Indian Ocean Trade Developments/Networks during the Classical Period

By taydileo
  • 1000 BCE

    Iron Metallurgy

    Known in Western Asia, Southeastern Europe, and North Africa. In India, Aryan people began to settle and King David establishes Jerusalem as his capital city.
  • 1000 BCE

    Bananas

    Cultivated by people in New Guinea as early as 8,000 BCE, but traveled to India and might've reached Africa by 1000 BCE.
  • 1000 BCE

    Sugar Cane

    Has origins in Southeast Asia and when it reached India, cultivation occurred on an even larger scale. Known as a luxury for cooking and sweetening.
  • Period: 1000 BCE to 600 BCE

    Phoenicians

    Dominated trade and travel during the first millennium BCE and specialized in making glass products. The Phoenicians imported and exported items like wine, olives and olive oil, wheat, spices, metals, honey, and cedar wood.
  • Period: 1000 BCE to 600 BCE

    Navigation by Polaris

    While traveling across vast oceans where no land was visible, Phoenician sailors stayed on the correct route by observing the location of Polaris, called the 'Phoenician Star' by ancient writers. Along with knowledge of winds and ocean currents, Polaris navigation allowed the Phoenicians to sail long distances and trade with many foreign cultures.
  • Period: 1000 BCE to 300

    Kamal

    A a simple navigation device used by Arab navigators in the Indian Ocean since ancient times. The purpose of the kamal was to determine latitude at sea by observing the distance between the horizon and a particular star at the same time each night.
  • Period: 1000 BCE to 300

    Classical Era

    The Classical Era lasted between 1000 BCE to 300 CE
  • Period: 700 BCE to 100 BCE

    Aksum

    A wealthy kingdom that flourished between the first and seventh centuries in what is today Ethiopia, traded extensively with Greece and other foreign regions. Linked to the Red Sea and Indian Ocean trade networks by its port city of Adulis, Aksum controlled the profitable African gold and ivory trade. It exported gold, gems, spices, incense and ivory to Greece, India, Sri Lanka, and Persia.
  • 600 BCE

    Trade Routes/Networks

    Three large trade networks developed: the Silk Road, the Indian Ocean trade, and the Saharan trade, beginning 600 BCE into 600 CE.
  • Period: 600 BCE to 300 BCE

    Religions

    Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism spread across the Bay of Bengal to Southeast Asia. These were often spread through the different routes, like the Silk Road.
  • Period: 528 BCE to 468 BCE

    Scylax of Caryanda

    Explored in the service of King Darius of Persia, who had heard of the riches of India and wanted to discover the mouth of the Indus River. He was famous for this voyage, and brought news of these regions that encouraged trade expeditions.
  • 500 BCE

    Hanno

    An admiral from the Phoenician city of Carthage who sailed around the western coast of Africa. He successfully established several colonies along the Moroccan coast and a trading post on a small island off the coast of Mauritania. His route extended from the Straits of Gibraltar, or the Pillars of Herakles, around the African coast as far down as present-day Gabon.
  • Period: 500 BCE to 19 BCE

    Disease

    Malaria, Leprosy, Tuberculosis, etc., surfaced whilst traveling and trading goods along the trade routes.
  • Period: 431 BCE to 404 BCE

    Peloponnesian War

    When Athens and Sparta fought over rival claims to a colonial city-state. During the 2nd year of this war, a massive plague called the Athenian Plague broke out that killed 1/3 of the population. This attempt to invade Sicily cost Athens more than 200 ships, 4500 men and many trading allies.
  • Period: 356 BCE to 323 BCE

    Alexander the Great

    Defeated the Persian Empire (550-330 BCE) and extended Greek control over lands in western Asia, Egypt, Central Asia, and the Indus Valley. He also founded the city of Alexandria in Egypt, which would become a major center of art and trade. Although the conquests were harsh for conquered peoples, his military campaigns brought Greek art and culture into contact with many foreign lands, initiating what is now known as the Hellenistic period.
  • Period: 271 BCE to 232 BCE

    Ashoka

    One of the most famous Indian emperors who converted to Buddhism and worked to spread the religion. By sending religious envoys abroad, Ashoka encouraged contact and interactions that contributed to the establishment of trade relations. Under his rule, India traded with cultures in both West Asia and Southeast Asia.
  • 206 BCE

    The Silk Road

    Connected the Mediterranean, the Middle East, India, Central Asia, and China, began to flourish with the rise of the Roman Empire (27 BCE) and the Han Dynasty (206 BCE). The dominance of these wealthy empires provided peace and stability, encouraging merchants to travel abroad and seek luxury goods like silk.
  • Period: 200 BCE to 101 BCE

    Arikamedu

    A trade center on the southeast coast of India, near today's Pondicherry on the Coromandel coast of India. The town became so important for the trade with Rome that archaeologists used to think Romans founded it as a trading post, but now its earlier origins are known. Another activity at Arikamedu was crafting of stone and glass beads, which were widely sold in India and Southeast Asia, where they have been found in jar burials and at other sites.
  • Period: 200 BCE to 1 CE

    Camels and Date Production

    One-humped camel and the date palm had spread from southern Arabia to Somalia in east Africa, and from there into Ethiopia and Egypt. Owing to the camel saddle, trade between North Africa and the African Savannah was established along with the relationship between farmers on both desert edges and pastoral nomads crossing the desert. Among the most famous of these developments was the gold/salt trade, which flourished during the following centuries.
  • 138 BCE

    Zhang Qian

    An early pioneer of the 'Silk Road' trade routes, helped open up China to many foreign lands and cultures. Was sent by the emperor Wudi to make contact with the Yuezhi, an ancient culture that ruled parts of India and Bactria in Central Asia from about 128 BCE-450 CE. He introduced Chinese culture and technology to the lands he visited, and brought back foreign music, dance forms, and foods like grapes, pomegranates, watermelon, and walnuts.
  • Period: 100 to 200

    Pearls

    100 CE- 200 CE. An ideal trade good because they took up very little room on ships or caravans, pearls were commonly used for jewelry and decoration, or sometimes ground up into powder for medicine. The best pearls came from the waters of the Arabian (Persian) Gulf, particularly near Bahrain, Qatar, the UAE and Oman. The pearling industry was very important to the economies of these countries, which exported the gemstones to the Roman Empire and other lands.
  • Period: 100 to 300

    Silk

    100 CE- 300 CE. Silk cloth, first developed in China, comes from a thread naturally spun by silk worms as they make their cocoons. Along with spices, metalwork, glass, incense, and other textiles, silk was one of the goods exchanged along a series of overland trade routes known as the "Silk Road." It was both traded and used as a form of money, reflecting its high value and importance internationally.
  • Period: 101 to 300

    Palmyra

    Connected to two of the most important trade routes in history: the Silk Road, which extended from Europe all the way to China, and the Incense Road, which stretched through the Arabian Peninsula with goods also transported to the Far East and India.
  • Period: 150 to 191

    Kushan Gold Coin

    150 CE- 191 CE. The coin is an example of how trade resulted in the blending of religious and cultural ideas. It comes from the Kushan Empire, which controlled parts of India and Bactria in Central Asia from about the second century BCE until the fifth century CE, and was used in trade along the Silk Road.