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WonderMaritime trade fact

For more than two thousand years, Indian Ocean trade ran on the monsoon winds, which reverse with the seasons. Timing their voyages to them, merchants linked East Africa, Arabia, India, South-East Asia and China through a chain of busy ports.

Indian Ocean trade

TradeOceanMigrationCultureHistory

The story behind the card

In the northern Indian Ocean the monsoon blows from the south-west in summer and from the north-east in winter, so a ship could sail out on one season's wind and home on the next. A Greek sailing guide from the first century AD, the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, already describes this trade between Egypt, Arabia, East Africa and India. Arab and Persian dhows (wooden sailing ships), Indian and Malay vessels, and later Chinese fleets used the same system; Admiral Zheng He's expeditions reached East Africa in the early 1400s. Ports such as Kilwa, Calicut and Malacca grew rich on spices, cotton cloth, porcelain and gold, and Islam, Swahili culture and many words travelled the same routes.

Türkçe oku
Hint Okyanusu'ndaki deniz ticareti, iki bin yılı aşkın bir süre mevsimle yön değiştiren muson rüzgârlarına göre yapıldı. Yolculuklarını bu rüzgârlara göre ayarlayan tüccarlar Doğu Afrika'yı, Arabistan'ı, Hindistan'ı, Güneydoğu Asya'yı ve Çin'i işlek limanlardan oluşan bir zincirle birbirine bağladı.

Hint Okyanusu'nun kuzeyinde muson yazın güneybatıdan, kışın kuzeydoğudan eser; bu yüzden bir gemi bir mevsimin rüzgârıyla açılıp ötekinin rüzgârıyla dönebilirdi. MS 1. yüzyıldan kalma Yunanca bir denizcilik rehberi olan Eritre Denizi Periplus'u, Mısır, Arabistan, Doğu Afrika ve Hindistan arasındaki bu ticareti daha o zaman anlatır. Arap ve İranlı denizcilerin dau denen ahşap yelkenlileri, Hint ve Malay gemileri, daha sonra da Çin filoları aynı düzeni kullandı; Amiral Zheng He'nin seferleri 1400'lerin başında Doğu Afrika'ya kadar ulaştı. Kilva, Kalikut ve Malakka gibi limanlar baharat, pamuklu kumaş, porselen ve altın ticaretiyle zenginleşti. İslam, Svahili kültürü ve pek çok sözcük de aynı yollardan yayıldı.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: Indian Ocean trade
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