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Indian Ocean Societies
Postclassical Era
The people who lived in the tropical regions of Africa and Asia both
affected and were affected by their natural environments. In what ways
were those people shaped by their environments? In what ways did
they participate in actively shaping their environments?
• Diverse ecosystems in tropical regions forced
people to both adapt to and modify their
environment.
• For example, some groups adapted by relying
on wild food, while others raised domesticated
plants and animals.
• Conditions vary such as rainfall accumulation
and temperate zone.
• Pastoral peoples thrived in arid areas unsuited
to agriculture; farmers concentrated on
agriculture in places where disease prohibited
the raising of livestock.
What do Ibn Battuta travel accounts tell us about
the world he visited?
• Ibn Battuta was a “gadi” or an Islamic scholar and his
perspective of what he saw on his travels was influenced
by this and he influenced those lands to which he traveled
• His vivid accounts of the Muslim world are among the most
important accounts of the period.
• He describes the Delhi Sultanate and the Malian Kingdom
and describe the relationship of the leadership to the
people, governing styles, women, and the practice of
Islam.
• Most travelers would have been traders and described the
items and methods of trade or the cities yet we acquire a
particular perspective of the differing practices of Islam and
the Islamic world through this travelers eyes
How and why did the roles and status of tropical women
change between 1200 and 1500?
• Women in the tropics played an important role in community life through
child rearing, food preparation, farm work, making clothing and clay pots,
spinning, weaving, and making crafts
– however, the status of women was determined by the status of her father,
husband, or owner.
– Women of higher status obviously experienced the world differently than
women of lower orders of society.
• In Muslim communities, the custom of veiling and seclusion was applied in
a variety of ways.
– In Africa, women did not veil or seclude themselves as in the Middle East but
adapted the custom to their own culture.
– Ibn Battuta makes note of the differing habits of African women in this regard.
• In India, the tradition of sati, or widow burning, became optional, and the
betrothal of a girl could happen in childhood, although the consummation
of the marriage did not take place until the bride was ready.
– Rules of fidelity and chastity were enforced on women differently (more strictly)
than on men.
The Indian Ocean trade was the world’s richest maritime trading
network. Why was it important and how did it develop? What
technologies made the trade network a success? Did Islam play a role?
Why could it be described as “decentralized and cooperative”?
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The Indian Ocean region was the world’s richest maritime trading network and area
of rapid Muslim expansion.
The reason for the expansion of this maritime trade was the rising prosperity of
Asian, European, and African states and the resulting demand for luxury goods, such
as jewelry, precious metals, and fine textiles.
Another reason was the Mongol conquest of the thirteenth century that disrupted
overland trade and therefore made the Indian Ocean trade more strategically
important.
There were actually many legs of the trading route.
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Arabia and Red Sea (dhow)
Eastern Africa and Swahili coast
Indian Ocean to Gurjaret (textiles, leather goods, carpets, silk)
Later into Southeast Asia
Improvements in seafaring technology allowed increasingly larger cargoes, which
resulted in bulk goods being shipped enormous distances.
The boats, the dhow and the junk, as important to the development of the network.
The long-distance trade helped spread Islam, uniting diverse peoples throughout the
region through commercial cooperation, not political authority.
The trade also connected peoples from eastern Asia to Europe.
Many different regions and peoples involved in the trade, including East Africa,
Arabia, India, and Malacca.
What is a tropical environment? What are the different ecosystems
contained in the tropical areas of Africa and Asia and what climatic
factors control them?
• tropical zone (Dry and Wet) falls between the Tropic of Cancer in the
north and the Tropic of Capricorn in the south. While those parts of the
tropics such as coastal West Africa, west-central Africa, and southern
India get abundant rainfall, there is also an arid zone extending across
northern Africa (the Sahara) and northwest India, and another arid zone in
southwestern Africa. Altitude also affects climate, with high-altitude
mountain ranges and plateaus having cooler weather and shorter growing
seasons than the low-altitude coastal plains and river valleys. Major rivers
bring water from these mountains to other areas
– Wind patterns Afro-Asian tropics have a cycle of rainy and dry seasons
dictated by the alternating winds known as monsoons
– tropics have an uneven distribution of rainfall during the year.
• In order to have year-round access to water for intensive agriculture, tropical
farming societies constructed dams, irrigation canals, and reservoirs.
• temperate zone (based on temperature and four seasons) North and
South zones and maritime and continental areas related to wind zones
and wind blockage by mountain ranges
– Northern most Africa surrounding the Mediterranean is in a temperate zone
• There is a wide range of tropical environments from deserts to rain
forests.
What is the role and significance of metalworking to tropical
peoples?
• Metalworking was important for the manufacture of
tools, weapons, and decorative objects, and that it
permitted greater adaptation to the tropical
environment.
• Iron, copper, and gold were three minerals having the
most significant role in Asian and African tropical
culture and economy.
– Gold and artworks fashioned from various metals were
important in long-distance trade networks, which supplied
commodities not available in a tropical environment.
– Iron implements for agriculture and hunting allowed tropical
peoples to flourish in an unforgiving climate.
– Copper was of special importance to Africa because it was
used as currency as well as for artistic expression.
What were the three major factors that caused social and cultural
changes in the lives of tropical peoples from 1200 to 1500?
• Three primary influences are primarily state growth, commercial
expansion, and the spread of Islam.
• The growth of many states in the region were interrelated such as the
states and empires of the Asian states of Delhi, Gujarat, Malacca, and
Malabar, as well as the African states of Kilwa, Mali, Aden, and Great
Zimbabwe.
• The importance of trade on the growth of these states created
networks which further stimulated the ongoing growth.
– The sub-Saharan and Indian Ocean trade networks and the impact these
routes had on the growth of these states and their prosperity resulted in
widening class differences among tropical peoples, as well as dramatic
changes in architecture and education.
– There were changes in women’s roles and the expansion of slavery as
major social developments.
– The spread of Islam to the tropical regions of Asia and Africa also had
important social, cultural, economic, and intellectual results.
– Islam spread to Asia and Africa through peaceful penetration, as well as
through warfare in India.
– Islam impacted architecture, math, science, literacy, and social habits.
Compare the empires of Mali and Delhi in the period 1200–
1500, including the role of slavery in their empires.
• Both states used Islamic administrative and military systems, but they
also differed in many ways.
• Islam in Mali grew gradually and peacefully, whereas Delhi was created
by the conquest of Turkish and Afghan Muslims.
• Long-distance trade was important to Mali’s government, but not to
Delhi’s.
• Conversion to Islam increased the expansion of commercial contacts for
Mali, whose links to the Sahara were important in its development;
private Muslim traders were also important in the Delhi Sultanate.
• The prosperity of African and Asian tropical kingdoms led them both to
participation in the slave trade.
– Millions of slaves were traded in this time frame, some even arriving in
China.
– The high supply of free labor led to the training of slaves for special
purposes.
– Some were in the military while others mined or did hard menial work.
– Wealthy households used slaves as servants, entertainers, and concubines,
or harem slaves.