Illustration
This map illustrates the extent and growing interconnectivity of global trade networks at the start of the 13th century. Following centuries of fragmentation and isolation after the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 CE, new patterns of long-distance exchange emerged, linking Europe, the Islamic world, Byzantium, and Asia more actively than at any point since antiquity.
By the 1200s, trade between Christian and Muslim realms, though shaped by ongoing conflict such as the Crusades, was thriving. The Mediterranean functioned again as a conduit for goods and ideas. Italian maritime republics like Venice and Genoa expanded their influence, while Islamic powers such as the Ayyubid Sultanate, founded by Saladin (reign 1171 to 1193), controlled key trade cities. The Byzantine Empire, though diminished, remained a key hub connecting East and West. Overland routes, soon to be revitalized under Mongol control in Central Asia, fed into these exchanges. Europe, recovering from earlier upheaval, exported woolen cloth and metal goods, paying for silk, spices, glassware, and luxury products from the Middle East, India, and China, signaling the reawakening of Eurasian commerce.
I would like to thank @Martin_Maansson for his extensive research, inspiration, and amazing map of the medieval trade routes.
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Cite This Work
APA Style
Netchev, S. (2022, May 24). Map of the Trade Networks in the Middle Ages, c. 1200. World History Encyclopedia. Retrieved from https://www.worldhistory.org/image/15923/map-of-the-trade-networks-in-the-middle-ages-c-120/
Chicago Style
Netchev, Simeon. "Map of the Trade Networks in the Middle Ages, c. 1200." World History Encyclopedia. Last modified May 24, 2022. https://www.worldhistory.org/image/15923/map-of-the-trade-networks-in-the-middle-ages-c-120/.
MLA Style
Netchev, Simeon. "Map of the Trade Networks in the Middle Ages, c. 1200." World History Encyclopedia. World History Encyclopedia, 24 May 2022, https://www.worldhistory.org/image/15923/map-of-the-trade-networks-in-the-middle-ages-c-120/. Web. 09 Jul 2025.
