Indian Ocean Trade Networks

Indian Ocean’s Key Technological Advances

2000 BCE

Domestication of the camel helped bring coastal trade goods such as silk, porcelain, spices, slaves, incense, and ivory to inland empires.
Chinese invented larger ships and the magnetic compass likewise added momentum of commercial growth.
Larger ships meant more cargo and spices across the ocean and all over the world, and the magnetic compass to know which direction they are going.

Type of Goods Imported and Exported

1500 BCE

Mediterranean Basin:
Ceramics, Wine, Gold, Olive Oil, Glassware.
East Africa:
Ivory, Gold, Iron Goods, Slaves, Quartz, Tortoiseshells, Leopard Skins
Arabia:
Frankincense, Myrrh, Perfumes.
India:
Grain, Ivory, Precious Stones, Cotton Textiles, Spices, Timber, Tortoiseshells
SE Asia:
Tin, Sandlewood, Cloves, Nutmeg, Mace
China:
Silks, Porcelain, Tea

Growing Importance of Production

1500 BCE

• Fish are of great and growing importance to the bordering countries
• The main port for domestic consumption and export
• Mainly exploited for shrimp and tuna from fishing fleets from Russia, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan.
• A place is rich in plants and animals unique to this part of the world.

Environmental Effects of the Indian Ocean Trade

1500 BCE

• Desire to have access to foreign ports.
• The invention of the compass, the astrolabe, and new ship designs such as the Lateen Sail, Arab Dhow, and the Chinese junk.
• People obtained a greater understanding of the Indian Ocean, namely the monsoons.
• New crops enabled population growth.
• Champa rice greatly increased the food supply of China

Social Effects of the Indian Ocean Trade

1500 BCE

• An increase in the value of trade.
• Indian Ocean Trade became a vital way to obtain wealth.
• The movement of merchants and slaves throughout the Indian Ocean.
• Merchants went to where they could obtain profits and became richer and essential to the economy.
• Slaves were forced to move from East Africa to the various areas that required them.

Indian Ocean's Significant People

1497 BCE

*Vasco da Gama - was the first European to open a sea-based trade route to India. The Portuguese under Vasco da Gama discovered a naval route to the Indian Ocean through the southern tip of Africa in 1497–98.

*Hippalus, a Greek navigator, discovered the monsoon winds and the route across the Arabian Sea to India around 45 AD.

Diasporic Communities of the Indian Ocean Trade

1400 BCE

• Merchants set up diasporic communities where they introduced their own cultural traditions into the indigenous culture. • Muslim merchant communities in the Indian Ocean region • Chinese merchant communities in Southeast Asia • Sogdian merchant communities throughout Central Asia • Jewish communities in the Mediterranean, Indian Ocean basin, or along the Silk Roads

Communication Effects of the Indian Ocean Trade

850 BCE

• Expansion of existing empires such as China, Byzantine Empire, Caliphates, and new empires facilitated trans-Eurasian trade and communication as new people were drawn into their conquerors’ economies and trade networks.
• Migration and commercials contacts led to the diffusion of languages throughout a new region or the emergence of new languages.

Increased cross-cultural interactions of the Indian Ocean Trade

850 BCE

• Increased cross-cultural interactions resulted in the diffusion of literacy, artistic, and traditions. • The influence of Neo-Confucianism and Buddhism in East Asia • Hinduism and Buddhism in Southeast Asia • Islam in Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia • Toltec/Mexica and Inca traditions in Mesoamerica and Andean America

Economical Effects of the Indian Ocean Trade

800 BCE

• Kingdoms in the Western part of the Indian Ocean Trade desired Asian luxuries, such as silks, porcelain, and tea.
• Asian kingdoms desired raw materials, such as ivory, gold, and slaves.
• Merchants adopted new economic practices such as banking, using credit, using bills of exchange, and checks.

Indian Ocean Trade History

800 BCE

• Began with small trading settlements around 800 A.D.
• Declined in the 1500s when Portugal invaded and tried to run the trade for its own profit.
• Intensified trade between Africa and Asia and prosperous city-states flourished along the eastern coast of Africa.
• The economic benefits from the trade helped create new kingdoms and strengthened old kingdoms in East Africa.

Indian Ocean Trade Routes

600 BCE

• An important combination of trade ranging from East Africa through most of Asia lasted from 600 A.D to 1450 A.D.
• Trade mostly revolved around Asia luxuries such as silk and porcelain
• East African kingdoms like Great Zimbabwe and the Swahili City-States traded their abundance of precious metals and other raw materials for Asian luxuries.
• The Indian Ocean provided major sea routes connecting the Middle East, Africa, and East Asia with Europe and the Americas.

Indian Ocean Trade Networks

550 BCE

The Indian Ocean trade routes connected Southeast Asia, India, Arabia, and East Africa:
4th century BCE & 3rd Century CE
-The Achaemenid Empire in Persia:550 -330 BCE
-The Mauryan Empire in India: 324-185 BCE
-The Han Dynasty in China: 202-BCE to 220 CE
-The Roman Empire in the Mediterranean: 33 BCE to 476 CE
-Silk from China - Roman coins mingled in Indian treasuries- Persian jewels in Mauryan
-Religious thoughts by merchants: Buddhism, Hinduism, and Jainism India to Southeast Asia.

Cultural Effects of the Indian Ocean Trade

550 BCE

• Merchants spread their cultures to the foreign lands they visited as they traded.
• Religion was spread throughout numerous areas.
• Science was spread throughout numerous areas.
• Islam became the dominant religion in Indonesia and prominent in East Africa.
• Buddhism spread to South East Asia.

Popular Posts and Transportation Methods

500 BCE

Most Popular Posts: China, South East Asia, India, East Africa, Mediterranean Basic
Transport Methods: Merchants from the Roman Empire settled down on Africa’s East coast. They traveled long distances across the Indian Ocean until the monsoons were discovered. The monsoons were heavy winds that traveled Southwest in the winter and Northeast in the summer.

Political Effects of Indian Ocean Trade

476 BCE

• East African kingdoms gained political power and became heavily dependent on the Indian Ocean trade.
• Several kingdoms were created in resource-rich areas as the demands increased due to trade.
• Kingdom of Great Zimbabwe was created because of the abundance of gold and other natural resources.
• Multiple kingdoms rose in political power because they become economically stable.

Geographical of the Indian Ocean

200 BCE

• Third largest of the world’s ocean divisions covering 19.8% of the water on the earth surface
• Bounded by Asia to the North, Africa to the West, and Australia to the East.
• Bounded by Antarctica
• Extended through many countries from East African coast north to the Arabian Sea down the western coast of India, such as Maldives, Sri Lanka, Seychelles, Mauritius, La Reunion

8. Oceanographical of the Indian Ocean

200 BCE

• The Indian Ocean is found in the Indus and Ganges fans
• The Polar Front is high in biologic productivity
• Dominated by non-stratified sediment composed mostly of siliceous oozes
• Relatively young among the three major mid-ocean ridges.
• Mainly controlled by the monsoon

Environmental Factors in Indian Ocean

45 BCE

-Monsoon winds made trading across the Indian Ocean easier because trading is more predictable and less dangerous.
-People learned the monsoons, which brings ways to build ships and navigate through the ocean.
-Eurasian brought Christianity to Southeast Asia after figuring out how monsoons work.
-Monsoons dictated how fast people, ideas, and goods could travel and where they could travel at the time of year.

9. Marine Life of the Indian Ocean

45 BCE

• Hold the largest concentration of phytoplankton during summer due to monsoon
• The phytoplankton supports the marine food web, such as larger fish species.
• The second-largest share of the most economically valuable tuna catch.