Indian Ocean Trade Routes - Ms. Arndt's Class · Web viewIndian Ocean Trade Routes by Kallie Szczepanski Updated January 06, 2019 The Indian Ocean trade routes connected Southeast

Indian Ocean Trade RoutesbyKallie Szczepanski Updated January 06, 2019

The Indian Ocean trade routes connected Southeast Asia, India, Arabia, and East Africa. From at least the third century BCE, long-distance sea trade moved across a network of routes linking all of those areas as well as East Asia (particularly China).

 Long before Europeans "discovered" the Indian Ocean, traders from Arabia, Gujarat, and other coastal areas used ships with triangle shaped sails to harness the monsoon winds. Domestication (training) of the camel helped bring coastal trade goods like silk, porcelain, spices, slaves, incense, and ivory to inland empires (like Egypt or Mesopotamia)

In the classical era, major empires involved in the Indian Ocean trade included the Mauryan Empire in India, the Han Dynasty in China, the Achaemenid Empire in Persia, and the Roman Empire in the Mediterranean. Silk from China beautified Roman aristocrats, Roman coins circulated in Indian treasuries, and Persian jewels show up in Mauryan settings.

Another major export item along the classical Indian Ocean trade routes was religious thought. Buddhism, Hinduism, and Jainism spread from India to Southeast Asia, brought by merchants rather than by religious missionaries. Islam would later spread the same way from the 700s CE on.

Indian Ocean Trade in the Medieval Era

During the medieval era (400 - 1450 C) trade flourished in the Indian Ocean basin.  The rise of the Umayyad (661 -  750 CE) and Abbasid (750 - 1258) Caliphates on the Arabian Peninsula provided a powerful western market for the trade routes.  In addition, Islam valued merchants (the Prophet Muhammad himself was a trader and caravan leader), and wealthy Muslim cities created an enormous demand for luxury goods.

Meanwhile, the Tang (618 - 907) and Song (960 - 1279) Dynasties in China also emphasized trade and industry, developing strong trade ties along the land-based Silk Roads, and encouraging maritime (ocean) trade.  The Song rulers of China even created a powerful imperial navy to control piracy on the eastern end of the route. 

Between the Arabs and the Chinese, several major empires flourished because of 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.  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 of Cambodia, used the Mekong River as a highway that tied it into the Indian Ocean trade network.

For centuries, China had mostly allowed foreign traders to come to it.  After all, everyone wanted Chinese goods, and foreigners were more than willing to take the time and trouble of visiting coastal China to procure fine silks, porcelain, and other items.  In 1405, however, the  Emperor of China's new Ming Dynasty sent out the first of seven expeditions to visit all of 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 representatives and trade goods from across the region.

Europe Intrudes on the Indian Ocean Trade

In 1498, strange 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 for wool or fur clothing, iron cooking pots, or the other meager products of Europe.

As a result, 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 force local producers and foreign merchant ships alike to trade with them. 

In 1602, an even more ruthless European power appeared in the Indian Ocean: the Dutch East India Company (VOC). Rather than integrating themselves into the existing trade pattern, as the Portuguese had done, the Dutch sought a total monopoly (total control) on profitable spices like nutmeg and mace.

 In 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, equal trade dissolved. 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.https://www.thoughtco.com/indian-ocean-trade-routes-195514

Circle Southeast Asia, India, Arabia, and East Africa on the map below.

Draw a simple route to connect all 4 regions and draw a symbol to represent the major trade items in that area of the world (for example, draw fabric at China to represent silk).

What Religions were spread across the Indian Ocean?

What was China’s role in Indian Ocean Trade? Who was Zheng He (what was his significance?)

List 5 major time periods or dates involved in the trade. Tell me what happened.

1

2

3

4

5

What were valuable items of trade across the ocean.?

What civilizations we have talked about that are involved in this trade?

How did Europe take over trade in the Indian Ocean? Something Interesting I learned that I didn’t already write down.