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Implications of culture on international trade
Indian ocean trade routes and the silk road
Continuities and change in the indian ocean trade network essay
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The Indian Ocean Basin was a series of trade routes that went all the way from Southeast Asia to Eastern Africa. From 600 - 1450 CE there were changes, but also continuities. The Indian Ocean Basin changed economically and culturally. The Indian Ocean Basin changes included the the spread of Islam and the fact the China’s government was “revived” during this time period. Though there were changes, there were continuities as well. One major continuity during this time was the trade routes themselves; they had not changed while the Indian Ocean Basin was around.
There were many things that were continuities in the Indian Ocean Basin. One major continuity in the commerce of the Indian Ocean Basin was the emergence and use of the same trade routes for both imports and exports of goods. Another continuity was the goods being traded during this time period. The goods being traded included gold, ivory, and iron. These were major exports from Africa due to the profit that came from exporting these materials. Also, the way that the traders traveled was tradition. The sailors on the trade routes used the monsoon winds to help sail their ships.
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One very big change was the commerce of the eastern coast of Africa. Because of the cultural influence that came with the trading on the Indian Ocean Basin, many ports on the African coast became Islamic cities. Also, the mix of these cultures brought the introduction of a new language. This language was called Swahili. This language was a mix of the Arab and Bantu languages. Many of these changes were due to the spread of beliefs and ideas which has been a recurring thing in the time of the Indian Ocean Basin. Since this is recurring, that means it is a
In the Background Essay Q’s, Doc B, Box 1, it mentions Hinduism. Doc A box 3 mentions confucianism. Rome worships christianity. Hinduism is technically Buddhism. These reasons explain that trade was never JUST physical items, but ideas and beliefs as well. The Silk Road made sure if you didn’t trade items you can hold, then you can trade items you can cherish. Finally, in the western civilizations (Rome), was accessed by boat. Boats could carry a ton more items and it was less of a walk for the merchants/traders. However, the Silk Road did lead a small backup path up north of Parthia. Around 27 B.C.E., the Roman Empire had only begun, but the silk road had been a thing for a very long time before that. About 3,073 years to be close to proximity. This took trade across seas! This was also how the Silk Road was Forgotten...boat travel became popular, less expensive, and easier to carry bigger loads.On Doc A, the map shows a series of dashes across the Mediterranean Sea. This represents the route to Rome by boat. Also on Doc A, the dashes on the backup path lead from east of India, to the north of the Caspian Sea, then south to Rome. Also, the timeline says 27 B.C.E.- Roman Empire begins. This time subtracted from 4000 B.C.E- Silk Cultivation in China, is about 3,073
In the early 19th century, the British East India Company established more trade warehouses and thoroughfares in the Indian subcontinent. This occupation of Indian lands was welcomed by some groups and fiercely opposed by others. While met by more opposition, the British Empire expanded into the other Indian Ocean territories up to the end of the century. Because the trans-Atlantic slave trade was profitable for African elites and brought many valuable goods to West Africa, when it was effectively shut down after 1808 by British patrols, people along this coast were eager to keep the European trade lines alive. The imposition of this “legitimate trade” (any non-slave trade) saw a huge rise in African exports of gold and palm oil.
As new ideas traveled main trade routes, such as the Silk Road and the Mediterranean, the effects of such were felt through an influx of contact between countries due to increased desire for new information and countries gaining a larger presence on the world stage. This phenomenon can also be seen through the lens of cultural exchange that took place during this same time period in Eurasia. A major component of the Eurasian trade networks, such as the Silk Road and Indian Ocean, was that they fostered interregional contacts that had ceased to previously exist. When a country had a desire for study or technology, they earned more respect on the global stage. This can be further examined by looking at Marco Polo’s voyage into Asia.
As the world of trade developed over time, goods were not the only things that were traded throughout these routes. With the merchants that traveled the world, were the ideals and religions that had learned from foreign lands, and the major religions of Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism, spread like wildfire throughout the regions of Eurasia and Africa because of this. The spread of Islam throughout the continent of Africa acted as a major influence both politically and socially. After 1600, Islam began to make its mark on the newly centralized states in Africa and was spread through western land trade, and through merchants on the Swahili coast. The major gold trading center of the Kingdom of Ghana, attracted merchants, and was a center for the Muslim community . By the 10th century, the kings of Ghana had converted to Islam in order to improve the relation between the kings and merchants. The early converts of Central and West Africa did not e...
The Great Ocean is a book written by David Igler on the interactions between different cultures from the Pacific Rim region from about 1770 to 1850. Igler is a former graduate of UC Berkeley specializing in Environmental History and the American West and is currently a professor of history at the University of California, Irvine, and the president of the Pacific Coast Branch of American Historical Association. In the category of U.S. Maritime History, Igler won the North American Society for Oceanic History John Lyman Book award. Rather than focusing on the widely studied Atlantic trade, Igler focuses on the trade interactions that occurred throughout the Pacific Ocean including Cook’s voyages, whaling, colonization and empire expansion, California gold rushes and many other related topics. The target audience for this book is for any researcher that is in need of a credible source on the globalization of the Pacific Rim region.
The Islamic Empire contributed to globalization during the Islamic Golden Age, when the knowledge, trade and economies from many previously isolated regions and civilizations began integrating through contacts with Muslim (and Jewish Radhanite) explorers and traders. Their trade networks extended from the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea in the west to the Indian Ocean and China Sea in the east. These trade networks helped establish the Islamic Empire as the world’s leading extensive economic power throughout the 7th–13th centuries.
The African empires, kingdoms, and cities had many achievements before the arrival of the Europeans. Some of these achievements had influences many other places in the world. Three major achievements were the trading systems, their military forces and strengths of its people, and the wealth and success.
...y and exposure to the existence of the Indian Ocean trade circuit evoked a significant colonialist response. The Europeans utilized their comparative advantage in maritime technology and firepower to subject the Indian Ocean to witness political takeover and exploitation of land, people and pre-established trade networks, in order to fulfill the primary objective of satisfying the needs and wants of the European economy. Through the accumulation of gross profits, the Europeans became a dominant economic and political force worldwide. European greed and desire for wealth was defended through the justifications of economic trade benefits, political/national competitiveness, exploration and religion. These justifications were merely for the purpose of legitimizing their barbaric and inhumane (colonialist) activities that were carried out in the Indian Ocean region.
Stewart Gordon is an expert historian who specializes in Asian history. He is a Senior Research Scholar at the Center for South Asian Studies at the University of Michigan and has authored three different books on Asia. Gordon’s When Asia Was The World uses the narratives of several different men to explore The Golden Age of medieval Asia. The fact that this book is based on the travels and experiences of the everyday lives of real people gives the reader a feeling of actually experiencing the history. Gordon’s work reveals to the reader that while the Europeans were trapped in the dark ages, Asia was prosperous, bursting with culture, and widely connected by trade.
2.) The Asian sea trading network was traditionally divided into three distinct sections that each handled certain types of goods. With the arrival of the Europeans, these zones became blurred as there was an increase of trade between each zone and Europeans bolstered the textile and spice trade with their efforts in joining the trade system. Due to large amounts of trade, trading factories and ports were established all throughout Southeast Asia, establishing permanent points of trade, widening the area that the network influenced.
Between the time period of 1492 to 1750, the regions of America and Africa, through the Columbian exchange, had experienced similarities in the spread of crops, people, and diseases, but differences when it came to the reason for change in population density, environmental change, and change of local ethnicities.
India was the crucial trade link between the East and the West simply because of geographical location, and commercial connections. India rests directly between China (east) and Europe/Africa (west), thus acting as an intermediary and necessary pit stop for the transportation of goods (Indian ocean separates the two). Additionally, the Indian overland trade route ran through Afghanistan to central Asia, then divided- one route going towards the east and China and the other towards the west to Rome. Moreover, the Greek sailors discovered the monsoon trade winds, which enabled them to reach India by sea; yet another reason as to why India is the crucial trade link. This affirms that without India, trade among the East and West would have been
The spread of Islam in Africa had taken course from a number of factors, including external and internal forces. After my analyzing of the spread of Islam in Africa, I have gather three main themes that stuck out during the expansion of Islam: Islam and trade, the conversion conditions of Islam, and the economics/political development involving Islam. These three themes provide great insight on how Islam started to spread through out Africa. Through trade the culture and religion of Islam was spread to many different areas. This correlates to the conversion of different people, which helped spread Islam. By these conversions Islam was able to establish Islamic states, which played a factor in the development of strong economic and political
Eurasian trade when conditions along the Silk Road were unfavorable. For this reason, the geographical context of the Silk Road must be thought of in the broadest possible terms, including sea rout...
This investigation attempts to analyze the Silk Road’s impact on cultural diffusion. The Silk Road was a trade route connecting Eastern China to the Mediterranean regions. It was incredibly important because it brought Europe, Asia, and the Middle East together in trade, and allowed them to trade goods and ideas. The parameters are the cultural diffusion east meets west and the spread of religion. It will focus on the time period between the 2nd and the late 17th centuries and the places investigated will be the west, (made up of Europe and the Middle-East) and the east (which refers to most of Asia, although in this investigation it will focus mostly on China). This will be accomplished through a thorough examination of historical books such as Horizon Book Division’s History of China, John S. Bowman’s Exploration in the World of the Ancients, and Daniel Waugh’s “THE SILK ROADS IN HISTORY”.