Western Civilization I / Unit 14 WC1 1318 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Merchants Honored: Middle Eastern Economies and American Silver
Captions available
The idea
Ottoman and Safavid rulers built roads, caravanserais and markets and honored merchants, unlike Europe outside Italy, and protected useful non-Muslims by the agreements later called capitulations. From the early sixteenth century American silver flowed through their economies toward India.
In practice
Persia's silk against the Ottomans' diversified revenues.
Where people slip
Conquests cost more than they yielded, the anchor says: a brake on empire.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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