Week two timeline - Indian Ocean Classical Era

Ancient Fishing Boats

5000 BCE

A flat-bottomed boat used for setting out from the coast, could be used with or without a sail. These boats may have been in use from 5000 BCE.

Bananas

1000 BCE

Bananas reached Africa by 1000 BCE. During the classical Era, bananas spread as a crop and a food into China, and may have been known in parts of the Middle East.

Sugar Cane

1000 BCE

By 1000 BCE, sugar cane had reached India from Southwest Asia. By the end of the Classical Era, sugar was known in Persia as a luxury for cooking and sweetening.

Phoenicians

1000 BCE

The Phoenicians dominated trade and travel during the first millennium BCE. They lived in the coastal areas of southern Syria and Lebanon. They are responsible for establishing major cities like Sidon, Arwad, Tyre, and Byblos. They also specialized in making glass products and imported and exported items like olives, wine, olive oil, honey, wheat, metals, and spices. They developed some of the most advanced ships and navigation techniques of their time and established several trading colonies.

Indigo Dye

700 BCE

The indigo plant was a valuable plant found in documents as early as the 7th century BCE, in Babylon. It was later mentioned in Greek, and Roman sources. Chinese silks were also dyed with indigo during this period.

Buddhism

563 BCE

563-484 BCE, the life of Buddha (Siddhartha Gautama), in India, and the start of Buddhism as a religion.

Confuianism

551 BCE

551-479 BCE, the life of Confucius in China, and the start of the philosophy of Confucianism

Cinnamon and Cassia

500 BCE

"Cinnamon and cassia arrived in the Gulf of Aden on the monsoon winds at least from around 500 BCE. It was then carried on the Red Sea routes or via the parallel overland caravan routes to the Mediterranean".

Hanno

500 BCE

Around 500 BCE, Hanno, an admiral from the Phoenician city of Carthage, sailed around the western coast of Africa. The logbook he carried provides the earliest known description of West Africa. His contribution during this time was that he established several colonies along the Moroccan coast and a trading post on a small island off the coast of Mauritania.

Persian War

500 BCE

The Persian war refers to the conflict between Greece and Persia, that included two invasions between 490-480 BCE. The Greeks won and their civilization was preserved.

Camel Saddle

500 BCE

Developed during this era was the camel saddle, developed in Northern Arabia between 500 and 100 BCE. It allowed for larger loads to be transported at once, which made trade and travel easier and more efficient.

Peloponnesian War

431 BCE

In Greece, Athens and Sparta went to war from 431 to 405 BCE. This war marked a shift in power, favoring Sparta. It also introduced a period of regional decline that brought the end of what we refer to as the Golden Age of Ancient Greece.

Alexander the Great

356 BCE

He was born in 356 BCE, and died in 323 BCE. He founded the city of Alexandria, which would become a major center of art and trade. The conquests of Alexander the Great laid the foundation for centuries of interaction and cultural exchanges.

Alexandria

332 BCE

Alexandria was founded around 332 BCE by Alexander the Great. A hub of international trade, the city was heavily influenced by Greek, and later Roman, culture. Alexandria's ideal location along both the Mediterranean Sea and the Nile River made it the center of trade routes connecting Rome to inner Africa, the deserts of the Arabian Peninsula, and Asia.

Trans- Saharan Network

300 BCE

Allowed for crossing of the desert to make trade more efficient. Caravan crossing of the Sahara increased the trade in gold, salt, ivory, and slaves.

Berenike

275 BCE

"An Egyptian port city located on the Red Sea that was a major center of international trade from the third century BCE until its decline in the sixth century CE. It was founded in 275 BCE by the Egyptian king Ptolemy II to use 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".

Ashoka

271 BCE

Ashoka, one of the most famous Indian emperors, ruling from about 271-232 BCE, converted to Buddhism and worked to spread the religion. He had several proclamations on Buddhist teachings carved into rocks, caves, and tall stone pillars. By sending religious envoys abroad, he encouraged contact and interactions that contributed to the establishment of trade relations.

Bubonic Plague/Black Death

224 BCE

Along the Silk Road, Black Death was spread from Asia to Western Europe, killing about 1/3 of the people there.

Camels and Date production

200 BCE

"By the first or second century BCE, the one-humped camel and the date palm had spread from southern Arabia to Somalia in east Africa, and from there into Ethiopia and Egypt"

Zhang Qian

138 BCE

Explorer Zhang Qian, an early pioneer of the 'Silk Road' trade routes, helped open up China to many foreign lands and cultures. In 138 BCE, Zhang Qian was sent to make contact with the Yuezhi, and ancient culture, by emperor Wudi.

Silk Road Network

130 BCE

The Silk Road was a series of overland trade routes. The Silk Road connected the Mediterranean, the Middle East, India, Central Asia, and China. It began to flourish with the rise of the Roman Empire in 27 BCE and the Han Dynasty in 206 BCE.