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The travelers began trading using small rafts and canoes to travel between established routes that were created by earlier regional networks. Using these networks the travelers were able to move along the coastline to reach trading ports. The coastline expanded from Arabia to the Indian subcontinent (Daggett, 2016)
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The trade network was powered by the monsoon winds. The monsoon caused the winds to reverse into different directions at different points of different seasons. This caused rain, the direction of sailing, and different ecological zones (Hofmeyr, 2021).
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During this time period, grains were being imported from the East African Coast. The grains that were being imported were millet and sorghum because they part of the Harappan civilization. The Harappan civilization was part of Pakistan and northern India (Daggett, 2016).
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Northwestern Indian Ocean was created with aid by an irrigation canal through the Isthmus of Suez first built by the Egyptians.
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India played an important role in being a part of the Indian Ocean trading network. The trading network expanded from the Red Sea to the Persian Gulf. The gulf is west of the South China Sea in the east. Its location played a vital role until the Expansion of Europe (The World Civilization the Global Experience, n.d)
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The idea and thought about religion were also being exported. Religions such as Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism were spread across from India to Southwest Asia. Similar to these spread of religion the same was with the thought of Islam at the start of 700's CE and on. The spread of Islam had already begun to spread from land to sea (Szczepanski, n.d).
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Achaemenid Empire in Persia (550–330 BCE)
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Domestication of the camel helped bring coastal trade goods such as silk, porcelain, spices, incense, and ivory to inland empires, as well. Enslaved people were also traded (Szczepanski, 2019).
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Han Dynasty in China (202 BCE–220 CE)
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"The first person to cross the Indian Ocean was a Greek man by the name of Eudoxus of Cyzicus in the 2nd or 1st century BCE. It was also during this time that trade relations developed between the Middle East and India" (Indian Ocean Facts, 2020).
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Roman Empire (33 BCE–476 CE) in the Mediterranean
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Mauryan Empire in India (324–185 BCE) (Szczepanski, 2019)
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By the beginning of the 15th century, the shift of economy of the world had begun to shift westward. With the exploration of European land the Chinese began to withdraw their international affairs and commence the shift (Daggett, 2016).