Environmental Consequences of Connectivity
Dead bodies filled every corner.
—Giovanni Boccaccio (1313–1375)
Learning Objectives
- K: Explain the environmental effects of the various networks of exchange in Afro-Eurasia from c. 1200 to c. 1450.
A lthough trade networks enabled the spread of novel agricultural products,
such as the introduction of certain citrus fruits to the Mediterranean basin, the most dramatic environmental consequence of increased commerce was not food, but rather disease. Bubonic plague or “Black Death” swept from Central Asia; struck in China, India, Persia, and Egypt; and arrived in Europe in 1347. The epidemic is estimated to have killed from 75 to 200 million people in Eurasia and peaked in Europe from 1347 to 1351. Boccaccio, whose famous work The Decameron was inspired by living through the plague, described the horrors he saw.
Think As a Historian: THINK AS A HISTORIAN: MAKING CONNECTIONS BY ANALYZING CAUSATION
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Reflect
REFLECT ON THE TOPIC ESSENTIAL QUESTION
1. In one to three paragraphs, explain some of the environmental effects of trade in Afro-Eurasia from c. 1200 to c. 1450.
AP Exam Practice
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