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The oldest strand in the process in the cultivation of cotton and the production of cotton textile. Cotton was first domesticated in the Indus River valley.
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During the second millennium people from Mesopotamia started creating sophisticated and new creative ways to dye the cotton.
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The new sources of bullion can be traced back to India and the Mauryan Empire. Before the new sources of bullion India’s main resource was gold, but when the Mauryans fell it disrupted the trade.
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In this time period the Malay sailors started to use the monsoons to get to places faster. They also used the winds to get to different shores.
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The Malay sailors seemed to be the first to develop long-distance trade in southern spice. During this time period the Malay sailors were delivering cinnamon from the South China sea to East Africa and the Red Sea.
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Indian sailors began to travel to look for other sources of bullion. They came upon the Malay Peninsula using help from the locals they discovered other sources of bullion.
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The Chinese records show evidence of the Malay sailors sailing north to the southern shores of China. Archaeologists say that the Malay sailors may also have been sailing east through the strait of Malacca and Sunda in order to reach India. If archaeologists are right the Malay sailors may have been the first to make contact between India and Southeast Asia.
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The archaeological evidence that scientists have found shows that the Indians influenced East Africa as early as 300 C.E. The Indians came upon the shores of Africa in the search of gold.
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Before 400 C.E. the Malay travelers began to use these new all-sea routes which went around the Malay Peninsula to avoid the Isthmus of Kra portage.
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Around this time the Indians discovered a way to crystalize sugar in order to store it for longer periods of time.
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Around this time period the Malay sailors could be found around two-thirds of the world. From Easter Island and East Africa. They used the monsoons, stars, cloud formations, color of the water and the winds to navigate. They could not see sight of land and often traveled where the north star could not be seen.
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During this time period the Malay began to realize the importance of the international markets and began trading more spices.
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Egypt became the first important trading partners overseas. They also introduced them to the rest of the world increasing the amount of cotton being traded which made India’s economy better.
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According to one cotton textile expert, ¨India virtually clothed the world¨
