Abu Lunghod's 2nd part...

In this section of the book, Lunghund begins to show the interconnectedness of the different world economies through trade routes, commerce and war. She wrote extensively about the three main trade routes that connected Europe, Asia, and the middle east.

There was the Northern route, the Middle Route, and the Southern Route. The Northern Route was used by the Mongols to head west and some Europeans to head west. China was the also the goal of trade for many. The Middle Route used mostly water-ways and utilized the Persian Gulf and the Tigris River for much trading. The Mongols developed trade with the muslims utilizing these routes. Ultimately, trade trough the Soutern Route became the best solution for the Mongols and Europeans. Italian traders would begin to expand their cooperation with the east and eventually gain economic advantages and systems used by those of the middle east. The Plague did slow down the trade at times, and the Mongols also caused fear amongst the European nations. It is neat to see how countries like Egypt played such a big part in influencing modern commerce with the banking systems and credit systems they had developed for trading and commerce before other so called "civilized" nations had figured out modern methods now used. Also many parts of these trade routes were often impacted by disease and wars so it seemed like the development of trade was often encouraged and hindered by the events of local history along the way. It's kind of scary that a single disease almost wiped out the majority of the world's population. I can't imagine seeing 60% of the people I know dying and not feeling very insignificant. This had to have really effected people's desires and needs and hampered trade quite a bit, yet it recovered as it always seems to do.

It's also neat to see how the empires of trade or projected power are cyclical and seem to trade place over time. Each society projected its influences through it's economic systems and commercial goods. But ultimately, some circumstance such as over-expansion or plague would hinder or cause a new redistribution of power or travel.

It's also hard to imagine how different the Mongols seemed to the Europeans and vise-versa in many ways. Our world today is so interconnected so people might find it hard to relate to a older wold view of predjudice, but ignorance creates all kinds of misinterpretations of other people and they were thousands of years away from developing modern political correctness. It seems like the west was growing more powerful and happenstance was blamed for much of the East being slowly surpassed by the once backwards Europeans. Either way, it seems it all evened out in the end now that all nations are so interdependent on each other. But it's also cool to follow the evolutions of influence.