Cross-Cultural+Interactions+(565-576)

=Cross-Cultural Interactions (565-576)=

Intro
Ibn Battuta was a great world traveler. He was a Moroccan legal scholar, born in 1304 in Tangier. He first left Morocco in 1325 to make a pilgrimage to Mecca. He then traveled by ship through the Red Sea along the African coast, but returned to Mecca in 1330. He left for India when he learned that the sultan of Delhi rewarded foreign legal scholars. Instead of going to India by sea, he went by land through Egypt, Syria, Anatolia, and some parts of Asia. He arrived in Delhi in 1333.

[[image:http://www.wwnorton.com/college/history/worlds/images/map1_1.jpg width="537" height="377" align="right" caption="Map showing Ibn Battuta and Marco Polo's travels."]]
He stayed in India for 8 years, mostly serving as a judge. In 1341, Muhammad sent him to go with an embassy to China, but the ship going there was destroyed in a storm just before they were supposed to leave. Through the next several years, he traveled around southern India, Ceylon, and the Maldives, continuing to serve as a judge. He went to China on his own in 1345 and visited the port cities there, communicating wiht Muslim merchants. He returned to Morocco in 1349. In 1350, he went to Granada in Spain. In 1353, he joined a caravan across the Sahara to the Mali empire. Finally returned to Morocco in 1355, wrote a book reciting his adventures. Ibn Battuta's journeys went across the equivalent of 44 modern countries, a total of 73,000 miles! [CL]

Long-Distance Trade and Travel
-traveled for several reasons -nomadic peoples migrated -African and East European slaves were traded -religious people went on pilgramages -most importantly: trade, diplomacy, and missionary activity

Patterns of Long-Distance Trade
-Two main trade routes -overland on silk roads: luxury goods like silk textiles and precious stones -over sea: steel, stone, coral, and building materials -land and sea routes reached nearly all of the eastern hemisphere -trading cities and ports grew rapidly due to increased trade -Mongols took over the Song and Abbasid dynasties -after a long period of economic decline, they "laid the political foundations for a surge in long-distance trade" -Marco Polo: best known long-distance traveler -father and uncle were among the first European merchants to visit China -was liked by Khubilai Khan, so he was sent on many diplomatic missions -later returned to Venice and was taken as a prisoner of war -told stories in prison - one of the other prisoners was a writer who complied the stories [SC]

Political and Diplomatic Travel
a. merchants read Marco Polo’s stories - Khubilai Khan/ rulers didn’t trust Chinese people; appointed foreigners in administrative positions b. great demand for political/diplomatic representatives after 1000 CE -European Christians wanted to revive crusading and recapture Jerusalem from Muslims, as the Mongols attack the Abbasids -1240s/1250s, Pope Innocent IV sent envoys who invited Mongol khans to convert to Christianity and join against Muslims; they declined telling Europe to submit to them c. 1287 Mongol ilkhan of Persia, planned to invade Muslim land in SW Asia, capture Jerusalem, crush Islam politics -hoped for support, sent Rabban Sauma, a Nestorian Christian priest, born in Mongolia, to the pope d. Rabban Sauma met with kings of France and England and the pope, other figures of leadership -didn’t get support; in 1295 new ilkhan, Ghazan, convert to Islam, so it cemented Mongolia/Europe as enemies e. Islamic influence in eastern hemisphere; brought also by legal scholars/judges, who played big role in the societies -sharia- prescribed religious observances/social relationships, bases on the Quran -Conversions to Islam and Islamic states in India, SW Asia, and parts of the Sahara made demand for Muslims to be educated in Islam law f. best known Muslim traveler Ibn Battuta (1304-1349) -became qadi by sultan of Dehli; supervised affairs of a wealthy mosque and cases -he strictly enforced Islamic justice g. After he left north India, he was a qadi in Maldive Islands where he promoted Islam

Missionary Campaigns
a.Islam spread through missionaries-Sufi mystics -Sufis- 1000-1500 CE ventured to recently conquered/converted lands to win popular following -didn’t insist of strict, doctrinally correct Islam; emphasized piety/devotion to Allah - tolerated reverence of traditional deities and didn’t face resistance that yielding/ doctrinaire campaigns would have had b. Roman Catholic missionaries- spread religion by accompanying crusades; in the Baltic lands/region, Sicily, Spain, they attract a lot of converts c. tried to convert Mongols/Chinese-as more missionaries came to China, the more need there was for a Christian community D. missionary in China- John of Montecorvino- Italian Franciscan -went to China in 1291, became first archbishop of Khanbaliq in 1307,l died in 1328 -worked to establish Christianity in China; translated New Testament and Book of Pslams to Turkish and built several churches -took in young Chinese/Mongol boys to baptize them and teach them Christianity -1305 he said to have baptized 6000 people E. missionaries still have little converts, except for communities established in Scandinavia, Spain, Mediterranean Islands -missions to China continued until mid 14th century with the collapse of the Mongol Yuan dynasty. (JB)

Long Distance Travel and Cross-Cultural Exchanges
-Long distance travel encouraged the exchange of songs, stories, religious ideas, and philosophical views between cultures from 1000 to 1500 -The magnetic compass was invented in China during the Tang or Song dynasties, and spread throughout the Indian Ocean basin during the 11th century. -By mid 12th century European mariners were using the compass -Long-distance travel by the Muslims enabled them to introduce new crops to Africa like citrus fruits and cotton -Cotton grew very well in Africa and eventually became the principal textile produced by 1500 -Muslims also began large-scale cultivation of sugarcane in west Asia and north Africa -After the 12th century Muslims spread sugarcane westward by introducing refined sugar to European crusaders -Sugarcane production fueled the economy and also increased the need for Muslim war captives and black Africans to work as slaves on plantations -Mongols contributed by spreading the knowledge of gunpowder from China -They used the gunpowder in many of their weapons, and throughout their massive assault spread it -By mid 14th century armies in Europe and China had began to build cannons (DR)