Trade in the Indian Ocean Timeline

2600 BCE - 1900 BCE

2600 BCE

Trade between Harappan and Mesopotamian civilizations. Trade was handled by middleman merchants. Consisted of costal dwellers as well as fishing people. The smaller beginnings of trade in the Indian Ocean. Smaller amounts of items being traded to less people. Not able to travel far distances across sea yet.

Early Trade

1900 BCE

The earlier trades in the Indian Ocean occurred between Haeappan and Mesopotamian societies. During this time, advanced watercrafts were not yet developed and merchants could not travel too far across the ocean without issues. Many ports among the coasts were made important and established.

The Ocean Trade

1800 BCE

Trade was impacted by monsoon winds that allowed merchant ships to sail either way in the ocean, depending upon the seasons.

Romans and Greeks

1600 BCE

Romans and Greeks in the Mediterranean took part in this trade prior to Roman expansion. Trade was starting to become a more commercialized idea and done on a larger scale for profit.

Spread of Ideas, Goods, and Religion

1450 BCE

Indian Ocean was a huge historical event that was able to stand the test of time. Connected the East to the West world. Spread not only goods, but religion and ideas as well.

Science and Math

1400 BCE

Science and mathematics were also important ideas that spread from country to country along the Indian Ocean trade routes. Hindi numerals were spread to places like the Arabian Peninsula, later becoming Arabic numerals.

Spread of Religion

1300 BCE

As goods and ideas spread across the Indian Ocean, religion did as well. Merchants would spread their culture as they travelled to foreign lands. The spread occurred very early on in the trading. Islam spread to places like Indonesia and East Africa. Hinduism spread to eastern Asia. Merchants would share their values and beliefs of their religion with other wandering merchants and buyers as they went along on their travels.

Connecting Trade

1100 BCE

The trade connected Southeast Asia, India, Arabia, and Finally East Africa. Eventually it even connected China.

Sailing the Indian Ocean

1000 BCE

Documents of peoples travelling and trading among the Indian Ocean at this time are not clear. It is almost certain people were travelling the ocean at this time and before. Better sailing techniques were developed; plank being used to build ships. A single centered mast used for sailing, and cloth sails used on ships allowed for longer distance travelling as well as faster travels.

Trade Items

1000 BCE

Items that were being trade included; boats, plank for boats, sails, cloths, silks, spices, grains, plants, foods, ivory, and religion. Buddhism, Islam and Christianity were spread all over the East.

How Goods Were Carried

900 BCE

Ships could carry massive amounts of cargo at one time. They carried more bulk and staple items rather than larger amounts of luxury items.

Connecting Asia, and Africa

800 BCE

The Indian Ocean Trade included places like Kilwa, Sofala, Mombasa, and Malindi. These African city-states exported gold, ivory, and iron to India, Southeast Asia, and China.

Swahili

750 BCE

Swahili was a language that was a blend of African and Arabic. The trading relations of these two places allowed for social ties among them as well. The Swahili became mostly Islamic as the religion was spread from the Middle East.

Economic Benefits

700 BCE

Many African countries which had previously been poorer, were gaining more valuable items from Asia. These African countries gained more political power and became dependent on Indian Ocean trade. They became valuable ports for resources their land had to offer, and depended more and more on the exports and imports.

China

650 BCE

Many of the voyages that the Chinese took across the ocean were for diplomatic reasons rather than economical. They had a more social presence in their beliefs. Eventually they too began to trade goods and exported many of their own. Through their diplomatic endeavors gifts from their country were a common occurrence and their goods were also traded in that way among other places.

China's Role

618 BCE

China begins its "economic revival" after the collapse of the Hang Dynasty. During the Tang and Song Dynasties. (618-1279) China reestablished as a connected and unified state and encouraged maritime trade. Chinese products poured into India, and vice versa.

Social Risings

600 BCE

Since much wealth was obtained from the trade along the Indian Ocean, merchants became very wealthy, and socially elite. They became more essential to the overall economy as they were responsible for the exports and bringing money back into the country, as well as taking items from other countries and bringing them home as imports. If a country had diverse products and goods, they were economically advanced. Merchants were once shunned as poor laborers, and then became essential.

Slave Trade

450 BCE

The Indian Ocean became a vital way to obtain wealth. Slaves were another commodity that were traded along the ocean and its routes. Slaves were forcibly taken from East Africa to wherever they were required and desired. This started much earlier than the Europeans, and continued for centuries after that. Slaves were taken from poorer nations and were the lowest on the social pyramid.

Europe Intervenes

1500

The Indian Ocean trade commenced in 800 A.D. and fell through when Portugal invaded and tried to take over in 1500.

Europe

1500

Around the year of 1500, Christopher Columbus set sail across the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Although he ended up in the Americas, he was a European who began to invade the Indian Ocean waters. Adding another factor that would mess up the previous balance of trade and wealth. Now peoples from Europe would taken the foreign goods and send them to America. Europeans took over the control of the Indian waters and acted more as invaders than trading neighbors to the countries.