MQs, BPQs, conversations with friends, etc.

Bingham

5/10/2014 04:38:49

http://i.imgur.com/dhtRC3W.jpg

Elizabeth

5/10/2014 05:36:44

This is what I have for MQ 2- “What made silk such a highly desired commodity across Eurasia?”
China had a monopoly on silk-producing technology. In Central Asia, Silk was used as currency and to accumulate wealth. In China and the Byzantine Empire, it was a symbol of high status, for Buddhist monks in China received silk robes from the Tang dynasty to signify high honor. Silk was associated with expanding world religions of Buddhism and Christianity. Chinese Buddhist pilgrims traveling to India who sought religious texts and relics took large quantities of silk as gifts to the monasteries they visited. In Christendom, silk wall hangings, altar covers, and vestments became highly prestigious signs of devotion and piety. Since no independent silk industry developed in Europe, a market developed for silks imported from the Islamic world. Also, Christian churches partly depended on these Islamic trade routes and silk manufactured in the Muslim world.
Does anyone have any suggestions?

Bingham

5/10/2014 08:29:08

Just a couple of tweaks:
While "China had a monopoly on silk-producing technology." is true, it does answer the question, related, not relevant.
Likewise, "Since no independent silk industry developed in Europe, a market developed for silks imported from the Islamic world. Also, Christian churches partly depended on these Islamic trade routes and silk manufactured in the Muslim world." doesn't really address why its highly desired.

Good work!

Bethany

5/10/2014 10:20:41

Did China having a monopoly on silk not increase the value of silk since because of this there was not much of it at first? Would this scarcity not make it more desirable to elites because it was more valuable as it was rarer?

Bingham

5/10/2014 11:18:36

No. The question asks about "desire", not value. While some shallow people may confuse "expensive" with desirable, in the rational world, the greater the cost, the lower the desirability.

Bethany

5/10/2014 11:34:07

Ok, thanks for the clarification.

Lauren

8/10/2014 14:50:49

Is it too general just to say it was highly valued, was a symbol of high status, and was associated with Buddhism and Christianity?

Bingham

9/10/2014 00:02:13

Just a tad too general Lauren.

Elizabeth

5/10/2014 07:19:10

This is what I got for MQ 3- “What were the major economic social and cultural consequences of Silk Road commerce?”
Long-distance trade on the Silk Roads economically affected ordinary farmers as well as favorably-placed individuals. Peasants in southern China stopped cultivating food crops and focused instead on producing luxury goods in demand for Silk Road commerce. Those lucky enough to be directly involved in commerce, such as merchants, benefitted immensely from long-distance trade. Silk Roads became conduits of culture, particularly in spreading Buddhism around Central and East Asia to both pastoral and agricultural communities. As it spread, it changed and became more materialistic, devotional to deities, and had distinctly Greek influences. Diseases traveled along these routes and devastated populations of civilizations across Eurasia. The epidemics did benefit tenant farmers and urban workers, but gave agricultural peoples and Europeans advantages, because of their pre-exposure.
Let me know if there's anything I should add or take away.

Bingham

5/10/2014 08:34:56

I like it, but be careful. Notice how you went from talking about the impact of trade on things, then suddenly you're talking about how Buddhism changed? Again, I know this seems like picking nits, but all this question required was for you talk about the spread of Buddhism via trade. The topic is long distance trade, not a changing religion.

Elizabeth

5/10/2014 07:31:04

MQ4- “What accounted for the spread of Buddhism along the Silk Roads?”
• Its universal message appealed to merchants
• In oasis cities, conversion to the faith was voluntary without the pressure of conquest or foreign rule
• Rulers and inhabitants of oasis cities depended on long-distance trade and found a link to larger, wealthy, and prestigious India civilization in Buddhism
• Buddhist merchants earned religious merit by building monasteries that in turn provided convenient and familiar places for merchants to rest and regroup
• Many oasis cities became cosmopolitan centers of education and commerce
• Pastoralists at first only slowly adopted Buddhism, but as they were involved in long-distance trade or ruled settled societies, Buddhism seemed more attractive
For this and future posts I make, feel free to give me suggestions and all that

Bingham

5/10/2014 08:41:36

I also think that you need to point out that in China, for centuries it was only a religion of foreign merchants and rulers. Only eventually did it become accepted by the Chinese.

I think this is where you can talk about how Buddhism changed - Mahayana and its possibility if earning merit and compassion became more appealing than the hard core, austere version the Buddha taught. Also, from your earlier answer; as it spread, Buddhism picked up elements of other cultures, including Greek influences, and the gods of many peoples along the Silk Roads were incorporated into Buddhist practice as bodhisattvas.

Bethany

5/10/2014 11:20:57

I don't understand how talking about how Buddhism changed answers the question of how it spread. Can you explain Mr. Bingham?

Bingham

5/10/2014 11:24:00

Bethany, I was referring to the "consequences of Silk road" question, not the "why id Buddhism spread question.

Bingham

5/10/2014 11:26:39

Wait, I see what you're asking. Here's why; part of the reason that it spread, like Christianity, is that it adapted itself to local circumstances/cultures. So the strict Buddha teachings didn't stall it, it morphed and moved on. Get it?

Bethany

5/10/2014 11:31:17

Thanks, I was actually just coming to that conclusion myself. Because the less strict, Mahayana form of Buddhism became dominant, Buddhism was more attractive. And it's adaptability and flexibility in regard to local religions also made it more attractive to people, helping it to spread farther.

Jackson W.

5/10/2014 07:44:04

Maybe I'm being to picky, but epidemics transferred via the silk roads didn't really benefit the Europeans until later in history. The Bubonic plague for example was transferred along the silk road and ended up killing a third of Europe's population. The rest of the answer is really good in my opinion, but you might want to be more specific when talking about those epidemics.

Elizabeth

5/10/2014 07:59:29

Thanks, I'll add that

Jackson

5/10/2014 07:44:39

I was referring to MQ#3 by the way

Allie

5/10/2014 08:47:37

Here is my answer for margin question # 11: In what ways did networks of interaction in the Western Hemisphere differ from those in the Eastern Hemisphere?

> There were less interactions within the Americas; trade in Americas was comparable to a loosely woven web while trade in Afro-Eurasia was tighter and more direct
> There was no transportation vehicles like wheeled carts or donkeys that were so helpful in Afro-Eurasia trade. This might have lead to less trade in the Americas
> No distinct cultural tradition (like Islam) spread but some cultural elements did spread (like maize and a ball game)
> Most active and dense networks of trade in the Americas occurred within the civilizations rather than between like in Afro-Eurasia
> Spread of agriculture was much slower in the Americas due to the North/South orientation; agriculture spread much easier in Eurasia due to the East/West Orientation

Allie

5/10/2014 09:06:44

Here is my answer for margin question #10: What changes did trans-Saharan trade bring to West Africa?

> Construction of New and Larger Political Systems (all were monarchies)
> Trade created a reputation for great riches
> Developed Substantial Urban and Commercial Centers
> Islam became important in urban culture

Also I've been having a really hard time with margin question 8 and 9. I would really appreciate it if someone shared their answer so I could see what direction the answers should be going in.

Bingham

5/10/2014 09:53:13

Is 8 this one?
What is the relationshi between the rise of
Srivijaya and the world of Indian cean commerce?

• Srivijaya emerged fromthe intense competition
between small ports along the Straits ofMalacca, the
critical choke point of Indian Ocean commerce. It came
to dominate the straits, which controlled the key all-sea
route between India and China.
• Srivijaya’s plentiful supply of gold, its access
to the source of highly sought-after spices, and the
taxes it levied on passing ships provided the
resources to attract supporters, to fund an embryonic
bureaucracy, and to create the military and naval
forces that brought some security to the area.
• Srivijaya monarchs made use of imported
Indian political ideas and Buddhist religious
concepts (in addition to local beliefs about the
magical powers of chiefs) to construct their
government.
• They employed Indian merchants as advisers,
clerks, and officials, even assigning themSanskrit titles.
• The capital city of Palembang was a
cosmopolitan city with cultural influences from the
Indian Ocean trading network.
• The rulers of Srivijaya sponsored the creation
of images of the Buddha and various bodhisattvas.
Srivijaya ultimately became a major center of
Buddhist observance and teaching.

Does that help?

Allie

5/10/2014 09:56:11

Yes, that is the 8th one. And thank you it definitely helps!

Bethany

5/10/2014 14:58:24

I might also add that West African people's gained access to new products such as horses, cloth, dates, various manufactured goods, and salt.

Bethany

5/10/2014 09:38:42

I am confused on the definition of commerce. Is it like the regulation of trade?

Bingham

5/10/2014 09:47:00

90% of the time commerce=trade

Allie

5/10/2014 09:47:28

Commerce is the buying and selling of goods mostly on a large scale

Allie

5/10/2014 09:50:09

Were the Sand roads relay trade too or were the Silk Roads the only relay trade?

Bingham

5/10/2014 09:56:08

Well remember, later with the Mongols in control is was less a rely, but that's the 12th century.

No so much relay in the Sahara, some relay in the Indian Ocean. Often India served as the switching point. That's why we refer to India as the "fulcrum" of the IO network.

Lauren

8/10/2014 15:02:44

It makes sense that the Sahara wouldn't be as much of a rely trade considering there aren't many places to stop and set up a city in the middle of that desert!

Bethany

5/10/2014 09:57:13

I think it was relay. Or at least it had its roots in relay trade, as this is what went on in the Niger River Valley civilization. Strayer talks about it on pg. 233. Goods moved down the river from urban cluster to urban cluster. At Jenne-Jo goods were moved from boat to donkey or vice versa. So it seems to me that the goods changed hands.

Bethany

5/10/2014 10:13:43

Oh nevermind I guess I was wrong as what I said contradicts Mr. Bingham. Sorry about that.

Bingham

5/10/2014 11:21:52

It's okay to contradict me, but in this case, you are referring to what happens to goods once they traverse the Sahara. So that really isn't trans-Saharan trade per se.

Bethany

5/10/2014 11:36:04

Okay, thanks I understand.

Allie

5/10/2014 10:24:43

We almost have all of the big picture questions up here so I'll post my answers for the remaining two. Hopefully that helps!

BPQ #2: Why did the Eastern Hemisphere develop long-distance trade more extensively than did the societies of the Western Hemisphere?

> Lack of large domesticated animals or large carrying vessels
> The North/South Orientation of the Americas made the spreading of agriculture very hard since what it is grown near the Mississippi is very different than what is grown in the Andes
> Panama is the connector of North and South America. However, Panama is very narrow and has dense rain forest which made trade even more difficult

BPQ # 4: In what ways was Afro- Eurasia a single interacting zone, and in what ways was it a vast region of separate culture and civilizations?

- Support for it Being a Single Interacting Zone
> Trade spanned all across Afro-Eurasia
> Ideas (like religions) diseases spread throughout the entire region ignoring state made boundaries
> Trade decreased the self-sufficiency (especially economically) that was seen in the previous two periods

-Support for It Being a Vast Region of Separate Cultures and Civilizations
> Since for the most part the Silk Road was relay trade and to some extent the Indian Ocean Sea Roads were too, most of the people participating in the trade did not understand how expansive trade was
> Many states and religious ideas prevailed. There was no single unifying religion even though there were universal religions that were inclusive of more people (like Islam, Christianity, and Buddhism)

If I'm missing something please tell me.

Bingham

5/10/2014 11:33:36

Here is how I answered the last one:

Afro-Eurasia was an interacting zone in that it was a network of exchange that stretched all across the Afro-Eurasian world; and it altered consumption and encouraged peoples across the zone to specialize in producing particular products for sale rather than being self-sufficient.

The spread of ideas and diseases across large parts of the interacting zone provides evidence of extensive and sustained contact across long distances.

However, it was also a vast region of separate cultures: none of the participants knew the full extent of the zone, for it was largely a “relay trade” in which goods were passed down the line, changing hands many times before reaching their final destination; and numerous distinct cultural traditions existed side by side across the zone throughout the period.
(Before you say anything Bethany, I'm talking about the entire vast region, thus it was still a "relay" system for individuals at any particular place, eg goods come in to the Sahara from the Mediterranean, possibly originating in the ME or Byzantium, follow the network, then enter the Niger trading centers and on in to central Africa, etc.)

Lauren

8/10/2014 15:19:38

I know it's not mentioned in the chapter, but wouldn't the fact that many different languages are spoken across the realm.. I suppose that's implied in "cultural differences"

Brandon

23/10/2020 12:22:04

you guys are still being helpful all the way in 2020 nearing 2021

Bethany

5/10/2014 12:29:06

Margin question 5- What was the impact of disease along the Silk Roads?

Many diseases spread through the Silk Roads. Many people were exposed to diseases which they had little immunity too, or didn't know how to deal with. The effects of this unfamiliar exposure differed from region to region. In Rome and Han China, smallpox and measles devastated the populations of both empires. This weakening of the empires played a role in their political collapse. Though these diseases weakened these empires politically, they strengthened them culturally as the compassionate messages of Buddhism in China and Christianity in Rome made them more attractive to those enduring suffering. During the post-classical era, the Black Death ravaged Eurasia. In the Mediterranean, 10,000 people a day died from the Bubonic Plague. This weakening of the Byzantine empire prevented it from reintegrating Italy into it's version of a renewed Roman Empire. (I find this interesting as Strayer mentions in earlier chapters that the Western part of the Roman Empire never experienced a revival, and this is part of the reason why) Disease also weakened the ability of Christendom to resist the Muslim Armies coming from Arabia in the 7th century C.E. The Mongols spread the Black Death throughout the Eurasian landmass, resulting in the death of one third of the European population. However, the tenant farmers and urban workers that managed to survive benefited as they could demand higher wages due to scarcity of living workers. On the flip side, large landowning nobles were hurt by the plague. In China and the Islamic world, the death toll from the Black Death was also high. In Central Asia, the Mongols suffered, ultimately undermining Mongol rule and permanently tipping the balance between pastoral and agricultural peoples to the advantage of settled farmers. Though these diseases were catastrophic, in the long run they were advantageous to Eurasian peoples as long term exposure resulted in the building up of immunities to them. These immunities gave Europeans an advantage when confronting the American peoples who had little immunity to these Eurasian/African diseases.

Bethany

5/10/2014 12:30:28

I chose to organize my answer by region, but I think organizing the answer in terms of SPICE would also be helpful. :)

Bingham

5/10/2014 12:59:52

Do both! The more ways you work it the more you internalize it!

To someone's earlier question, bubonic plague = black death etc.

Olivia Cardenas

5/10/2014 14:30:04

These are my attempts at margin questions 6 and 7.

MQ 6- How did the operation of the Indian Ocean trading network differ from that of the silk roads?

• Transportation costs were lower in Indian Ocean trading than in the silk road because ships could carry cargo in bulk
• Sea roads began to carry products for mass markets (textiles, pepper, timber etc) while the silk roads carried luxury goods for the few who could afford them
• Indian ocean trading relied on monsoons for navigation
• India was the center of the sea roads while it wasn’t the center of the silk roads

MQ 7- What lay behind the flourishing of Indian Ocean commerce in the post classical Millennium?

The flourishing can be attributed to the revival of china and the rise and spread of Islam into the Afro-Eurasian world.

1. ECONOMIC & POLITICAL REVIVAL OF CHINA

• Political- Reestablished an effective/unified state which encouraged commerce (especially during Tang & Song dynasties)
• Economic- growth of Chinese economy sent Chinese products pouring into Indian ocean markets and created an appealing market for Indian and SE Asian goods to be sold, also enabled technological innovations that improved commerce (compasses and larger ships)

2. RISE AND SPREAD OF IISLAM INTO AFR0-EURASIA

• Islam was friendly to commercial life and created a single political system with a large range of economies from the Atlantic Ocean through the Mediterranean basin to India.
• Muslim merchants/sailors, Christians, and Jews living in the Islamic empire established communities of traders from E Africa to the S Chinese Coast
• Efforts to reclaim Mesopotamia to produce sugars and dates for export stimulated a huge slave trade from East Africa
• The power of the Islamic world caused many people to convert, which increased amount of transactions

Bridget Kennedy

6/10/2014 12:21:52

For MQ6, I think you could add some similarities betweeen the silk roads and Indian Ocean trading networks, like how they both connected distant peoples all across the Eastern hemisphere and both grew out of the vast environmental and cultural diversity in the region. Also, another difference that could be added is that in the Indian Ocean trade network, trade did not occur between regions and instead was carried out by urban centers spread across a vast area.

Bingham

6/10/2014 13:13:03

I'll like your first point Bridget. Not so sure about your second. Yes, the Indian Ocean littoral did experience states and cultures that bore more similarities to each other than their own hinterlands. However, we are still talking about extensive inter-regional exchange.

Hank Bond

8/10/2014 13:46:33

In margin question 5, as disease is discussed, would it be a valid point to state, that this spread / exposure to new diseases and eventually the built up resistance to them was a stepping stone in the process of globalization, in that the people of the world from different regions were not threatened by death by disease and could travel (for the most part) worry free of catching something in a foreign land?

Augii

8/10/2014 13:55:46

I don't think that would work because while you build up immunities to some of the diseases in your home or village you will never be able to build up immunity to every disease in every part of the world.

Hank Bond

8/10/2014 14:03:22

Well of course, there were and are too many people for that to happen, but this mixture helped shape, and coordinate how closely people in the eastern world lived yet very differently.

Estelle Cooper

8/10/2014 16:13:21

I know its really late, but a for anyone who is on here, I just found the forum from last year on this chapter, it had some really good information that we haven't discussed yet on here that could help on the test. Just look it up in the search bar at the top of the website

Augii

9/10/2014 11:50:10

So for the margin question about the social, economic, and cultural impacts of the Silk Road, I know that one of the cultural impacts is the spread of Buddhism by merchants who preferred the universal message to that of Hinduism, but I was wondering if Islam is another religion that spread along the Silk Road?

Hank Bond

9/10/2014 13:15:45

Yes, Islam was spread through the silk roads, because many merchants that traveled the route were Islam, due to the fact that Mohamed was a merchant, the occupation was highly regarded in Islamic culture. These Islamic merchants had a cultural impact on the places they traveled and sold.

Bingham

9/10/2014 14:03:54

Islam wasn't present on the silk roads much during this period. Later, beginning in the 12th century, and more during the Mongol period, Islam did spread into central Asia via these roads. This is how the Turks and other central Asian people's came to Islam. But this was centuries after the spread of Buddhism along the routes.

Seshni and Kimani

9/10/2014 14:42:21

When peasants in southern China stopped cultivating food crops and focused instead on producing luxury goods in demand for Silk Road commerce, was that beneficial or harmful to the peoples ability to obtain nutrients?

Augi Liebster

9/10/2014 14:44:46

He doesn't talk about that directly, but in the opening vignette he does mention that this reduced the local self sufficiency that peasants had when they were producing food for themselves and the people around them. They were now also dependent on the trade network.

Bingham

9/10/2014 15:42:09

Think about it. It's both. All changes come with good parts and bad. Money from cash crops can buy food, but if the market dries up, they are vulnerable. We talked about this trade off in class when we discussed the value of trade.

Kimani and Seshni

9/10/2014 19:29:56

Rad, just wanted to clear up that question we had! Than you Augi and Mr. Bingham!

Trade & Culture, Strayer 8

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