Chapter 3 - Trade Routes
Hausa Cities
In contrast to these large territorial Empires, the hausa speaking people of what is now Northern Nigeria created a substantial number of independent city-states that broadly resembled the Swahili city states. These houses cities created a flourishing Urban and Commercial culture and acted as middlemen in West African Commerce. In the Fourteenth and Fifteenth centuries, one of those States, Kano, became famous for the production of beautifully dyed cotton textiles which entered the circuits of trade. All of the states were monarchies with an elaborate Court life and varying degrees of administrative complexity and military forces at their disposal. All drew on the wealth of trans-saharan trade tax by taxing merchants. In the Wider World these States acquired a reputation for great riches.
The Banana
A final example of the impact of Indian Ocean voyaging in Africa is the spread of the banana, which was originally domesticated in Southeast Asia. Many scholars have credited its spread to malagasy speaking Sailors from Indonesia who arrived with the banana on the island of Madagascar or the East African Coast. From there, banana production spread inland and enhanced agricultural productivity, enabled population growth, and laid the economic foundation for the growth of chiefdoms and states.
Frame and Mattress
A frame and mattress saddle, most likely an Arab invention, allowed camels to carry much heavier loads in a more stable fashion.
Arabian Camel
A major turning point in African commercial life occurred with the introduction of the Arabian camel to North Africa and the Sahara. This animal could go for 10 days without water, and it finally made possible the long trek across the Sahara. Camel owning dwellers of desert oases initiated regular trans-saharan commerce by 300 to 400 CE. Several centuries later, North African Arabs bearing the religion of Islam, also organized Caravans across the desert.
Diasporic Communities
Also facilitating Indian Ocean Commerce were permanent settlements of foreign traders at various points along the Indian Ocean routes. Those Merchants learned local languages, cultures, and trading practices while also retaining links to their home societies. Known as diasporic communities, they were in a position to facilitate commercial exchange among quite different peoples, even as they introduced new religious traditions to their host society.
House of Wisdom (830 CE)
An 830, the Abbasid caliph Al-mamun, himself a poet and Scholar, established the House of Wisdom in Baghdad as an academic center for research and translation. Stimulated by Greek texts, a school of Islamic thinkers known as mutazilites argued that reason was the best way to the truth. The Philosopher's emphasis on logic, rationality, and the laws of nature were subject to increased criticism by those who held that only the Quran represented a genuine path to God.
Trans-Saharan Slave Trade (1100-1400)
As in all civilizations, slavery found a place in West Africa. Early on, most slaves were women, working as domestic servants and concubines. As West African civilization crystallized, male slaves were put to work as State officials, Porters, Craftsman, miners harvesting salt, and agricultural laborers. Most came from non-islamic or stateless societies farther south. Most of the slaves were used within West African civilization, but a trans-saharan slave trade also developed. Between 1100 and 1400, perhaps 5,500 slaves per year made the perilous trek across the desert where most were put to work in the homes of the wealthy and Islamic North Africa.
Neo-Confucianism
At the level of elite culture, Buddhist philosophical ideas played a role in the reformulation of Confucian thinking during the Song Dynasty. Called neo-confucianism, this outlook rejected the religious aspects of both Buddhism and Daoism, but appreciated the high moral standards of Buddhist teachings, while returning to classical texts of Confucianism.
Cahokia (1100-1350)
Between 1100 and 1350, a North American chiefdom at Cahokia lay at the center of a widespread trading Network. This network brought to Cahokia shells from the Atlantic coast, Copper from the Lake Superior region, Buffalo hides from the Great Plains, obsidian from the Rocky Mountains, and Mica from the southern Appalachian Mountains. Sturdy Dugout canoes Loosely connected the diverse societies of this Mississippi culture. Cahokia is perhaps most well known for its huge Terraced pyramid of four levels that rises more than a thousand feet above the ground. Evidence suggests that Cahokia and other centers of this Mississippi culture were stratified societies with a clear Elite and with rulers able to mobilize the labor required to build enormous structures.
Chaco Canyon (860-1130)
Between 860 and 1130 CE, five major settlements or pueblos emerged. This Chaco phenomenon encompassed 25,000 square miles and Linked some 150 settlements to the main centers. The largest of these towns or great houses was called Pueblo Bonito, it was five stories high and contained more than 600 rooms and many kivas, pits used for ceremonial purposes. Hundreds of miles of Roads radiated out from Chaco. Without wheeled carts or large domesticated animals, such an elaborate Road system seems unnecessary but perhaps it had some sort of ceremonial or sacred meaning. By the 11th century Chaco had become a dominant center for the production of turquoise ornaments which became a major item of regional Commerce. In return many items from mesoamerica traveled back to Chaco. Residents of choca drank liquid chocolate using jars of maya origin and cocoa beans imported from mesoamerica. An extended period of drought in the half-century following 1130 brought this culture to a rather abrupt End. By 1200, the great houses had all been abandoned.
West African Civilization
Between roughly 600 and 1600, a new West African civilization took shape in the region, stretching from the Atlantic coast to Lake Chad. It included the large states or empires of Ghana (ca. 700-1200), Mali (ca. 1230-1500), Soghay (1430-1591) , and Kanem. Ghana became an extremely wealthy Kingdom. At its height in the 14th century, the rulers of Mali monopolized the import of strategic goods such as Horses and metals; Levied duties on salt, copper, and other merchandise; and Reserved large nuggets of gold for themselves well permitting the free export of gold dust. All of the states were monarchies with an elaborate Court life and varying degrees of administrative complexity and military forces at their disposal. All drew on the wealth of trans-saharan trade tax by taxing merchants. In the Wider World these States acquired a reputation for great riches.
Transcontinental Islamic World
By 1200, millions of people shared a common faith of Islam and spoke Arabic. This huge region, ranging from Spain and West Africa across the Middle East to India and Southeast Asia, had become a vast trading zone of hemispheric dimensions. One of the reasons was Islam central location in the afro-eurasian world and the breaking down of earlier political barriers. Furthermore, commerce was valued within Islamic teaching, and laws regulating it figured prominently in the Sharia, creating a predictable framework for exchange across many cultures. The pilgrimage to Mecca, as well as the urbanization that accompanied the growth of Islamic civilization fostered Commerce. The appetite of urban Elites for luxury goods stimulated both craft production and a desire for foreign products. Thus Muslim merchants, especially Arabs and Persians, became predominant players in all the major afro-eurasian trade routes. As early as the eight century, Arab and Persian Traders established a commercial colony called Canton in southern China, linking the Islamic Heartland with Asia. Various forms of banking Partnerships, business contracts, and instruments for granting credit facilitated these long-distance economic relationships and generated a prosperous, sophisticated, and commercialized economy.
Zen Buddhism
By 1200, the Chinese Chan School of Buddhism had become Zen in Japan, where it was highly popular among the Samurai warrior class. Chinese Neo-Confucian teachings also arrived in Japan around 1240 and proved highly influential among intellectuals.
American Web (1000-1500)
Direct connections among the various civilizations and cultures of the Americas were less densely woven than in the afro-eurasian region. the llama in the potato, both domesticated in the Andes, never reached mesoamerica; nor did the writing system of the Maya diffuse to Andean civilizations. The Aztecs and Incas had little if any direct contact with each other. Nothing equivalent to the long-distance trade arose in the Americas. However local and Regional Commerce did flourish in many places. Although cultural traditions did not spread widely. The limits of these interactions owed something to the absence of horses, donkeys, camels, wheeled vehicles, and large ocean-going vessels, all of which facilitated long-distance trade and travel in afro-eurasia. Geographic or environmental differences added further obstacles. The narrow bottleneck of Panama, largely covered by a dense rainforest, inhibited contact between South and North America. That being said Scholars have discerned s loosely interactive web stretching from the North American Great Lakes and Upper Mississippi South to the Andes. The American Web spans the centuries between 1000 and 1500, where four distinct nodes of commercial activity and wider connections emerged: at Cahokia, Chaco Canyon, mesoamerica, and the Inca Empire in the Andes.
Mesoamerican Commerce
During the flourishing of Mesoamerican civilization, both the Maya cities and the huge city-state of Teotihuacán maintained commercial relationships throughout the region. In addition to this land-based trade, the Maya people conducted seaborne Commerce, using large Dugout canoes. Among the Aztecs, professional Merchants known as pochteca undertook large-scale trading Expeditions both within and Beyond the borders of their empire. Although they were legally commoners, their wealth often exceeded that of the nobility which allowed them to rise in society and become "magnates of the land." Beyond tribute, ordinary trade permeated Aztec domains. The Aztec Empire and its rapid population growth stimulated the development of markets and the production of craft Goods. Virtually every settlement had a Marketplace that hummed with activity. The largest was that of Tlatelolco, near the capital city, which surprised the Spanish with its huge size, its good order, and the immense range of available Goods.
Incan Commerce
Economic Exchange in the Inca realm was a state-run operation, and no Merchant group emerged there. Instead, great Storehouses bulged with immense quantities of food, clothing, military supplies, blankets, construction materials, and more, all carefully recorded on the quipus by a highly trained class of accountants. From the state centers, goods were transported as needed by Caravans of human Porters and llamas across the roads. Totaling some 20,000 miles, the roads Traversed the coastal plain and high Andes in a north-south direction, while lateral roads linked these diverse environments and extended into the Eastern rainforest Plains as well. Despite the general absence of private trade, local Exchange took place at Highlands fairs and along the borders of the empire with groups outside the Inca state.
Bills of Exchange
European Traders introduced bills of exchange, a kind of contract promising payment.
Ibn Batuta
Ibn Batuta was a widely traveled Arab scholar, merchant, and public official, who visited the Swahili Coast in the early fourteenth-century. There he found Muslim Societies in which religious leaders often spoke Arabic, and all were eager to welcome a learned Islamic visitor. But these were African Muslims, not colonies of transplanted Arabs.
Chinese Maritime Voyages (1405-1433)
In the 1400s, China launched a series of Maritime expeditions that Illustrated the connections operating in the Indian Ocean Basin. Since the 11th century, Chinese Sailors and Traders had long been a major presence in the South China Sea and in Southeast Asian port cities. After Decades of preparation, an enormous Fleet, commissioned by the Chinese Emperor Yongle of the Ming dynasty, was launched in 1405, followed over the next 28 years by six more expeditions. Onboard more than 300 ships the first voyage had a crew of about 27,000. Visiting many ports, these fleets, captained by the Muslim eunuch Zheng He, sough to enroll distant peoples and states in the Chinese tribute system. Dozens of rulers accompanied The Fleets back to China where they presented tribute and received abundant gifts, titles, and trading opportunities. Zheng He's expeditions established Chinese power and prestige in the Indian Ocean and exerted Chinese control over foreign trade in the region. The Chinese did not seek to conquer new territories, establish Chinese settlements, or spread their culture. These voyages were abruptly and deliberately ended in 1433. Chinese authorities simply stopped such Expeditions and allowed the fleet to deteriorate in port. Part of the reason involved the death of Emperor Yongle, who had been the chief patron of the Enterprise. Many high-ranking officials had seen the expeditions as a waste of resources because China, they believed, was the self-sufficient middle Kingdom, requiring little from Beyond its borders. The Chinese believed strongly in the absolute superiority of their culture and felt should they desire something from abroad, others would bring it to them. In their eyes, the real danger to China came from the north where barbarians constantly threatened. Finally, they viewed the Voyages as the project of the Court eunuchs whom the officials despised. Although the Chinese government didn't have any more Expeditions, private Chinese merchants and Craftsmen continued to settle and trade.
Islam in West Africa
Islam accompanied trade and became an important element in the urban culture of West Africa. It was largely introduced by Muslim Traders. Its gradual acceptance after 1000 was largely peaceful and voluntary, lacking the incentives Associated elsewhere with foreign Conquest. Introduced by Muslim merchants from an already islamized North Africa, the new faith was accepted primarily in the urban centers of West African States. For African Merchant communities, Islam provide an important link to Muslim trading partners. For the Monarch, it offered a source of literate officials as well as religious legitimacy, partly for those who gained The Prestige conferred by a pilgrimage to Mecca. The most prominent such Pilgrim was Mansa Musa, the ruler of Mali, who in 1324 undertook the Haj. As a world religion with a single Universal Creator God, Islam had a religious appeal for societies that were now participating in a wider World. By the 16th century, a number of West African cities had become major centers of Islamic religious and intellectual life. Timbuktu became a renowned center of islamic learning, boasting more than 150 lower-level quranic schools and several major centers of higher education. Their libraries held tens of thousands of books and scholarly manuscripts. Monarchs subsidized the construction of mosques. Arabic became an important language of religion, education, Administration, and trade, but it did not become the dominant language of daily life. Nor did West Africa experience the massive migration of Arab peoples. Islam remained the culture of urban Elites and spread little into the rural areas of West Africa. Although many rulers adopted Islam, they governed people who steadfastly practiced African religions and whose sensibilities they had to respect if social peace were to Prevail. Thus, they made few efforts to impose the new religion. While some monarchs would observe Ramadan and build Mosques they also would consult traditional diviners and perform customary sacrifices. In such ways, Islam became Africanized even as part of West Africa became islamized .
Technological Innovation in Islam
Muslim technicians made improvements on Rockets, first developed in China, by developing one that carried a small Warhead and another that was used to attack ships. Paper making techniques also entered and Paper Mills soon operated. This technology strengthened bureaucratic governments, and spread from the Middle East into India and Europe. Everywhere it spurred the emergence of books and written culture. Ideas likewise circulated across the Islamic world. Persia contributed much in the way of bureaucratic practice, court ritual, and poetry, and Persian became a major literary language in Elite circles. Scientific, medical, and philosophical texts, from ancient Greece, the Hellenistic World, and India, were translated into Arabic providing a boost Islamic scholarship and science. Using Indian numerical notation, Arab Scholars developed algebra. They also undertook work in astronomy and Optics. They built on earlier Greek and Indian practices to create a remarkable tradition in medicine and pharmacology. Arab Physicians diagnosed many diseases and proposed effective treatments. The first hospitals were developed within the Islamic world and in the 11th and 12th century this body of arab medical scholarship entered Europe vs Spain.
Timbuktu
One of the major trading cities in West Africa was Timbuktu. Here, there were religious teachers, Scholars, judges, and other learned persons who were maintained at the king's expense. There was also a lot of literature as well as extremely rich merchants. Timbuktu became a renowned center of islamic learning, boasting more than 150 lower-level quranic schools and several major centers of higher education. Their libraries held tens of thousands of books and scholarly manuscripts.
Pure Land School of Buddhism
One of the most popular expressions of Buddhism in China was the Pure Land School, in which faithfully repeating the name of an earlier Buddha, the Amitabha, ensured rebirth in a beautifully described heavenly realm, the pure land. Its emphasis on salvation by faith, without study or intensive meditation, helped pure land Buddhism become a highly popular and authentically Chinese version of the Indian faith.
Chinese Paper Money
Paper money, initially a Chinese innovation called "flying cash" because of its tendency to fly away in the wind, made it unnecessary to carry heavy metal coins along the Silk Road.
Samarkand
Samarkand is a city in Uzbekistan known for its mosques and mausoleums. It's on the Silk Road, the ancient trade route linking China to the Mediterranean. Prominent landmarks include the Registan, a plaza bordered by 3 ornate, majolica-covered madrassas dating to the 15th and 17th centuries, and Gur-e-Amir, the towering tomb of Timur (Tamerlane), founder of the Timurid Empire.
Silk
Silk was the most prominent good sold and traded on the Silk Roads. China had long held a monopoly on its production, but by the sixth Century CE, the knowledge and technology for producing raw silk spread beyond China. As the supply of silk increased, its varieties circulated more extensively. In Central Asia, silk was used as a currency. In China and the Byzantine Empire, silk became a symbol of high status, and governments passed laws that restricted silk clothing to members of the elite. In Buddhism and Christianity, silk became associated with the sacred. Chinese Buddhist pilgrims who traveled to India seeking religious texts and artifacts, took with them silk as gifts. In Christianity, silk wall hangings, alter covers, and vestments became signs of devotion and piety.
Chan School of Chinese Buddhism
The Chan School of Chinese Buddhism, emphasized meditation practice. It became dominant during the Song Dynasty and was favored by court officials and scholars.
Sailendra Kingdom
The Sailendra Kingdom in central Java, an agriculturally rich region allied with Srivajaya, mounted a massive building program between the 8th and 10th centuries featuring Hindu temples and Buddhist monuments. The most famous of these monuments is known as the Borobudur. It is an enormous mountain shaped structure of 10 levels with carvings illustrating the spiritual journey from ignorance and illusion to full enlightenment. The largest Buddhist Monument anywhere in the world, it is a distinctively Javanese creation. Its shape resonates with an ancient Southeast Asian veneration of mountains as sacred places and the abode of ancestral Spirits. Borobudur represents the process of Buddhism becoming culturally grounded in a new place.
Sea Roads
The Sea Roads connected people all across the Indian Ocean basin. The sea roads stretched from Southern China to Eastern Africa and traversed the Indian Ocean. The sea roads grew out of the environmental and cultural diversities of the region. The desire for various goods not available at home provided incentives for Indian Ocean Commerce. Transportation costs were lower on the sea roads than the Silk Roads because ships could accommodate larger and heavier cargos than camels. Thus, the sea roads eventually carried more bulk goods and products destined for a mass-market -- textiles, pepper, timber, rice, sugar, wheat. China's remarkable economic growth further stimulated Indian Ocean Commerce. A massive outflow of Chinese products entered the circuits of Indian Ocean trade, even as the thriving Chinese economy attracted goods from India and Southeast Asia. Also facilitating Indian Ocean Commerce were diasporic communities.
Silk Roads
The Silk Roads linked China to Europe, and were most prosperous during times of economic and political stability. The Silk Roads were traveled by camel caravans. Most of the goods that traveled the Silk Road were luxury products destined for an elite crowd. Silk was the most prominent of these goods. Over the years, technological innovations, such as yolks, saddles, and stirrups, made the use of camels, horses, and oxen more effective means of transportation across the Silk Road. The Silk Roads had numerous economic and social consequences. For example, peasants in the Yangtze River delta of southern China sometimes gave up the cultivation of food crops, instead they focused on goods that were sold via the Silk Roads such as silk and porcelain. The Silk Roads also helped merchants rise to great prominence. For example, a Persian Trader named Ramisht whose ships traveled the Indian Ocean and Red Sea made a fortune which he then spent on a silk covering for the Kaba. The Silk Roads also helped spread religions.
Caravanserai
The Silk Roads often carried large camel caravans. These Caravans often stopped at inns or guest houses, known as caravanserai. There, merchants could rest, exchange goods with local people and other traders, and resupply their animals. Such places became centers of cultural exchange as merchants from many religious and cultural traditions met and mingled. Some of the caravanserai developed into major Central Asian commercial cities, such as Samarkand.
Buddhism on the Silk Road
The Silk Roads were a conduit of culture. Buddhism, a product of Indian civilization, spread widely throughout Central and East Asia as Indian traders and Buddhist monks brought religion to the trade routes of the Silk Roads. Conversion to Buddhism was voluntary, without pressure of conquest or foreign rule. Dependent on long-distance trade, the inhabitants and rulers of those sophisticated and prosperous cities found in Buddhism both a rich spiritual tradition and a link to the larger, wealthy, and prestigious civilization of India. As Buddhism spread it also changed. The original faith shunned the material world, but Buddhist monasteries in the towns of the Silk Roads found themselves involved in secular affairs. Some became prosperous, as they received gifts. The begging bowls of the monks became a symbol, rather than part of a daily activity. Sculptures and murals in monasteries suggested a wealthier and more worldly style of living, far removed from the traditions of Buddhist asceticism. Religious practice changed as well. It was the more devotional Mahayana form of Buddhism -- featuring the Budha as a diety, bodhisattvas, emphasis on compassion, and the possibility of earning merit -- that flourished on the Silk Roads. Buddhism picked up elements of other cultures. In the sogdian city of Samarkand, the use of zoroastrian fire rituals became a part of Buddhist practice. The gods of many peoples along the Silk Roads were incorporated into Buddhist practice as bodhisattvas.
Swahili Civilization
The Swahili civilization emerged in the 8th Century CE and took shape as a set of commercial city-states stretching along the East African Coast. The earlier ancestors of the Swahili lived in small farming and fishing communities and spoke African Bantu languages as well as traded with the Arabic, Greek, and Roman. But what stimulated the growth of Swahili cities was the commercial life of the Western Indian Ocean following the rise of Islam. As in Southeast Asia, local people and aspiring rulers found an opportunity for wealth and power in the growing demand for East African products. Gold, Ivory, quartz, leopard skins, and sometimes slaves found a ready Market. In response to commercial opportunities, an African Merchant class developed, Villages turned into sizable towns, and Clan Chiefs became Kings. By 1200, the Swahili civilization was flourishing and was thoroughly urban, centered on cities of 15,000 to 18,000 people. Each Swahili City was politically independent and generally governed by its own King, while being in sharp competition with other cities. No imperial system unified the world of Swahili civilization. Nor did any of these city-states control a critical choke point of trade. Swahili cities were commercial and accumulated goods from the interior to exchange them for products of distant civilization. Swahili crafts navigated the coastal waterways, concentrating and trading goods for shipment abroad. This long-distance trade generated class stratified urban societies with sharp distinctions between a Mercantile Elite and commoners. Swahili civilization participated in the larger Indian Ocean World. Arab, Indian, and Persian Merchants were welcomed visitors, and some settled permanently. Many ruling families of Swahili cities claimed Arab or Persian Origins as a way of bolstering their Prestige. The Swahili language was grammatically an African tongue, but it was written in Arabic script and contained a number of Arabic loanwords. Swahili civilization rapidly became Islamic. Introduced by Arab traders, Islam was voluntarily and widely adopted. Islam linked Swahili cities to the larger Indian Ocean world. This led to the development of Muslim Societies in which religious leaders often spoke Arabic, and all were eager to welcome a learned Islamic visitor. But these were African Muslims, not colonies of transplanted Arabs.
Islamic Green Revolution
The Transcontinental expansive Islamic civilization also contributed to ecological change as agricultural products and practices spread. Among the food crops that circulated Beyond and within the Islamic world were different varieties of sugarcane, rice, apricots, artichokes, eggplants, lemons, oranges, almonds, figs, and bananas. Equally significant were water management practices, as persian-style reservoirs and irrigation techniques spread. All of this contributed to an Islamic Green Revolution of increased food production, as well as to population growth, organization, and Industrial Development Across the Islamic world.
City of Malacca
The city of Malacca was established in the early fourteenth century by a prince from neighbouring Sumatra. It was transformed from a small fishing village to a major port city that became the capital of a Malay Muslim Sultanate until it was conquered by the Portuguese in 1511. Its location on the Straits of Malacca gave it a central role in the trade of the entire Indian Ocean Basin. By the late 15th century, Malacca had a population of 100,000 people and was the largest city in Southeast Asia. Attracted by the city's stable government, low customs duties, and openness to all merchants, some 15,000 foreign merchants established themselves in Malacca. Many of these diasporic communities had their own neighborhoods. The Sultan of Malacca appointed four merchants from the major settlements to oversee the trade, resolve disputes, and act as intermediaries between his government and the foreign merchant communities. Some Merchants also served as officials in the Sultan's government. Some have called Malacca one of the world's first globalized cities due to its many shops and products. During the 15th century, this city created a kind of loose imperial control over neighboring regions of coastal Malay and Eastern Sumatra. Malacca also fostered a distinctive Malay ethnic identity. The rise of Malacca owed much to its relationship with China, the major economic and political power in the region. Malacca regularly sent tribute to China and it also served as a base for Chinese Naval Expeditions. Many Chinese trading ships anchored in the city's Harbor every year. Particularly profitable for merchants of Malacca was pepper. Grown in Sumatra in southern Thailand, much of it passed through Malacca on its way to China, where it was in great demand and could be sold for three times what it cost in Malacca. Malacca also became a springboard for the spread of Islam. The Islamic religion demonstrated blending with local Hindu and Buddhist Traditions. Malacca became a center for Islamic learning.
Great Zimbabwe
The emergence of Great Zimbabwe seems connected to the growing trade in gold to the coast and to the wealth from its large herds of cattle. At its peak between 1250 and 1350, Great Zimbabwe had the resources and labor power to construct huge Stone enclosures. Here in the interior of Southeastern Africa is yet another example of the reach and transforming power of Indian Ocean Commerce.
Commerce's Effect on West African Gender Norms
The growing integration with the world of international Commerce generated the social complexity and hierarchical characteristics of all civilizations. Gender hierarchies, without the rigidity of more established Eurasian civilizations, appeared. Rulers, merchants, and public officials were almost always male, and by 1200 early matrilineal descent patterns had been replaced by those tracing descent through the male line. Male bards, the repositories for their communities' history, often viewed powerful women as dangerous, not to be trusted, and a seductive distraction for men. But ordinary women were Central to agricultural production and weaving; Royal women played an important political role in many places; and oral traditions and mythologies frequently portrayed a complementary rather than hierarchical relationship between the sexes.
Chinese Buddhism
The growth of Chinese Buddhism was accompanied by resistance and criticism. One of the leading figures of the Confucian counter-attack on Buddhism was named Han Yu. Eventually, the Chinese State took direct action against Buddhist establishment and other foreign religions in 841-845. During which they issued a series of imperial degrees that ordered some 260,000 monks and nuns to return to normal life as tax paying citizens. Thousands of monasteries, temples, and shrines were destroyed or turned to public use, while the state confiscated the lands, money, metals, and serfs belonging to monasteries. Buddhists were forbidden from using gold, silver, copper, iron, and gems in constructing their images. These actions dealt a serious blow to Chinese Buddhism, but it did not lead to it completely vanishing. At the village level, Buddhism became one element of Chinese popular religion.
Khmer Kingdom
The prosperous and powerful Khmer Kingdom of Angkor during the 12th century constructed the most stunning architectural expression of Hinduism in the temple complex known as Angkor Wat. It sought to express a Hindu understanding of the cosmos centered on a mythical mount meru, the home of the Gods. Later it was used by Buddhists as well. Commercially, the Khmer Kingdom exported exotic forest products, receiving in return Chinese and Indian handicrafts, while welcoming a considerable number of Chinese Merchants as a permanently settled diasporic community.
Sand Roads
The sand roads linked North Africa and the Mediterranean world with the land and peoples of interior West Africa from across the Sahara Desert. Trans-African trade was rooted in environmental variation. The North African coastal regions generated cloth, glassware, weapons, books, and other manufactured goods. The great Sahara held deposits of copper and especially salt, and its oasis produced sweet and nutritious dates. While the sparse populations of the desert were largely pastoral and nomadic, farther south lived agricultural peoples who grew a variety of crops, produced their own textiles and Metal Products, and mined a considerable amount of gold. These agricultural regions of sub-Saharan Africa are divided into two ecological zones: the Savanna Grasslands, immediately south of the Sahara, produced grain crops such as millet and sorghum, in the forest areas farther south, there were root and tree crops such as yams and Kola nuts. These various environments provided an economic incentive for the exchange of goods.
Navigational and Shipbuilding Innovations
Various technological innovations facilitated Indian Ocean trade. Things such as an improvement in sail, new kinds of ships such as Chinese junks and Indian or Arab dhows, new means of calculating latitude such as the astrolabe, and evolving versions of the magnetic needle or compass.
Monsoon Season
What made Indian Ocean Commerce possible was the monsoons, alternating wind currents that blew predictably Northeast during the summer months and Southwest during the winter months. By the early centuries of the Common Era, an understanding of monsoons and technology of shipbuilding and oceanic navigation enabled the construction of sea roads.
The Malay Kingdom of Srivijaya (670-1025)
When Malay sailors opened an all sea route between India and China through the Straits of Malacca, the many small ports along the Malay Peninsula and the coast of Sumatra began to compete to attract the growing number of traders and travelers. From this competition emerged the Malay Kingdom of Srivijaya, which dominated this critical choke point of Indian Ocean trade from 670-1025. Srivijaya's plentiful supply of gold, access to the source of highly sought-after spices, and the tax levied on passing ships, provided resources to attract supporters to fund an embryonic bureaucracy and to create the military and naval forces that brought security to the area. Srivijayan monarchs employed Indians as advisors, clerks, and officials and assigned Sanskrit titles to their subordinates. The capital city of Palembang was a cosmopolitan place. The rulers also drew on indigenous beliefs that chiefs possessed magical powers and were responsible for the prosperity of their people. They also made use of Indian political ideas and Buddhist religious concepts which provided a higher level of magic for rulers. They sponsored the creation of images of the Buddha and bodhisattvas whose face resembles deceased Kings. This helped Srivijaya grow to be a major center of Buddhist observance, attracting monks and students from throughout the Buddhist world.
