Book contents
- The Cambridge World History
- The Cambridge World History
- The Cambridge World History
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Maps
- Table
- Contributors
- Preface
- 1 Introduction
- Part I Global developments
- Part II Eurasian commonalities
- Part III Growing interactions
- 9 Trade and commerce across Afro-Eurasia
- 10 European and Mediterranean trade networks
- 11 Trading partners across the Indian Ocean: the making of maritime communities
- 12 Technology and innovation within expanding webs of exchange
- 13 The transmission of science and philosophy
- 14 Pastoral nomadic migrations and conquests
- Part IV Expanding religious systems
- Part V State formations
- Index
- References
9 - Trade and commerce across Afro-Eurasia
from Part III - Growing interactions
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 May 2015
Book contents
- The Cambridge World History
- The Cambridge World History
- The Cambridge World History
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Maps
- Table
- Contributors
- Preface
- 1 Introduction
- Part I Global developments
- Part II Eurasian commonalities
- Part III Growing interactions
- 9 Trade and commerce across Afro-Eurasia
- 10 European and Mediterranean trade networks
- 11 Trading partners across the Indian Ocean: the making of maritime communities
- 12 Technology and innovation within expanding webs of exchange
- 13 The transmission of science and philosophy
- 14 Pastoral nomadic migrations and conquests
- Part IV Expanding religious systems
- Part V State formations
- Index
- References
Summary
A simple approach to imposing order on the study of trade and commerce for the Middle Millennium is to divide Afro-Eurasia into three categories: engines, passageways, and cul-de-sacs. Foreign trade became an important element in the overall Chinese economy under the Song and Yuan dynasties, which together are considered the great age of private commerce. By the end of the thirteenth century, Europe had re-emerged as an engine in Afro-Eurasian commerce, if not yet on the scale of other engines, at least with considerable potential as partner or competitor. The Afro-Eurasian world experienced two cataclysmic events that came as calamities in their immediate impact. In China paper money, which had been in use under the Song and Yuan, increasingly suffered bouts of inflation until the Ming ceased printing it altogether. Under the Song and Yuan, long-distance commerce had been largely in private hands, but this changed under the Ming.
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- The Cambridge World History , pp. 233 - 256Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2015
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