The Indian Ocean Trade Route The Sea Route The Indian Ocean Trade Route

Due at end of PowerPoint for grade Why was the Indian Ocean trade route important and how did it develop? What technologies made the trade network a success? Why could it be described as “decentralized and cooperative”?

Remember the Mongols? During the Mongol conquest of the thirteenth century, overland trade routes were disrupted and therefore made the Indian Ocean trade more strategically important. The Mongol armies used the Silk Road to expand their empire. The first Mongols on the Silk Road were nomadic warriors who attacked and looted the markets along the trade routes. In time, the Mongols developed their own efficient trade along the Silk Road

Bulk goods for trade The Indian Ocean trade network was a crucial method of exchange and created significant increase in trade. Unlike the Silk Road which exchanged chiefly luxury goods such as silk and spices -  bulk goods such as lumber , spices and rugs were exchanged across the Indian Ocean.

Why the ocean? Trade along the Indian Ocean relied on seasonal monsoons that enabled the merchant ships to travel in either direction across the ocean depending on the season.

What’s in your cargo hold? When things were carried on board by ships, things were reaching their destination much sooner and more efficiently. For example, shipping goods across the Indian ocean from China to Arabia is far easier than using the Silk Road. Caravans could take over 4 months to move goods from Xi’an China to Samarkand in Uzbekistan (and Arabia is further away than Persia).

Trade Areas

Improved boats Improvements in seafaring technology allowed increasingly larger cargoes, which resulted in bulk goods being shipped enormous distances. The boats, the dhow and the junk, as important to the development of the network.

Technologies from Afroeurasia led to new European ship designs in the 15th century. Arab lateen sail Chinese compass Ship image: Library of Congress Lateen sail: http://www.probertencyclopaedia.com/cgi-bin/xphrase.pl?keyword=lateen Charta Rogriana world map, Islamic, anonymous,1154: http://gallery.sjsu.edu/cartography/maps/maps-Thumb.00002.html http://www.probertencyclopaedia.com/cgi-bin/xphrase.pl?keyword=lateen Exploration 40 © Kathleen Cohen 1998 xploration 40 © Kathleen Cohen 1998 Chinese sternpost rudder Muslim portolan charts and maps

Connecting People The long-distance trade helped spread Islam, uniting diverse peoples throughout the region through commercial cooperation, not political authority. The trade also connected peoples from eastern Asia to Europe. Many different regions and peoples involved in the trade, including East Africa, Arabia, India, and Japan.

Asian commercial and political voyages on the seas continued for many years. Indian Ocean trade routes attracted merchants as they had for centuries. Zheng He, Admiral of the Ming fleet, made seven voyages around the Indian Ocean. Malay ship: http://www.puncacipta.com/Pavilioncipta/iksas/lanchara%20-%20perahu%20besar.htm Golden horn display:http://www.osmanli700.gen.tr/english/album/miniatures53.html, Or:http://www.osmanli700.gen.tr/english/album/miniaturesindex.html Ming ship: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zheng_He Ottoman naval vessels patrolled the Mediterranean, the Black Sea, and the Indian Ocean.

The Collapse of Former Trading Empires 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 of wool or fur clothing, iron cooking pots, or the other meager products of Europe

Portuguese Pirates 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 extort local producers and foreign merchant ships alike. 

East India Tea Companies In 1602, an even more ruthless European power appeared in the Indian Ocean: the Dutch East India Company(VOC)   The Dutch sought a total monopoly on lucrative spices like nutmeg and mace.  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.  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