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600 BCE
Technological Advance: Iron
The branch of science and technology concerned with the properties of Iron and their production and purification are developed in China. -
600 BCE
Ubar -Popular Caravan City
Ubar was a city where caravan routes were travelled by hundreds or even thousands of camels and people at a time, traveling in caravans. Ubar's wealth came from its position on the incense trade routes, not far from what was then a large area where frankincense trees produced their fragrant, dried sap. This incense was prized in India, in the Mediterranean region, and in east Africa for its wonderful smell. It was in high demand for use in temples, as medicine, and in perfumes. -
563 BCE
Buddha Born
The life of Siddhartha Gautama, known as Buddha, begins.
Major effect on trade/exchange of religion. -
551 BCE
Confucianism Begins
The philosophy of Confucianism is Developed in China.
Effected trade of religion -
Period: 550 BCE to 330 BCE
Major Empires Involved in Trade in the Indian Ocean
Achaemenid Empire in Persia: Darius, Xerxes, Artaxerxes, Darius II, Artaxerxes II, Artaxerxes III,Artaxerxes IV and Darius III
Roads for communications as well as government officials and tax system were established. The empire covered much of the ancient world leaving behind major buildings that were decorated with tributaries carved in stone. -
Period: 522 BCE to 486 BCE
King Darius Rules
Darius was a Persian emperor who worked hard not only to expand but to integrate his vast territories, develop a substantial bureaucracy and fortify military nobility. -
507 BCE
Roman Republic Begins
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500 BCE
Jainism Begins
The Jain religion teaches salvation by perfection through successive lives, and noninjury to living creatures, and is noted for its ascetics.
Traded religion. -
500 BCE
Sri Lanka - Popular Port
Sri Lanka became a major port and stopping point for merchants from places as distant as Rome, Africa, Persia, and East Asia. Roman coins were found. Export of ivory and tortoiseshell from Sri Lanka to India have been recorded. The island was also famous for its cinnamon, a popular trade good during this period. -
465 BCE
Hanno of Carthage
Hano explored the West African Coast, set up trade, and discovered gold. -
Period: 448 BCE to 329
Athenian Empire/Age of Pericles
Athenian Empire in Greece, and the Age of Pericles from the end of the Persian Wars to the death of Pericles -
399 BCE
Trial and Death of Socrates
Socrates's philosophies spread over large regions. He developed core ideas and styles that were then widely disseminated. -
350 BCE
Vyadhapura, Capital of Funan - Popular Port
Vyadhapura was a place where merchants from China, India and western Asia as well as local Asian merchants met and did business.
Archaeologists have found Chinese mirrors, Roman coins, and wooden sculptures. The city was the capital of the Kingdom of Funan- a good trade location and a good farming location. Traders could stay in the city to wait for the monsoon winds that would take them home, or continue their journey. While they waited, they could do business and find provisions. -
Period: 331 BCE to 323 BCE
Alexander the Great / Hellenistic Period
From 331 BCE until his death in 323, Alexander reigned over a vast empire and influenced many others including Europe and Asia by bringing art & culture, politics, science and literature into many of those lands. He was a great military commander and led a large army in Greece where he was king. His reach extended to lands in Western and Central Asia as well as Egypt and the Indus Valley. -
Period: 324 BCE to 185 BCE
Major Empire Involved in trade in Indian Ocean
The Maurya Empire was an Iron Age power founded by Chandragupta Maurya which dominated the Indian subcontinent between 322 and 185 BCE. Internal and external trade, agriculture, and economic activities thrived and expanded across South Asia due to the creation of a single and efficient system of finance, administration, and security. The Maurya dynasty built the Grand Trunk Road- a long trade network connecting the north of the Indian subcontinent from east to west. -
Period: 323 BCE to 30 BCE
Ptolemy Dynasties - Kings of Egypt
Ptolemy, a Macedonian Greek who served as one of Alexander's most trusted generals and confidants, won control of Egypt from his rivals and declared himself pharaoh. Ptolemy formalized a theory of the sun’s motion around a stationary earth. This contradicted much earlier Middle Eastern astronomy. The idea of an earth-centered universe seemed to explain many observed phenomena, including eclipses. Ptolemy’s theory was long taken as fixed wisdom in Western thought. -
275 BCE
Berenike - Popular Port/City
Berenike was an Egyptian port city located on the Red Sea - a major center of international trade. It was used as a harbor for importing African elephants from Sudan, Eritrea and Ethiopia. The city traded extensively with India, exchanging goods like cloth, pottery, beads, wood, and bamboo. During the Roman Empire, spices, myrrh, frankincense, pearls, and textiles were all shipped through Berenike to Alexandria and Rome. -
Period: 206 BCE to 221
Han Dynasty
Han Dynasty is considered a golden age in Chinese history. The coinage issued by the central government mint was the standard coinage until the Tang dynasty. The government nationalized private salt and iron industries. Science & technology advances included papermaking, the ship rudder, use of negative numbers in mathematics, raised-relief maps, hydraulic-powered armillary sphere for astronomy, and a seismometer that could discern the cardinal direction of distant earthquakes. -
Period: 202 BCE to 220
Major Empire Involved in trade in Indian Ocean
Han Dynasty in China -
Period: 33 BCE to 476
Major Empire Involved in trade in Indian Ocean
Roman Empire- had a profound & lasting influence on development of language, religion, art, architecture, philosophy, law, & forms of government. Advancements in the construction of roads and buildings, indoor plumbing, aqueducts, and fast-drying cement were invented or improved upon & apartments, public toilets, locks/keys, newspapers, socks, shoes, postal system, cosmetics, magnifying glass, and concept of satire in literature. Advancements in medicine, law, religion, government, and warfare. -
4
Birth of Jesus in Nazareth
Jesus was a Jewish prophet and teacher who was regarded as the son of God by his disciples. He urged a moral code based on love, charity, and humility, and he asked the faithful to follow his lessons, abandoning worldly concerns. Many disciples believed that a final judgment day was coming on which God would reward the righteous with immortality and condemn sinners to everlasting hell.
Jesus's crucifixion in 30 AD ushered in the age of Christianity. -
Period: 45 to 58
Apostle Paul
Paul traveled the Mediterranean to spread Christianity. -
Period: 50 to 560
Funan Rule
Funan dominates Indochina and the Isthmus of Kra in Southeast Asia -
90
Silk
Silk was carried from east Asia to the Mediterranean. -
100
Aksum- Popular Post
This large stone obelisk, or stelae, is one of a group of funeral markers erected in Aksum. Aksum was a wealthy kingdom traded extensively with Greece and other foreign regions. Linked to the Red Sea and Indian Ocean trade networks by its port city of Adulis, Aksum controlled the profitable African gold and ivory trade. It exported gold, gems, spices, incense and ivory to Greece, India, Sri Lanka, and Persia. -
100
Barygaza - Port of Trade
Barygaza was a port on the west coast of India near the mouth of the Narmuda River. It was difficult for ships to reach the port because of dangerous shoals, or places where the ships could run aground, so their captains had to be led by local boats through the channels.
Merchants brought goods to Barygaza for export, such as semiprecious gems, textiles, medicinal and aromatic herbs. Barygaza imported wine, metals, gems, glass, and silver coins. -
Period: 224 to 651
Sassanid Empire Rule
The Sassanid Empire rules in Persia until the defeat of Chosroes by the Arab Muslims
