The Indian Ocean Trade route extended from East China to East Africa, a distance in the range of 8,000 to 10,000 miles. What was traded on the Indian Ocean? Cotton, wood, ivory, animal hides, gold, silver, black pepper and other spices, books, weapons, and slaves were all traded on the Indian Ocean.
What were the goods traded in the Indian Ocean trade system?
Long before Europeans "discovered" the Indian Ocean, traders from Arabia, Gujarat, and other coastal areas used triangle-sailed dhows to harness the seasonal monsoon winds. Domestication of the camel helped bring coastal trade goods - silk, porcelain, spices, slaves, incense, and ivory - to inland empires, as well.
What countries were involved in the Indian Ocean trade route?
What countries were involved in the Indian Ocean trade?
- Mediterranean Basin.
- Ceramics, Wine, Gold, Olive Oil, Glassware.
- East Africa.
- Ivory, Gold, Iron Goods, Slaves, Quartz, Tortoiseshells, Leopard Skins.
- Arabia.
- Frankincense, Myrrh, Perfumes.
- India.
- Grain, Ivory, Precious Stones, Cotton Textiles, Spices, Timber, Tortoiseshells.
What makes Indian Ocean to be named after India?
The Indian ocean is named after India because:
- India holds a central location which is at the head of the Indian Ocean.
- India in ancient times was an important location in the Indian Ocean which connected Europe with countries of Southeast Asia.
- India also has the longest coastline in the region which no other country has in the Indian ocean.
Why is the Indian Ocean trade important?
Indian Ocean Trade has been a key factor in East–West exchanges throughout history. Long-distance trade in dhows and proas made it a dynamic zone of interaction between peoples, cultures, and civilizations stretching from Southeast to East and South East Africa and East Mediterranean in the West in prehistoric and early historic periods. Cities and states on the Indian Ocean rim focused on ...
Why is the Indian Ocean important for trade?
The Indian Ocean was and is important for trade. The ocean is situated in the middle of Africa, Asia, and Australia. Many cultures and nations surr...
What was the impact of the Indian Ocean trade?
The Indian Ocean trade had an important and lasting impact on the Afro-Asia area. The expansion in trade increased wealth and cultural awareness wa...
When did the Indian Ocean become a central route for trade?
The Indian Ocean is believed to have had trading involving shipping as early as 1500 BC. It became a central route and the dominant means of trade...
Where do we start to understand the Indian Ocean trade routes?
We'll focus on the height of the Indian Ocean control over international trade, roughly around the 13th to 14th centuries. We start in the city of Aden.
Which country pushed further and further into the Indian Ocean trade routes, finally connecting the Indian Ocean with the emerging Atlantic and?
Portugal pushed further and further into the Indian Ocean trade routes, finally connecting the Indian Ocean with the emerging Atlantic and Pacific European trade markets. The dominance of the Indian Ocean trade routes declined throughout the 15th century, but this ocean remains an important part of international shipping to this day.
How did the Indian Ocean influence the world?
First truly rising around 800 CE and maintaining its dominance until the 1500s CE , these networks connected the Afro-Eurasian supercontinent in one massive cycle of trade. Products from Europe and the Middle East entered through the Red Sea and trading ports like Aden, which is located in modern-day Yemen. From there, they could be traded to the Swahili city-states of the east African coast, or go west to the Indian trade city of Gujurat and then along India's Malabar Coast. In order to leave the Indian Ocean and access China, these products had to pass through the Straits of Malacca, south of Malaysia. From East Asia to the Red Sea, products, people, and ideas passed through the Indian Ocean for centuries. Now that's how you do international trade.
How long did the Silk Roads trade route last?
The wealth from the Silk Roads led Europe into the Renaissance, and that trade route was only open for about a century. For roughly 700 years, trade goods from across the entire supercontinent of Afro-Eurasia passed through the Indian Ocean.
What is the history of the Indian Ocean?
The Indian Ocean, connecting the Middle East and Africa to East Asia by way of the Indian subcontinent, has been home to shippers and traders for millennia.
Which ocean did Christopher Columbus land in?
Before that, however, Christopher Columbus had to land in the Caribbean in 1492 and open up the Atlantic Ocean trade routes. But before any of this, the world's international systems ...
When did Portuguese sailors first reach the east coast of Africa?
When Portuguese sailors first reached the east coast of Africa in the last decade of the 15th century, they were amazed to find thriving trading cities, massive networks, and immense wealth flowing through the Indian Ocean.
What is the Indian Ocean trade?
Indian Ocean Trade has been a key factor in East–West exchanges throughout history. Long-distance trade in dhows and proas made it a dynamic zone of interaction between peoples, cultures, and civilizations stretching from Southeast to East and South East Africa and East Mediterranean in the West in prehistoric and early historic periods.
What was the first trade route in the Indian Ocean?
The first true maritime trade network in the Indian Ocean was by the Austronesian peoples of Island Southeast Asia, who built the first ocean-going ships. They established trade routes with Southern India and Sri Lanka as early as 1500 BC, ushering an exchange of material culture (like catamarans, outrigger boats, lashed-lug and sewn-plank boats, and paan) and cultigens (like coconuts, sandalwood, bananas, and sugarcane ); as well as connecting the material cultures of India and China. Indonesians, in particular were trading in spices (mainly cinnamon and cassia) with East Africa using catamaran and outrigger boats and sailing with the help of the Westerlies in the Indian Ocean. This trade network expanded to reach as far as Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, resulting in the Austronesian colonization of Madagascar by the first half of the first millennium AD. It continued up to historic times, later becoming the Maritime Silk Road.
What were the three main Roman ports involved in eastern trade?
The three main Roman ports involved with eastern trade were Arsinoe, Berenice and Myos Hormos. Arsinoe was one of the early trading centers but was soon overshadowed by the more easily accessible Myos Hormos and Berenice.
What were the spices that the Indonesians traded with?
Indonesians, in particular were trading in spices (mainly cinnamon and cassia) with East Africa using catamaran and outrigger boats and sailing with the help of the Westerlies in the Indian Ocean.
How many slaves were there in the Dutch East India Company?
The establishment of the Dutch East India Company in the early 17th century lead to a quick increase in volume of the slave trade in the region; there were perhaps up to 500,000 slaves in various Dutch colonies during the 17th and 18th centuries in the Indian Ocean.
How many slaves did the Muslim trade in Africa?
Trade across the Indian Ocean gradually introduced Arabic script and rice as a staple in Eastern Africa. Muslim merchants traded an estimated 1000 African slaves annually between 800 and 1700, a number that grew to c. 4000 during the 18th century, and 3700 during the period 1800–1870.
When did trade between the Roman Empire and Indiae peak?
Trade between the Roman Empire and Indiae peaked during the first two centuries of the Common Era, facilitated by the peace and prosperity that arose beginning with the reign of Roman Emperor Augustus (27 BCE – 14 CE) and ending with the Antonine plague . According to Strabo:
Exchange and Trade in the Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean became the largest sea-based trade network in this time frame. I know we tend to think of the Silk Roads and luxury items being sold when we picture trade routes. However, the bulk of actual trade happened on the Indian Ocean. The Indian Ocean traded “regular goods”, in bulk and at a lower cost.
Root Causes of Indian Ocean Trade
Obviously, the biggest difference between this trade and the Silk Road was that it occurred on the sea. This meant they faced all kinds of unexpected obstacles, like unpredictable wind patterns, monsoons, etc. In fact, knowledge of monsoon winds (when they blew at what times) was huge in making Indian Ocean trade happen.
Effects of the Indian Ocean on Trade
The two major effects of the Indian Ocean are the 2C’s-- community and contact.
Overview
Muslim period
During the Muslim period, in which the Muslims had dominated the trade across the Indian Ocean, the Gujaratis were bringing spices from the Moluccas as well as silk from China, in exchange for manufactured items such as textiles, and then selling them to the Egyptians and Arabs. Calicut was the center of Indian pepper exports to the Red Sea and Europe at this time with Egyptian and Arab traders being particularly active.
Early period
There was an extensive maritime trade network operating between the Harappan and Mesopotamian civilizations as early as the middle Harappan Phase (2600-1900 BCE), with much commerce being handled by "middlemen merchants from Dilmun" (modern Bahrain and Failaka located in the Persian Gulf). Such long-distance sea trade became feasible with the development of plank-built water…
Austronesian maritime trade network
The first true maritime trade network in the Indian Ocean was by the Austronesian peoples of Island Southeast Asia. They established trade routes with Southern India and Sri Lanka as early as 1500 BC, ushering an exchange of material culture (like catamarans, outrigger boats, lashed-lug and sewn-plank boats, and paan) and cultigens (like coconuts, sandalwood, bananas, and sugarca…
Hellenistic and Roman period
Trade between India and the Greek Ptolemaic Kingdom was started by Eudoxus of Cyzicus in 130 BCE. From Egypt, goods could be sent on to ports throughout the Mediterranean. The Kingdom's opening of Red Sea ports and improved knowledge of the seasonal monsoons resulted in a substantial increase in trade.
Greater India Hindu-Buddhist period
The Satavahanas developed shipping ventures in Southeast Asia.
The 8th century depiction of a wooden double outrigger and sailed Borobudur ship in ancient Java suggests that there were ancient trading links across the Indian Ocean between Indonesia and Madagascar and East Africa sometimes referred to as the 'Cinnamon Route.' The single or double outrigger is a typical feature of vessels of the seafaring Austronesians and the most likely vessel …
Chinese travel
Chinese fleets under Zheng He crisscrossed the Indian Ocean during the early part of the 15th century. The missions were diplomatic rather than commercial, but many exchanges of gift and produces were made.
Japanese trade
During the 16th and 17th century, Japanese ships also made forays into Indian Ocean trade through the Red Seal ship system.