DBQ 3: European Trade

Name____________________________________ Date______________ Period________ DBQ 3: European Trade Historical Context: Trade, conquest, and warfare have impacted peoples around the world throughout history. These interactions have changed the cultures of the societies involved in positive and negative ways. Until about 1450, Europe was mostly cut off and isolated from the Silk Roads. Without access to the wealth, trade goods, technologies, and ideas that travelled from China, India, the Middle East, and North Africa, Europeans lived in the “Dark Ages.” This meant that the European economy was based on agriculture alone (Manor System), European politics were decentralized (Feudalism), and life was poor and hard for the majority of people. The only cultural unity and comfort provided to Europeans came from the Catholic Church, which established common religious laws and gave people hope in salvation. A few events began to change the direction of European history and eventually allow Europeans to dominate global trade. The first was the Black Death, or the Plague, which came to Europe through trade routes in 1348. While at first this caused an obsession with death (gothic culture) and was devastating to the European population, in the longterm this disease actually allowed survivors a better standard of living. Wages and salaries rose as survivors had less competition for jobs. The next major turning point was the Fall of Constantinople (or the Fall of the Byzantine Empire) in 1453, when the Ottoman Empire (Islamic) invaded. While at first this represented a huge defeat for Christianity and blocked off Europe from any access it had to the Silk Roads, in the longterm it would force Europeans to find wealth somewhere else. Up until 1453 only the citystates of the Italian Peninsula had any access to the wealth and trade of the Silk Roads. After 1453 it would be up to innovative and risktaking adventurers to bring Europe out of the Dark Ages and into a Golden Age (the Renaissance). The series of voyages and expeditions made by Europeans to link Europe to the global trade and wealth of the east would be known as The Age of Exploration. Directions On your own: ● Read the historical context. Define any terms that you do not know and highlight important information. Summarize the historical context. ● Read and examine each document carefully beginning with the background information before the document. Research the source if you are not familiar with it. ● Highlight or underline important details from each document. Do not highlight the entire document. ● Use the space on the margins to write down your thoughts on how the document connects to the other documents and how it helps answer the focus question. ● Answer the question(s) below the document, keeping in mind that your goal is to answer the focus question using the documents as evidence to support your argument. Once you have done this, it is time to examine your document as a group: ● You will be assigned a group and one document (or set of documents) to focus your topic. ● Your document will give you a time period and a place to examine, begin by reading about it. Your textbook may have information, wikipedia is also a good place to start. ● Before creating a presentation, you should understand your region and how trade impacted the people there with great detail. ○ When and where. ○ Which countries/cities/rulers were powerful. ○ Where and how trade took place. ○ What was traded. ○ How trade impacted Europe and the rest of the world. When you have completed your research, it will be time to prepare a presentation for the rest of the class. ● This presentation will be much like the last presentations. ● Your group will be responsible for teaching the rest of the class about the questions above in a clear and concise presentation lasting no more than 10 minutes, and no shorter than 7 minutes. ● The presentation must include visuals, evidence found from at least three sources, clear and concise details for easy note taking, and show that members of the groups have gained a thorough understanding of the region and time period in question. Focus Question: In what ways did trade have positive and/or negative effects on the people in the region of your map? Document 1 The map below shows overland trade routes across Asia. These routes became heavily used in the centuries after 300 C.E. The overall route was known as the Silk Road. China exported its silk, iron, and bronze. Merchants took these goods west to the Middle East and then to Europe. Gold, glass, ivory, animal hides, horses, and cattle were brought east to China from the Middle East and Central Asia. Trade contacts with India led to the introduction of Buddhism to China. What products were taken from China to the Middle East (Southwest Asia) along the Silk Road, and then on to Europe? ______________________________________________________________________________
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__________________________________________________________________ What products and ideas were taken to China along the Silk Road? ______________________________________________________________________________
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__________________________________________________________________ What impact did the Silk Road have on the people of Europe and Asia? ______________________________________________________________________________
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The map below shows the voyages of Zheng He, a Chinese admiral, in the 1400s. This excerpt comments on the impact of Zheng He’s voyages. Yonglo [the Ming ruler] hoped to impress the world with the power and splendor of Ming China
and also hoped to expand China’s tribute system. Zheng He’s voyages accomplished these goals. . . . Everywhere Zheng He went, he distributed gifts, such as gold, silver, silk, and scented oils, to
show Chinese superiority. As a result, more than 16 countries sent tribute to the Ming court. Many envoys traveled to China. . . . Demand for Chinese goods had a ripple effect on the economy. Industries such as silk making
and ceramics grew rapidly. Manufacturing and commerce increased. However, China did not become highly industrialized for two main reasons. First, the whole idea of commerce offended China’s Confucian beliefs. . . . Second, Chinese economic policies traditionally favored agriculture. Taxes on agriculture stayed low. Taxes on manufacturing and trade skyrocketed. Source: Bech, Black, Krieger, Naylor, Shabaka, World History: Patterns of Interaction, McDougal Littell, 1999 (adapted) Where did Zheng He’s voyages go? ______________________________________________________________________________
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__________________________________________________________________ (continue on next page) How did China benefit from the voyages of Zheng He? ______________________________________________________________________________
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__________________________________________________________________ Document 3 The text below discusses the effects of the Crusades. The Crusades caused a growth in trade between Europe and the Middle East. European demand for the products of Southwest Asia grew greatly. Products such as spices, sugar, lemons, rugs, glass, perfumes, and silk and cotton textiles flowed into Europe. This increased
trade had several effects, including the following: ● Increased wealth and power for the Italian citystates that controlled trade with the Middle East ● New ideas and learning gained by Europeans from contact with Muslims ● Rediscovery in Europe of the writings of ancient Greeks and Romans, preserved by Muslim scholars; this later encouraged the Renaissance
● Growth of intolerance as Christians persecuted Jews and Muslims in Europe and Muslims persecuted Christians in Europe How did Europe benefit from the Crusades? List two benefits. ______________________________________________________________________________
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__________________________________________________________________ What were negative effects of the Crusades on people in Europe and the Middle East? ______________________________________________________________________________
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__________________________________________________________________ Document 4 The map below shows trade routes to and through Europe in the thirteenth to fifteenth centuries. According to the map, where did the trade routes originate? ______________________________________________________________________________
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__________________________________________________________________ Why were the Italian citystates able to dominate the trade patterns at this time? ______________________________________________________________________________
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__________________________________________________________________ What was the impact of these trade routes on Italian citystates and on the place of origin? ______________________________________________________________________________
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__________________________________________________________________ Document 5 The illustration below shows the Columbian Exchange. According to this diagram, what were the positive and negative impacts of the exchange on both the Americans and the Europeans? ______________________________________________________________________________
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__________________________________________________________________ Document 6 The map below shows the trade pattern of the Atlantic economy in the eighteenth century. What were the benefits to Europe of this eighteenthcentury trade pattern? ______________________________________________________________________________
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__________________________________________________________________ What was the negative impact of the trade pattern on Africa? ______________________________________________________________________________
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__________________________________________________________________ Document 7 Source: Historian John P. McKay describes the impact of the Fall of Constantinople (1453) on Europe and the role it played in causing the Age of Exploration in A History of Western Society 10th ed. (Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2011). By the midsixteenth century Ottomans controlled the sea trade in the eastern Mediterranean,
Syria, Palestine, Egypt, and the rest of North Africa, and their power extended into Europe as
far west as Vienna. Ottoman expansion frightened Europeans. The Ottoman armies seemed nearly invincible and
the empire’s desire for expansion limitless. In France in the sixteenth century, twice as many
books were printed about the Turkish threat as about the American discoveries. The strength
of the Ottomans helps explain some of the missionary fervor Christians brought to new territories. It also raised economic concerns. With trade routes to the east in the hands of the
Ottomans, Europeans needed to find new trade routes. Source: A map of the Ottoman Empire and its growth after the Fall of Constantinople in 1453. From Elisabeth Gaynor Ellis and Anthony Esler, World History: Connections to Today (Prentice Hall). How did the size and power of the Ottoman Empire impact trade in Europe? ______________________________________________________________________________
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__________________________________________________________________ Document 8 Source: An excerpt from the journal of Christopher Columbus, an Italian explorer who led voyages funded by the monarchs of Spain in 1492. Columbus sailed west from Spain in order to reach India while avoiding Africa. He died believing his men discovered a westward route to India, but in fact, landed in the Caribbean. Medieval History Sourcebook: http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/columbus1.asp Your Highnesses, as Catholic Christians, and princes who love and promote the holy Christian faith, and are enemies of the doctrine of Mahomet [Mohammed], and of all idolatry
and heresy, determined to send me, Christopher Columbus, to the abovementioned countries of India, to see the said princes, people, and territories, and to learn their disposition and the proper method of converting them to our holy faith; and furthermore directed that I should not proceed by land to the East, as is customary, but by a Westerly route, in which direction we have hitherto no certain evidence that any one has gone. So after having expelled the Jews from your dominions, your Highnesses, in the same month
of January, ordered me to proceed with a sufficient armament to the said regions of India,
and for that purpose granted me great favors, and ennobled me that thenceforth I might call
myself Don, and be High Admiral of the Sea, and perpetual Viceroy and Governor in all the
islands and continents which I might discover and acquire, or which may hereafter he discovered and acquired in the ocean. Source: A map of exploration routes coming from Portugal. Rulers of Portugal began to fund voyages of exploration under the rule of Prince Henry, “The Navigator,” a nickname earned for his interest in new navigation technologies he brought to Europe from the Arab world. From Civilization in the West published by Pearson Education. Found at ablongman.com (continue on next page)
Why did Europeans want to avoid sailing around Africa? ______________________________________________________________________________
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__________________________________________________________________ How did finding the Americas change trade around the world? ______________________________________________________________________________
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__________________________________________________________________ Document 9a Aksum reached its height between 325 and 360. Aksum’s location made it an important international trading center. This map shows the trade routes to and from Aksum between 300 and 700. How did Aksum’s location enable it to become a trading center? ______________________________________________________________________________
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__________________________________________________________________ Document 9b Ibn Battuta also visited Kilwa, an East African coastal citystate, in 1331. He described it as one of the most beautiful cities in the world. He admired the luxury enjoyed by the Muslim rulers and merchants. Kilwa controlled the overseas trade between the interior of Africa and sites around that part of the world. This map shows East African trade routes in 1000. (continue on next page) What sea routes was Kilwa connected to? What geographical areas did these sea routes lead to? ______________________________________________________________________________
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__________________________________________________________________ What products were brought from the interior of Africa to Kilwa by the land route? ______________________________________________________________________________
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__________________________________________________________________ Document 10a Between 750 and 1350, Muslim merchants built a trade network throughout their empire. Masters of the sea, even as of the land, the Arabs spread throughout the geographical area. The whole world was theirs to explore . . . their ships sailed across the seas even as they moved across the land [Sahara Desert into West Africa]. The might of the sword of Islam carved the way for the slaveowner and the merchant to follow. Source: Sir T.H. Holdich, The Gates of India, MacMillan, 1910 (adapted) Why and where were the Muslims able to establish a trading empire? ______________________________________________________________________________
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__________________________________________________________________ Document 10b This adapted excerpt describes the benefits that Europeans received from Muslim industry. First should be mentioned the textile products imported from Islamic countries: muslin . . . damask . . . gauze, cotton, satin. Natural products, which by their name indicate they were imported from Islamic countries—fruits, like orange, lemon, and apricot; vegetables, like spinach, artichokes, and saffron. . . . Finally our commercial vocabulary itself has preserved . . . proofs that there was a
time when Islamic trade and trade customs exercised a deep influence on the commercial development of Christian countries—such words as “traffic” [derived from Arabic tafriq], which
means distribution. Source: J.H. Kramers, The Legacy of Islam, Clarendon Press, 1931 (adapted) What were the commercial or trade benefits that Europeans gained from Islamic commerce and industry? ______________________________________________________________________________
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