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If we're comparing European contact to Indo-Chinese contact, your sense of when Europe was integrated with the Middle East/Mediterranean culture seems a bit off
by enkid 5y ago
If we're comparing European contact to Indo-Chinese contact, your sense of when Europe was integrated with the Middle East/Mediterranean culture seems a bit off. The Persia, the Mediterranean and the Black Sea had a lot of contact prior to the 1st Century but "Europe" as a whole did not. For example, England was not Christianized until the 7th Century, Kievan Rus was the 9th Century, Scandinavia was started in the 10th Century, and the Baltic Crusades lasted until the 16th Century. Cultural exchange in "Europe" absolutely is newer than contact between India and China.
- ummonk 5y agoBronze age Britain was involved in the Bronze age trade networks.
- enkid 5y agoThe above comment is explicitly talking about spread of religion, not trade networks.
- ummonk 5y agoAre you claiming that there was zero cultural transfer along with the material trade happening in the Bronze age?
- enkid 5y agoNo, I'm saying one comment is saying contact can be seen by spreading of religion, and therefore Chinese and Indian contact were later than European spread. So, looking at the criteria of the above comments, taking them post at their own standards, which is spread of religion, Europe as an entity did not have "contact" in its entirety until a thousand years after China and India.
- thaumasiotes 5y agoEveryone everywhere is involved in the global trade network. It's no less true of the ancient past than it is today.