WORLD TRADE ROUTES
 

I.  What difference does it make?
  	A.  Who benefited before 1500?
  	B.  Goals & Functions
   		1.  subsistent moral economy
   		2.  free market economy
    			a) supply & demand
    			b) trade diasporas
  	C.  Trade Networks 
   		1.  international trade circuits
   		2.  1500 (before and after)
 II.  What do we know?
  	A.  Americas
   		1.  Andes -- the Incan quipu
   		2.  Mesoamerica 
    			a) Mayans of the Yucatan
    			b) the Aztec pochteca
  	B.  Sub-Saharan Africa 
   		1.  West Africa
    			a) trans-Saharan (w/ camels & oases)
    			b) three large empires:  Ghana, Mali, Songhay
     				-- gold (e.g. Mali’s Mansa Musa to Mecca)
   		2.  East Africa:  Great Zimbabwe
  	C.  Indian Ocean Trade
   		1.  Jewish traders
   		2.  Muslim traders
  	D.  Mongol Empire 
   		1.  Genghis Khan
    			a) extent of Mongol conquests
    			b) the Pax Mongolica
   		2.  World travelers
    			a) Marco Polo
    			b) Ibn Battuta
   		3.  Bubonic Plague 
 

Think/Write Question
 Do you think that historical trade routes are important to present day national identities?