Title: How Did the Crusades Affect Exploration and Trade? | Synonym
Headings: How Did the Crusades Affect Exploration and Trade?
How Did the Crusades Affect Exploration and Trade?
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1 Transformations in Shipbuilding
2 Trade Turns to Exploration
3 A Cross-Cultural Exchange
4 Military Failure, Cultural Success

Content: Europeans learned about chess, algebra, Arabic numbers and irrigation from the Islamic world. Ironically, the Muslims became better builders of fortified castles after the Crusader invasions, and these innovations found their way back to Europe. Muslim universities, established as early as the 7th century, became models for European universities. And Muslims themselves benefited from the trade in textiles from Byzantium and northern Europe. 4 Military Failure, Cultural Success
The Crusades were a military failure for Christianity, since Christians did not ultimately succeed in their stated goal of recovering the Holy Land from the Muslims. However, they were in fact a political and cultural victory for Europe on a grand scale. The Crusades opened up new trading markets, new ideas and new global vistas to Europeans. Thomas F. Madden, author of “The New Concise History of the Crusades,” writes, “It is one of the remarkable events in history that the Latin West … suddenly burst forth with amazing new energy, neutralizing its enemies and expanding across the globe.”