Trade Developments/Networks in Indian Ocean

Bananas

8000 BCE

Bananas were cultivated in other places in Southeast Asia as well, then traveled to India, and may have reached Africa. During the classical era, bananas spread as a crop and a food into China, and may have been known in parts of the Middle East.

Ancient Fishing Boat

5000 BCE

This type of dugout, a flat-bottomed boat used for setting out from the coast, could be used with or without a sail. They were made from teak or mango wood, which is resistant to rot. These were the oldest fishing craft, or were used for lighting (unloading boats anchored offshore).

Millet

4000 BCE

Millet, teff, and sorghum are grains that are high in nutrition and easy to grow in dry conditions. Millet and sorghum are tall grasses that bear large clusters of tiny, round seeds. Historians of food and agriculture believe that these grains were first domesticated from wild grasses in east Africa.

Egyptian Faience Bowl

3500 BCE

This brightly colored bowl, used for either funeral or ritual purposes. This art form was especially popular during the Hellenistic and Roman periods in Egypt, which is why faience pottery often contains a mixture of Egyptian and Greek designs. These ceramics were exported far outside of Egypt, particularly to other parts of the Roman Empire.

Silk

3000 BCE

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.

Mangrove Poles, Tortoise shells, Ivory, and Rhinoceros Horn

3000 BCE

Historians are not certain how much trade between East Africa and other coastal peoples of the Indian Ocean took place. Articles of trade such as mangrove wood from coastal regions of east Africa were in demand in wood-poor desert areas like the Arabian(Persian) Gulf and the Red Sea. Rare items such as rhinoceros horn, ivory, tortoise shells and nautilus shells may also have come from there.

Gemstones

1700 BCE

There was good reason, however, for merchants to come calling and for Indian suppliers to create markets. That reason is the presence of mineral wealth in eastern India--the kind of stones that added color and sparkle to the golden crowns, necklaces, sword handles, and drinking cups of royalty and the rich. India supplied sapphires, diamonds, garnet, beryls, agate, carnelian, crystal, rubies and emeralds.

Sugar Canes

1000 BCE

From its origins in Southeast Asia, sugar cane had reached India, where it was cultivated on a larger scale. In addition to growing sugar cane in irrigated fields, it was hybridized, or cross-pollinated, with other varieties of cane. In this way, it became a very productive crop. As for use of sugar, it remained a luxury, and like many new and strange plant foods, was considered medicinal by some.

Jar Burials

900 BCE

Jar burials are found at sites across Southeast Asia from the Bay of Bengal stretching in an arc as far as Japan.Jar burials are important because they may show evidence of early voyages and migrations, since this unusual custom was so widely practiced across the region.

Canal connecting the Nile to the Red Sea

609 BCE

A canal linking the Nile River and the Red Sea, in order to improve trade with the Indian Ocean lands. Supposedly, 120,000 lives were lost in the effort.

Phoenicians

600 BCE

They lived in the coastal areas of southern Syria and Lebanon, establishing major cities like Tyre, Sidon, Byblos and Arwad. Phoenicians ("red people"), imported and exported items like wine, olives and olive oil, wheat, spices, metals, honey, and cedar wood.

Phoencian Ships

600 BCE

The Phoenicians were adventurous merchants who built sturdy cargo ships designed to transport large amounts of goods. Phoenician cargo boats were called gauloi, or 'round,' ships because of their rounded hulls (the body of a boat). They were typically between 65 and 100 feet long and about 20 feet wide, with a lot of space to store trade goods.

Camel Saddle

500 BCE

An important technology that developed during this era was the camel saddle, developed in Northern Arabia.It was useful in establishing a livelihood for pastoral nomads, people who lead herds of animals to pasture in dry regions, and live from their milk, wool, and meat.

Hanno

500 BCE

Hanno, an admiral from the Phoenician city of Carthage, sailed around the western coast of Africa. Hanno, a government official whose title translates as 'king,' was sent to explore Libya. He successfully established several colonies along the Moroccan coast, in addition to a trading post on a small island off the coast of Mauritania.

Alexander the Great

356 BCE

An ambitious military commander, he led the largest army - a total of about 48,500 soldiers - ever to leave Greece. Over the course of eleven years, Alexander the Great defeated the Persian Empire 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.

Indika

306 BCE

Indika discusses the history, geography, and social structure of India under the Mauryan Empire. The ideas and myths in Indika influenced how Europeans perceived India for centuries.

Ashoka

271 BCE

Ashoka, one of the most famous Indian emperors, 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.

Cloves

206 BCE

Cloves are dried flower buds taken from the tropical evergreen clove tree, which can grow up to 30 feet tall and is native to the Maluku Islands in Indonesia. Sweet-smelling with a distinctive flavor, cloves were used for both cooking and medicinal purposes. A highly desired luxury item, cloves were traded regularly along routes stretching from Europe to China.

Kushan Gold Coin

150 BCE

This gold coin comes from the Kushan Empire, which controlled parts of India and Bactria in Central Asia from about the second century. These coins is an example of how trade resulted in the blending of religious and cultural ideas.

Strabo the Geographer

64 BCE

Strabo was a Greek traveler and the author of the famous work Geography. He was a scholar who traveled to read the scholarship of others, and from places like the library at Alexandria, Egypt, he was able to collect and compare many sources in order to get a picture of the best state of knowledge about the known world. He probably traveled as far as the Red Sea, and on its ships and in its ports he could hear about other lands.