Period 3:
Regional and Transregional Interactions,
c. 600 C.E. to c. 1450

Assignment Due Date: ___________

Courswork Assignment Part 1: Reading Notes

Most high school students do not know how to take proper notes by this point in their academic career. As you go through the chapter, find information that YOU feel is important in understanding the key themes of the chapter. Please use the outline for the period below to guide you as you take notes.

***You MUST have clear & distinct sections for CLASS notes & READING notes as these are graded in separate categories. In addition, all notes must be YOUR HANDWRITTEN NOTES. Any other notes will NOT BE ACCEPTED AND YOU WILL RECEIVE A ZERO (That means no notes must be typed, photocopied, or copied [even if handwritten] from anywhere else).***

Key Concept 3.1. Expansion and Intensification of Communication and Exchange Networks
Although Afro-Eurasia and the Americas remained separate from one another, this era witnessed a deepening and widening of old and new networks of human interaction within and across regions. The results were unprecedented concentrations of wealth and the intensification of cross-cultural exchanges. Innovations in transportation, state policies, and mercantile practices contributed to the expansion and development of commercial networks, which in turn served as conduits for cultural, technological, and biological diffusion within and between various societies. Pastoral or nomadic groups played a key role in creating and sustaining these networks. Expanding networks fostered greater interregional borrowing, while at the same time sustaining regional diversity. The prophet Muhammad promoted Islam, a new major monotheistic religion at the start of this period. It spread quickly through practices of trade, warfare, and diffusion characteristic of this period.

I. Improved transportation technologies and commercial practices led to an increased volume of trade, and expanded the geographical range of existing and newly active trade networks.

A. Existing trade routes flourished and promoted the growth of powerful new trading cities.
B. New trade routes centering on Mesoamerica and the Andes developed.
C. The growth of interregional trade in luxury goods was encouraged by significant innovations in previously existing transportation and commercial technologies, including more sophisticated caravan organization; use of the compass, astrolabe, and larger ship designs in sea travel; and new forms of credit and monetization.
D. Commercial growth was also facilitated by state practices, trading organizations, and state-sponsored commercial infrastructures like the Grand Canal in China.
E. The expansion of empires facilitated Trans-Eurasian trade and communication as new peoples were drawn into their conquerors’ economies and trade networks.

II. The movement of peoples caused environmental and linguistic effects.

A. The expansion and intensification of long-distance trade routes often depended on environmental knowledge and technological adaptations to it.
B. Some migrations had a significant environmental impact.
C. Some migrations and commercial contacts led to the diffusion of languages throughout a new region or the emergence of new languages.

III. Cross-cultural exchanges were fostered by the intensification of existing, or the creation of new, networks of trade and communication.

A. Islam, based on the revelations of the prophet Muhammad, developed in the Arabian peninsula. The beliefs and practices of Islam reflected interactions among Jews, Christians, and Zoroastrians with the local Arabian peoples. Muslim rule expanded to many parts of Afro-Eurasia due to military expansion, and Islam subsequently expanded through the activities of merchants and missionaries.
B. In key places along important trade routes, merchants set up diasporic communities where they introduced their own cultural traditions into the indigenous culture.
C. The writings of