Indian Ocean Trade Study Guide

1519: a Spanish armada of five ships set sail that would soon be the first to circumnavigate the globe. Their captain, a Portuguese noble, was an accomplished student of cartography and astronomy. Europe’s cravings for spices sent Columbus to Asia, and into the barrier that was the Americas. Magellan’s expedition sought to find a way through, on a mission to bring a new trade route and immense wealth to Spain. Through the crew’s starvation, two mutinies against him, and his harsh personality and lack of accomplishment, Magellan proved his life was not worth saving.

From 120 BCE to the 16th century, trade was a remarkable part of the Eastern Hemisphere. It played a vital role in the kingdoms and city-states that made up all of what the 21st century calls Europe, Asia, and Africa. Trade was critically important in this time period because of the diverse climate that was scattered all across the continent. Due to the climate, every location had different resources that were provided by nature. Without specific resources, specific goods could not be manufactured. Not only that, but since technology was not as advanced as it is now, specific products were not able to exist in areas. The only way to obtain those products was to trade. Two of the many routes that a merchant could use to trade were the Silk Road and the Sea Roads along the Indian Ocean. Of those two roads, the Indian trade route had the most positive impact around the world. It facilitated the trading of mass goods since rather than using animals to transport goods, they used boats. It also provided a type of wind known as Monsoon wind that merchants could benefit from. Finally, the Indian Ocean trade route stretched out at a greater distance than the silk road, which impacted the goods that could be traded. Overall, the Indian Ocean trade route had the best impact in the Eastern Hemisphere and even the world.

With the inspiration of Christopher Columbus, Sir Francis Drake circumnavigated the world for a second time in 1580. Which undoubtedly laid the frame work for English colonization.

1476- Christopher Columbus was residing in Portugal and he had a strong and growing desire to sail and discover new lands.

Sir Francis Drake is known for England's defeat of the Spanish Armada. He was a sea dog and he sailed around the world. Drake was actually the first one to sail around the world since Magellan died in his journey.

In the 1500s and the 1600s there were many explorers, Samuel De Champlain was one of them. He was an explorer of the “New World.”

With the years of development of trades between Silk Roads and the Indian Ocean, both went through some changes along with being tied to each other. For the silk roads, Roman and Egyptian Jews would travel through the silk roads as they were the most common traders. Although for the Indian ocean Muslim traders had dominated the sea. The world's shipping lanes was the Indian ocean during the years 1100-1500 A.D, as Arab sailors soon were masters of the sea trade in the ocean. When northern groups had taken over parts of silk routes, sea trades were taken as they were alternate paths.This resulted in Chinese becoming masters of ship building and merchants creating new trade routes and a new credit system. When the Song dynasty came, silk roads were becoming less common in use of trade as sea trades were becoming more common as they were much cheaper and safer. Trades in the Indian Ocean was not only becoming more common just because of the conditions, but also because of the hajj where Muslims were supposed to travel at least once in their lifetime to

Sir Francis Drake - English explorer who attacked Spanish ships/settlements and was secretly backed by Elizabeth II. He circumnavigated the globe, returning with many goods.

Once the New World was revealed, several explorers were sent to claim land for the countries they represented. One explorer was Hernando Cortez who was sent by Spain to claim the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan. John Cabot was sent to explore what is now Canada by King Henry VII of England. Another notorious explorer would be Christopher Columbus who initially was the first to actually find the New World. Although explorers come from different countries, they all share a desire to accumulate land and wealth.

Christopher Columbus, an experienced seafarer, left landmark achievements in various destinations he set foot in. He made four trips across the Atlantic Ocean from Spain and he mistakenly thought there was a quicker route to Asia. It turned out he landed on two unknown continents (Jane, pg.6). In the event of making journeys, he accidentally came across to natives where he taught the spirit of exploration injecting a great deal in America's global economy. The journey started at the beginning of different acts like colonization.

He sailed for over a month, eventually landing on an island that is now part of the Bahamas. He then sailed on and discovered Cuba, and thought it was China. Soon after, he landed on Hispaniola, believing it to be Japan. Here it was that the Santa Maria wrecked, and was scavenged to make the first European settlement in the Caribbean(Biography). This may be his most significant achievement, as it was likely the first European settlement in the Americas, and certainly the first not on the mainland. While some believe the Vikings settled in Canada, they almost certainly abandoned it after a short time(Klein). This opened the door to colonization of the Caribbean, with the Spanish taking Cuba, the British taking the Bahamas, and other nations such as France and the Netherlands controlling the rest of the Antilles and West Indies(Biography).

Christopher Columbus set sail in 1492 on a mission to find an all water route to the western Indies, instead Columbus reached North America where he continued his search for gold and trade.

Jacques Cartier was a French explorer that was born on December 31, 1491, and died in 1557. When he was looking for a route to the New World, he named and found CANADA!!! He was sent by King Francis I to the New World for riches and a route to Asia on three separate trips.

Christopher Columbus was an explorer, voyager, and navigator, with his first voyage in 1476. Columbus went on many expeditions to Africa, and he had a few African crew members on bard with him. In 1492, Columbus left Spain with the boat, Santa Maria, with Nina and Pinta at his side. Columbus was credited with discovering the Americas, and with colonizing it. Columbus went to sea as a teenager, and went on a lot of trading voyages, almost dying on one when his ship was attacked by French privateers.

Henry Hudson one of the greatest explorers of his time he tried finding routes from Europe to Asia. Although he never did he ended up finding routes to Europe nor Asia. He found more routes to North America. He is responsible for funding New York and Canada.