Indian Ocean Trade Case Study

MONSOON MARKETPLACE

Have you ever wondered how come we, the people of Indian subcontinent, have so much gold when we don’t have any gold mine worth mentioning? Stories, songs, poems of ancient Indian kings are full of their wealth of shining jewels, diamond necklaces, grand looking weapons made of pure metals like iron and steels. How come India had those things? If you ever heard Swahili you might get surprised to hear words from your mother tongues in them more than often. Have you thought even though no Muslim empire had ever invaded islands of south East Asia how come country like Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei hosts world’s largest population of Muslim? The answer is Indian Ocean Trade Route. Almost all of us have heard of famous Silk route

The whole trade market operated on the basis of supply and demand concept. It was to an extent free of any local political and social interference. Almost all trade were done without direct help of any nations navy or army as the threat of pirates were minimal. The trade market was so profitable rulers often bend local customs and laws to make it more trade friendly. Many trading houses or nobles operated far flung business in the region often without even being to sea. Large scale shipping conglomerates and trading houses were also operated by rulers as revenue generating mechanism. By 1000 CY Muslim traders of Arab peninsula and Middle East were the leaders in this trade. There superior knowledge in science, mathematics and navigational aptitude allowed them to dominate the whole trade route. To gain their favor and influence many rulers of Indian and Southeast Asian kingdoms and cities converted to Islam. In this way countries like Indonesia became the largest Muslim populated country in world. Indian Ocean trade route not only effected the related regions economically it also changed its demography and ethnicity. To trade many people of many different culture migrated to different parts of the world. Indian ethnics settling in eastern Africa, Arab and European merchants moving into India’s Malabar Coast, Chinese merchants establishing in Southeast Asia gave birth to new ethnicity and languages. Swahili for one a language that was directly born from the need of conducting business across east Africa from mixture of local