From 600CE to 1450CE, the change that occurred switched from mostly ideologies to mostly

goods, this made trade more profitable than it had already been. However, trade continued to do
one major thing for the nations that participated in it, and that was to launch said nations into a
period of wealth and prosperity, and put such a high value on merchants that they often stood on
the same pedestal as a noble.

As nations that traded began to get more prosperous, we began to see changes in what was
traded. Previous to this time period, there were mostly ideologies being traded, though goods still
played a large role in the whole operation. What this basically means is that before the world
began to advance, nations learned a lot from each other along trade routes. When an item would
make its way along whatever trading route, it would arrive at its destination carrying more than it
left with. New inventions, languages, diseases like the Black Death, and religions like Buddhism
spread throughout nations that traded rapidly and with each trade came another new
development. Commented [1]: Attempt at contextualization?

These ideas helped develop many cultures throughout empires, but once they were established,
the trade really became the trade of goods. Of course, ideas and inventions still spread, but there
was a sizable increase in goods like spices, metals, papers, cloths, or weaponry/gunpowder. We
mostly see evidence of this change in places like China, which had the Silk Road where
inventions and diseases were traded and India, which had helped spread Buddhism through
China and Eurasia through about three different forms. Soon after, it was more spices or metals
or a sail. A major change of this time period were the goods and ideas traded and how they
developed the countries they went to. Commented [2]: So how did they help with the
development of those countries? You are giving me a
lot of fluff and little historical content. In AP we want no
Though there were many sizable changes, the biggest continuity with the entire eastern half of fluff, we only want content, evidences and an analysis
of the evidence provided.
the world in this time period was what trade actually accomplished for these nations. Nearly
every state or city that traded was met with wealth and prosperity. In the Latin West, there had
been a serious overpopulation issue, and after it was “fixed” with the Black Death (derived from
the Silk Road trading route) there were revolts. Things seemed to be falling into mayhem- until
the emergence of guilds meant that European cities could begin to focus on trade again, and trade
they did. They started small, unable to compare with the Byzantine or the Islamic caliphates. But
over time, Europe began to get very rich off of trade. There were even cities that revolved around
trade and domainated the area around them. Then there was the Hanseatic League, a northern
trading league that traded with lands near the Baltic, or the Champagne fairs, which was a large
trading fair that started in France and became quickly international.

In Islam along the Arabian Peninsula, there was heavy trade of goods. Once the Abbasids came
into power, there was a surge of Eurasian trade. As a result, Islam was a popular and powerful
empire that had control over not only its own economy/politics but also that of the surrounding
nations. It became a very prosperous empire until Baghdad lost its ties to the Silk Road. From
there on, the empire faced problems with their food and economy. The Tang Dynasty in China
also had a similar fate.

Trade played a big impact on the world as it developed, and in this particular period we saw
many changes and continuities, these are the largest. Nations that developed changed from
trading ideas, some of which helped more than harmed to goods, and every country that traded
had at least a small period of prosperity. From 600-1450CE, we saw how trade shaped the world
and made it closer to the place we live in today.