• •

1n or1zons
ross- ura

A giraffe from east Africa sent

as a present to China in 1414
and painted by a Chinese artist
at a zoo in Ming dynasty
China.

446
Long-Distance Trade and Travel Recovery in Europe: State Building
Patterns of Long-Distance Trade Recovery in Europe: The Renaissance
Political and Diplomatic Travel Exploration and Colonization
Missionary Campaigns The Chinese Reconnaissance of the
Long-Distance Travel and Cross-Cultural Exchanges Indian Ocean Basin

Crisis and Recovery European Exploration in the Atlantic and

Indian Oceans
Bubonic Plague
Recovery in China: The Ming Dynasty

EYEWITNESS:
On the Road with Ibn Battuta
ne of the great world travelers of all time was the Moroccan legal scholar Ibn Battuta. Born in 1304 at
Tangier, Ibn Battuta followed fam ily tradition and studied Islamic law. In 1325 he left Morocco, perhaps
for the first time, to make a pilgrimage to Mecca. He traveled by caravan across north Africa and through
Egypt, Palestine, and Syria, arriving at Mecca in 1326. After completing his hajj, Ibn Battuta did not head for
home but spent a year visiting Mesopotamia and Persia, then traveled by ship through the Red Sea and
down the east African coast as far south as Kilwa. By 1330 he had returned to Mecca, but he did not stay
there long. When he learned that the sultan of Delhi offered handsome rewards to foreign legal scholars, he
set off for India. Instead of traveling there directly by sailing across the Arabian Sea, however, he followed a
long and circuitous land route that took him through Egypt, Syria, Anatolia, Constantinople, the Black Sea,
and the great trading cities of central Asia, Bokhara and Samarkand . Only in 1333 did he arrive in Delhi, from
the north.

For the next eight years, Ibn Battuta remained in Ind ia, serving mostly as a qadi (judge) in the govern-
ment of Muhammad ibn Tughluq, the sultan of Delhi. In 1341 Muhammad appointed him to head an enor-
mous embassy to China, but a violent storm destroyed the party's ships as they prepared to depart Calicut
for the sea voyage to China. All personal goods and diplomatic presents sank with the ships, and many of
the passengers drowned. (Ibn Battuta survived because he was on shore attending Friday prayers at the
mosque when the storm struck.) For the next several years, Ibn Battuta made his way around southern
India, Ceylon, and the Maldive Islands, where he served as a qadi for the recently founded Islamic sultanate,
before continuing to China on his own about 1345. He visited the bustling southern Chinese port cities of
Quanzhou and Guangzhou, where he found large communities of Muslim merchants, before returning to
Morocco in 1349 by way of southern India, the Persian Gulf, Syria, Egypt, and Mecca.

Still, Ibn Battuta's travels were not complete. In 1350 he made a short trip to the kingdom of Granada in
southern Spain, and in 1353 he joined a camel caravan across the Sahara desert to visit the Mali empire,
returning to Morocco in 1355. During his travels Ibn Battuta visited the equivalent of forty-four modern
countries and logged more than 117,000 kilometers (73,000 m iles). His account of his adventures stands
with Marco Polo's book among the classic works of travel literature.

Between 1000 and 1500 c.E., the peoples of the eastern hemisphere traveled, traded, communicated, Ibn Battuta: (ih-bun
BAH-too-tah)
and interacted more regularly and intensively than ever before. The large empires of the Mongols and other qadi (KAH-dee)

447
nomadic peoples provided a political foundation for this cross-cultural interaction. When they conquered
and pacified vast regions, nomadic peoples provided safe roads for merchants, diplomats, missionaries,
and other travelers. Quite apart from the nomadic empires, improvements in maritime technology led to
increased traffic in the sea lanes of the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea. As a result, long-distance
travel became much more common than in earlier eras, and individual travelers such as Ibn Battuta and
Marco Polo sometimes ventured throughout much of the eastern hemisphere.

Merchants and travelers exchanged more than trade goods. They diffused technologies and spread
religious faiths. They also exchanged diseases and fac ilitated the spread of pathogens that caused wide-
spread and dead ly epidemics. During the middle decades of the fourteenth century, bubonic plague trav-
eled the trade routes from western China to central Asia, southwest Asia, north Africa, and Europe. During
its initial, furious onslaught, bubonic plague ravaged societies wherever it struck, and it continued to cause
epidemics for three centuries and more.

Gradually, however, societies recovered from the plague. By the early fifteenth century, Chinese and
western European peoples in particular had restabilized their societies and begun to renew cross-cultural
contacts. In Europe, that effort had profound consequences for modern world history. As they sought entry
to the markets of Asia, European mariners not only established direct connections with African and Asian
peoples but also sailed to the western hemisphere and the Pacific Ocean. Their voyages brought the peo-
ples of the eastern hemisphere, the western hemisphere, and Oceania into permanent and sustained inter-
action. Thus cross-cultural interactions of the period 1000 to 1500 pointed toward global interdependence,
a principal characteristic of modern world history.

lanes of the Indian Ocean served ports in southeast Asia,

LONG-DISTANCE TRADE AND TRAVEL India, Arabia, and east Africa while also offering access via
Travelers embarked on long-distance journeys for a variety of the South China Sea to ports in China, Japan, Korea, and the
reasons. Nomadic peoples ranged widely in the course of migra- spice-bearing islands of southeast Asia. Thus, in combination,
tions and campaigns of conquest. East European and African land and sea routes touched almost every corner of the eastern
slaves traveled involuntarily to the Mediterranean basin, south- hemisphere.
west Asia, India, and sometimes even southern China. Buddhist,
Christian, and Muslim pilgrims undertook extraordinary jour-
Trading Cities As the volume of trade increased, the major
neys to visit holy shrines. Three of the more important motives
trading cities and ports grew rapidly, attracting buyers, sellers,
for long-distance travel between 1000 and 1500 c.E. were trade,
brokers, and bankers from parts near and far. Khanbaliq
diplomacy, and missionary activity. The cross-cultural interac-
(modern Beijing), Hangzhou, Quanzhou, Melaka, Cambay,
tions that resulted helped spread technological innovations
Samarkand, Hormuz, Baghdad, Caffa, Cairo, Alexandria,
throughout the eastern hemisphere.
Kilwa, Constantinople, Venice, Timbuktu, and many other
cities had large quarters occupied by communities of foreign
Patterns of Long-Distance Trade merchants. When a trading or port city enjoyed a strategic lo-
Merchants engaged in long-distance trade relied on two prin- cation, maintained good order, and resisted the temptation to
cipal networks of trade routes. Luxury goods of high value levy excessive customs fees, it had the potential to become a
relative to their weight, such as silk textiles and precious major emporium serving long-distance trade networks. A case
stones, often traveled overland on the Silk Roads used since in point is Melaka (in modern Malaysia). Founded in the
classical times. Bulkier commodities, such as steel, stone, 1390s, within a few decades Melaka became the principal
coral, and building materials, traveled the sea lanes of the clearinghouse of trade in the eastern Indian Ocean. The city's
Indian Ocean, since it would have been unprofitable to trans- authorities policed the strategic Strait of Melaka and main-
port them overland. The Silk Roads linked all of the Eurasian tained a safe market that welcomed all merchants and levied
landmass, and trans-Saharan caravan routes drew west Africa reasonable fees on goods exchanged there. By the end of the
into the larger economy of the eastern hemisphere. The sea fifteenth century, Melaka had a population of some fifty

448
 Chapter 21 • Expand ing Horizons of Cross-Cu ltural Interaction 449

An illustration from a fourteenth-century French manuscript depicts Marco Polo picking pepper with local workers in southern India.

thousand people, and in the early sixteenth century the Portu- 1269 they traveled and traded throughout Mongol lands, and
guese merchant Tome Pires reported that more than eighty they met Khubilai Khan as he was consolidating his hold on
languages could be heard in the city's streets. China. When they returned to China in 1271, seventeen-year-old
During the early and middle decades of the thirteenth Marco Polo accompanied them. The great khan took a special
century, the Mongols' campaigns caused economic disruption liking to Marco, who was a marvelous conversationalist and
throughout much of Eurasia particularly in China and south- storyteller. Khubilai allowed Marco to pursue his mercantile
west Asia, where Mongol forces toppled the Song and Abbasid interests in China and also sent him on numerous diplomatic
dynasties. Mongol conquests inaugurated a long period of missions, partly because Marco regaled him with stories about
economic decline in southwest Asia where the conquerors the distant parts of his realm. After seventeen years in China,
destroyed cities and allowed irrigation systems to fall into dis- the Polos decided to return to Venice, and Khubilai granted
repair. As the Mongols consolidated their hold on conquered them permission to leave. They went back on the sea route by
lands, however, they laid the political foundation for a surge in way of Sumatra, Ceylon, India, and Arabia, arriving in Venice
long-distance trade along the Silk Roads. Merchants traveling in 1295.
the Silk Roads faced less risk of banditry or political turbu- A historical accident has preserved the story of Marco
lence than in previous times. Meanwhile, strong economies in Polo's travels. After his return from China, Marco was captured
China, India, and western Europe fueled demand for foreign and made a prisoner of war during a conflict between his native
commodities. Many merchants traveled the whole distance Venice and its commercial rival, Genoa. While imprisoned,
from Europe to China in pursuit of profit. Marco related tales of his travels to his fellow prisoners. One of
them was a writer of romances, and he compiled the stories into
Marco Polo The best-known long-distance traveler of a large volume that circulated rapidly throughout Europe.
Mongol times was the Venetian Marco Polo (1253-1324). In spite of occasional exaggerations and tall tales, Marco's
Marco's father, Niccolo, and uncle Maffeo were among the stories deeply influenced European readers. Marco always
first European merchants to visit China. Between 1260 and mentioned the textiles, spices, gems, and other goods he
450 Part 4 • The Acceleration of Cross-Cu ltural Interaction, 1000 to 1500 c.E.

ASIA .Karakorum
EUROPE Venice •
Genoa •

Baghdad

SAHARA

..-e. Mecca
~ IN D l A
Timbu ktu <£9 Arabian
•
Sea
Bay of
Aden Bengal
MALI
\? AFRICA

(
...'
~ogadishu. __, MALDIVE IS.

~[Link] i ~

Mombasa Mongol emp ires

• Marco Polo's trave ls

Ki lwa
)II Ibn Battuta's trave ls
ATLANTIC
OCEAN
MADAGASCAR
INDIAN OCEAN

MAP 21.1
Travels of Marco Polo and Ibn Battuta. - ----------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------------

Between them, Marco Polo and Ibn Battuta traveled

across much of the Eurasian landmass, as well as
parts of Africa and southeast Asia.
Compare the routes taken by Marco Polo and Ibn
Battuta during their travels. How did the two men
choose where to travel? What conditions made it
possible for them to travel so far from their homes?
 Chapter 21 • Expanding Horizons of Cross-Cu ltural Interaction 451

observed during his travels, and European merchants took

note, eager to participate in the lucrative trade networks of
Eurasia. The Polos were among the first Europeans to visit
China, but they were not the last. In their wake came hundreds
of others, mostly Italians. In most cases, their stories do not
survive, but their travels helped to increase European partici-
pation in the larger economy of the eastern hemisphere.

Political and Diplomatic Travel

Marco Polo came from a family of merchants, and merchants
were among the most avid readers of his stories. Marco him-
self most likely collaborated closely with Italian merchants
during his years in China. Yet his experiences also throw light
on long-distance travel undertaken for political and diplomatic
purposes. Khubilai Khan and the other Mongol rulers of
China did not entirely trust their Chinese subjects and regu-
Sea of larly appointed foreigners to administrative posts. In his ac-
Japan
count of his travels, Marco reported that Khubilai appointed
Yellow him governor of the large trading city of Yangzhou. There is
Sea no independent evidence to confirm that claim, but Marco
• ---... East may well have filled some sort of administrative position. In
ngzhou China addition, he represented Khubilai Khan's interests on diplo-
Sea
matic missions. To support himself in China, then, Marco
Quanzhou. Tropic of Cancer
supplemented his mercantile ventures with various official
Guangznou•
duties assigned to him by his patron, the great khan.
PACIFIC
OCEAN Mongol-Christian Diplomacy The emergence of elabo-
rate trading networks and the establishment of vast imperial
South
China states created great demand for political and diplomatic repre-
Sea sentation during the centuries after 1000 c.E. The thirteenth
century was a time of especially active diplomacy involving
parties as distant as the Mongols and western Europeans, both
of whom considered a military alliance against their common
Equator
Muslim foes. As European Christians sought to revive the
crusading movement and recapture Jerusalem from Muslim
SUMATRA forces, the Mongols were attacking the Abbasid empire from
the east. During the 1240s and 1250s, Pope Innocent IV dis-
JAVA patched a series of envoys who invited the Mongol khans to
convert to Christianity and join Europeans in an alliance
against the Muslims. The khans declined the invitation, pro-
posing in reply that the pope and European Christians submit
to Mongol rule or face destruction.

Rabban Sauma Although the early round of Mongol-

Tropic of Capricorn European diplomacy offered little promise of cooperation, the
AUSTRALIA
Mongols later initiated another effort. In 1287 the Mongol
ilkhan of Persia planned to invade the Muslim-held lands of
southwest Asia, capture Jerusalem, and crush Islam as a political
force in the region. In hopes of attracting support for the project,
he dispatched Rabban Sauma, a Nestorian Christian priest
born in the Mongol capital of Khanbaliq but of Turkish ancestry,
as an envoy to the pope and European political leaders.
Rabban Sauma met with the kings of France and England,
the pope, and other high officials of the Roman Catholic
452 Part 4 • The Acceleration of Cross-Cultural Interaction, 1000 to 1500 c.E.

eleventh century, educated Muslims from southwest Asia and

north Africa regularly traveled to recently converted lands to
help instill Islamic values.

Ibn Battuta Best known of the Muslim travelers was Ibn

Battuta (1304-1369). Islamic rulers governed most of the
lands Ibn Battuta visited including India, the Maldive
Islands, the Swahili city-states of east Africa, and the Mali
empire but very few Muslims educated in the law were
available in those lands. With his legal credentials Ibn Battuta
had little difficulty finding government positions. As qadi and
advisor to the sultan of Delhi, he supervised the affairs of a
wealthy mosque and heard cases at law, which he strictly
enforced according to Islamic standards of justice. On one
occasion Ibn Buttuta sentenced a man to receive eighty lashes
because he had drunk wine eight years earlier.
After leaving northern India, Ibn Battuta obtained a post
as qadi in the Maldive Islands. There he heard cases at law
and worked zealously to promote proper observance of Islam.
He ordered lashings for men who did not attend Friday prayers,
and he once sentenced a thief to lose his right hand in accor-
dance with punishment prescribed by the sharia. He also at-
tempted, unsuccessfully, to persuade island women to meet
the standards of modesty observed in other Islamic lands by
covering their breasts. In both east and west Africa, Ibn
Battuta consulted with Muslim rulers and offered advice
about government, women's dress, and proper relationships
between the sexes. Like many legal scholars whose stories
went unrecorded, Ibn Battuta provided guidance in the ways
of Islam in societies recently converted to the faith.

A fourteenth-century painting of the Moroccan-born traveler Ibn Battuta. Missionary Campaigns

Regarded as one of the greatest travelers of all time, over a period of Sufi Missionaries Islamic values spread not only through
thirty years he visited most of the countries in the vast Islamic realm, the efforts of legal scholars but also through the missionary
and many non-Islamic countries as well, including India and China. activities of Sufi mystics. As in the early days of Islam, Sufis
in the period from 1000 to 1500 ventured to recently con-
quered or converted lands and sought to win a popular follow-
ing for the faith in India, southeast Asia, and sub-Saharan
church. He enjoyed a fine reception, but he did not succeed in Africa. Sufis did not insist on a strict, doctrinally correct un-
attracting European support for the ilkhan. Only a few years derstanding of Islam but, rather, emphasized piety and devo-
later, in 1295, Ghazan, the new ilkhan of Persia, converted to tion to Allah. They even tolerated continuing reverence of
Islam, thus precluding any further possibility of an alliance traditional deities, whom the Sufis treated as manifestations of
between the Mongols of Persia and European Christians. Nev- Allah and his powers. By taking a flexible approach to their
ertheless, the flurry of diplomatic activity illustrates the com- missions, the Sufis spread Islamic values without facing the
plexity of political affairs in the eastern hemisphere and the resistance that unyielding and doctrinaire campaigns would
need for diplomatic consultation over long distances. likely have provoked.
The expansion of Islamic influence in the eastern hemi-
sphere encouraged a different kind of politically motivated Christian Missionaries Meanwhile, Roman Catholic mis-
travel. Legal scholars and judges played a crucial role in sionaries also traveled long distances, in the interests of
Islamic societies, since the sharia prescribed religious obser- spreading Christianity. Missionaries accompanied the cru-
vances and social relationships based on the Quran. saders and other forces to all the lands where Europeans ex-
Conversions to Islam and the establishment of Islamic states tended their influence after the year 1000. In lands where
in India, southeast Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa created a European conquerors maintained a long-term presence-
demand for Muslims educated in Islamic law. After about the such as the Baltic lands, the Balkan region, Sicily, and
 Chapter 21 • Expanding Horizons of Cross-Cultural Interaction 453

Ibn Battuta on Customs in the Mali Empire

Long-distance travelers often encountered unfamiliar customs in allow anyone to practice it in any measure; [other good practices
foreign societies. The Moroccan traveler Ibn Battuta approved include] the universal security in their country, for neither the
heartily when staying with hosts who honored the values of his traveller nor the resident there has to fear thieves or bandits ...
own Muslim society, but he had little tolerance for those who did their punctiliousness in praying, their perseverance in joining the
not. Here he describes what he witnessed at the sultan's court in congregation, and in compelling their children to do so; if a man
the Mali empire. does not come early to the mosque he w ill not find a place to
pray because of the dense crowd; it is customary for each man
The Blacks are the most respectful of people to their king to send his servant with his prayer-mat to spread it out in a place
and abase themselves most before him. They swear by him, reserved for him until he goes to the mosque himself. . .. They
saying Mansa Sulaiman ki [the law of Mansa Sulaiman, the dress in clean white clothes on Fridays; if one of them has only
Mali sultan]. If he summons one of them at his session in the a threadbare shirt he washes it and cleans it and wears it for
cupola ... the man summoned removes his robe and puts on a prayer on Friday. They pay great attention to memorizing the
shabby one, takes off his turban, puts on a dirty skull-cap and Holy Qur'an . . . .
goes in with his robe and his trousers lifted half way to his Among their bad practices are that the women servants,
knees. He comes forward humbly and abjectly, and strikes the slave-girls and young daughters appear naked before people,
ground hard with his elbows. He stands as if he were prostrat- exposing their genitals. I used to see many like this in [the fasting
ing himself in prayer, and hears what the Sultan says like this. If month of] Ramadan, for it is customary for the fararis [command-
one of them speaks to the Sultan and he answers him, he takes ers] to break the fast in the Sultan's palace, where their food is
his robe off his back, and throws dust on his head and back like brought to them by twenty or more slave-girls, who are naked.
someone making his ablutions with water. I was astonished that Women who come before the Sultan are naked and unveiled,
they did not blind themselves. and so are his daughters. On the night of the twenty-seventh of
When the Sultan makes a speech in his audience those Ramadan I have seen about a hundred naked slave-girls come
present take off their turbans from their heads and listen in si- out of his palace with food; with them were two daughters of the
lence. Sometimes one of them stands before him , recounts Sultan with full breasts and they too had no veil. They put dust
what he has done for his service, and says: "On such and such and ashes on their heads as a matter of good manners. [Another
a day I d id such and such, and I killed so and so on such and bad practice:] Many of them eat carrion, dogs and donkeys.
such a day." Those who know vouch for the truth of that and he
does it in this way. One of them draws the string of his bow, then For Further Reflection
lets it go as he would do if he were shooting. If the Sultan says • Discuss the various ways in which Islamic influences and
to him: "You are right" or thanks him, he takes off his robe and established local customs came together in the Mali empire.
pours dust on himself. That is good manners among them ....
Among their good practices are their avoidance of injustice; Source: H. A. R. Gibb, trans. The Travels of Ibn Battuta, A. D. 1325-1354,
there is no people more averse to it, and their Sultan does not 4 vols. London: Hakluyt Society, 1958-94, 4:960, 965-66.

Spain missionaries attracted converts in large numbers, and ate communities created a demand for Roman Catholic
Roman Catholic Christianity became securely established. In services. Many of the Roman Catholic priests who traveled to
the eastern Mediterranean region, however, where crusaders China probably intended to serve the needs of those commu-
were unable to hold their conquests permanently, Christianity nities, but some of them also sought to attract converts.
remained a minority faith.
The most ambitious missions sought to convert Mongols John of Montecorvino Most active of the Roman Catholic
and Chinese to Roman Catholic Christianity. Until the arrival missionaries in China was John of Montecorvino, an Italian
of European merchants and diplomats in the thirteenth cen- Franciscan who went to China in 1291, became the first arch-
tury, probably no Roman Catholic Christian had ever ventured bishop of Khanbaliq in 1307, and died there in 1328. While
as far east as China, although Nestorian Christians from cen- serving the community of Roman Catholic expatriates in
tral Asia had maintained communities there since the seventh China, John worked energetically to establish Christianity in
century. As more Europeans traveled to China, their expatri- the host society. He translated the New Testament and the
454 Part 4 • The Acceleration of Cross-Cu ltural Interaction, 1000 to 1500 c.E.

book of Psalms into Turkish, a language invented in China during the Tang or
commonly used at the Mongol court, the Song dynasty, spread throughout
and he built several churches in China. the Indian Ocean basin during the
He took in young boys from Mongol eleventh century, and by the mid-
and Chinese families, baptized them, twelfth century European mariners
and taught them Latin and Roman used compasses in the Mediterranean
Catholic rituals. He claimed to have and the Atlantic Ocean. Diffusion of
baptized six thousand individuals by the compass was a boon to maritime
1305, and he invited the great khan trade, since it allowed mariners to sail
himself to convert to Christianity. Al- over long stretches of deep water with
though popular and widely respected confidence in their ability to find their
among Europeans, Chinese, and Mon- destinations and return home safely.
gols alike, John attracted few Asian
peoples to Christianity. Spread of Crops Long-distance
Roman Catholic authorities in Eu- journeys enabled Muslim travelers to in-
rope dispatched many other priests and troduce new food and commercial crops
missionaries to China during the early to sub-Saharan Africa. Food crops in-
fourteenth century, but like John of cluded citrus fruits and Asian strains of
Montecorvino, they won few converts. rice, which enriched diets in west Africa
Missions successfully established Chris- after the eleventh century. Muslims also
Caterina Vilioni, daughter of the Venetian
tian communities in Scandinavia, eastern introduced cotton to west Africa, and by
merchant Domenico Vilioni, died in the
Europe, Spain, and the Mediterranean 1100, cotton fabrics had become popu-
Chinese trading city of Yangzhou in 1342. Her
islands that European armies recap- lar with the ruling elites and wealthy
tombstone, which shows she was part of the
tured from Muslims during the centu- merchants of the west African king-
Roman Catholic community in Yangzhou, came
ries after 1000 c.E., but east Asia was doms. Cotton grew well in the savannas,
to light during a construction project in 1951.
too distant for the resources available to and by 1500 it was the principal textile
the Roman Catholic church. Moreover, produced in sub-Saharan Africa.
east Asian peoples already possessed
sophisticated religious and cultural traditions, so Christianity Sugarcane Muslims were also instrumental in the continu-
had little appeal. Nevertheless, Christian missions to China ing diffusion of sugarcane. Muslim merchants and other trav-
continued until the mid-fourteenth century, when the collapse elers had begun large-scale cultivation of sugarcane in
of the Mongols' Yuan dynasty and the eruption of epidemic southwest Asia and north Africa during the Abbasid caliph-
disease temporarily disrupted long-distance travel across ate. They experimented with the plant in west Africa but had
Eurasia. limited success because of adverse environmental conditions.
After the twelfth century, however, Muslims facilitated
Long-Distance Travel and the westward spread of sugarcane by acquainting European
crusaders with crystallized sugar refined from cane. Up to that
Cross-Cultural Exchanges time Europeans had little access to refined sugar, and they
Cultural Exchanges Long-distance travel of all kinds, relied on honey and fruits as sweeteners. They immediately
whether for commercial, political, diplomatic, or mission- appreciated the convenience of refined sugar. Italian entrepre-
ary purposes, encouraged cultural exchanges between peo- neurs began to organize sugarcane plantations on Mediterranean
ples of different societies. Songs, stories, religious ideas, islands such as Sicily, Cyprus, Crete, and Rhodes. Rapidly in-
philosophical views, and scientific knowledge all passed creasing demand for refined sugar encouraged investors to
readily among travelers who ventured into the larger world seek suitable locations throughout the Mediterranean basin.
during the era from 1000 to 1500 c.E. The troubadours of The cultivation of sugarcane had deep social and economic
western Europe, for example, drew on the poetry, music, implications. Besides influencing local economic development
and love songs of Muslim performers when developing the in lands where it spread, it touched distant societies. Like their
literature of courtly love. Similarly, European scientists Muslim predecessors, European sugar producers often staffed
avidly consulted their Muslim and Jewish counterparts in their plantations with slave laborers, and the growth of planta-
Sicily and Spain to learn about their understanding of the tions fueled an increasing demand for Muslim war captives
natural world. and black Africans who could supply labor services.
Large numbers of travelers also facilitated agricultural
and technological diffusion during the period from 1000 to Gunpowder Technologies Although Muslim merchants
1500. Indeed, technological diffusion sometimes facilitated and travelers were especially prominent agents of diffusion,
long-distance travel. The magnetic compass, for example, Mongols also contributed to the process, notably by helping to
 Chapter 21 • Expanding Horizons of Cross-Cultural Interaction 455

John of Montecorvino on His Mission in China

The Franciscan John of Montecorvino (1247-1328) served as a not. Many of the boys are also employed in writing out Psalters
Roman Catholic missionary in Armenia, Persia, and India before and other suitable things. His Majesty the Emperor moreover
going to China in 1291. There he served as priest to expatriate delights much to hear them chanting. I have the bells rung at all
European Christians, and he sought to attract converts to the canonical hours, and w ith my congregation of babes and
Christianity from the Mongol and Chinese communities. In a sucklings I perform divine service, and the chanting we do by
letter of 8 January 1305 asking for support from his fellow ear because I have no service book with the notes....
Franciscans in Italy, John outlined some of his activities during Indeed if I had but two or three comrades to aid me, it is
the previous thirteen years. possible that the emperor khan himself would have been bap-
tized by this time! I ask then for such brethren to come, if any are
[After spending thirteen months in India] I proceeded on willing to come, such I mean as will make it their great business
my further journey and made my way to China, the realm of the to lead exemplary lives ....
emperor of the Mongols who is called the great khan. To him I I have myself grown old and grey, more with toil and trou-
presented the letter of our lord the pope and invited him to adopt ble than with years, for I am not more than fifty-eight. I have
the Catholic faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, but he had grown too got a competent knowledge of the language and script which
old in idolatry. However, he bestows many kindnesses upon the is most generally used by the Tartars. And I have already
Christians, and these two years past I have gotten along well translated into that language and script the New Testament
with him .... and the Psalter and have caused them to be written out in the
I have built a church in the city of Khanbaliq, in which the fairest penmanship they have, and so by writing, reading, and
king has his chief residence. This I completed six years ago; and preaching, I bear open and public testimony to the law of
I have built a bell tower to it and put three bells in it. I have bap- Christ.
tized there, as well as I can estimate, up to this time some 6,000
persons... . And I am often still engaged in baptizing. For Further Reflection
Also I have gradually bought one hundred and fifty boys,
• How did John of Montecorvino seem to regard the khan and
the children of pagan parents and of ages varying from seven to
his Chinese subjects? Does his tone sound hopeful about
eleven, who had never learned any religion. These boys I have
the eventual success of his Christian m ission in China? Why
baptized, and I have taught them Greek and Latin after our man-
or why not?
ner. Also I have written out Psalters for them, with thirty hymnals
and breviaries [prayer books]. By help of these, eleven of the Source: Henry Yule and Henri Cordier, eds. Cathay and the Way
boys already know our service and form a choir and take their Thither, 4 vols. London: Hakluyt Society, 1913-16, 3:45-50.
weekly turn of duty as they do in convents, whether I am there or (Translation slightly modified.)

spread gunpowder technologies west from China. Mongol in the defensive walls of cities under siege. Thus, with the as-
invaders learned about gunpowder from Chinese military sistance of Mongol warriors, gunpowder technology rapidly
engineers in the early thirteenth century and soon incorpo- spread from its homeland in China across the entire Eurasian
rated gunpowder-based weapons into their arsenal: as early as landmass.
1214 Chinggis Khan's armies included an artillery unit. Agricultural and technological diffusions of the era 1000
During the 1250s, as they campaigned in Persia and southwest to 1500 were by no means unique processes in world history.
Asia, the Mongols used catapults and trebuchets to lob gun- For millennia, agricultural crops and technological skills had
powder bombs into cities under siege. Muslim armies soon spread widely whenever peoples of different societies inter-
developed similar weapons in response. acted with one another. Because of the particularly intense
By the mid-thirteenth century, gunpowder had reached interactions of the period from 1000 to 1500, however, agri-
Europe possibly by way of Mongol-ruled Russia and Eu- cultural and technological diffusion profoundly influenced
ropeans had begun to experiment with gunpowder-fueled the lives of peoples throughout the eastern hemisphere. The
rockets. By the early fourteenth century, armies from China to spread of food crops enriched diets and supported increasing
Europe possessed primitive cannons. Although not especially populations, and the spread of industrial crops such as cotton
accurate, the weapons were powerful enough to blow holes promoted economic development. The diffusion of the
456 Part 4 • The Acceleration of Cross-Cu ltural Interaction, 1000 to 1500 c.E.

An illustration from a
manuscript of 1282 depicts
a Christian (left) playing
chess with a Muslim (right).
Chess was one of many
cultural elements that
passed from Muslim to
Christian societies during
the crusading era.

magnetic compass enabled mariners to sail the seas more century, bubonic plague erupted in epidemics that ravaged
safely and effectively, and the spread of gunpowder technol- societies throughout most of Asia, Europe, and north Africa.
ogy changed forever the nature of war. Epidemic plague struck intermittently until the seventeenth
century, but by the fifteenth century Chinese and European
societies had begun to recover from its effects and wield their
CRISIS AND RECOVERY influence in the larger world.
As Eurasian peoples traveled over long distances, they not
only exchanged trade goods, agricultural crops, and techno-
logical expertise but also unwittingly helped disease patho- Bubonic Plague
gens to spread. When diseases broke out among previously The Little Ice Age About 1300 c.E. a process of global cli-
unexposed populations, they often caused deadly epidemics matic change caused temperatures to decline significantly and
that severely disrupted whole societies. During the fourteenth abruptly throughout much of the world. For more than five
 Chapter 21 • Expand ing Horizons of Cross-Cu ltural Interaction 457

I II

' ~

English forces besiege a French citadel during the Hundred Years' War (1337-1453). Note that the besiegers on the left side of this manuscript illustration
employ cannons and smaller firearms that launch gunpowder bombs. Although essentially a dynastic conflict between two European ruling houses, the series
of conflicts that constituted the Hundred Years' War had a significant impact on military technology and strategy and were a major influence on developing
notions of French and English nationalism .

hundred years, the earth experienced a "little ice age," when from the Yunnan region of southwestern China, where it prob-
temperatures were much cooler than in the era from 1000 to ably had been endemic for centuries. The plague bacillus
1300 c.E. With markedly cooler temperatures and shorter grow- infects rodents such as rats, squirrels, and prairie dogs, and
ing seasons, agricultural production declined in many lands, fleas transmit the pathogen from one rodent to another. If ro-
leading to famine and sometimes even starvation. In some dent populations decline, fleas seek other hosts and sometimes
northerly lands, agriculture ceased to be a practical possibility: spread the disease to human victims. In the early fourteenth
after the onset of the little ice age, Norse settlers abandoned the century, Mongol military campaigns helped spread plague
colonies they had occupied in Greenland since the tenth century. from Yunnan to China's interior: an epidemic in 1331 report-
edly killed 90 percent of the population in Hebei province in
Origins of Epidemic Bubonic Plague As they struggled northeastern China, near modern Beijing. During the 1350s
to cope with the cooling climate, peoples in much of the east- epidemics broke out in widely scattered regions of China, and
ern hemisphere suddenly encountered a new challenge in the contemporaries reported that plague carried away two-thirds
form of devastating epidemic disease. Bubonic plague spread of the population in some afflicted areas.
458 Part 4 • The Acceleration of Cross-Cultural Interaction, 1000 to 1500 c.E.

buboes which gave rise to the term bubonic and because

of the black or purple swellings, Europeans referred to the
plague as the "Black Death." Bubonic plague typically killed
60 to 70 percent of its human victims and had the potential to
ravage a society within a few months. In some small villages
and towns, disease wiped out the entire population. A spate of
new births generally followed outbreaks of plague as societies
tried to replenish their numbers, but plague also returned and
claimed new victims. In Europe plague erupted intennittently
from the 1340s until the late seventeenth century.
Some parts of the eastern hemisphere did not suffer
directly from plague epidemics. The long, cold winters of
Scandinavia discouraged the proliferation of plague-bearing
rodents and fleas, so the northernmost parts of Europe
escaped the plague's worst effects. For reasons unknown,
India also seems to have avoided serious difficulties. In fact,
the Indian population grew from 91 million in the year 1300
to 97 million a century later and 105 million in 1500.
Epidemics also largely bypassed sub-Saharan Africa, even
though plague had long been endemic in the Great Lakes
region of east Africa.

Population Decline In lands hard hit by plague, however,

it took a century and more to begin recovery from the demo-
graphic consequences of epidemic disease. In 1300 China's
population, already reduced by conflicts with the Mongols
since the early thirteenth century, stood at eighty-five million.
In 1400, after about seventy years of epidemic plague, Chinese
numbers amounted to only seventy-five million. A century
later demographic recovery was under way, and China's pop-
ulation rebounded to one hundred million.
European society also reeled from the effects of bu-
A painting from 1376 graphically communicates the horror felt by bonic plague. From seventy-nine million in 1300, Europe's
medieval Europeans when bubonic plague struck their communities. population dropped by almost 25 percent to sixty million in
Here, death strangles a victim of the Black Death plague. 1400. As in China, demographic recovery in Europe was
under way in 1500 when the European population climbed
to eighty-one million. Islamic societies in southwest Asia,
Egypt, and north Africa also suffered devastating popula-
Spread of Plague During the 1340s Mongols, merchants, tion losses, and demographic recovery took much longer
and other travelers spread the disease along trade routes to points there than in China and Europe. In Egypt human population
west of China. It thrived in the oases and trading cities of central probably did not reach preplague levels until the nineteenth
Asia, where domestic animals and rodents provided abundant century.
breeding grounds for fleas and the plague bacillus.
By 1346 it had reached the Black Sea ports of Caffa
and Tana. In 1347, Italian merchants fled plague-
infected Black Sea ports and unwittingly spread the
Thinking about ENCOUNTERS
disease throughout the Mediterranean basin. By
1348, following the trade routes, plague had sparked •
epidemics in most of western Europe.
Wherever it appeared, bubonic plague struck
with frightful effects. Victims developed inflamed
lymph nodes, particularly in the neck, armpit, and
groin areas, and most died within a few days after
the onset of symptoms. Internal hemorrhaging
often discolored the inflammations known as
 Chapter 21 • Expanding Horizons of Cross-Cultural Interaction 459

Social and Economic Effects Because of the heavy a family so poor that he spent much of his youth as a beg-
demographic toll that it levied, bubonic plague dis- gar. Orphaned, he entered a Buddhist monastery to
rupted societies and economies throughout assure himself of food, clothing, and shelter.
Eurasia and north Africa. Epidemics killed Because of his size and strength, he came to the
the young, the weak, and the old in especially notice of military commanders, and he made
high numbers, but they spared no group. his way through the ranks to lead the rebel-
Peasants and laborers, artisans and crafts lious forces that toppled the Yuan dynasty.
workers, merchants and bankers, priests In 1368 he became Emperor Hongwu, and
and nuns, rulers and bureaucrats all fell he proclaimed the establishment of the
before the plague's onslaught. The dis- Ming ("brilliant") dynasty, which lasted
ease caused severe labor shortages, which unti11644.
in turn generated social unrest.
In western Europe, for example, urban Ming Centralization Hongwu immedi-
workers demanded higher wages, and many ately set about eliminating all traces of Mon-
left their homes in search of better conditions. gol rule and establishing a government on the
Political authorities responded by freezing wages model of traditional Chinese dynasties. Like the
and forbidding workers to leave their founders of several earlier Chinese dy-
homes. For their part, peasants in the nasties, Hongwu had little interest in
Ming artisans won worldwide fame for scholarly matters, but he reestablished
countryside also sought to improve their
their blue-and-white porcelain, which the Confucian educational and civil ser-
circumstances by moving to regions
inspired the founders of the Delft porcelain vice systems to ensure a supply of tal-
where landlords offered better terms.
factory in the Netherlands. This covered ented officials and bureaucrats. At the
Landlords responded to that challenge by
jar dates from the early fifteenth century. same time, he moved to centralize author-
restricting the freedom of peasants to
move and by reimposing labor require- ity more tightly than ever before in
ments: in effect, the lords sought to rein- Chinese history. In 1380, when he sus-
state conditions of serfdom that they had allowed to lapse pected his chief minister of involvement in a treasonous plot,
before the arrival of plague. As a result of sharply conflicting Hongwu executed the minister and his bureaucratic allies and
interests, disgruntled workers and peasants mounted a series also abolished the minister's position altogether. From that
of rebellions that rocked both the towns and the countryside time forward the Ming emperors ruled directly, without the aid
of western Europe. Authorities eventually extinguished the of chief ministers, and they closely supervised imperial affairs.
revolts but only after considerable social disruption and loss
of life. Mandarins and Eunuchs The Ming emperors insisted on
By the seventeenth century the plague had lost much of its absolute obedience to the policies and initiatives of the central
ferocity. Epidemics occurred more sporadically, and they did government. They relied heavily on the mandarins, a special
not seriously diminish human populations. Since the 1940s, class of powerful officials sent out as emissaries of the central
antibiotic drugs have brought the disease largely under control government to ensure that local officials implemented imperial
among human populations, although it survives in rodent policy. The Ming emperors also turned to eunuchs for govern-
communities throughout much of the world. mental services. Earlier Chinese emperors, as well as rulers of
other lands, had long relied on eunuchs, since they could not
generate families and build power bases that might challenge
ruling houses. In keeping with their centralizing policy, how-
Recovery in China: The Ming Dynasty ever, the Ming emperors employed eunuchs much more exten-
By the mid-fourteenth century, the Mongols' Yuan dynasty sively than any of their predecessors, in the expectation that
was experiencing very difficult times. Financial mismanage- servants whose fortunes depended exclusively on the emperors'
ment led to serious economic difficulties, and political con- favor would work especially diligently to advance the emper-
flicts led to assassinations and factional fighting among the ors' interests.
Mongols. In 1368, with bubonic plague raging, the Yuan dy- The employment of mandarins and eunuchs enhanced the
nasty collapsed, and the Mongols departed China en masse and authority of the central government. The tightly centralized
returned to the steppes, leaving China in a state of both demo- administration instituted by the early Ming emperors lasted
graphic and political turmoil. An increasing birthrate soon more than five hundred years. Although the dynasty fell in
helped to replenish human numbers. Political recovery accom- 1644 to Manchu invaders, who founded the Qing dynasty, the
panied the demographic rebound. Manchus retained the administrative framework of the Ming

Hongwu When the Yuan dynasty fell, the governance of eunuchs (YOO-nihks)
China returned to Chinese hands. The new emperor came from Qing (ching)
460 Part 4 • The Acceleration of Cross-Cu ltural Interaction, 1000 to 1500 c.E.

Individual experiences
0 what has come over me? Where are the violent fates pushing
of the bubonic plague me back to? I see passing by, in headlong flight, time which makes
the world a fleeting place. I observe about me dying throngs of
The problem The rapid spread of bubonic plague from both young and old, and nowhere is there a refuge. No haven
China to most of Eurasia in the fourteenth century was a d isaster beckons in any part of the globe, nor can any hope of longed for
that had profound and lasting effects on historical developments salvation be seen. Wherever I tum my frightened eyes, their gaze
in China, central and southwest Asia, north Africa, and Europe, is troubled by continual funerals: the churches groan encumbered
from massive population decline to economic disruption to social with biers, and, without last respects, the corpses of the noble and
and political unrest. Although historians and scientists continue the commoner lie in confusion alongside each other. The last hour
to dispute exact mortality rates, it is clear that the plague killed of life comes to mind, and, obliged to recollect my misfortunes,
many millions of people, reducing populations wherever it struck
I recall the flocks of dear ones who have departed, and the
by at least 25 percent, and sometimes much more. When explor-
conversations offriends, the sweet faces which suddenly vanished,
ing the history of d isasters like the plague, it can be easy to forget
and the hallowed ground now insufficient for repeated burials.
that each individual who lived through the event-or died from
it-had his or her own story, feelings, and fam ily. In world history, This is what the people of Italy bemoan, weakened by so many
while it is important to understand the "big picture," it is also deaths; this is what France laments, exhausted and stripped of
important to remember that the "big picture" is always com- inhabitants; the same goes for other peoples, under whatever
posed of millions of individual stories. These individual stories skies they reside. Either it is the wrath of God, for certainly I
remind us that experiencing terrible events was not easier for would think that our misdeeds deserve it, or it is just the harsh
individuals just because many suffered similar fates, or because assault of the stars in their perpetually changing conjunctions. . . .
they occurred a long t ime ago. Dense shadows have covered me with fear. For whosoever thinks
The following documents are only two examples-one from they can recall death and look upon the moment of their passing
Italy and the other from Syria-of how individuals experienced
with fearless face is either mistaken or mad, or, if he is fully
the plague as it tore through Europe and southwest Asia in 1348.
aware, then he is very courageous.

The documents Read the documents below, and con-

sider carefully the questions that follow.
Document 2: Ibn ai-Wardi (ca. 1290-1349) was a Muslim writer
Document 1: Francesco Petrarca (1304-1374) was an Italian who lived and worked in Aleppo (modern Syria). He wrote the
scholar and early humanist who lived through the plague that following "Essay on the Report of the Pestilence" after the plague
struck Italy in 1348. Scholars believe he wrote the following letter, struck his region in the spring of 1348. The next year, in March
known as the Metrica, to himself in about 1348. 1349, ai-Wardi himself died of the plague.

state, which largely survived until the collapse of the Qing sought commercial opportunities and conducted a thriving
dynasty in 1911. business marketing Chinese products in ports and trading cit-
ies from Japan to the islands of southeast Asia. Meanwhile,
Economic Recovery While building a centralized admin- domestic trade surged within China, reflecting increasing pro-
istration, the Ming emperors also worked toward economic ductivity and prosperity.
recovery from nomadic rule and epidemic disease. The new
rulers conscripted laborers to rebuild irrigation systems that Cultural Revival In addition to political and economic re-
had fallen into disrepair during the previous century, and ag- covery, the Ming dynasty sponsored a kind of cultural revival
ricultural production surged as a result. At the same time, they in China. Emperor Hongwu tried to eradicate all signs of the
promoted the manufacture of porcelain, lacquerware, and fine recent nomadic occupation by discouraging the use of Mongol
silk and cotton textiles. Ming rulers did not actively promote names and the wearing of Mongol dress. Ming emperors ac-
trade with other lands, but private Chinese merchants eagerly tively promoted Chinese cultural traditions, particularly the
 Chapter 21 • Expanding Horizons of Cross-Cultural Interaction 461

This plague is for the Muslims a martyrdom and a reward, and

for the disbelievers a punishment and a rebuke.. .. I take
refuge in God from the yoke of the plague. Its high explosion
has burst into all countries and was an examiner of astonishing
things. Its sudden attacks perplex the people. The plague
chases the screaming without pity and does not accept a
treasure for ransom. Its engine is far-reaching. The plague
enters into the house and swears it will not leave except with
all of its inhabitants. ... Among the benefits of this ... is the
removal of one's hopes and the improvement of his earthly
works. It awakens men from their indifference for the
provisioning of their final journey. ... Come then, seek the
aid of God Almighty for raising the plague, for He is the best
helper. Oh God, we call You better than anyone did before. We This 1411 illustration of plague-infected people is taken from the
call You to raise from us the pestilence and plague. ... We Toggenburg Bible.
plead with You, by the most honored of the advocates,
Muhammad, the Prophet of mercy, that You take away from us
3. In Document 2, what is the cause of the plague, according
this distress. Protect us from the evil and the torture and
to ai-Wardi? How does he describe the effects of the plague
preserve us.
on those around him? What kinds of advantages does he
argue that the plague has brought?
4. For both documents, how do each of the men view God's
role in the plague? What are the similarities between the
Questions two excerpts? What are the d ifferences? Finally, do you
1. What can these sources definitively tell you about the lives think their experience of the plague is representative, given
of the people who produced them? What facts can be that both were highly educated men? Why or why not? How
gleaned from these sources? useful are individual stories in interpreting and understand-
2. In Document 1, what is Petrarca's state of mind? How does ing world historical events?
he describe the effects of the plague on himself and his
Source Citations: Document 1: [Link]
loved ones? Do you think his reaction to the plague would ltalian_Studies/dweb/plague/perspectives/[Link]
have been shared by others in Italy, or might others have Document 2: John Aberth, The First Horseman: Disease in Human History
reacted differently? (Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2007), pp. 42-43.

Confucian and neo-Confucian schools. Hong-wu's successor, Recovery in Europe: State Building
Yongle, organized the preparation of a vast encyclopedia that
compiled all significant works of Chinese history, philosophy, Demographic recovery strengthened states in Europe as it did
and literature. This Yongle Encyclopedia ran to almost in China. In Europe, however, political authority rested with a
twenty-three thousand manuscript rolls, each equivalent to a series of regional states rather than a centralized empire. By
medium-size book. The government originally planned to is- the late fifteenth century, states in Italy, Spain, France,
sue a printed edition of the encyclopedia but abandoned the England, and Russia had devised techniques of government
project because of its enormous expense. Nevertheless, the that vastly enhanced their power.
Yongle Encyclopedia was a remarkable anthology, and it sig-
naled the Ming rulers' interest in supporting native Chinese
cultural traditions. Yongle (YAWNG-Ieh)
462 Part 4 • The Acceleration of Cross-Cu ltural Interaction, 1000 to 1500 c.E.

The Florentine painter Masaccio was a pioneer of Renaissance art. His fresco Tribute Money, produced about 1427, relies on the technique of linear
perspective to depict figures in realistic relationship to one another and their surroundings. How does linear perspective lend a sense of depth to this scene?

During the later middle ages (1300-1500), internal prob- and subjects, which supplemented the income that rulers
lems as well as bubonic plague complicated European politi- received from their subordinates. The second was the mainte-
cal affairs. The Holy Roman Empire survived in name, but nance of large standing armies, which, particularly since the
after the mid-thirteenth century effective authority lay with Hundred Years' War, were often composed of mercenary
the Gennan princes and the Italian city-states rather than the forces and equipped with gunpowder weapons, supported by
emperor. In Spain descendants of Muslim conquerors held the state funds.
kingdom of Granada in the southern portion of the Iberian
peninsula. The kings of France and England sparred con- Italian States The state-building process began in Italy,
stantly over lands claimed by both. Their hostilities eventually where profits from industrial production and trade enriched
resulted in the Hundred Years' War (1337-1453), a protracted the major cities. The principal Italian states the city-states
series of intermittent campaigns in which the warring factions of Milan, Venice, and Florence, the papal state based in Rome,
sought control of lands in France. Russia had even more diffi- and the kingdom of Naples needed large numbers of offi-
cult problems. In the late 1230s Mongol armies conquered the cials to administer their complex affairs. They also needed
flourishing commercial center of Kiev, and descendants of ready access to military forces that could protect their inter-
Chinggis Khan extracted tribute from Russia for almost ests. Beginning as early as the thirteenth century, the Italian
250 years thereafter. In the fifteenth century, however, the city-states financed those needs by levying direct taxes and
Mongol states fell into disorder, giving rise to a vast power issuing long-term bonds that they repaid from treasury re-
vacuum in Russia. ceipts. With fresh sources of finance, the principal Italian
states strengthened their authority within their own boundar-
Taxes and Armies By the late fifteenth century, however, ies and between them controlled public affairs in most of the
regional states in western Europe had greatly strengthened Italian peninsula.
their societies, and some had also laid the foundations for the
emergence of powerful monarchies. The state-building efforts France and England During the fourteenth and fifteenth
of the later middle ages involved two especially important centuries, Italian administrative methods made their way be-
elements. The first was the development of fresh sources of yond the Alps. Partly because of the enormous expenses they
finance, usually through new taxes levied directly on citizens incurred during the Hundred Years' War, the kings of France
 Chapter 21 • Expanding Horizons of Cross-Cultural Interaction 463

and England began to levy direct taxes and assemble powerful merchants had strong ties to Poland and Lithuania to the west,
armies. The French kings taxed sales, hearths, and salt; their and Ivan wanted to make sure that Novgorod's prosperity did
English counterparts instituted annual taxes on hearths, indi- not benefit neighboring states. Thus he demanded that the city
viduals, and plow teams. Rulers in both lands asserted the acknowledge his authority. After crushing a futile uprising
authority of the central government over the nobility. The organized by Novgorod's merchants, he ended the city's
English kings did not establish a standing army, but they were independence in 1478 and absorbed it into the expansive
able to raise powerful forces when rebellion threatened public Muscovite state. With the aid of Novgorod's wealth, Ivan was
order. In France, however, King Louis XI (reigned 1461- then able to build a strong centralized government modeled on
1483) maintained a permanent army of about fifteen thousand the Byzantine empire. Indeed, Ivan went so far as to call him-
troops, many of them professional mercenary soldiers equipped self tsar (sometimes spelled czar) a Russianized form of the
with firearms. Because the high expense of maintaining term caesar, which Byzantine rulers had borrowed from the
such forces was beyond the means of the nobility, Louis and classical Roman empire to signify their imperial status.
his successors enjoyed a decisive edge over ambitious sub- Competition between European states intensified as they
ordinates seeking to challenge royal authority or build local tightened their authority in their territories. This competition
power bases. led to frequent small-scale wars between European states, and
it encouraged the rapid development of military and naval
Spain The process of state building was most dramatic in technology. As states sought technological advantages over
Spain, where the marriage in 1469 of Fernando of Aragon their neighbors, they encouraged the refinement and improve-
and Isabel of Castile united the two wealthiest and most im- ment of weapons, ships, and sails. When one state acquired
portant Iberian realms. Receipts from the sales tax, the pri- powerful weapons such as personal firearms or ships
mary source of royal income, supported a powerful standing equipped with cannons neighboring states sought more ad-
army. Under Fernando and Isabel, popularly known as the vanced devices in the interests of security. Thus technological
Catholic Kings, Christian forces completed the reconquista innovations vastly strengthened European armies just as they
by conquering the kingdom of Granada and absorbing it into began to venture again into the larger world.
their state. The Catholic Kings also projected their authority
beyond Iberia. When a French army threatened the kingdom Recovery in Europe: The Renaissance
of Naples in 1494, they seized southern Italy, and by 1559
Spanish forces had established their hegemony throughout Demographic recovery and state-building efforts in Europe
most of the Italian peninsula. Fernando and Isabel also coincided with a remarkable cultural flowering known as the
sought to make a place for Spain in the markets of Asia by Renaissance. The French word renaissance means "rebirth,"
sponsoring Christopher Columbus's quest for a western and it refers to a round of artistic and intellectual creativity
route to China. that took place from the fourteenth to the sixteenth century
and that reflected the continuing development of a sophisti-
Russia State building took place in Russia as well as in cated urban society, particularly in western Europe. Painters,
western Europe. After the fourteenth century, as Mongol sculptors, and architects of the Renaissance era drew inspira-
power waned, Russian princes sought to expand their territo- tion from classical Greek and Roman artists rather than from
ries. Most successful of them were the grand princes of their medieval predecessors. They admired the convincing
Moscow. As early as the mid-fourteenth century, the princes realism of classical sculpture and the stately simplicity of
began the process of "gathering the Russian land" by acquir- classical architecture. In their efforts to revive classical aes-
ing territories surrounding their strategically located commer- thetic standards, they transformed European art. Meanwhile,
cial town of Moscow on the Volga River. In 1480 Grand Renaissance scholars known as humanists looked to classical
Prince Ivan III (reigned 1462-1505), later known as Ivan the rather than medieval literary models, and they sought to up-
Great, stopped paying tribute to the Mongol khan. By refusing date medieval moral thought and adapt it to the needs of a
to acknowledge the khan's supremacy, Ivan in effect declared bustling urban society.
Russian independence from Mongol rule. He then made
Moscow the center of a large and powerful state. His territo- Italian Renaissance Art Just as they pioneered new tech-
rial annexations were impressive: Muscovy, the principality niques of statecraft, the Italian city-states also sponsored Re-
ruled from Moscow, almost tripled in size as he brought naissance innovations in art and architecture. In search of
Russian-speaking peoples into his realm. The most important realistic depictions, Italian artists studied the human form and
addition to his possessions came with the acquisition of the represented the emotions of their subjects. Italian painters such
prosperous trading city of Novgorod. A hub of the lucrative
fur trade and a member of the Hanseatic League of Baltic
commercial cities, Novgorod was an autonomous city-state
that governed its affairs through a town council. The city's Renaissance (ren-uh-SAHNS)
464 Part 4 • The Acceleration of Cross-Cu ltural Interaction, 1000 to 1500 c.E.

Buonarotti (1475-1564) sought to depict their subjects in

natural poses that reflected the actual workings of human mus-
cles rather than in the awkward and rigid postures often found
in earlier sculptures.

Renaissance Architecture Renaissance architects de-

signed buildings in the simple, elegant style preferred by
their classical Greek and Roman predecessors. Their most
impressive achievement was the construction of domed
buildings awesome structures that enclosed large spaces
but kept them open and airy under massive domes. Roman
architects had built domes, but their technology and engi-
neering did not survive the collapse of the Roman empire.
Inspired by the Pantheon, a handsome Roman temple con-
structed in the second century c.E., the Florentine architect
Filippo Brunelleschi (1377-1446) reinvented equipment and
Brunelleschi's magnificent dome on the cathedral of Florence dominates
designs for a large dome. During the 1420s and 1430s, he
the city's skyline even today.
oversaw the construction of a magnificent dome on the cathe-
dral of Florence. Residents of Florence took Brunelleschi's
dome as a symbol of the city's wealth and its leadership in
as Masaccio (1401-1428) and Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) artistic and cultural affairs.
relied on the technique of linear perspective to represent the
three dimensions of real life on flat, two-dimensional surfaces. The Humanists Like Renaissance artists and architects,
Sculptors such as Donatello (1386-1466) and Michelangelo scholars and literary figures known as humanists also drew
inspiration from classical models. The term humanist re-
ferred to scholars interested in the humanities literature,
history, and moral philosophy. They had nothing to do with
Leonardo da Vinci (lee-uh-NAHR-doh duh-VIHN-chee) the secular and often antireligious interests of movements
Michelangelo Buonarotti (mik-uhl AN-juh-low baw-nahr-RAW-tee) that go under the name humanism today: on the contrary,

A painting by Venetian artists Gentile and Giovanni Bellini reflects Renaissance interests in the Muslim world. The painting depicts St. Mark (standing in the
pulpit, left) preaching in Alexandria, Egypt. The audience includes Egyptians, Berbers, Turks, Persians, Ethiopians, and Mongols.
 Chapter 21 • Expanding Horizons of Cross-Cultural Interaction 465

Renaissance Europe and the Larger

Thinking about TRADITIONS World Quite apart from their conscious effort to
draw inspiration from classical antiquity, Renais-
sance art and thought also reflected increasing
European participation in the affairs of the east-
ern hemisphere. As merchants linked Europe
to the larger hemispheric economy, European
peoples experienced increased prosperity that en-
abled them to invest resources in artistic produc-
tion and support for scholarship. Renaissance
painters filled their canvases with images of silk
garments, ceramic vessels, lacquered wood, spice
jars, foreign peoples, and exotic animals that had
Renaissance humanists were deeply committed to Christian- recently come to European attention. Princes and wealthy
ity. Several humanists worked diligently to prepare accurate patrons commissioned hundreds of these paintings that
texts and translations of the New Testament and other impor- brought a cosmopolitan look to their palaces, residences, and
tant Christian writings. Most notable of them was Desiderius places of business.
Erasmus of Rotterdam (1466-1536), who in 1516 published This enchantment with the larger world extended also
the first edition of the Greek New Testament along with a into the realm of ideas. The Italian humanist Giovanni Pico
revised Latin translation and copious annotations. Other hu- della Mirandola (1463-1494) perhaps best reflected the en-
manists drew inspiration from the intense spirituality and thusiasm of Renaissance scholars to comprehend the world
high moral standards of early Christianity and promoted beyond western Europe. In his exuberant Oration on the Dig-
those values in their society. nity of Man (1486), Pico made a spirited effort to harmonize
Humanists scorned the dense and often convoluted writ- the divergent teachings of Plato, Aristotle, Judaism, Christian-
ing style of the scholastic theologians. Instead, they preferred ity, and Islam, not to mention Zoroastrianism and various oc-
the elegant and polished language of classical Greek and Ro- cult and mystical traditions. His ambitious endeavor was
man authors and the early church fathers, whose works they ultimately unsuccessful: Pico had limited information about
considered more engaging and more persuasive than the several of the traditions he sought to reconcile, and he some-
weighty tomes of medieval philosophers and theologians. times offered superficial interpretations of doctrines that he
Thus humanists such as the Florentine Francesco Petrarca, imperfectly understood. Nevertheless, his Oration gave elo-
also known in English as Petrarch (1304-1374), traveled quent voice to the burning desire of many European scholars
throughout Europe searching for manuscripts of classical to understand the larger world. It is not surprising that just as
works. In the monastic libraries of Italy, Switzerland, and Pico and other Renaissance humanists were undertaking that
southern France, they found hundreds of Latin writings that effort, European mariners were organizing expeditions to ex-
medieval scholars had overlooked. During the fifteenth cen- plore the lands and seas beyond Christendom.
tury, Italian humanists became acquainted with Byzantine
scholars and enlarged the body of classical Greek as well as
Latin works available to scholars.
EXPLORATION AND COLONIZATION
Humanist Moral Thought Classical Greek and Latin val- As peoples of the eastern hemisphere recovered from demo-
ues encouraged the humanists to reconsider medieval ethical graphic collapse and restored order to their societies, they
teachings. Medieval moral philosophers had taught that the also sought to revive the networks of long-distance trade
most honorable calling was that of monks and nuns who with- and communication that epidemic plague had disrupted.
drew from the world and dedicated their lives to prayer, con- Most active in that effort were China and western Europe-
templation, and the glorification of God, but the humanists the two societies that recovered most rapidly from the disas-
drew inspiration from classical authors such as Cicero, who ters of the fourteenth century. During the early Ming
demonstrated that it was possible to lead a morally virtuous dynasty, Chinese ports accommodated foreign traders, and
life while participating actively in the affairs of the world. mariners mounted a series of enormous naval expeditions
Renaissance humanists argued that it was perfectly honorable that visited almost all parts of the Indian Ocean basin.
for Christians to enter into marriage, business relationships, Meanwhile, Europeans ventured from the Mediterranean
and public affairs, and they offered a spirited defense for those
who rejected the cloister in favor of an active life in society.
Humanist moral thought thus represented an effort to recon-
cile Christian values and ethics with the increasingly urban Desiderius Erasmus (des-i-DEER-ee-uhs ih-raz-muhs)
and commercial society of Renaissance Europe. Francesco Petrarca (frahn-CHES-koh PEE-trahrk-a)
466 Part 4 • The Acceleration of Cross-Cultural Interaction, 1000 to 1500 c.E.

The Kangnido Map (1470) is one of the few surviving large-scale maps from east Asia before modern times. Produced in Korea, it draws on Chinese and
Muslim sources, while exaggerating the size of the Korean peninsula.

into the Atlantic Ocean, which served as a highway to exotic products such as tortoise shells and animal skins. The
sub-Saharan Africa and the Indian Ocean basin. By the end early Ming emperors also refurbished the large Chinese
of the fifteenth century, Europeans not only had established navy built during the Song dynasty, and they allowed Chinese
sea lanes to India but also had made several return voyages merchants to participate in overseas trading ventures in Japan
to the American continents, thus inaugurating a process and southeast Asia.
that brought all the world's peoples into permanent and sus-
tained interaction. Zheng He's Expeditions Moreover, for almost thirty
years, the Ming government sponsored a series of seven am-
The Chinese Reconnaissance bitious naval expeditions designed to establish a Chinese
presence in the Indian Ocean basin. Emperor Yongle orga-
of the Indian Ocean Basin nized the expeditions for two main purposes: to impose im-
Having ousted the Mongols, the early Ming emperors were perial control over foreign trade with China and to impress
not eager to have large numbers of foreigners residing in foreign peoples with the power and might that the Ming
China. Yet the emperors permitted foreign merchants to trade dynasty had restored to China. Indeed, he might well have
in the closely supervised ports of Quanzhou and Guangzhou, hoped to extend the tributary system, by which Chinese
where they obtained Chinese silk, porcelain, and manufactured dynasties traditionally recognized foreign peoples, to lands
goods in exchange for pearls, gems, spices, cotton fabrics, and in the Indian Ocean basin.
 Chapter 21 • Expand ing Horizons of Cross-Cu ltural Interaction 467

peoples with China's military might. He ruthlessly suppressed

pirates who had long plagued Chinese and southeast Asian
waters. He also intervened in a civil disturbance to establish
his authority in Ceylon, and he made displays of military force
when local officials threatened his fleet in Arabia and east
Africa. The seven expeditions established a Chinese presence
and reputation in the Indian Ocean basin. Returning from his
fourth voyage, Zheng He brought envoys from thirty states
who traveled to China and paid their respects at the Ming
court.

End of the Voyages Yet suddenly, in the mid-1430s, the

Ming emperors decided to end the expeditions. Confucian
ministers, who mistrusted Zheng He and the eunuchs who
An artist's impression of the comparative size of one of the great treasure supported the voyages, argued that resources committed to
ships of Ming dynasty admiral Zheng He and one of the much smaller the expensive expeditions would go to better uses if devoted
ships in the fleet in which Columbus sailed from Europe to the Americas. to agriculture. Moreover, during the 1420s and 1430s the
Mongols mounted a new military threat from the northwest,
and land forces urgently needed financial support.
Thus in 1433, after Zheng He's seventh voyage, the ex-
The expeditions took place between 1405 and 1433. peditions ended. Chinese merchants continued to trade in
Leading them was the eunuch admiral Zheng He, a Muslim Japan and southeast Asia, but imperial officials destroyed
from Yunnan in southwestern China who rose through the most of the nautical charts that Zheng He had carefully pre-
ranks of eunuch administrators to become a trusted advisor pared and gave up any plans to maintain a Chinese presence
of Yongle. Zheng He embarked on each voyage with an in the Indian Ocean. The decommissioned treasure ships sat
awesome fleet of vessels complemented by armed forces in harbors until they rotted away, and Chinese craftsmen
large enough to overcome resistance at any port where the forgot the technology of building such large vessels. Yet
expedition called. On the first voyage, for example, Zheng Zheng He's voyages demonstrated clearly that China could
He's fleet consisted of 317 ships accompanied by almost exercise military, political, and economic influence through-
twenty-eight thousand armed troops. Many of these vessels out the Indian Ocean basin.
were mammoth, nine-masted "treasure ships" with four
decks capable of accommodating five hundred or more pas- European Exploration in the
sengers, as well as huge stores of cargo. Measuring up to
124 meters (408 feet) long and 51 meters (166 feet) wide, Atlantic and Indian Oceans
these treasure ships were by far the largest marine craft the As Chinese fleets reconnoitered the Indian Ocean, European
world had ever seen. mariners were preparing to enter both the Atlantic and the
On the first three voyages, Zheng He took his fleet to Indian Ocean basins. Unlike Zheng He and his companions,
southeast Asia, India, and Ceylon. The fourth expedition went Europeans did not venture onto the seas in the interests of
to the Persian Gulf and Arabia, and later expeditions ventured diplomacy or in hopes of establishing a political and military
down the east African coast, calling at ports as far south as reputation in foreign lands. Instead, they acted on two differ-
Malindi in modern Kenya. Throughout his travels, Zheng He ent but complementary motives: the desire to expand the
liberally dispensed gifts of Chinese silk, porcelain, and other boundaries of Roman Catholic Christianity and the desire to
goods. In return he received rich and unusual presents from profit from commercial opportunities.
his hosts, including African zebras and giraffes, which ended
their days in the Ming imperial zoo. Zheng He and his com- Portuguese Exploration The experience of Portugal il-
panions paid respect to the local deities and customs they en- lustrates that mixture of motives. Though Portuguese mer-
countered, and in Ceylon they erected a monument honoring chants were not especially prominent in trading circles,
Buddha, Allah, and Vishnu. Portuguese fishermen had a long tradition of seafaring in
the stormy Atlantic Ocean. Building on that experience,
Chinese Naval Power Zheng He generally sought to at- Portuguese mariners emerged as the early leaders in both
tain his goals through diplomacy. For the most part, his large Atlantic exploration and the search for a sea route to Asian
contingents of armed troops overawed his hosts, and he had
little need to engage in hostilities. But a contemporary reported
that Zheng He walked like a tiger, and he did not shrink from
violence when he considered it necessary to impress foreign Zheng He (jung ha)
468 Part 4 • The Acceleration of Cross-Cu ltural Interaction, 1000 to 1500 c.E.

EUROPE
.venice
NORTH •Genoa
•Rome
AMERICA ~---------~ Lisbon
ATLANTIC ~ se:ille••Granada
OCEAN •Ceuta

SAN CANARY .Sir

SALVADOR ISLANDS ,.....,
·~
Persian/
Tropic of Cancer
~ Gulf
SAHARA <?
CUBA •Mecca
\
HISPANIOLA

\CAPE
AFRICA
VERDE
I SLANDS

Equator Mogadis/ ~--­

SOUTH Mombasa.
AMERICA
PACIFIC Kilwa.
OCEAN

MADAC

Tropic of Capricorn

ATLANTIC
OCEAN
Cape of
Good Hope
)o Zheng He's voyages

)o Dias's voyage
MAP 21.2
)o DaGama's voyage Chinese and European voyages of exploration, 1405-1498.
)o Col umbus's voyage
Although they followed different routes, all the voyagers represented
on this map were seeking destinations in the Indian Ocean basin.
Why did Chinese and Iberian mariners want to establish a presence in
the Indian Ocean during the fifteenth century?

markets through the Indian Ocean. During the fifteenth to spread Christianity and increase Portuguese influence on
century Prince Henrique of Portugal, often called Prince the seas. In 1415 he watched as Portuguese forces seized the
Henry the Navigator, embarked on an ambitious campaign Moroccan city of Ceuta, which guarded the Strait of Gibraltar
from the south. He regarded his victory both as a blow against
Islam and as a strategic move enabling Christian vessels to
Ceuta (SYOO-tuh) move freely between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic.
 Chapter 21 • Expanding Horizons of Cross-Cultural Interaction 469

Fernando Po, Sao Tome, and Principe off the west African
coast. Because these Atlantic islands enjoyed fertile soils
and a Mediterranean climate, Portuguese entrepreneurs soon
began to cultivate sugarcane there, often in collaboration with
Italian investors. Italians had financed sugar plantations in the
Mediterranean islands since the twelfth century, and their
commercial networks provided a ready means to distribute
sugar to Europeans, who were rapidly developing a taste for
sweets.

Slave Trade During the middle decades of the fifteenth

ASIA century, a series of Portuguese fleets also explored the west
$ ~ African coast, each expedition proceeding a bit farther than
~ ~~i' its predecessor. Originally, the Portuguese traded guns, tex-
Yellow
J~ h CHINA}i" Sea tiles, and other manufactured items for African gold and
~ zang) •Nan"ing
\\!).1'1-&
slaves. Portuguese traders took full advantage of the long-
af De lhi <:;
• '9-7.
~- \...G Hangzhou• East
~8 China established African commerce in slaves, but they also changed
Quanzhou Sea
the nature of the slave trade by dramatically increasing its
IN D lA PACIFIC volume and by sending slaves to new destinations. By the
Arabian OCEAN mid-fifteenth century, the Portuguese dispatched thousands of
South
Sea Bif China slaves annually from their forts on islands off the African
Bengal Sea coast. They delivered most of their human cargo to recently
,....__.. CEYLON founded plantations in the Atlantic islands, where the slaves
MALDIVE IS.
worked as laborers, although some worked as domestic ser-
MALAY vants in Europe. The use of African slaves to perform heavy
PENINSULA labor on commercial plantations soon became common prac-
Strait
tice, and it fueled the development of a huge, Atlantic-wide
of Melaka JAVA trade that delivered as many as twelve million enslaved Africans
to destinations in North America, South America, and the
Caribbean region.
INDIAN OCEAN
Indian Ocean Trade While some Portuguese mariners
traded profitably in west Africa, others sought to enter the
AUSTRALIA lucrative trade in Asian silk and spices. A sea route to Asian
markets would enable Portuguese merchants to avoid Muslim
and Italian intermediaries, through whom almost all Asian lux-
ury goods reached European markets, and participate directly
in the flourishing commercial world of the Indian Ocean basin.
Toward the end of the fifteenth century, Portuguese mariners
began to search seriously for a sea lane from Europe around
Africa and into the Indian Ocean. By 1488 Bartolomeu Dias
had sailed around the Cape of Good Hope and entered the
Indian Ocean. Restless because of the long journey and dis-
tance from home, the crew forced Dias to return immediately
to Portugal, but his voyage proved that it was possible to sail
from Europe to the Indian Ocean. In 1497 Vasco da Gama
departed Portugal with the intention of sailing to India. After
Colonization of the Atlantic Islands Following the cap- rounding the Cape of Good Hope, he cruised up the east
ture of Ceuta, Henrique encouraged Portuguese mariners to African coast and found a Muslim pilot who showed him how
venture into the Atlantic. During their voyages they discovered to take advantage of the seasonal monsoon winds to sail across
the Madeiras and Azores Islands, all uninhabited, which they the Arabian Sea to India. In 1498 he arrived at Calicut, and by
soon colonized. They also made an unsuccessful effort to oc- 1499 he had returned to Lisbon with a hugely profitable cargo
cupy the Canary Islands, inhabited by indigenous peoples but of pepper and spices.
claimed since the early fifteenth century by the kingdom of During the following century, Portuguese merchants and
Castile. Later discoveries included the Cape Verde islands, mariners dominated trade between Europe and Asia. Indeed,
470 Part 4 • The Acceleration of Cross-Cultural Interaction, 1000 to 1500 c.E.

Although Christopher Columbus believed that he had sailed into Asian waters, later mariners soon realized that the Americas were continents unknown to
geographers of the eastern hemisphere. This map, prepared in 1532 by the German cartographer Sebastian Munster, shows that by the early sixteenth century,
European geographers had acquired a rough but accurate understanding of South America but had reconnoitered only the Atlantic coastline of North America.

r--- Reverberations of they attempted to control all shipping in the

The Diffusion of Technologies Indian Ocean. Their ships, armed with cannons,
were able to overpower the vessels of Arabs,
When European mariners set out to spread Christianity and explore com- Persians, Indians, southeast Asians, and others
mercial possibilities in the Atlantic and Indian Ocean basins, they employed who sailed the Indian Ocean. They did not have
a combination of technologies that had been diffused over the centuries enough ships to police the entire Indian Ocean,
from east and southwest Asia. One particularly effective combination was however, so most merchants easily evaded their
the use of technologies of transportation such as the compass (and later efforts to control the region's commerce. Never-
the astrolabe) along with technologies of warfare-especially cannons theless, the entry of Portuguese mariners into the
mounted on the sides of their ships. These diffused technologies allowed Indian Ocean signaled the beginning of European
Europeans the ability to travel effectively by sea, and to compel-using imperialism in Asia.
deadly force-vessels from other regions to comply w ith their desire to
dominate trade. While Europeans were not able to dominate maritime trade Christopher Columbus While Portuguese
completely, consider how important their use and adaptation of a variety of seafarers sought a sea route around Africa to
diffused technologies to suit their own goals were in their ability to explore India, the Genoese mariner Cristoforo Colombo,
the world's oceans between the fifteenth and the eighteenth centuries. known in English as Christopher Columbus,
conceived the idea of sailing west to reach Asian
 Chapter 21 • Expanding Horizons of Cross-Cultural Interaction 471

markets. Because geographers in the eastern hemisphere knew Columbus returned to Spain without the gold, silk, and
nothing of the Americas, Columbus's notion made a certain spices that he had expected to find, but he persistently held
amount of good sense, although many doubted that his plan that he had reached islands near the Asian mainland and the
could lead to profitable trade because of the long distances markets of China and Japan. Although he made three more
involved. After the king of Portugal declined to sponsor an voyages to the Caribbean region, Columbus never acknow1-
expedition to test Columbus's plan, the Catholic Kings, edged that his expeditions had not reached Asia. News of his
Fernando and Isabel of Spain, agreed to underwrite a voyage. voyages spread rapidly, however, and by the end of the fif-
In 1492 Columbus set sail. After a stop in the Canary Islands teenth century other mariners had explored the Caribbean and
to take on supplies and make repairs, his fleet of three ships the American continents enough to realize that the western
crossed the Atlantic Ocean, reaching land at San Salvador hemisphere constituted a world apart from Europe, Asia, and
(Watling Island) in the Bahamas. Africa.

CHRONOLOGY
1214 Creation of a Mongol artillery unit
1253-1324 Life of Marco Polo
1287-1288 Rabban Sauma's embassy to Europe
1291-1328 John of Montecorvino's mission to China
1304-1369 Life of Ibn Battuta
1304-1374 Life of Francesco Petrarca
1330s First outbreaks of bubonic plague in China
1337-1453 Hundred Years' War
1347 Arrival of bubonic plague in the Mediterranean basin
1368-1644 Ming dynasty
1405-1433 Zheng He's expeditions in the Indian Ocean
1466-1536 Life of Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam
1488 Bartolomeu Dias's voyage around Africa
1492 Christopher Columbus's first voyage to the western hemisphere
1497-1498 Vasco da Gama's voyage to India
472 Part 4 • The Acceleration of Cross-Cu ltural Interaction, 1000 to 1500 c.E.

SUMMARY FOR FURTHER READING

As European mariners ventured into the Indian and Atlantic Ocean Janet L. Abu-Lughod. Before European Hegemony: The World System,
basins, they unwittingly inaugurated a new era in world history. For A.D. 1250-1350. New York, 1989. An important study of long-

millennia, peoples of different societies had traded, communicated, distance trade networks during the Mongol era.
and interacted. As technologies of transportation improved, they Jerry H. Bentley. Old World Encounters: Cross-Cultural Contacts and
Exchanges in Pre-Modem Times. New York, 1993. Studies cultural
dealt with peoples at increasingly greater distances. By 1500 the
and religious exchanges in the eastern hemisphere before 1500 c.E.
Indian Ocean served as a highway linking peoples from China to
Timothy Brook. The Confusions of Pleasure: Commerce and Culture
east Africa, and overland traffic kept the Silk Roads busy from China
in Ming China. Berkeley, 1998. The best introduction to Ming
to the Mediterranean Sea. Trade goods, diplomatic missions, reli- China, with emphasis on social and cultural history.
gious faiths, technological skills, agricultural crops, and disease Jerry Brotton. The Renaissance Bazaar: From the Silk Road to
pathogens all moved readily over the sea lanes and the Silk Roads, Michelangelo. Oxford, 2002. A provocative and well-illustrated
and they profoundly influenced the development of societies study arguing that encounters in the larger world deeply
throughout the eastern hemisphere. In the western hemisphere, trad- influenced Renaissance cultural development in Europe.
ing networks linked lands as distant as Mexico and the Great Lakes K. N. Chaudhuri. Asia before Europe: Economy and Civilisation of the
region, while Pacific islanders regularly traveled and traded between Indian Ocean from the Rise of/slam to 1750. Cambridge, 1990.
island groups. Controversial and penetrating analysis of economic, social, and
cultural structures shaping societies of the Indian Ocean basin.
Never before, however, had peoples of the eastern hemisphere,
Ross E. Dunn. The Adventures of Ibn Battuta: A Muslim Traveler of the
the western hemisphere, and Oceania dealt with one another on a
14th Century. Berkeley, 1986. Fascinating reconstruction of Ibn
regular and systematic basis. The voyages of European mariners Battuta's travels and experiences.
during the fifteenth and following centuries initiated a long-term Brian Fagan. The Little Ice Age: How Climate Made History, 1300-
process-one that continues in the present day-that brought all 1850. New York, 2000. Popular account of the little ice age, with
regions and peoples of planet earth into permanent and sustained emphasis on its effects in Europe and North America.
interaction. The formation and reconfiguration of global networks Robert S. Gottfried. The Black Death: Natural and Human Disaster
of power, communication, and exchange that followed from those in Medieval Europe. New York, 1983. The best general study of
interactions rank among the most prominent themes of modern bubonic plague and its effects in Europe.
world history. Margaret L. King. Women of the Renaissance. Chicago, 1991. A lively
and imaginative discussion of women's roles and experiences in
Renaissance Europe.
John Lamer. Marco Polo and the Discovery of the World. New Haven,
STUDY TERMS 1999. Excellent study of Marco Polo and his significance, based
on a thorough review of both textual evidence and recent
Bartolomeu Dias (470) Michelangelo Buonarotti (464) scholarship.
Louise L. Levathes. When China Ruled the Seas: The Treasure Fleet
bubonic plague (456) Ming dynasty (459)
of the Dragon Throne, 1405-1433. New York, 1994. Excellent
Ceuta (469) qadi (447)
popular account of Zheng He's voyages.
Christopher Columbus (471) Qing dynasty (459) William H. McNeill. Plagues and Peoples. Garden City, N.Y., 1976. A
Desiderius Erasmus (465) Pico (465) pioneering study of infectious and contagious diseases and their
eunuch (459) Prince Henry the effects in world history.
Francesco Petrarca (465) Navigator (469)
Hongwu (459) Rabban Sauma (451)
humanist (464) Renaissance (463)
Hundred Years' War (462) sharia (452)
Ibn Battuta (447) slave trade (469)
John ofMontecorvino (453) Sufis (452)
Leonardo da Vinci (464) tsar (463)
little ice age (457) Yongle (461)
mandarin (459) Yongle Encyclopedia (461)
Marco Polo (449) Zheng He (467)
Melaka (448)