The INDIAN OCEAN TRADE Network, Explained [AP World History Review—Unit 2 Topic 3]

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 no guys 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 flourish during the reign of the Mongols because basically the entirety of that network was controlled by Mongol power 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 all right stop that word Maritime always seems to confuse students and it always shows up on the national exam Maritime it just means sea base 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 May trade easier and

therefore increase 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 helps 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 then get an accurate Reckoning of location and let us never forget the increasing use of the Latin sale 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 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 ship builds the Chinese junk for for example was a massive ship

that could carry metric but loads of cargo and made other Merchant ships poop their drawers with him but also we can't forget about the bigger and better Dows 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 and distant market 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 I 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 that also facilitated increased trade along sea-based routes as well okay now you knew this was coming 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 will and all that happened because they participated big time in the Indian Ocean Trail the second

trade City that grew because of trade was Malacca it was the capital city of the sultanate of Malacca here on the melee 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 malakan leaders taxed ships passing through their Waters and that ended up being a real nice for 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 tax 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 diaspora 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 established 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 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 Awakening 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 jung-ha 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 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 jung-ho'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 five on

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