chapter 7

Commerce and culture:
Exchanging goods between different civilizations (trading) has been a very prominent feature of history.  Trade helped diffuse ideas as well as get animals and crops to different areas across the world.  Taxing trade changed political life.  States were put in specific places so that they could tax and then use that "money" to keep the civilization strong.  Trade routs were very helpful in may ways, but they were also devastating.  Diseases travelled these routs along with the people which allowed diseases to spread very quickly to any place along the silk roads.  Diseases such as the black death traveled.  Woman made huge advancements to the silk industry.  Silk represented wealth in china because of how amazing the fabric was.  Government needed huge quantities of silk to trade for horses.  Culture also was transported along the silk roads.  Buddism was a voluntary switch that many people chose to make.  Sea roads also were found.  The cross of the Indian ocean vastly cut time to get to some places.  In west Africa, gold, salt, and slave trade happened.  The introduction of the camel made the possibility of long treks possible.

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