Indian Ocean Trade Route

Sea Trading

300 BCE

Long distance sea trade moved across a web of routes linking all those areas aruond the Indian Ocean as well as East Asia (Mostly China)

Before "Indian Trade" Discovery

300

Long before Euorpeans "discovered" the Indian Ocean, traders from Arabia,Gujarat, and other coastal areas used triangle-sailed dhows to harness the seasonal monsoon winds.

500 CE

500

Trade route develops throught the Straits of Malacca, linking the Indian Ocean with the South China Sea

Technology

500

The magnetic compass was invented in China which was crucial for navigation. Muslim sailors popularized the astrolabe which made it easier to navigate using the stars. The Islamic world also produced triangular shaped lateen sail to tack through the winds.

Trade Goods

800

Domestication of the camel helped bring coastal trade goods such as silk, porcelain, spices, slaves, incense, and invory.

Major Empires

800

Majors empires involved in Indian OCean Trade included the Mauryan Empire in India, the Han Dynasty in China, and Achaemnid Empire in Persia and the Roman Empire in the Mediterranian.

Exports

800

As well as exporting goods, religious thoughts were also passed along these routes. Bhuddism, Hinduism, Jainism spread from India to Southeast Asia.

Trade Routes

800

The Indian Ocean Trade routes connected Southeast Asia, India, Arabia, and East Africa

Medieval Era Trade

1258

During this era, 400 - 1450 CE, trade flourished. The rise of the Umayyad (661 - 750 CE) and Abbasid (750 - 1258) Caliphates on the Arabian Penninsula provided powerful western node for the trade routes. Islam valued merchants ( the Prophet Mohammud was a trader and caravan leader).

Tang and Song Dynasty

1279

Meanwhile the Tang (618 - 907) and Song (1279) Dynasties in China also emphazised trade and industry, devleoping strong trade ties along land based Silk Roads, and encouraging maritime trade.
Song rulers created a powerful imperial navy to control piracy on the eastern end of the trade route.

Tang Dynasty Cont'd

1279

During the Tang dyansty, tea also began its journey to becoming a world beverage, and 'china' cups and teapots accompanied it. In the Yunnan Province, the Tea and Horse Caravan Road was established, sending tea, sugar, salt from China to Tibet and India.

Martime Trade

1400

In what is now Indonesia, the Srivijaya Empire boomed based almost entirely on taxing trading vessels that moved through the narrow Malacca Straits. Even Angkor, based far inland in the Khmer heartland of Cambodia, used the Mekong River as a highway that tied it in to the Indian Ocean trade network.

Trade cont'd

1400

Between the Arabs and the Chinese, several major empires blossomed based largely on maritime trade. The Chola Empire in southern India dazzled travelers with its wealth and luxury; Chinese visitors record parades of elephants covered with gold cloth and jewels marching through the city streets.

Foreign Trade

1405

China allowed foreign traders to come to it. Everyone wanted Chinese goods, and foreigners were willing to take the time and trouble of visiting coastal China to procure fine silks, porcelain, and other items.
The Yongle Emperor of China's new Ming Dynasty sent out the first of seven expeditions to visit the empire's major trading partners around the Indian Ocean. The Ming treasure ships under Admiral Zheng. He traveled all the way to East Africa, bring back emissaries and trade goods.

New Sailors

1496

New mariners made their first appearance in the Indian Ocean. Portuguese sailors under Vasco da Gama rounded the southern point of Africa and ventured into new seas. The Portuguese were eager to join in the Indian Ocean trade, since European demand for Asian luxury goods was extremely high. However, Europe had nothing to trade. The peoples around the Indian Ocean basin had no need of wool or fur clothing, iron cooking pots, or the other meager products of Europe.

European Mariners

1498

The Portuguese entered the Indian Ocean trade as pirates rather than traders. Using a combination of bravado and cannons, they seized port cities like Calicut on India's west coast and Macau, in southern China. The Portuguese began to rob and extort local producers and foreign merchant ships alike. Scarred by the Moorish conquest of Portugal and Spain, they viewed Muslims in particular as the enemy, and took every opportunity to plunder their ships

European Trade

1602

European power appeared in the Indian Ocean: the Dutch East India Company (VOC). Rather than insinuating themselves in to the existing trade pattern, as the Portuguese had done, the Dutch sought a total monopoly on lucrative spices like nutmeg and mace.

British East India Company

1680

The British joined in with their British East India Company, which challenged the VOC for control of the trade routes. As the European powers established political control over important parts of Asia, turning Indonesia, India, Malaya, and much of Southeast Asia into colonies, reciprocal trade dissolved.

Decline of the Indian Ocean Trade

1680

Goods moved increasingly to Europe, while the former Asian trading empires grew poorer and collapsed. The two thousand year-old Indian Ocean trade network was crippled, if not completely destroyed.

Sources

2020

http://www.theworldeconomy.org/impact/The_Trading_World_of_the_Indian_Ocean.html https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/whp-origins/era-4-regional/43-a-dark-age-betaa/v/intl-commerce-snorkeling-camels-and-the-indian-ocean-trade-crash-course-world-history-18 https://www.discovermagazine.com/technology/the-indian-ocean-a-maritime-trade-network-history-nearly-forgot