All right, let's talk about the Indian Ocean Trade Network, and we ain't got no time to waste. So if you're ready to get them brain cows milked... Let's get to it.
Now let's begin with a definition. The Indian Ocean trade refers to a network of sea routes that connected the various states throughout Afro-Eurasia through trade. Now this network was in use for a long time before the start of our time period, around 1200, but during this time period the trade network expanded significantly. What caused that, says you? Well, I got four causes for you.
And hey, if you want note guides to follow along with this video and all my videos, then check the link in the description. Anyway, the first reason was the collapse of the Mongol Empire in the 14th century. Now maybe you'll recall in my last video when I talked about how trade along the Silk Roads flourished.
during the reign of the Mongols, because basically the entirety of that network was controlled by Mongol powers. Well, when the Mongol Empire started falling apart, so too did the ease and safety of travel along the Silk Roads, and that led to a greater emphasis on maritime trade in the Indian Ocean. Alright, stop. That word maritime always seems to confuse students, and it always shows up on the national exam. Maritime just means sea-based.
Like if you're on a boat, well generally you're having a... merry time. And then the second reason for the increasing scope of trade in the Indian Ocean was innovations in commercial practices, and we see the same practices here that we saw used on the Silk Road.
For example, money economies and the ability to buy goods on credit made trade easier and therefore increased the use of these routes. And the third reason for the expansion of the Indian Ocean network was innovations in transportation technology. For example, improvements were made in existing navigation technologies like the magnetic compass which helped sailors know for sure which direction they were going in the middle of this giant, honking ocean. There were also improvements made to the astrolabe, which was a tool used to measure stars and get an accurate reckoning of location.
And let us never forget the increasing use of the latin sail, which allowed ships to take wind in almost any direction. And speaking of wind, all of this trade in the Indian Ocean was made possible by monsoon winds, which predictably blew in different directions depending on the time of year. And if you input increasing knowledge of monsoon winds, you can see that the wind winds in a pot, throw in those fancy innovations in navigational technology, well baby, we got a stew going.
And that stew smells like the expansion of maritime trade in the Indian Ocean. But also under the heading of transportation technology, we need to talk about improvements in shipbuilding. The Chinese Junk, for example, was a massive ship that could carry metric buttloads of cargo and made other merchant ships poop their drawers with envy.
But also, we can't forget about the bigger and better dhows during this period also. Arab traders had used these for centuries in the Indian Ocean, but now they were making them bigger and better and could thus haul more cargo destined for trade in distant markets. And that leads me to an important thing that you need to know about the Indian Ocean trade, namely the kinds of goods that were traded.
And recall that it was mainly luxury goods that made their way across the Silk Roads, and that was because more common items wouldn't be worth transporting across the stinking known world on the back of a camel. But with the increasing girth of these trading ships, more common items could be shipped and sold in. bulk, items like cotton textiles and grains, right along with the luxury goods that were in demand across the world.
And finally, the fourth cause for the expansion of the Indian Ocean Network was the increasing spread of Islam. Now remember, Islam was a belief system that was very friendly to merchants, since, you know, Muhammad himself was a merchant. And just like Islam created the conditions for connectivity across land-based routes like the Silk Roads, it also facilitated increased trade along sea-based routes as well.
Okay, now you knew this was coming. We've talked about the causes of the expansion of the Indian Ocean Trade, and now I reckon we ought to talk about its effects, and the first effect was the growth of powerful trading cities, and I'm going to mention three. First, we have the occasion to visit the friends we made over in Unit 1 in the Swahili City States on the East Coast of Africa. And recall that each of these states grew powerful and wealthy precisely because they were strategically located to benefit from trade in the Indian Ocean. These states imported gold and ivory and enslaved people from the interior of Africa and then sold them to the merchants showing up on their shores.
And as converts to Islam, they took that prodigious amount of scratch that they made and built magnificent mosques and other public works that displayed their great wealth. And all that happened because they participated big time in the Indian Ocean trade. Now the second trade city that grew because of trade was Malacca. It was the capital city of the Sultanate of Malacca here on the Malay Peninsula.
And because they controlled this little waterway here called the Strait of Malacca, they were able to get stupid rich in the Indian Ocean trade and expand their power throughout the region. Since this was basically the eastern entry and exit point of the whole dang network, Malaccan leaders taxed ships passing through their waters and that ended up being a real nice for them. And compare that to the Gujarat state here on India's west coast. It also was situated in a fine position, being a kind of midpoint between East and Southeast Asia and Africa.
Because of its massive coastline and rich agricultural areas inland, they were able to trade goods like cotton textiles and indigo in exchange for gold and silver coming out of the Middle East. And like folks in the salt native Malacca, Gujarat authorities taxed ships coming and going from its ports and that only increased their wealth. Okay now another effect of the growth of the Indian Ocean Network was the increased establishment of diasporic communities and I'm going to go ahead and bet that you have no idea what that word means. So diaspora is related to the word disperse, and that's essentially what a diaspora community is, namely a group of people from one place who establish a home in another place while retaining their cultural customs. So in the Indian Ocean region, Chinese merchants established permanent communities in Southeast Asia, and Arab and Persian merchants did the same in East Africa.
So these diaspora communities became a kind of connective tissue holding the Indian Ocean network together and increasing its scope. So for example, Chinese merchants would arrive in various ports around Southeast Asia, and the diasporic Chinese merchants living there would interact with the Chinese. interact with the local merchants and the government to facilitate trade.
Okay, now let's talk about the final effect of the expansion of the Indian Ocean Network, namely cultural and technological transfers. And I cannot emphasize this point enough, and you will certainly see it on your exam. So may it haunt you both in sleeping and in waking. The cultural and technological exchanges that occur over trade routes are just as significant as the goods exchanged over those trade routes. As merchants travel back and forth they bring their religion with them, they bring their language with them, they bring their technology with them.
And as they mingle with other cultures, those traits come to influence each party. Maybe there's no more significant example of this than our boy Admiral Zheng He, who was commissioned by China's new Ming Dynasty to go explore the Indian Ocean and enroll other states in China's tributary system. And the guy's fleet, to put it mildly, was, uh, impressive. On his first voyage it included something like 300 ships with crews totaling more than 27,000. thousand men.
And in case you're not fluent with the various sizes of post-classical maritime expeditions, that was big. But in terms of transfers, Zheng He's ships were equipped with the latest in military technology like gunpowder cannons, which were later adopted in many regions. Additionally, with the Ming Dynasty's insistence on state-led trade partnerships, various states around the Indian Ocean began taking more significant roles in trade.
Okay, click here to keep watching my other Unit 2 videos and click here to grab my AP World Heimler Review Guide, which has everything you need to get an A in your class and a 5 on your exam in May. I'll catch you on the flip-flop. Heimler out.
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