Download Change and Continuity Over Time Essay

Topic: Commerce in the Indian Ocean Region, 650 – 1750
Beginning
- Long, unconnected trade routes
stretching from China to Africa, with
India as a hinge between them
- Thriving multicultural cities across
the coasts of India and Africa
- Main commodities traded: Ivory,
Silk, Spices
- China under T’ang dynasty, not very
strong mariners but still part of trade
system, political stability in China
allowed them to expand trade
Middle
- Qing Dynasty in China, believed it
was important for Chinese to
dominate Indian Ocean trade
networks not only to bring goods to
China but also to show Chinese
splendor to the rest of the known
world
- Zheng He, mariner and trader under
Qing dynasty. Sailed the largest ship
at the time and spread Chinese goods
across the region
- Development of the long
unconnected trade routes into broken
up trade routes forming a large
network
-Discovery of the trade network by
the Europeans, first the Portuguese
End
- Political instability in China, less
dominance in the trade network
- Europeans turned much of the trade
to focus on slavery, particularly in the
Western half of the region (China and
Indian were able to remain more or
less as before)
- The impact of the Europeans was
both positive and negative. It allowed
for the trade network to flourish and
expand, becoming a truly global
network as it involved Europe
directly and the Americas through the
slave trade
Changes: The Europeans came to dominate the system to the West, Chinese technological advancements allowed for more exploration and
greater Chinese influence in the region, the trade routes became more connected to form a true network
Continuities: China as the only main power to the East, the goods traded (slaves and ivory from Africa, spices from India, porcelain and silk
from China), countries managed to remain un-colonized and maintain their local trade customs because of the Treaty of Tordesillas did not
allow for their colonization.
Thesis: From 650 to 1750 CE, the preexisting trade networks in the Indian Ocean region grew and flourished to reflect the evolving
civilizations in the region, European trade, technological advances, and demand for goods and services throughout the globe. The trade
system also reflected some of the continuities of the evolving regions, especially the Chinese, and the goods traded.