Indian Ocean Societies

1
Indian Ocean Societies

• Postclassical Era

2
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.

3
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

4
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.

5
The Indian Ocean trade was the worlds 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?

• The Indian Ocean region was the worlds 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.
• 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.

6
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.

7
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.

8
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 womens 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.

9
Compare the empires of Mali and Delhi in the
period 12001500, 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 Malis
  government, but not to Delhis.
• 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.