Indian Ocean Trade Dbq

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The influence of trading between Europe, Africa, and Asia and the influence of exploration in these countries is extremely extensive and still a big part of the world of trading today. The first question to the prompt asks, “Who traded with who? Why?”. Asia mainly traded around the east African coast and in India, the merchants who traded with these countries traveled by sea, so this was the most logical way to get to where they needed to go. They also had a guidebook called the Periplus which was written by an unknown merchant in Egypt, this guidebook told the people where to go, what to do when it came to the trading, and who they traded with. In Africa, they mainly traded with the Mediterranean’s and the slave owners in Mali. Furthermore, …show more content…

Europe mainly traded with Africa and the Portuguese people who were slave owners, the slave industry in trade really boomed around this time because the slaves could be used for just about anything their owners could want. The second part of the prompt asks, “How did trade and exploration have a positive impact on each region?” The positive impact that was made in Asia was the travel of different people into their country and the expansion of a new language and culture. This quote helps further my point on the expansion of the new language in Asia due to trade routes, “Travelers seeking to enter South Asia had a choice of routes. Land routes through the Hindu Kush in the northwest allowed contacts between South Asia and central Asia through what is today …show more content…

The positive impact trade had on Europe was the trade of slaves with the Portuguese people. The Portuguese people had a large impact on trade with the Europeans when it came to the slaves, this lead to the Portuguese people playing a large role in the trading world. The third part of the prompt asks, “What negative impact did it have?” In Asia, the negative impact that trade had on that country was the Periplus guidebook that the people followed. The following quote helps to explain the predicament the Asian people were in when they read this in their book, “Aimed at non-Indian readers, the Periplus gives the misleading impression that the Indian Ocean trade was controlled by foreigners, possibly because its author was a Greek living in Egypt who used Roman coins to purchase Indian goods (Hansen & Curtis, pg 62).” This book also mentions a “Thina” which was then translated into China, the author who thought it was a city was greatly mistaken. So, then China was not completely understood for the country it truly was. In Africa, the negative impact trade had on this country dealt mainly with the

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