Global Midterm #1

periodization of globalization history

• where we start the story and end the story changes the story

• how far you go back changes who the main characters were and their motivations

Indian Ocean Poetry

• trade connected everyone

• a dinner described in the poem had indian rice, a european chair, a persian tray

• written before 1800

Littoral

The littoral is the coastal societal area where the land intersects with the sea. These areas were significant because this is where a lot of trade, social interaction, iand dea/religion sharing occurred which led to the spread of different cultures.

Monsoon

Monsoons are predictable seasonal weather patterns that are characterized by strong wind and rain. These weather patterns were important in the IOW because they dictated when you could travel and people ended up learning the patterns so that they could use them to their advantage on their trade routes. Merchants could travel in one direction then use the return winds to go back home. Sometimes displaced people in foreign lands for long periods of time which led to culture sharing.

Dhow

A traditional Indian Ocean sailing vessel that did not use any nails; it was made using coir rope made from coconut husks. These were important because they provided transportation for IOW exploration and the design of them was unique because if they hit rocks they would not break because the coir rope made the boat more reslieint to breakage.

The Ocean as a Magnetic field

This means that the oceans’ influence slowly becomes weaker as you move away from it. Littoral societies were where the lnad intersected with the ocean and these areas were msot greatly affected by the ocean. As you move further inland their society and everyday activities revolved less around the ocean but they were still impacted by the ocean in other ways. For example, people living in littoral societies would interact with foreign merchants and oftentimes worked at trading ports that exchanged foreign goods for goods that they produced in their home country. People living further inland were less affected by the ocean everyday but these people may have been producers of goods that would be sent to the people living closer to the ocean and then traded. This emphasizes how even though littoral societies were most impacted by the ocean, during this time period everyone was involved in the transactions taking place overseas because no one country was completely independant themselves, they needed eachothers goods to have everything they wanted

Coasting

Coasting is sailing along the coastline while keeping the shorline in sight. This is significant because it facilitated migration throughout the IOW without taking the risk of traveling into unknown open waters.

Diverse Ecological zones and their influence on trade

The Indian Ocean World contained many different ecological zones including the desert, dry tropical scrub, rainforest, and savanna. Each zone was specialized in different goods that it could produce. For example the rainforest could send timber to the desert in exchange for dates that were grown in the desert. Not one area of the Indian Ocean World was completely self sufficient because they would not produce all of the goods that society needed with the conditions of their land. Therefore the different ecological zones utilized eachothers specialties and traded with one another so that they could have a diverse collection of goods.

Ahmad Ibn Majid

Ahmad Ibn Majid was as son and grandson of navigators who became a navigator himself and wrote a long book on navigation in the 15th century. He was significant because his book shows that Indian Ocean navigation was sophisticated before European colonization.

Indian Ocean Navigation before European Colonization

Before European Colonization, Indian Ocean Navigation was already a sophisticated practice. A famous navigator named Ahmad Ibn Majid wrote a very long book in the 15th century all about IO naviagtion. Explorers also used a variety of technologies to assist their travels such as compasses and mini star charts. Navigators also greatly developed their sailing strategies as time went on. At first naviagtors used coasting techniques to avoid the dangers of open water travels but then they learned the wether patterns and gained the confidence to partake in open ocean travel. They used monsoon patterns to plan their travels. The idea that indian ocean navigation only became sophisticated after european colonization is a misconception.

primary source analysis

We dont use the word bias or biased. Instead of bias we think in terms of perspective. WHat persepctives are present and which are missing, how does this change the story. How do their perspective impact the way we would use the source to make an argument.

women in the Indian ocean world before europeans

For thousands of years women in the indian ocean world had significant power. However womens voices are difficult to access directly from the sources that are available. We do know that there were many female rulers in the IOW from 1300-1900 and most people believe this was due to political stability and existing gender norms. The IOW was very religiously diverse and so existing gender norms in certain locations interacted differently with newer religions from other places. Oftentimes, sharing of different world religions led to a decline in womens rights in places where gender norms were previously seen as more equal.

Hajj

Hajj is a journey to Mecca that Muslims are expected to take in their life at least once. This encouraged travel for Muslim’s which contributed to the spread of Islam throughout the IOW which helped build trade relations.

‘Umma

An Arabic term that refers to a community of Muslim believers. This is significant because these communities spread across the indian ocean world as islam spread, having the same religion as other people in the IOW was well poised for trade relations.

The relationship between trade and religion in the Indian Ocean world

Trade and religion in the IOW had a symbiotic relationship. The trade across the IOW brought new groups of people to new places and when they visited these places they sometimes shared their religion. This lead to the spread of buddhism, hindism, and especially islam. Many people converted to Islam after getting involved in trade in the IOW. Having the same religion as your trading partners was oftentimes beneficial because you would share a language, customs, and laws. Hajj also contributed to the spread of Islam because this required many muslim people to move from their home and they ended up meeting people along the way who may have converted. However, trade relations were not reserved for just muslim people, everyone traded with eachother no matter what religion you were.

Ibn Battuta

Ibn Battuta was a muslim scholar and religious judge who went on Hajj at age 21 and did not return for 24 years. He was significant because he wrote a book about his travels which revealed how the region was connected by Islam and trade before the arrival of europeans.

Ma Huan

Ma Huan was a chinese mulsim interpretor who accompanied Zheng He on 3 of his 7 treasure voyages and recorded his observations. He was important because his accounts provided important evidence about what the IOW was like before european colonization and a chinese persepctive about how trade relations worked.

Zheng He

ZHeng He led the Ming Dynasty’s 7 treasure fleet voyages on huge ships throughout the IOW. This was important because it made the people of the IOW realize that there were great military powers in unexplored places and even though their intentions were not to conquer it was definitely a display of power to the communities they showed up at.

The motivations and decline of the Ming treasure fleets

The Ming Treasure fleets were 7 voyages sponsored by the Ming govt with the purpose of exploring the “West Oceans”. The ships they used were huge and there were over 300 vessels per voyage. They brought goods on their ships such as porcelain, silk, gold, etc to be traded. Their goal was not to conquer but to simply explore the west oceans and create trade relationships. All of a sudden the tresure fleets stopped after 1433 because China got involved in a war with the Mongols and Vietnam. They were also in the process of building bejiing which was very expensive. They also had a new emperor who decided that the trasure fleets were a waste of money so he decided to allocate those funds to fighting the war w/ the mongols and vietnam and to continue efforts of cntructing bejiing.

Travelers account

• some people describe being fully emersed into the community thaey travled to. some describe how there were specific separate communities set up for displaced travelers to reside while waiting to go back home (foreign neighborhoods). However both describe that traveling led to a hybridization of culture

The connection between spices and European exploration of the Indian Ocean

European demand for spices increased greatly in the 15th century. They were seen as a luxury and were a huge aspect of their cooking. Specifically pepper was very important to europeans because it could not be grown in europe. In the 15th centruy there was a 30x increase in the demand for pepper. However their current mean of getting pepper relied on slow and inefficinet overland transportation. Ths led them to start looking for a new route through the indian ocean.

Black Pepper

Black pepper was a spice grown in the indian ocean world that become extremely valued in european countries. This was significant because a 30x increase in demand for black pepper and slow overland transportation of it led European power to start exploring indian ocean trade routes which motivated european exploration

Treaty of Tordesillas

Treaty created in 1494 that establish the direction of ocean exporation between spain and portugal. This was important because it directed Portugal toward the indian ocean world and they had desires to stop the expansion of muslim empires.

Caravel

A caravel was a new type of boat used for spanish and portugese exploration. These boats were important because they allowed the spanish and Portuguese to travel around Africa to fuflfill their desire for african slaves and gold and establish a maritime connection with the Indian Ocean.

Vasco de Gama

Vasco de Gama was a portuguese explorer who set out on a voyage into the IOW to Calicut with a fleet of 4 ships in search of christians and spices. This was significant because although he only came back from his voyage with a small and unimpressive number of goods this opened up possibilities for large profit in the future.

Thalassocracy

Thalassocracy is a seaborn empire. This term is significant because it described portugals strategy for exerting power, instead of trying to control large inland territories they projected military power over maritime trade.

How things changes and didnt after the arrival of the portuguese in the IOW

After the portuguese entered the IOW the sea trade was no longer neutral political territory. The Portuguese were fighting with the ottoman empire because they also valued the spice trade and they were starting to contorl more land that was crucial for spice transportation. Ultimetly the portuguese won because they built a bunch of forts to defend their land and they also forced people to pay commerce fees which made them like sophisticated pirates. However exisiting trade networks and the volume of trade sayed the same. The exisiting religions in these areas also stayed the same and most peoples day to day lives did not drastically shift after the arrival of the portuguese.

East India Company

The East India company was a british joint stock company that became one of the biggest corporations in the world. This was significant because the company was able to combine governemental activity with comercial power which allowed it to almost act like its own state and increase european political involvenent in the IOW

Dutch East India Company (VOC)

The Dutch east india company was a powerful joint stock comapny that granted a trade monopoly in the Indian Ocean World. This was significant because this company eventually monopolized production and trade of goods in the IOW which contibuted to the dutch golden age.

Changing perceptions of the ocean and debates about how to govern its use

In the 1400’s the ocean was seen as an open and politically neutral place. No one tried to exert power into the sea and it was seen as a way to connect to new trade opportunities. After the portuguese started exploring the indian ocean world, their intentions challenged this idea. The portuguese attempted to create a thalassocracy and wanted to exert power over trade and and maritim spaces. They turned the nuetral open space into something that people were looking to gain control over. They showed this by building large forts around the border of their claimed land to mark areas where they claimed trading power. Thyey also became sophisticated priates by forcing people to pay commerce fees. This shows how now the ocean was seen as a place where you could claim political power.

Slavery in the IOW

here was no concrete defintion of what slavery looked like in the IOW. Slavery was seen as more of a spectrum with being completely free on one extreme and being fully enslaved on the other extreme. Slavery was generally not race based in the IOW and at its peak 20-30% of people were considered enslaved. Slavery took many forms and could be prisoners of war, people displaced by natural disasters, children/women, people in debt, and many more. You could also move around within the spectrum. For example if you were closer to the fully enslaved side of the spectrum but then you fought in war and became a war hero you would likely move more toward the free end of the spectrum. In general the slave/free dichotomy did not apply in the IOW and people were able to move up and down this spectrum.

Ahmad Ibn Majid - The Book of Useful Knowledge on the Principles and Rules of Navigation

who created it - written in arabic by Ahmad, translated by tibbets

where - Ahmad from present day oman

when - written in 1490

why - a manual for other navigators abotu how to sail between ports, he descreibed how rhere were very specific days in the year that navigators must leave. A difference between leaving just a few days later could cost the success of your voyage.

Ibn Battuta Travels in Asia and Africa

who created it - Ibn was a moroccan scholar/judge

where - he started out in Mecca and then traveled all arounf asia and africa, 74,000 miles in total

when - 1325-1354

why - he dictated this book at the end of his life, described the different communities he encountered when he went on Hajj and didnt return for 24 years, Ibn describes how welcoming his hosts were they would make him food, medical care, money, supplies for his journey

Excerpt from the Memoirs of Ma Huan

who created it - chinese muslim arabic translator who accompanied Zheng He ofn 3 of his 7 treasure fleets

where - this source describes Calicut

when - 1433

why - he describes his chinese perspective on trading in the IOW. He decribed how he observed people using thewir hands and toes to calculate prices. This shows that pricing was based mostly on their intuition and people trusted eachother to charge fair prices. There was no calculating plate. Sometimes negotiating a price would take multiple moon phases.

“Proof of Enslavement” archives of the Court of Justice of Cochin

who created it - Dutch east india company council of justive

where - cochin, india

when - 1743

why - describes enslavement in IOW, the boys parents sold him into slavery which suggests that this was a last resort option, slavery was not the same way it was in the Atlantic, oftentimes people used this as a last resort if they were in debt or displaced by a natural disaster because they would get fed as opposed to starving. shows how you could transfer ownership very easily he was sold from person to person within days.

The abduction of Ittij Commera

who created it - DUtch east india company council of Justice

where - cochin, india testimony written in Dutch through interpreter Cornelis van Mekeren

when - 1708

why - describes how Ittij used marriage as leverage to improve your slave status, Ittij was enslaved by his cousin, when the cosuin fell into debt he was sold away, this shows how slaves were used as assets and used to settle personal debt