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Exchange in the Indian Ocean

Teacher Resources

Driving Question: How did the Indian Ocean trade network facilitate economic and cultural exchanges between diverse regions?

The Indian Ocean trading system was the engine of trade in Afro-Eurasia and helped spread new ideas and technologies around the world. Large empires were an important part of this system, as Islamic and Chinese empires helped launch an expansion of trade. But the Indian Ocean trade was also remarkably peaceful, with the empires involved generally allowing merchants a free hand in the ocean.

Learning Objectives

  1. Explain the causes of the growth of networks of exchange after 1200.
  2. Explain the role of environmental factors in the development of networks of exchange in the period from c. 1200 to 1450.
  3. Use historical thinking skills and reasoning practices such as sourcing, contextualization, comparison, continuity and change over time (CCOT), and claim testing to evaluate historical events and processes.

Vocab Terms:

  • authority
  • commerce
  • diaspora
  • maritime
  • merchant
  • monsoon
STEP 1

Opener: Exchange in the Indian Ocean

STEP 2

Indian Ocean Trade Routes

How did the trading system of the Indian Ocean get to be so large? What was the impact of this vast network of trade? Explore how the Indian Ocean became a center of trade from 1200-1450, and how that trade impacted the world.

STEP 3

Graphic Biography: Zheng He

A man of three names, Zheng He was a Muslim captured by the Ming dynasty who became a valuable official and then a great admiral. But were his famous expeditions trading enterprises or instruments of war and domination?

STEP 4

Closer: Exchange in the Indian Ocean

We tend to trust authorities. But what makes someone an authority? And just because someone’s an authority on one topic, does it mean they’re an authority on all topics?