Why were civilizations in some regions of the world in this period forced to contend with isolation, whereas others were able to expand their contacts with other peoples? What were the consequences of isolation and the advantages of contacts?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Answers will vary but correct responses should include: Geography and environmental factors contributed to the isolation of various regions of the world, while the ability to overcome these factors allowed others to expand their contacts with other people. The great leap of Latin Christendom—the renaissance or rebirth in art and thought that began after the year 1000—was possible because people in Western Europe found ways to cope and contend with relative isolation.For Japan, while isolation was potentially frustrating, there was enough contact with Korea and China to stoke Japanese art and learning with Chinese influences. Around the Indian Ocean, increased traffic brought areas in East Africa and Southeast Asia out of isolation and kept India rich, notwithstandingits political troubles. Despite the heroic efforts of the Norse in the Atlantic, the Thule Inuit in the Arctic, and the Polynesians in the Pacific, the wealth-creating effects of sustained transoceanic or interoceanic commerce could not yet be reproduced outside the region of the monsoons. In the Americas and parts of sub-Saharan Africa, the arresting effects of isolation could not be overcome. Cultural contacts between Mesoamerica and parts of North America helped, for a while, to produce spectacular experiments in building states and modifying environments. But the networks were still too fragile and temporary for the effects to endure.