Indian Ocean Trade Route

Indian Ocean Trade Begins

800

Beginning with small trading settlements

Major Empires Involved

801

Including the Achaemenid Empire in Persia, the Mauryan Empire in India, the Han Dynasty in China, and the Roman Empire in the Mediterranean.

Exports

802

Silk from China to Roman aristocrats, Roman coins to Indian treasuries, and Persian jewels in Mauryan settings.

Major Export

803

Buddhism, Hinduism, and Jainism spread from India to Southeast Asia. Islam spread later as well

Flourished Trade in the Medieval Era

1258

The rise of the Umayyad and Abbasid caliphates on the Arabian Peninsula provided a powerful western node for the trade routes.

Muslim Cities Create Demand

1258

Islam valued merchant (the Prophet Muhammad himself was a trader and caravan leader) and wealthy Muslim cities created an enormous demand for luxury goods.

Tang and Song

1279

the Tang and Song dynasties in China also emphasized trade and industry, developing strong trade ties along the land-based Silk Roads, and encouraging maritime trade. The Song rulers even created a powerful imperial navy to control piracy on the eastern end of the route.

Maritime Trade

1327

The Chola Empire in southern India dazzled travelers with its wealth and luxury; Chinese visitors record parades of elephants covered with gold cloth and jewels marching through the streets. In what is now Indonesia, the Srivijaya Empire boomed based on taxing trading vessels that moved through the narrow Malacca Straits. The Angkor civilization based far inland in the Khmer heartland of Cambodia, used the Mekong River as a highway that tied it into the Indian Ocean trade network.

Foreign Trade

1405

Foreigners take the time and trouble of visiting coastal China to obtain fine silks, porcelain, and other items.

The First of Seven Expeditions

1406

The Yongle Emperor of China's new Ming Dynasty sent out the first of seven expeditions to visit all of the empire's major trading partners around the Indian Ocean.

Ming Treasure Ships

1407

The Ming treasure ships under Admiral Zheng. He traveled all the way to East Africa, bringing back emissaries and trade goods from across the region.

Strange New Mariners Appearance

1498

Portuguese sailors under Vasco da Gama rounded the southern point of Africa and ventured into new seas. The Portuguese were eager to join in the Indian Ocean trade since European demand for Asian luxury goods was extremely high. However, Europe had nothing to trade. The people around the Indian Ocean basin had no need for wool or fur clothing, iron cooking pots, or the other meager products of Europe.

Pirate Appearance

1498

the Portuguese entered the Indian Ocean trade as pirates rather than traders. Using a combination of bravado and cannons, they seized port cities like Calicut on India's west coast and Macau, in southern China. The Portuguese began to rob and extort local producers and foreign merchant ships alike. Still scarred by the Moorish Umayyad conquest of Portugal and Spain they viewed Muslims in particular as the enemy and took every opportunity to plunder their ships.

European Power Appearance: The Dutch East India Company

1602

Sought a total monopoly on lucrative spices like nutmeg and mace.

British joined in with their British East India Company

1680

Challenging the VOC for control of the trade routes. As the European powers established political control over important parts of Asia, turning Indonesia, India, Malaya, and much of Southeast Asia into colonies, reciprocal trade dissolved.

Downfall of The Indian Ocean Trade Network

1680

Goods moved increasingly to Europe, while the former Asian trading empires grew poorer and collapsed. With that, the two-thousand-year-old Indian Ocean trade network was crippled, if not completely destroyed.