Indian Ocean Routes

Gujarat, Calicut, and the Sultanate of Malacca were all well-established centers of trade in the Indian Ocean. Gujarat was located in western India, Calicut in southern India, and the Sultanate of Malacca in southeast Asia. Gujarat was mainly textile and fabric-oriented, as those were the main exports. Calicut was the spice hub of India, exporting pepper, ginger, and cinnamon. The Sultanate of Malacca, being located on the Malay Peninsula, was the gateway to southeast Asia. The exports for this center were similar luxury goods to China in porcelain, silk, and iron, as well as natural products from the region, such as fish.

Zheng He was a Chinese explorer, originally born into a Muslim family under the name Ma He. He went on seven major expeditions for the Chinese emperor to explore the world and establish trade for China.

City-States on the Swahili Coast: The Swahili city-states steadily grew and prospered, and were a major world economic power by the 1400’s. The Portuguese government took interest in the Swahili city-states. they searched for anything of value they could find, to force the kings of the city to pay taxes to Portuguese tax collectors and gain control over the entire Indian Ocean trade. Except these city-states were not prepared for the portuguese attacks, which resulted in cities being wrecked and looted.However, the Portuguese attempt to take over and run the Indian Ocean trade was a failure.

Bills of exchange were letters of credit that were used when precious metals ran out. The Arab merchants first used this as a way of setting accounts for international trade. These were used as a method to ensure that everybody could get what was owed to them.

Banking houses were buildings that civilians could store money and it also acted as a intermediaries in the issuing of state loans to foreign countries and loans guaranteed by the state.

Paper money was first made by the Chinese during the Tang dynasty (618-907) and was originally took from a form of deposit receipts and ownership titles. Paper money made carrying around your currency, more convenient and easier than carrying around gold bricks.

Trans-Saharan Routes

Camel Saddle: Camel saddles were saddles that sat on the hump of the camel. These saddle also had cargo pouches to store trading goods in. When used with a chain of camels it was possible to transport a wide array of goods to sell or take back along the routes.

Caravans & Caravanserai: A caravan was a group of traders traveling along trade routes, typically with camels in tow. A caravanserai was a roadside inn for these travelers to rest and recover from the day's arduous journey through the Sahara Desert. These inns were hubs that made it possible for culture and information to spread across the Sahara.

Map of Trans-Saharan trade routes

Map of Silk Road trade routes

Synopsis: The Trans-Saharan routes were trade routes that spread across the Sahara Desert and connected West and North Africa. The main goods that were traded include gold, ivory, and salt, as these were found naturally in the region.

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Technological Innovations: Many technological innovations, specifically improvements to navigation, made the Indian Ocean a viable trading option. These include the compass, the astrolabe, and improvements to ship design. The compass was originally invented by the Han Dynasty, but later perfected by the Song Dynasty. It's north-pointing needle kept ships on course for their destinations. The astrolabe was created in Greece around 200 BC by the astronomer Hipparchus, and allowed traders to travel by the stars at night, as well as keep a sense of time. Many variants of ships were created by civilizations such as the Chinese and Indians, but the Malay were the ones who made long-distance travel possible. In addition to these innovations, traders had to discover how to properly use the monsoon winds to conduct trade in the east.

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Synopsis: The Indian Ocean trade routes were networks of commercial exchange that spread throughout the Indian Ocean, southern Afro-Eurasia, and southeast Asia. The main goods exchanged on these routes included silk, porcelain, spices, cotton textiles, slaves, incense, and ivory.

Map of Indian Ocean Routes:

Diasporic Communities:

Muslim merchant communities in the Indian Ocean region:

Muslim merchants married local women on their trade routes, diffusing their culture and establishing communities.
Religion diffused through diasporic communities. Merchants adopted the Hindu caste system, and created a sub-caste for merchants and Islam became a part of lower class India.
Dhows and junks, and large cargo ships were used by Muslim merchants

Chinese Merchant Communities in Southeast Asia:

Many technological advances were made one being the compass which was used for navagation.
Japan was influenced by Chinese ideology(confucianism,Daoism, and Buddhism)
Japan retained most of its own culture because of its relative isolation.

Sogdian Merchant Communities throughout Central Asia:

Merchant communities existed mainly on the silk road. Their main trade items were silk,slaves, and sliver.
Communities in China integrated with Chinese culture and society, adopting things like Chinese burial practices.
Sogdians spread Buddhism throughout Central Asia.
The Sogdian alphabet became prominent in the Turk Empire.

Jewish Communities in the Mediterranean, Indian ocean Basin along the Silk Roads

Jews set up places of worship in their communities.
Judaism influenced Monotheism in cultures and religions along the trade routes.