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The Larger Twelfth-Century World Context Larger and more fundamental global phenomena underlay the boom of twelfth-century building. These factors included a global population increase, widespread land clearances, heightened trade activity, rising populations of religious observers, and growing urbanization.
The Earth's Peoples In the second century of this millennium, agricultural production increased. In Europe, the population doubled. China's population grew to 100 million out of a world population of 330 million. Though cities were increasing in importance, only a small percentage of the earth's peoples lived in cities. Most of the world's people were peasant farmers or nomads. Some hunters and gatherers, like the Aborigines, were so isolated from contact with other societies, that they continued their rich cultural traditions uninterrupted by other twelfth-century changes. Clearing the Land Worldwide, more and more land was cleared for agriculture. Chinese peasants moved south where they constructed paddies and planted a new, fast-ripening rice from Southeast Asia that could be harvested twice a year. Europeans cleared away much of their forests for farms and drained swamps. They adopted the moldboard plow and draft harnesses and thus could use horses for agricultural labor. They molded the heavy clay of Northern Europe into fields suitable for planting. An unusually warm climate in the far North insured that the harvests were plentiful. Farther east, Islamic civilizations planted Indian sugar, Chinese citrus and Indian cotton in pioneering efforts that eventually led to plantations and commercial agriculture. As Islamic civilizations spread to span Africa, Asia and Europe, crops like eggplant, mangoes, plantains, sorghum were shuffled back and forth across the continents. New ideas for irrigating, producing, and processing crops passed from one Islamic society to another. As populations expanded around the world, agriculturists developed new irrigation systems to bring water to the land. Islamic peoples in Spain adopted the underground water canals used in Southwest Asia and the Ancient Pueblo people diverted water to irrigate thousands of acres in what is now the Southwestern region of the United States. Trade and Travel Flourishing agriculture bolstered local economies. As peasants produced more crops than they needed, they were able to trade whatever was extra. Changes in commercial practices encouraged more trade. Villages became trading centers and grew into cities. Just as trade from Mexico expanded into North America, overland trade routes linked markets across Eurasia. Water routes connected ports along the China Sea, the Indian Ocean, the Mediterranean Sea, and Atlantic Europe. More people traveled than had previously - some for profit, some for adventure, and others as religious pilgrims. Often traveling merchants converted their local trading partners and new religions spread across Africa and Eurasia. Religious Shrines The faithful traveled trade routes to religious shrines beside merchants and soldiers. Wealthy traders donated money to build sanctuaries along the way. Suger's Abby of St. Denis sanctified the route of pilgrims in France; in Cairo the al-Azhar Mosque and University became an important stopping point for African pilgrims to on their way to Mecca. Buddhists constructed Angkor Wat in Southeast Asia as a religious and political center. As trade routes and pilgrims multiplied, Christianity, Buddhism, and Islam spread far beyond the lands of their origin. Cities The privileged lived comfortable, cosmopolitan lives in cities like Hangchou, Baghdad, Cairo, Delhi, and Cordoba. Hangzhou had a million inhabitants, and its visitors were amazed to find drinking water and pest control. River water circulated through a city system that constantly removed waste. Chinese cities had theatres, restaurants, parks, bookstores, and teahouses. The new Korean invention of moveable type enabled Chinese to print books and then paper money. Meanwhile, in European cities like the Italian city-states, newly-built town halls began to replace palaces as symbols of civic pride for merchants and bankers. |
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