World history concepts · AP World History: Modern
Indian Ocean trade
Indian Ocean trade: A maritime trade network linking East Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, South Asia, Southeast Asia and China, driven by monsoon winds.
By the CollegePrepRoom editorial team · Updated · How we write and check these pages
What it means
Merchants used knowledge of seasonal monsoon winds and technologies such as the lateen sail and the astrolabe to sail between ports. Goods included textiles, spices, gold, ivory and porcelain, and merchant communities spread religions, especially Islam, and created diasporic communities in port cities.
Swahili city-states in East Africa and ports such as Calicut and Malacca grew wealthy as trading hubs.
Example
Malacca controlled the strait between the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea, becoming a major entrepôt in the fifteenth century.
On the exam
Indian Ocean trade is a Unit 2 topic and a common subject of SAQs and comparison essays.
Lessons and practice questions
Related terms
- Silk RoadsOverland trade routes linking China, Central Asia, the Middle East and Europe, along which goods, ideas, technologies and diseases spread.
- Dar al-IslamArabic for 'house of Islam'; the regions where Muslim rulers governed or Islam was the dominant faith, connected by trade, law and scholarship.