• Beginning around 2nd century BCE, between Parthian empire
and Han China
• Connects northern China with Mesopotamia and cities on the
Mediterranean coast, Rome, and India
• Relay trade, no direct connections between Rome and China
• Interaction between pastoral and agricultural peoples
- Chinese, Persian, Arab traders use Central Asians nomads and
their animals (horses, camels) to carry their goods in caravans
- Goods traded sold in markets in the cities of the large empires
• Trading Cities founded along the route between China and
Black Sea (Samarkand, Buchara)
• Technology involving horse riding and pack animals:
- stirrup invented by Kushan 1st cent. CE, travels to
Europe (knights) and China
- Yokes and saddles to use on Bactrian camels
(adapted to dry climate and cold winters)
• Paper making: Abbasids win battle of Talas
against Tang dynasty, capture Chinese paper
makers
• Silk production: first in China, technology adopted by
Byzantine empire in 6th century CE, later also Persians,
Koreans, Japanese
• Gunpowder: first developed in China in 8th centurt CE,
adopted by Mongols, brought to Middle East and Europe
in 13th and 14th century CE
• Westerner on a
Bactrian camel,
Tang dynasty
• Exchange of luxury items between large empires
• First Flourishing of trade between Roman and Han
Empires (2nd century BCE to 2nd century CE)
• Then again between Tang empire, Abbasids, and
Byzantine Empire (7th century CE to 9th century CE)
• Last flourishing un 13th and 14th centuries with
Mongols controlling all the trade routes between China
and Europe
• China: Silk, lacquerware
• Siberia and Central Asia: furs, walrus tusks, live stock, hides,
slaves
• India: cotton cloth, precious stones, spices
• Middle East: dyes, lapis lazuli, swords, carpets
• Mediterranean: Gold coins, glassware, jewelry, olive oil
• China: ginger, rhubarb
• India: cotton, sugar cane
• Middle East: dates, almonds
• Mediterranean: grapes, apricots
• Agricultural technology: qanats
- First developed in Persia, knowledge of it passed along
trade routes, spreads to many parts of the Middle East
and Central Asia
• Nestorian Christianity, Nestorian churches in
Chinese capital Chang‘ An
• Buddhism adopted by Central Asians, spread to
China by 2nd and 3rd century CE
• Iranian peoples replaced by Turkic speaking
peoples by 6th century
• Muslims Arabs arrive in 8th century, bring Islam
• Islam dominant religion along Silk Road by 10th
century
• Buddhism spread to Central Asia through trade contacts
• Trading cities in Central Asia – Samarkand, Merv, Dunhuang –
convert voluntarily to Buddhism, provided link to wealthy and
prestigious Indian culture and society
• Foreign merchant communities introduce Buddhism to Northern
China
• Buddhist monasteries provide culturally familiar places on a
long journey
• Nomadic rulers of northern China convert to Buddhism in 3rd
century CE
• Mahayana Buddhism: Buddha as deity, bodhisattvas, emphasis
on compassion, less on austerity
• Mixing of ethnicities
and religions:
• Blue-eyed Central
Asian Buddhist
monk, with an EastAsian colleague,
Tarim Basin, China,
9th-10th century.
• Smallpox and measles in the Roman and Han Empires (2nd and
3rd centuries CE)
- devastating population, leading to collapse of empires
- Both help the spread of Christianity or Buddhism as they
offered compassion in times of extreme suffering
• Out breaks of Bubonic Plague
- Between 534 and 750 CE weakening Constantinople and
Byzantine Empire, helping Arab conquest
- In 14th century from China to Europe
- Killing about 1/3 of China’s and Europe’s population
- Undermined Mongol rule in China
Trade routes
connect the
Hellenistic,
Mauryan, and
African cities
• Trade in Indian Ocean since Sumerian times (with Harappa
culture)
• First reports about trade in Indian Ocean in Europe in Greek
times (Herodot, 4th century BCE)
• People from Indonesia travel along Indian Ocean coast to settle
Madagascar (bring bananas and yams to Africa)
Large distances covered, made possible by monsoon
- dhows with lateen sails, grow from 100 tons in 1200 to 400
tons in 1500
- In eastern part junks up to 1500 tons and 12 masts in 1400
- Larger cargo allows trade of bulk goods (timber, grains)
- Large ships, compass, and a growing Chinese economy during
the Song dynasty lead to a great increase in trade volume since
the 10th century CE
Navigation:
• Knowledge of the ocean currents
• Knowledge of the wend patterns
• Use of lateen sails and stern post rudders
IMPORTANCE:
Facilitated sailing across
the Indian Ocean!
• A dhow with a
lateen sail
• Transportation costs lower than overland trade, more bulk
goods than on Silk Road
- From Arabia: incense, myrrh, carpet, horses, goods from
Mediterranean
- From India: precious stones, spices (pepper), cotton textiles
- From Africa: gold, ivory, slaves
- From Indonesia: spices
- From China: silk, porcelain
• Many different cultures involved (African –Swahili, Arab, Indian,
Malay, Chinese traders)
• Network of IMPORTANT trading cities along coast (Sofala,
Kilwa, Aden, Calicut, Basra, Malacca, Guangzhou) with
merchants from many different nationalities
• Mariners in the Indian Ocean were a multilingual and
multiethnic group of people due to the vast numbers of countries
they encountered!
• Asian, Middle Eastern, Easter African
• Malay Sailors:
- Use outrigger canoes to travel to and settle in
Madagascar (originally came from the islands of SE
Asia)
- Bring Austronesian language to Africa
- New food crops: bananas, coconuts
• Greek and Jewish traders establish communities in
Kerala, India -> Christianity, Judaism in India
• Christianity spread to Ethiopia
• Buddhism, Hinduism spread to South East Asia
• Islam:
- Friendly attitude towards merchants, common set of
laws for everyone who is Muslim
- Creation of Arab empire creates immense market and
new opportunities for trade
- Muslim traders come to India, East Africa, South East
Asia, China
- Slave trade from Africa stimulated (sugar cane
plantations in Mesopotamia)
- By 1000 CE majority of merchants Islamic, Islam
replaces Hinduism and Buddhism in Indonesia
• East Africa:
- Bantu speaking peoples living along coast traded with
Egyptians, Greeks, Romans
- Arab traders bring Islam
- Leads to syncretic culture: Most trading cities become Muslim,
new language Swahili (Bantu-language with many Arabic
words, written in Arabic script)
•
-
Swahili culture:
Dominates East African coast between 1000 and 1500
About 30 city states (Sofala, Kilwa, Mombasa)
Export of gold, ivory, slaves
Import of luxury items from China, India, Middle East
Islamic, ruling families claim descent from Persia or Arabia
Islam and urban culture separated Swahili city states from
African interior
- Ibn Batuta praised Muslim learning and mosques
- Society: Mercantile elite and commoners
- Communities of Arab, Persian, Indian traders
•
-
Srivijaya on Sumatra
Controls choke points of trade between 670-1000
Access to the sources of spices (cloves, nutmeg, mace)
Taxes passing ships
Beginnings of a bureaucracy
Adopts Buddhism, rulers claim to have special magic associated
with higher prestige of Indian culture
- Introduction of literacy
- Thousands of Buddhist monks from all over Asia in Srivijaya
• Sailendra: Buddhist kingdom in Java, agricultural base, builds
largest Buddhist temple worldwide (Borobudur)
• Khmer Kingdom: in Cambodia and Thailand, large capital city
with large Buddhist/Hindu temple (Angkor Wat) shows influence
of Indian architecture
• Angkor Watt in
Cambodia, built in
the 11th century as a
Hindu Temple
• Evidence of the
impact for the spread
of religion (Hinduism)
to SE Asia!
• Borobudur, Java
• Evidence of the
impact for the
spread of religion
(Buddhism) to SE
Asia!
• Later Islam will also
reach SE Asia
• Camel allows trade across Sahara
• Two types of saddles – one for military purposes one
for transporting goods (cargo)
• Caravans with sometimes thousands of animals, follow
oases, lead by Berbers and Tuareg
• Starting in Roman times, declines with decline of
Roman empire
• Regular trade in 8th century with rise of Arab Empire
• Berbers, Arabs in the North, mostly Bantu speaking
peoples in the South
• Middle East and North Africa: manufactured items,
carpets
• Sahara: salt
• West African kingdoms: Gold, slaves, forest products
(palm oil, nuts)
• First empire in West Africa Ghana (3rd century CE11th century, replaced by Mali (11th century -15th
century), then Songhay (15th-17th century)
• Others: Kanem Bornu, Hausa states
• Islam became dominant religion, African traditional
religions still strong
• Increase in interregional trade caused significant
growth of cities in Afro-Euraisa from 1000 – 1450 CE
• Spread of Islam in Sub-Saharan Africa
(Timbuktu becomes famous for its mosques and
Muslim scholars)
• Spread of literacy
• Mixing of population (Arab and Berber
merchants settle in some African cities)
• Camels come into wide spread use in West
Africa
EXPORTS:
• Gold (export to
ME & Europe)
• Gold
Primarily in
Ghana &
Mali
• Salt: Saharan
• Forest Products
in W. Africa
(rainforests)
• Slaves in the
Sudan
• Ivory – Sub
Sahran
• Swahili: result of
the trade
patterns
• African Kingdoms ann
• Ibn Battuta on Mali:
These people are Muslims, punctilious in
observing the hours of prayer, studying
books of law, and memorizing the Koran.
Ibn Battuta on Turkish women
• A remarkable thing which I saw in this country
was the respect shown to women by the Turks,
for they hold a more dignified position than the
men. … When she (a turkish princess) reached
the amir he rose before her and greeted her
and sat her beside him, with the maidens
standing round her.
• Women in Mali:
• Their men show no signs of jealousy whatever; no one
claims descent from his father, but on the contrary from
his mother's brother. … their women show no
bashfulness before men and do not veil themselves,
though they are assiduous in attending the prayers….
One day at Iwalatan I went into the qadi's house, after
asking his permission to enter, and found with him a
young woman of remarkable beauty. When I saw her I
was shocked and turned to go out, but she laughed at
me, instead of being overcome by shame, and the
qadi said to me "Why are you going out? She is my
companion."
•
-
Checking, credit, banks:
introduced by Muslim merchants
Provided capital needed for long distance trade
Large empire and common system of laws (shari’a) make it
easier to trust far away business partners
• Paper money in China:
- Introduced by Song dynasty (10th century CE)
• Common currencies: Arabic dinar, coins of
Technolocial and scientific concepts between Afro-Eurasia and
South Asia (Tang and Song China), make trade easier
• Decimal system & zero adapted by Arab, then Italian merchants