Environmental CONSEQUENCES of Trade [AP World History Review] Unit 2 Topic 6

Summary

In this episode of Heimler's History, the focus shifts to the environmental impacts of historical trade networks. The video explores how the introduction of crops like champa rice and bananas transformed agricultural practices and led to significant population growth, which in turn put pressure on land resources. It also delves into the spread of diseases, particularly the Black Death, which had devastating effects on societies across Afro-Eurasia. The video concludes by discussing the economic repercussions of the plague, such as the shift in power dynamics between workers and lords in Europe due to labor scarcity.

Takeaways

• 🌱 The introduction of new crops like champa rice and bananas through trade networks had significant environmental and cultural impacts.
• 🏞️ Champa rice led to massive population growth in China due to its drought resistance and multiple harvests, but also caused environmental changes like terrace farming.
• 🍌 The introduction of bananas in sub-Saharan Africa allowed Bantu-speaking people to migrate to new regions, changing their way of life.
• 🌳 Population growth due to new crops put more pressure on land, leading to environmental degradation like overgrazing and deforestation.
• 🐑 Overgrazing in Great Zimbabwe resulted in severe environmental degradation, eventually leading to the city's abandonment.
• 🌍 In Europe, deforestation and the Little Ice Age combined to cause soil erosion and a contraction in agricultural production.
• 🦠 The spread of diseases like the Black Death was accelerated by trade, with merchants unknowingly carrying infected fleas.
• 🔥 The Black Death was spread by fleas biting infected rats and then humans, leading to a devastating impact on populations.
• 📚 Giovani Boccaccio's 'The Decameron' provides a firsthand account of the symptoms and effects of the Black Death on society.
• 💼 The Black Death had profound economic consequences, changing the balance of power between workers and lords in Europe due to a labor shortage.

Q & A

What are the two major categories of things that spread through networks of exchange according to the video?

The two major categories of things that spread through networks of exchange are agriculture and disease.

How did the introduction of champa rice impact China's population and environment?

The introduction of champa rice, which was drought resistant and could be harvested several times a year, led to massive population growth in China. Environmentally, it led to the transformation of the land through terrace farming, making previously unfarmable land farmable.

What significant change did the introduction of bananas bring to sub-Saharan Africa?

The introduction of bananas by Indonesian merchants allowed the Bantu-speaking natives to move to regions where their previous staple, yams, couldn't grow, leading to significant population migrations.

How did the increase in population due to new crops lead to environmental pressures?

The increase in population due to new crops put more pressure on the land, leading to environmental degradation such as overgrazing in Great Zimbabwe and deforestation and soil erosion in Europe.

What was the most significant disease spread through trade according to the video?

The most significant disease spread through trade was the Black Death or bubonic plague.

How was the Black Death primarily spread?

The Black Death was primarily spread through fleas that bit infected rats and then humans, regurgitating the bacteria into the bite.

What role did the Mongols play in the spread of the Black Death?

The Mongols, in their expansion into new territories, unknowingly brought fleas infected with the bubonic bacteria, contributing to the spread of the Black Death.

How did the Black Death affect the relationship between workers and lords in Europe?

The Black Death led to a significant reduction in the population, making workers scarce and shifting the power for negotiation of wages into the hands of the surviving workers.

What is the historical account of the effects of the Black Death mentioned in the video?

The historical account of the effects of the Black Death mentioned in the video is from Giovani Boccaccio's book 'The Decameron', which describes the symptoms and the rapid fatality of the disease.

How did the introduction of new crops generally affect populations in different regions?

The introduction of new crops generally led to an increase in population as they provided more food sources, which in turn put more pressure on the land and led to various environmental consequences.

Outlines

00:00

🌱 Environmental Impact of Connectivity: Agriculture

This paragraph explores the environmental consequences of trade connectivity, focusing on agriculture. It discusses how merchants introduced new crops to different regions, significantly impacting the environment and population growth. Champa rice, introduced to China, led to terrace farming and a massive population increase. Bananas, brought to sub-Saharan Africa by Indonesian merchants, allowed Bantu-speaking natives to migrate to new regions, altering their way of life. The introduction of new crops generally led to population growth, which in turn put more pressure on the land, causing environmental degradation, such as overgrazing in Great Zimbabwe and deforestation in Europe.

05:00

🦠 Spread of Disease: The Black Death

The second paragraph delves into the spread of disease through trade networks, with a particular focus on the Black Death or bubonic plague. It explains how the disease was spread by fleas biting infected rats and then humans. The Mongols and trade routes, especially ships carrying infected rats, played a significant role in the spread of the plague. The paragraph also describes the devastating effects of the Black Death on towns and societies, as documented by Giovani Boccaccio in 'The Decameron'. The disease led to significant economic and social changes, such as a shift in the power dynamics between workers and lords in Europe due to a reduced population and increased demand for labor.

Keywords

💡Champa rice

Champa rice is a drought-resistant strain of rice introduced to China from the Champa Kingdom in Vietnam. Its ability to be harvested multiple times a year led to significant population growth in China. The introduction of Champa rice also had environmental consequences, as it transformed the land through practices like terrace farming.

💡Terrace farming

Terrace farming is a method of agriculture where steps are cut into hillsides to make sloped land usable for planting. It was used in China to cultivate crops like Champa rice, allowing for farming in previously unfarmable regions. This practice highlights how agricultural innovation led to population growth and environmental change.

💡Bananas

Bananas, introduced by Indonesian merchants to sub-Saharan Africa, had a major impact on African societies. The crop allowed the Bantu-speaking people to migrate to areas where yams couldn’t grow, reshaping their settlement patterns. This example illustrates how the spread of crops through trade networks can alter the lives and movements of entire populations.

💡Bantu migration

The Bantu migration refers to the movement of Bantu-speaking peoples across sub-Saharan Africa, significantly influenced by the introduction of bananas. This crop allowed them to settle in regions previously unsuitable for their staple crops, like yams. It underscores how agricultural exchange through trade led to large-scale demographic shifts.

💡Overgrazing

Overgrazing occurs when animals eat too much vegetation, leading to land degradation. In Great Zimbabwe, overgrazing caused such severe environmental damage that the city was abandoned in the late 1400s. This example illustrates the environmental stress that can result from population growth and agricultural expansion driven by trade.

💡Deforestation

Deforestation is the clearing of forests for agriculture or other uses. In Europe, extensive deforestation due to increased agricultural demand led to soil erosion, reducing the land's fertility. The combination of deforestation and the Little Ice Age resulted in decreased agricultural production, highlighting the environmental costs of population growth.

💡Little Ice Age

The Little Ice Age was a period of global cooling that began in the 1300s, leading to shorter growing seasons and reduced agricultural output in Europe. This climatic shift, combined with deforestation, had serious consequences for food production and contributed to environmental degradation during the period.

💡Black Death

The Black Death, or bubonic plague, was a devastating pandemic that spread through trade routes in Afro-Eurasia, killing vast numbers of people. Spread primarily by fleas and rats, it wiped out an estimated half of Europe’s population. The plague drastically altered societies, particularly by shifting economic power toward surviving workers due to labor shortages.

💡Caravanserai

Caravanserai were rest stops along the Silk Roads where merchants could stay and rest with their animals. These close quarters between humans and animals facilitated the spread of diseases like the Black Death, illustrating how trade networks not only spread goods but also deadly pathogens.

💡Giovanni Boccaccio

Giovanni Boccaccio was an Italian writer who provided one of the most famous accounts of the Black Death in his book *The Decameron*. His vivid description of the symptoms and rapid death caused by the plague emphasizes the horrifying human impact of the disease, which spread through trade networks.

Highlights

The video explores the environmental consequences of connectivity, including the spread of agriculture and disease.

Agriculture spread through trade networks led to significant environmental changes, such as terrace farming in China due to the introduction of champa rice.

Champa rice, introduced from Vietnam, was drought-resistant and led to massive population growth in China.

The introduction of bananas by Indonesian merchants to sub-Saharan Africa allowed populations to migrate to new regions.

The spread of new crops generally led to population increases, which in turn put more pressure on the land.

Overgrazing in Great Zimbabwe resulted in environmental degradation that led to the city's abandonment in the late 1400s.

Deforestation in Europe contributed to soil erosion and reduced agricultural production, especially during the Little Ice Age.

The spread of disease through trade routes, particularly the Black Death or bubonic plague, had devastating effects on populations.

The Black Death was spread through fleas that infected rats, which were carried by merchants and the Mongols.

Caravanserais along the Silk Roads were rest stops where merchants and animals mingled, facilitating the spread of disease.

The Black Death had profound economic consequences, changing the relationship between workers and lords in Europe.

The disease led to a significant reduction in population, making labor scarce and empowering workers to negotiate wages.

The video uses a humorous approach to discuss serious historical events, such as the spread of the Black Death.

Giovani Boccaccio's 'The Decameron' provides a firsthand account of the symptoms and effects of the Black Death.

The video concludes with a call to action for AP World History students to subscribe for educational support.

The host, Heimler, encourages viewers to like the video if they enjoyed the discussion on the historical impact of fleas.

Transcripts

Hi and welcome back to Heimler’s History.

In the last video we talked about the cultural consequences of the connectivity provided

to cultures through trade.

This video is going to explore the environmental consequences of connectivity.

And if that sounds boring, don’t worry, by the end we’ll have talked about bananas

and worldwide death.

Let’s get to it.

We need to talk about two major categories of things that spread through networks of

exchange: agriculture and disease.

So let’s start with agriculture.

As merchants travelled from place to place they introduced crops into lands which had

never seen them before and that had big consequences.

One of the most significant of these crops is one I’ve mentioned several times in other

videos, namely, champa rice.

It was introduced to China by merchants who travelled from the Champa Kingdom in Vietnam.

This strain of rice was drought resistant and could be harvested several times a year.

This, of course, led to massive population growth in China, but the environmental impact

of champa rice was significant too.

The introduction of this crop led to the transformation of the land, namely, terrace farming.

This was a method of farming that made previously unfarmable land farmable by cutting steps

into hillsides so that you could plant rice.

And again, the more food that was introduced into China the more the population grew.

Another significant crop introduced by merchants was bananas.

This time it was Indonesian merchants bringing this foreign crop into subSaharan Africa.

And this was huge because when the Bantu-speaking natives of Africa learned to plant this crop

it changed the course of their entire lives.

Their main food staple was yams, and that means they lived in the places they could

grow yams.

But with the introduction of the banana, they could move to regions where yams couldn’t

grow, and spoiler alert: they did.

So because this Indonesian fruit was introduced into Africa, whole populations migrated.

And this same kind of thing happened elsewhere too and in general when new crops were introduced,

population increased.

But when population increases, that puts more pressure on the land, and as you can imagine,

consequences will follow.

For example, overgrazing in Great Zimbabwe led to such severe environmental degradation

that the whole city was abandoned in the late 1400s.

In Europe the land was changed through deforestation which eventually led to a profound erosion

of the soil.

Combine that with the Little Ice Age that began in the 1300s, and you’ve got a severely

contracted agricultural production.

Okay, those were some of the environmental effects of trade with regards to agriculture,

let’s look now at the spread of disease.

Lots of diseases spread through merchants arriving on new shores, but surely the most

significant of them was the Black Death or the bubonic plague.

Now we understand today how this disease was spread: namely through fleas.

So fleas would bite a carrier infected with bubonic bacteria.

Then the bacteria multiplies in the flea’s guts and eventually there would be so much

bacteria that it clogged the fly’s guts.

So then they would bite a human and regurgitate the bacteria into the bite.

And to me that’s just insulting because not only are you getting the Black Death in

your blood stream which will kill you in a couple days, but you’re also getting honked

on by a flea.

Now thanks to our friends the Mongols and their unrelenting lust for more land, as they

pushed further and further into new territories, they unknowingly brought these fleas with

them.

But the Mongols can’t bear ALL the weight of responsibility here, the spread of this

disease also came along trade routes, especially ships that provided homes to infected rats.

But not only that, as merchants travelled over land they stopped to rest in what were

called caravanserai.

These were little places that dotted the length of the Silk Roads where merchants could rest

and sleep.

However, they did so in close proximity to animals and animals have fleas.

So all that to say, the Black Death was a major consequence of connectivity during this

period.

And when it showed up in a town, the consequences were devastating.

Probably the most famous account of the effects of the Black Death come to us from a European

by the named of Giovani Boccaccio in his book called The Decameron.

Here’s a little taste:

"The symptoms were not the same as in the East, where a gush of blood from the nose

was the plain sign of inevitable death; but it began both in men and women with certain

swellings in the groin or under the armpit.

They grew to the size of a small apple or an egg, more or less, and were vulgarly called

tumours.

In a short space of time these tumours spread from the two parts named all over the body.

Soon after this the symptoms changed and black or purple spots appeared on the arms or thighs

or any other part of the body, sometimes a few large ones, sometimes many little ones.

These spots were a certain sign of death, just as the original tumour had been and still

remained.

And maybe Boccaccio’s best summary of the effects of the disease is this: The victims

ate lunch with their friends and dinner with their ancestors.

Yeesh.

Anyway, this dreadful disease found its way into many societies of Afro-Eurasia, primarily

by means of trade.

And after all was said and done, it killed huge numbers of people.

In fact, in Europe most estimates are somewhere in the neighborhood of half of the population.

Now as you can imagine, this situation had significant consequences.

Maybe one of the biggest was economic.

The Black Death changed the relationship between workers and lords in Europe, for example,

because now that half the population was wiped out, workers were all of the sudden pretty

scarce.

And with this higher demand for labor, power for negotiation of wages shifted squarely

into the hands of the surviving workers.

Okay, that’s what you need to know about the Environmental impact of trade.

If you’re in AP World history this year, then subscribe to this channel and I’ll

help you get an A in your class and a 5 on your exam.

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Heimler out.