The Expansion of Trade

Venice, Italy ~1300Marco Polo peered around a curtain into the noisy dining hall.

The word on everyone's lips was: Why? They had all met the merchants Marco, Niccolo, and Maffeo Polo and heard their outrageous stories about their travels. But why had Marco Polo invited them to this banquet?

Suddenly the Polos entered the hall. They were dressed in strange loose pants and tops with sashes tied around the waist. On their heads they wore wide, pointed straw hats. Marco Polo pulled handfuls of diamonds, rubies, amethysts, and other precious stones out of his pockets and tossed them on the tables.The people stared in amazement. The Polos laughed.

“Now do you finally believe us about Cathay?” asked Marco.

Q: Where do you think Cathay is?

Q: What does this story tell us about the worldview of those at the banquet?

Rise of International Trade

Marco Polo came from a family of explorers

At the age of 17, his father and uncle asked him to come on one of their trips

The Polos journeyed along the “Silk Road”

Was not used exclusively by Europeans

Intercultural contact

Crusades and Trade Trade between Venice and

the East had been re-established a few centuries before Marco Polo started on his first journey

The Crusades is the name of a series of Holy Wars in which Christians attempted to win back the Holy Land from Muslims

Two important results of the Crusades Contact with Muslim

civilization Trade

SOAPSTones!

• Primary Source #1: Urban II Speech

• Primary Source #2: Eye witness to Sack of Constantinople

Muslim Civilization The Muslim world was

more advanced than Europe at this time

Had new ideas about medicine, astronomy, philosophy, mathematics and ancient literature

Muslim societies were inclusive What does this mean?

Led to increased trade

Movie Clip

• Robin Hood and the Prince of Thieves

• 32:13

Luxurious Goods? East Africa

Gold, Ivory, Slaves India

Pepper, Cottons, Sugar, Dyestuffs, Precious stones

Sri Lanka

Cinnamon, Precious Stones, Ivory

China

Silks, Drugs, Perfumes, Porcelain, Ginger

East Indies

Spices, Camphor

Goods from the East The most sought after

goods were spices Improved the taste of

European's food Pepper was extremely

valuable Worth more than its weight

in gold Merchants would flock to

ports when trades ships arrived Would take the goods to

their cities and sell them

Moving Goods and Resources How do we transport items

today? Goods were moved by ships,

boats or by animals There was also trade

occurring within Europe Mineral rich areas traded for

manufactured goods Surplus grain or wine and olive

oil were traded Raw wool was traded

German, Dutch and Italian ships were most involved

Assignment: Geographic Questions• Two types of maps (broad categories)

– Human Geography

– Physical Geography

• Page 44 of your textbook

• Look at the two maps and:

– Create a question on map 2-8

– Create a question on map 2-9

– Create a question comparing both maps

• Follow up: How would access to trade routes give a competitive advantage to a region?