answer: silk road network the silk roads continued to focus on luxury items such as silk and other items whose weight to value ratio was low. in the post-classical age, however, the silk roads diffused important technologies such as paper-making and gunpowder. continuing a phenomenon from the classical age, they would also spread disease; the black death would spread from asia to western europe along silk road and maritime routes eventually killing about one third of the people there. by 600 c.e., the classical empires of china, india and rome had all crashed. silk road trade declined with them. sharia law, which gave protection to merchants, was established across the dar al-islam. indian, armenian, christian and jewish merchants alike took advantage of muslim legal protection. a more important boost to silk road trade in this era was the rise of the mongol empire. mediterranean network the mediterranean saw its heyday of trade under the territorial height of the roman empire. like the silk road trade, this network declined when rome weakened. however, the rapid spread of islam across north africa and the continuation of roman civilization in the byzantine empire would revive trade in the post-classical age. into the mediterranean flowed precious gems and perfumes from india, along with the long standing trade items of olive oil and glassware. constantinople, the capital of the byzantine empire, became an important hub of trade owing to its location between europe and asia. a major portion of the silk roads ended on the black sea, where goods would be loaded onto ships and carried through the bosporus into the mediterranean. the city's control of trade provoked the jealousy of the merchants of venice, a powerful commercial city-state that thrived on the italian peninsula at this time. venetian merchants steer the fourth crusade toward constantinople in order to gain a larger share of this trade.
trans-saharan network the trans-saharan trade routes that formed in the classical age grew enormously in the period from 600 to 1450 c.e.during the umayyad caliphate islam came to north africa and reinvigorated trade. caravan crossings of the sahara desert increased the trade in gold, salt, ivory and slaves. for the first time, empires emerged under the sarah desert, in large part because islam brought the means to empower local kings and provide a point of unity. mansa musa's famous and extravagant pilgrimage to mecca gave his kingdom of mali wide recognition across the dar al-islam and served to increase trade connections across the sahara.
indian ocean network for example, it remained closely tied to environmental conditions, namely the monsoon winds that merchants had to consider while scheduling their departures. this meant that the port cities along the rim of the indian ocean at any given time had large numbers of non-citizens waiting for changes in the monsoon winds. because this is a maritime network, indian ocean trade continued to be the ideal network for exchanging bulk items, such as timber, ivory, spices, cotton textiles, and other things that would be difficult to move on land routes. finally, indian ocean trade continued to be free from the domination of any state or empire. indian ocean trade also experienced major changes during the post-classical age. gold, ivory, and exotic animals made their way from sub-saharan and southern africa to these cities, through which they entered the busy sea routes of the indian ocean. islam followed the path of goods, making converts across the network, particularly southeast asia. on the malay peninsula in southeast asia, the buddhist kingdom of srivijaya thrived on the lucrative spice trade that flowed through the straits of malacca. srivijaya became an important kingdom for the diffusion of buddhism across the region. another political development that increased indian ocean trade was the recovery and economic flourishing of china. during the song dynasty, chinese maritime trade exceeded silk road trade, and chinese porcelain has been found as far away as the swahili coast of africa. the chinese introduced the compass and massive trading ships called junks which were able to carry larger cargoes. the arabs popularized the dhow ship which was able to tack against the wind because of its advanced lateen sail. finally, an instrument called the astrolabe allowed skilled sailors to determine their latitude at sea. all of these advancements increased participation, facilitated navigation, and removed some of the risks of maritime trade. the expansion and intensification of trade networks in the post-classical period led to the rise of new cities as major trade hubs. cities became the collection points where craft items were massed for bulk sale, the crossroads of major trade routes, and the ports connecting zones of trade together.
