Chapter 8 Commerce and Culture

When I think about this chapter regarding the way early civilizations traded with one another, I am mindful of how little has changed in some basic ways that people like to exchange goods. I can visualize how it must have been as traders on the Silk, Sea and Sand roads stopped at central marketplaces to sell and buy various items from silk to spices to jewelry. There is a certain energy and excitement with all the different looking people milling about. The cacophony of different languages filing the air must have been incredible as vendors enthusiastically called attention to their items. The smells and sights were probably very similiar if you were to visit and shop at any ethnic neighborhood in any major city around the globe.

The years 500 to 1500 C.E. are referred to by Robert Strayer in his book, as the era of third-wave civilizations. This was a time when long distance trade became the vehicle by which different people were exposed to other inhabitants of the planet. These trading routes became the conduit by which culture, religion, language, disease, and war spread throughout the world. For example, the Silk roads from China enabled that civilization to prosper and to become one of the longest and most sophisticated cultures that contributed greatly to the world community in terms of trade in silk, paper, porcelain, and gun powder.

A key framework in the infrastructure of a mini, market-economy in general, are the land roads left by the Roman Empire. They built large , well constructed roads throughout its territory, thus enabling them  to move troops and supplies as well as food and luxury items to Rome. The world's leaders learned the benefits of cross-cultural exchange and the accompanying wealth and influence enjoyed by commoners and, the elite.

Likewise, the Sea routes traveled by Arabic, Indian, and Persian merchants in the Indian Ocean traded cloth, glassware, weapons, and books. Also available was salt, copper and gold,  language, cultural traditions, religious practices and food, all melded and blended together.

The other trade route that allowed third-wave civilizations to grow was the arduous walk through the Saharan Desert. With the domestication of the camel, and it's ability to travel without water for up to 10 days, enabled  North African Arabs to trade gold for ivory and other luxury items.
The limitation of the camel however, was volume. A camel could only carry so much weight. Therefore only the wealthy and elite could afford most , if not all,  the products on the silk routes.. The sea route was more efficient and included goods for the general population like silk, spices and metalurgy to name a few.

Other third-wave civilizations were developing in the west. They were the Mesoamerica and Andes. Just like its counterparts in the Eurasian continent, long distance trade among different societies changed buyer and trader alike.

For example: a major chiefdom in North America flourished between 900 and 1250 C.E., and became a central commerce destination. It was called Cahokia and lay on the crossroads of three trading networks, Lake Superior, which produced copper, and the Atlantic coast which had sea shells. Also there were buffalo hides from the great plains, and the mineral, Obsidian from the Rocky Mountains.

Along the sea routes in the Andea civilization, north and south of the equator along the west coasts of the Americas, the Maya traded cotton cloths, precious jewels and specific bird-feathers mostly destined for royal families

Islam was a major influence during the post-classical era between 500-1500 C.E. As mentioned earlier religion also traveled and settled  throughout the Indian Ocean basin.  Buddhism and Hinduism also took root in southeast Asia , in part from the "indianization"  coming from India's influence as a result of the silk route.

Several times, in previous chapters, throughout this blog I have praised Strayer's interpretations and analysis of "world history". However, in the area of "slave trade", I'm a little disappointed in his mediocre,or, less passionate description of the post-classical era of humans "owning" humans, as slaves.

Men, women and children became much like domesticated animals, such as the mule , horse and oxen, which made societies wealthy and transformed civilizations. It's difficult to fathom the idea that the African continent has been a source of cheap human labor since ancient times through the sixteenth century. Both Christians, and Muslim's alike, benefited from the wealth generated by slavery.

In his book, Way of the World, Strayer devotes a mere 3 paragraphs, on pages 234 and 235, to the effects of the "slave trade"

I bet a class in African, or African-American history, covering a period of 1500 years, which incorporated the histories of the various Empire's of Europe and the Middle east, might have more to say about slavery, and would likely take up more than 3 paragraphs. Just a guess mind you.

His description , to me, is like his descriptions of other items that changed the world due to the wealth and power that they generated. Like, silk, cotton, gold, gun powder, spices or..... slaves.

I don't mean to sound like "Chomsky" junior, and to be fair the author may go into more detail about the world wide effect of slavery later in the book. Perhaps, we just haven't read about it yet. Especially, since in the year 2011, the continent of Africa is still struggling today with famine, tribal wars, genocide, A.I.D.S., world debt, and crushing poverty, despite immense wealth in mineral deposits, that continue, to some degree, to enrich foreign mining behemoths.


It's a civilization that has been decimated and exploited, for several millennium, condemning the African to a painfully slow evolution into it's society's maturity, as a direct result of slavery.

Strayer goes on in more detail about the third-wave civilizations as being more balanced, with multi-centered empires as we have seen in  East Africa, Indian Ocean basin, Arabia, China and South East Asia.

Does the U.S. have to be number one all the time?
Does China's emergence as a super power threaten United States and European hegemony in the next century?