2.6

Question 1

What were the broad environmental consequences of the major trade routes of 1200-1450?

Answer 1

• spread of disease
• spread of crops
• environmental degradation

Question 2

Explain environmental degradation due to trade routes from 1200-1450.

Answer 2

• Drought conditions contributed to the fall of the Mayan Civilization (they fell around 1,000, but still)
• resources were being depleted
• overgrazing
• deforestation and soil erosion because of the overuse of and need for farmlands

EX:
Massive soil erosion and overuse of farmlands in Europe.
Great Zimbabwe was so overgrazed that it caused agricultural decline and eventually led to its abandonment by 1400.

Question 3

Explain the spread of disease due to trade routes from 1200-1450.

Answer 3

The Black Plague spread from China and throughout Eurasia, and killed about a third of Europe’s population. This would later give way to changing political structures in Europe as workers were more scarce and could demand better wages and treatment.
Spread by the bacteria yersinia pestis which was carried through fleas on animals like rats = caravanserai were prime hubs of spreading the Bubonic Plague because of close animal and human headquarters from across AfroEurasia.
Mongols helped to spread it. They used biological warfare by intentionally contaminating European states with catapulted infected people into their populations to make them weaker and easier to conquer.

Question 4

Explain the spread of crops due to major trade routes from 1200-1450.

Answer 4

Muslims spread: citrus (lemons, oranges, etc.)(esp. to the Mediterranean region), spices (nutmeg, salt, cinnamon), cotton and pepper from India, sugar (originally sourced primarily from the Middle East and South Asia)

• Bananas from Indonesia brought to Africa through Indian Ocean trade
  Led to increased foodstuff diversity, bananas became a staple crop in many African states as Bantu peoples migrated westwards and could depend on bananas rather than being limited by the inability of yams, a staple food crop, to grow in certain areas = large migration

Champa rice from Vietnam to China: drought resistant, could be harvested twice per year, led to double the harvest and a major increase in Chinese population, led to rice terrace farming