Oceanic trade in medieval world with special reference to India.
Posted by davidson on Jul.06, 2010, under Indian History
The oceanic trade in medieval world start, from around the seventh century to the mid eighteenth century. The period under discussion starts with the advent of Islam in Arabian world and ends with the British conquest Bengal. The rise of Islam towards the beginning of the seventh century, The British conquest of Bengal had changed the prevailing earlier. The rise of Islam had a great influence on oceanic trade not only in the Indian Ocean, but also in the Mediterranean. The Portuguese also played a vital role in the oceanic trade of Indian Ocean, though their presence was spectacular and significant, they were not able to make major changes in the Indian Ocean trade. The structure, dimension and organization of trade in the region remain unaltered until the coming of the European companies, especially the Dutch and the English. India’s overseas trade was greatly influenced by their presence. The European companies were involved in the export trade of three commodities mainly textiles, raw silk and saltpeter. These products had a great demand in the European market since Bengal was the main producer of these commodities; naturally it turned into an important commercial centre and the main centre of Asiatic trade, of the two major companies. In the beginning the Indian merchants dominated the trade in the eastern archipelago. In the later period they are forced to abandon it and concentrate on the westerly trade. In the medieval period Arab and Muslim merchants build a vast commercial network. The coastal regions of the Indian Ocean between east Africa and the China Sea constituted a zone of intense commercial exchanges. From the middle of 7th century to the end of the 15th, the direction and structure of the Indian Ocean trade are remarkably clear, the transcontinental traffic going all the way from south china to the eastern Mediterranean. Up to the beginning of the 10th century Arab and Muslim ships traded across the Indian Ocean to south Asia and china. The twin channels of the transcontinental trade of Asia. Constituted of the seaborne traffic through the red sea, the combined sea, river, and overland journey across the Persian Gulf, Iraq and the Syrian Desert. In medieval period trade of Asia was centered on four great products of eastern civilization-silk, porcelain, sandal wood and black pepper. In exchange for incense, thoroughbred horses, ivory, cotton textiles and metal goods were given. The Persian Gulf ships were sailed to canton in the late 7th and early 8th centuries. In 1280 Mongols conquered china. The two city parts of Hangchow and Zaiton flourished during the period. However there occurred important remarkable changes in the direction of the Indian Ocean trade from the end the 10th century to the middle of 15th. The decline of Abbasid caliphate and the rise of the Fatimid’s in Egypt shifted the routing of long-distance trade away from Baghdad and Damascus to Aden and fustat. In India, the Turkish sultans of Delhi conquered Gujarat in A.D. 1303-4, and its maritime towns were now within the reach of Islamic social and political influence. In the early medieval period continental Europe witnessed two great commercial movements, The One in the western Mediterranean and the Adriatic, the other in the Baltic and the North Sea. The trade of north Europe was not primarily based on oriental and Mediterranean commodities. At various times traders and warriors brought goods from the extreme north of Europe. The main currents of trade across northern Europe and between northern Europe and other countries flowed with products of northern hemisphere, cruder, bulkier and altogether more indispensable than the luxuries and the fineries. Indian maritime trade in the medieval period was also characterized by both continuity and change. In the past the products which had a good demand in the western market includes drugs, spices, the teak-wood of Malabar, precious stones and a great variety of exotic luxuries passed westwards. In lieu Indian markets were crowded with strategic war-animals, spices and medicaments, toys and exotic textiles. The trade between India and Indonesia was mainly concerned around various products including spices and raw materials of Indonesia. The rein of trade in Indonesia and Malay Peninsula was largely in the hands of Muslim merchants in the Indian Ocean. The Indonesian littoral was mainly inhabited by migrant Muslims from Gujarat. Cloths from Bengal were remarkably exported to Indonesian markets. There is also evidence to Indian trade with the horn of Africa and other communities of Arab peninsula. The discovery of direct maritime route to Asia round the Cape of Good Hope by the Portuguese under Varco d agama in 1498 marked the beginning of a new era in the history of euro-Asian trade, to monopolize the supply of Asian spices to European market and to control. Asian trade by force and to collect tax Portuguese formed a strong naval force and established some key outposts which would act as strategic bases. The capture of Goa from the bijapur sultan laid the foundation of future Portuguese maritime empire in the Indian Ocean.
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