Abu-Lughad 2

The second part of Abu-Lughad's Before European Hegemony, focuses on the middle east and Central Asia. Abu-Lughad begins by giving a history of the trade routes. The first chapter devotes much time to Marco Polo's expeditions through the middle east and China. In addition to describing the routes his companies traveled, we also explored the perils they faced on the trails. Next, Abu-Lughad discusses the Middle route, or Sinbad's Way. This was the easiest route to take, however, the Northern route was still preferred.

In the middle east, certain cities were important centers for the whole trade system. Cairo for example was key, but because it was located along the Middle route, it's financial stability suffered. Alternatively, Baghdad flourished. However the difficulties Cairo dealt with, it was still a central city. Because it is located on the Nile it was naturally a city of trade. The slave system was extensive in Cairo, the market for slave trade was based in Cairo for the most part. Abu-lughad mentions how the black death had a deadly (no pun intended?) impact on Cairo at the height of it's success.

Reading Abu-Lughad's section on the diseases that swept over the region was really baffling. While we all knew that the Black Death was a serious thing and hundreds of thousands of people died all over the world from it, you don't always consider the other effects it had. The whole trading system was negatively impacted by the spread of contagious and fatal diseases. I think it would be really interesting to research who contracted the diseases first and in the worst ways. I imagine the merchants, the more wealthy people in that time, were the first to contract.