Indian Ocean Trade

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Indian ocean trade For the better part of the seven hundred years these merchant ships were to free to sail to any sea šwithout the need for pretection from the navy. Many more people participated in the indian ocean trade than the silk road mainly even though Europeans didn’t enter the trading in the Indian ocean. People would act as middle men where they would buy stuff to sell it more than they bought it for and even buy new items to sell later. Another factor about why the continuities of the trade lasted is that with seaborne trade you can bring large cargo of goods such as cotton cloths or timbers that you normaly cant strap on a camel or any other domestic animals at that time. Not just products made their way across the eastern hemisphere but also ideas and new technology thanks to the indian ocean trade. Islamic empires in middle east - coffe bean – books -- weapons Jewish Africa – timber, animal hides, gold, and ivory Malaysia Sri lanka – black perpper China - silk, porcelain India – cotton cloth Southeast asia – spices rice Compass, astrolabe Ivory for sword handles – trade for it in india/Africa because elephants live there Wide range of resources available and import needs Ivory timbers books grains Monsoon winds – you would think of them as wind that bring rainy season. The great thing about seasons is that they come regularly and so do the Monsoon winds. Count on the wind to bring you from Africa to india and a return trip to Africa . In fact they are so predictable that travel guides would list ideal week of a curtain date or even the day. Predictable winds would make trade a lot less risky. Back in the day when the only power for ships would be your sails, your cargo might not arrive on time or might spoil or you might die and all of theses are bad factors for merchants. Predictable winds meant lower risk which meant cheaper
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