World travelers, such as Marco Polo and Muhammad ibn Abdullah ibn Battuta, beheld great diversity as they visited distant points on the Eurasian continent in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Four large cultural systems dominated: Christian, Muslim, Indian, and Chinese.

Contact and Isolation

The majority of the world’s population lived in isolated communities rather than in contact. Nevertheless, population pressures pushed peoples outward, opening early ties and integration.

Fragmented Worlds

Within the globe’s larger cultural systems could be found a wide variety of smaller subdivisions. Separated from other areas of the globe, or even from other areas in their own country, small communities developed their own dialects, cultures, and social organizations. The vast majority of the world’s population lived in these narrowly defined communities. The struggle for survival meant most people did not have the resources to visit distant lands.

Contact and Trade Routes

Even while many remained isolated and insulated in smaller communities, Polo and Battuta also noted great interest among various people for contact with others from distant lands. Indeed, Polo and Battuta themselves nicely characterize this class. Some possessed sufficient resources, ingenuity, and opportunity to travel far and wide, crossing boundaries of all types. People in the borderlands—areas with no centralized control—facilitated contact between civilizations. Warfare could also lead to more contacts, as did camel caravans and ocean-voyaging ships. The fourteenth century was clearly a time of greater contact.

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