Social Implications of Networks of Exchange
The rising demand for luxury goods spurred efforts to make production more efficient than it had been. China went through a period of proto-industrialization as it sought to meet the demand for iron, steel, and porcelain. (See Topic 1.1.) New business practices, such as partnerships for sharing the risk of investment, began to emerge.
The production of goods such as textiles and porcelain in China and spices in South and Southeast Asia increased to meet demands. As the amount of goods increased, the volume of trade on maritime trade routes began to supersede that of the overland trade routes. Larger ships were needed as well as improved navigational knowledge and technology.
Labor The demand for labor rose along with the growing demand for products. The forms of labor from earlier periods continued—free peasant farmers, craft workers or artisans in cottage industries, people forced to work to pay off debts, and people forced into labor through enslavement. Trade in enslaved people was common along the Indian Ocean and trans-Saharan routes.
Large-scale projects—irrigation canals, military defenses, great buildings—called for the work of thousands of organized laborers. Kinship ties often played a role in coordinating these large-scale projects. An observer in the Vijayanagara Empire in South India in the 1300s describes the work of completing a giant reservoir:
“In the tank I saw so many people at work that there must have been fifteen or
twenty thousand men, looking like ants, so that you could not see the ground
on which they walked, so many there were; this tank the king portioned out
amongst his captains, each of whom had the duty of seeing that the people
placed under him did their work, and that the tank was finished and brought
to completion.”
Narrative of Domingo Paes (1520–22)
Social and Gender Structures The typical social structures during the period between 1200 and 1450 were still defined by class or caste, and societies, with rare exceptions, remained patriarchies. There were, however, areas where women exercised more power and influence. For example, even though the vast Mongol Empire was a patriarchy, Mongol women had somewhat more freedom than women in most other parts of Afro-Eurasia. Mongol women moved about freely and refused the burka from the West and foot binding from the East. Women were also often top advisors to the great khan.
In Europe, women worked as farmers and artisans, and they had their own guilds. In Southeast Asia, women were skilled in the practices of the marketplace, operating and controlling marketplaces as representatives of powerful families. Outside of these limited areas, however, women within other major regions still experienced far fewer opportunities and freedoms than men in virtually all aspects of life.
Environmental Processes The interconnections that spurred so much vibrant economic and cultural exchange also led to a steep population decline as merchants, diplomats, and missionaries transferred the bubonic plague and other infectious diseases along the trade routes. The plague, named the Black Death, contributed to the decline of once-great cities, such as Constantinople. Most believe that at least a third of Europe’s population died during this period. China experienced outbreaks in the 1330s and 1350s, causing tens of millions of deaths.
Changes in trade networks led to cultural diffusion and the development of educational centers in cities such as Canton, Samarkand, Timbuktu, Cairo, and Venice. Political instability and increased agriculture strained the environment. For example, soil erosion from deforestation, or overgrazing, forced growing populations to migrate to other areas.