HST 197 Chapter Notes - Chapter 30: Sub-Saharan Africa, Compass, Sugarcane
Document Summary
Long distance travel of any kind brought about cultural exchanges. Song, stories, religious ideas, philosophy and scientific knowledge passed through the travelers. Large number of travelers facilitated agriculture and technological diffusion. For example: the magnetic compass was invented in china but it traveled to the indian. Muslim merchants introduced new crops in sub-saharan africa. Crops include: citrus fruits, asian strains of rice. Muslim merchants introduced cotton in west africa. This became very popular with the ruling elites and other wealthy people. Muslim merchants and other traveler had began large scale cultivation of sugarcane in asia and north africa. They experimented with sugar cane in west africa but it had limited success because of the harsh conditions. Muslim merchants acquainted european travelers with crystallized sugar and therefore facilitated the spread of sugarcane to europe. Europeans fell in love with sugar because they had little access to it at home. Italian entrepreneurs organized the start of sugarcane plantations.
