Venice sent wine, grain, and timber to Constantinople in exchange for silk cloth, which was then peddled to other communities. Other coastal communities in western Italy, such as Genoa and Pisa, also opened new trade routes. By 1100, Italian merchants began to benefit from the Crusades and were able to establish new trading centers in eastern ports. In the High Middle Ages, Italian merchants became even more daring in their trade activities. They established trading posts in Cairo, Damascus, and a number of Black Sea ports, where they acquired goods bought by Muslim merchants from India, China, and Southeast Asia.
Ibn Battuta was an Arab traveler born in Tangier. He spent 30 years travelling the Muslim world. He traveled in Northern Africa, the Middle East, India, and Central and East Asia. Battuta kept notes as he traveled that showed his insights to the places he visited. This book detailed how he felt about the black African people he met their ways, private lives morals, and religion.
Maythu Hnin World History II May 26th, 2009 What was the significance of the Silk Road? The Silk Road was an international and intercontinental network of trade routes that existed throughout the 2nd-15th century. Although initially started to serve for trade purposes, the Silk Road is more prominently remembered for its cultural significance and the cultural exchange that occurred across Eurasia. The Silk Road can be defined as the fundamental exchange of cultured that occurred through trade routes. One must note that although this cultural exchange was highly supported and encouraged, it was not always accepted willingly.
Statues were present of kings and queens. There were also carvings of servants serving their ruler. The notes on many of the artifacts suggested that the uses for the items were for the chief or ruler. I had a very strong sense that the African culture is hierarchical. Status is extremely important and is shown outwardly by wearing things.
The famous explorer Marco Polo was born in the year 1254 to a family of merchants. Even then, the city where he was born--Venice--was a center for commerce and trading in the Mediterranean region. Because Marco's family was wealthy, he received a good education, learning about classical authors, the theology of the Latin Church, and both French and Italian. He also developed an interest in history and geography that would stay with him for the rest of his life. When Marco was only six years old, his father Niccolò and his uncle Maffeo left for a journey to Cathay (China).
d. Gutenberg: invented Printing Press; e. Petrarch: Important writer and poet who spread Humanism, the Renaissance. 2. The Renaissance occurred in Italy because 3 main reasons: #1 - National rivalries: In this time, Humanism appeared in Italy and it affected and made differences between the development of Italy and other Europe countries following Scholasticism. Humanism centralized in human-being and then it supported more and more scientific and artistic invention discovering. #2- Close link with the classical Past: Italy in that time located on the coast so that the culture and history were affluent in a long time.
The reason for the first layer of narration is that “Heart of Darkness” is not so much about what happened in Africa as it is about the psychological, moral and spiritual impressions those events left on someone with completely different ideals and values and unconnected to what happened. The reason to the second layer of narration is less obvious to me at first. I think the role of “I” is of a witness and listener; “I”, like readers, learned that our ideas about “civilization” can be founded on lies, corruptions and unspeakable horrors. By the end of the story, Marlow’s tale significantly changes the narrator’s attitude towards the ships and men of the past. It leaves a profound psychological effects on “I” and readers; it prompts us to ponder the dark side of our nature.
Long-distance trade played a major role in the cultural, religious, and artistic exchanges that took place between the major centers of civilization in Europe and Asia during antiquity. Some of these trade routes had been in use for centuries, but by the beginning of the first century A.D., merchants, diplomats, and travelers could (in theory) cross the ancient world from Britain and Spain in the west to China and Japan in the east. The trade routes served principally to transfer raw materials, foodstuffs, and luxury goods from areas with surpluses to others where they were in short supply. Some areas had a monopoly on certain materials or goods. China, for example, supplied West Asia and the Mediterranean world with silk, while spices were obtained principally from South Asia.
That’s why; the Renaissance was a time of great social and cultural changes in Europe. It was a period characterized by innovation, imagination and creativity. Algebra in the Renaissance Introduction The general cultural movement of the Renaissance in Europe had a pro-found impact also on the mathematics of the time. Italy was especially impacted. Up to this time, the Italian merchants traveled widely throughout the East, bringing goods back in hopes of making a profit.
Introduction Hong Kong and Shanghai have undergone rapid economic development under British influence since 1842. They share a geographical advantage as a core city in the Pearl River Delta (“PRD”) region and Yangtze River Delta (“YRD”) region respectively. Despite these similarities, the cities experienced different levels of economic development due to their changing locations in the regional, national and global economy. This essay seeks to compare the location and economic development of both cities in three historical periods: 1.1840-1949, 2.1949-1978 and 3.1978-2008. It attempts to examine the relationship between the changing location of the cities and their respective growth and structural change.