Download The long-distance trade helped spread Islam

Indian Ocean Societies
Postclassical Era
Mali
Delhi
Tropical Africa and Asia – Effects of
Environment
• Diverse ecosystems forced people to both adapt
to and modify their environment
• Some groups adapted by relying on wild food,
others raised domesticated plants and animals
• Conditions vary - rainfall accumulation,
temperate zone
• Pastoral peoples thrived in arid areas unsuited
to agriculture
• Farmers concentrated on agriculture in places
where disease prohibited the raising of livestock
Ibn Battuta’s Travels
• Ibn Battuta - a “gadi” or an Islamic
scholar
• Wrote vivid accounts of the Muslim
world
• He describes the Delhi Sultanate
and the Malian Kingdom leadership, governing styles,
women, and the practice of Islam
• Rather than describing trade (as
most travelers), we get a different
perspective of the Islamic world
through his accounts
Roles and Status of Tropical Women
• 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
Indian Ocean Trade
• The Indian Ocean region was the world’s richest maritime
trading network and area of rapid Muslim expansion.
• Reason - rising prosperity of Asian, European, and African
states
• Result - demand for luxury goods, such as jewelry, precious
metals, and fine textiles.
• Another reason - Mongol conquests had disrupted overland
trade
• Improvements in seafaring technology – allowed for larger
shipments
• 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.
Metalworking
• 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
Social and Cultural Changes
• Three primary influences - 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 impacted architecture, math, science, literacy, and social habits
Comparing Mali and Delhi
• Both 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