The success of empire’s centralized economy led to social harmony and to its fast expansion. The Inca’s central planning economy was, perhaps, the most efficient and successful ever seen. Collective labor from the ayllu was at the center of the economic productivity. Every member was obliged to contribute with his labor as tribute and in exchange they received food, clothing, housing, education and health care security.
The Inca economy did not use money as an exchange unit or markets to trade. However they did trade with other tribes outside their boundaries. Every unit of production was carefully planned and distributed where it was needed.
As an agricultural economy, the Incas made sure that they stored enough food in case of bad weather or war so they grew more food than they needed. They built storage buildings called tambos along roads for food to be distributed to nearby villages. The surplus would be kept in storage as a safety net. Production was planned by the central government, each village would produce a specific product and be distributed to other villages the same way food was distributed. Read more =>
The agricultural revolution had a variety of consequences for people. Many people feared that the increased dependancy on the land would be scarce—the decline in food and the rise in infectious diseases that would be contracted from domesticated animals
With Islam’s warriors, traders, and scholars crossing into Europe, with Chinese influences taking deeper root in East Asia, and with Christendom extending itself across Europe, religion and empire once again intertwined to serve as the social foundation across much of Afro-Eurasia.
In particular, European traders wanted to trade for gold, which could be found in western Africa, and also to find a maritime route to "the Indies" (India), where they could trade for luxury goods such as spices without having to obtain these items from Middle Eastern Islamic traders.
