Indian Ocean Trade Research Paper

In the Arabian peninsula, Islam had started. After Muhammad died, the Muslim community embarked on a series of military conquests that extended their control over much of Eurasia and north Africa. Muslim merchants also became a prominent figure in trade during this time. The Islamic empire extended to the Arabian Peninsula and many areas around it. These places were central in the Mediterranean sea, Indian Ocean, and silk road trade routes. The Muslim merchants became a very big part of trade because of their location at the center of many trade routes from Eurasia to Africa. They were also a prominent part of trade because the camel saddle started to be used frequently in 600 CE. Camels were more equipped to walk through the desert, and so the ability to control them made the Muslims a major part of silk road trade. In addition to this, the Muslim agricultural revolution occurred around 600 CE. This caused more crops like cotton to be cultivated and traded, causing a greater income and virtually more trade between Africa and Eurasia. In the Indian Ocean basin, the Gupta empire had declined and there was no centralized rule in India. However, there were still major trading cities and new technologies caused trade to increase. An example of the new technologies would be the dhows and junks that were used at around 800 CE.

Economic relationships between classical China and India were similar and almost seemed to rely on one another. India was considered “the center of trade”. Most trade routes were all passing through and dependent on India. Indian emphasis on trade and merchant activity was far more than in China, and also greater in the classical Mediterranean world. During the Maurya rule, India expanded their trade between the main centers of civilization Eurasia and Africa. Some products produced at one end of the system, such as Chinese silks and porcelains, were carried the whole length of the trading networks to be sold at the other end of the routes, in Rome. As a result, China and India both had to work together and figure out a way to make sure and help each other because both civilizations depended on each other for different things.

The Indian Ocean Trade included overland and sea trade routes that extended from China to the Swahili Coast to the Middle East. It provided easy access to cheaper and more frequent trade during the monsoon seasons because sailors could depend on the predictable monsoon winds. Cultural diffusion occurred through peaceful trade that was dominated by merchants. Technology, ideas, religion, and products also spread throughout the trade routes. The Indian Ocean Trade was the first time that goods were being traded in mass market.

Changes and continuities in commerce in the Indian ocean region from 650 to 1750 C.E.

It analyzes the interaction between the Chinese, Indians, and Arabs. This chapter examines the trade situation before and after the European invaded. Around 1500, was the first time the trade began and it was one of the greatest generators of the economy. Therefore, it was really important for places like Asia, Africa, and Arabs to get access to the Indian Ocean.

Similarly both trade routes had access to salt. Nevertheless, the Trans-Saharan trade route also was able to obtain gold, ivory, metal ware, textiles, pepper, dates, beads, and leather. Consequently the quantity of goods led to an increase in wealth for Ghana. The Trans-Saharan trade route was able to exchange their luxury goods for pottery, glassware, and textiles from Persia, India, and China. Additionally during the 900’s the kings converted to Islam causing wealthy merchants to also convert. On the other hand, overland trade on the Silk Road produced silk, spices, and precious stones. Meanwhile sea-lanes on the Silk Road were capable of carrying bulkier items such as steel, stone, coral, and building materials. Because China was the only country that had cultivators and weavers with an outstanding knowledge of developing techniques, they were able to produce high-quality silk fabrics in classical

If there was ever an important period historians, and people could put a finger on, this would be it. This is the important period where the world’s countries, kingdoms, and dynasties established trade routes. This is the period where countries were made and countries were destroyed because of the importance of trade and the importance of building a fundamental, religious, and economical way of life. This paper will discuss the goals and functions of trades, and traders, and a historical analysis of world trade. This paper will also get into world trade patterns, of The Americas, Sub-Saharan Africa, The Indian Ocean, The Silk routes, China and The South China Sea, Europe and The Mediterranean, and The Atlantic Exploration.

Throughout early history, civilizations often sought to receive resources from afar to sustain their societies and keep themselves thriving, and to this end trade relations and eventually trade routes began to emerge. This aided civilizations in their discovery of foreign items that they may use to better their societies. These items traded ranged from complex technology to something as simple as nutmeg. The main trade routes that were utilized in East and South Asia were the silk road and the Indian Ocean Trade Network. In the 7th- 12th centuries, both the silk road and Indian ocean trade route had affected east and south Asia by the introduction of religions such as Buddhism changing government forms and altering the belief systems of society and changing how individuals live their daily lives, however differences were present in the impact that these routes had on daily lives, such as the Indian Ocean Trade Route giving rise to an entire new culture in Africa known as the Swahili and leading to the innovation of the sailing boat known as the Dhow, and the silk road led to the transmission of religion and resources throughout Eurasia and it led to utilization of caravans and animals as a means of trade.

Middle Eastern gold and silver purchased pepper, textiles, and gemstones in India. Merchants from the Arab Empire established communities from East Africa to the China coast. Opportunities for trade led to the production of sugar and dates in Mesopotamia and stimulated a slave trade from East Africa to provide labor for the growing and refining of these products. Widespread conversion to Islam among traders in the Indian Ocean underpinned an international maritime culture and also helped to facilitate commercial transactions.

Before 1448, European had to use the Silk Road to trade with Asia. In 1453, Muslim took over Constantinople; the only way to Asia had been cut. European nations started to use the Maritime way, and they took over many places in Asia as their access to an easier trade system. Among these European nations, like what they did to America, their goals and the way they achieved their initiatives in Asia are different from one another. Portuguese was the first group that explored the way to Asia without going through Muslims.

According to the map, Great Ages of Man: Early Islam, it shows how trade impacted the religion of Islam’s way of life and how it helped spread their culture, [Document A]. The map shows land and sea trade route, in 570, that were used to trade across the Byzantine and Persian empires. Another example is that, according to Desmond Stewart, “Vast camel trains, bearing spices, perfumes… ivory, silk, filled though the town headed north on the way from Yemen… to the markets of Syria and headed east from the Red sea across the desert to Iraq,” [Document A]. Trading was an easy and resourceful way to preach and inform people about Islam. Since, they traded with a wide variety of places they were able to spread the words of Allah to many time of people.

Long distance trading had made it possible for people from different cultures to interact. Silk roads were one of the famous trade routes that were used in the ancient time. It stretched from China to central Asia and westward. It merged into one big series of routes. Traders traveled segments of the route, passing their goods on to others who took them further along the road, and in turn, passed them on again. The effect of long-distance exchanges altered the political geography of Afro-Eurasia. The Middle East became a commercial middle ground between the Mediterranean and Indian. The horse-riding nomads of Inner Eurasia made long-distance trade possible. Kushan empire in Afghanistan and the Indus River basin embraced a large and diverse

The Bengal region had a complex political organisation structure that completely changed the region in the mid to late eighteenth century. This essay will examine the Bengali culture in broad sense and then go on to discuss the political organisation of the Bengal region and study how governing of the state occurred between the assigned time period of 1750-1800. The essay will also compare the political organisation of the Qing Dynasty, the Chakri Dynasty, the Neo-Sumerian Empire, the Inca Empire and imperial China to that of the Mughal Empire that ruled the Bengal region. To conclude, the essay will explain how political organisation influenced Bengali trade and exchange internationally and within the Bengal region.

The IOR with its plethora of resources is the epicenter of the world’s maritime trade. In the present century the posturing of the contending parties over rival claims over maritime resources is therefore becoming increasingly belligerent . The jostling for power which the world is witnessing in the region has given rise to three main contenders India, China and US. Having seen the geopolitics, the economic arena and the maritime security environment it is imperative on us to carry out a systematic in depth analysis of the strategic interests of India and China with specific focus on the views of each other’s policy in the region so as to arrive at a strategic conclusion.

Since gaining liberalization, India has been active in international trade, and is today one of the major trading nations in the world. The Indian economy has been highly dependent on external trade; presently, India’s major trading partners were China, United Arab Emirates, United States, Saudi Arabia Switzerland, Singapore and Germany.