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 world’s 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 world’s 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 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 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 1200–1500, 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 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, or harem slaves.