SocietySouth Asia
The Indian Ocean trade
The monsoon made this ocean the world's busiest trade route
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The network was remarkable for functioning without a dominant naval power — no state controlled it, and trade rested on custom and credit arrangements between merchant diasporas. The Swahili coast, with cities such as Kilwa, was Africa's door into the system. That changed abruptly when the Portuguese arrived in 1498 with cannon and demands for licences.
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The monsoon reverses twice a year. That gave sailing ships a predictable route out and back between Africa, Arabia, India and China. Trade here was greater than the Mediterranean's, for centuries.
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Part of Terra Saga — the story of Earth on a timeline. terrasaga.org