7th century – 11th century
Indian Ocean, Persian Gulf, Red Sea, East Africa, and South Asia
Muslim commerce in the Indian Ocean formed the most developed intercontinental trade network linking Africa, Arabia, Persia, India, Southeast Asia, China, and the western Indian Ocean islands during the seventh to eleventh centuries. Its resilience rested on established commercial relations, despite piracy, slave trading, regional wars, port destruction, and major shifts from Persian Gulf routes toward the Red Sea in the eleventh century.
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The Story
Between the seventh and eleventh centuries, Muslim merchants occupied a dominant position in the commercial relations of the Indian Ocean. Their activities connected the shores of East Africa with Arabia, Persia, India, Southeast Asia, and China, while drawing strength from the Islamic world’s geographical position between several continental regions. The network developed into the only truly intercontinental trade system described for this period.
The Indian Ocean was generally less affected by warfare than the Mediterranean. Merchants sought to preserve established exchanges even as Islam expanded across the region, and commercial relations were not usually destroyed by forceful conversion. This relative continuity did not make the maritime world peaceful: slave trading was accompanied by coercion, piracy remained widespread, and political violence could devastate important ports and interrupt shipping.
Several crises tested the network during the ninth and tenth centuries. The Zandj revolt in lower Iraq and the Persian Gulf, dated 866–883, devastated Basra, Ubulla, and Abadan and cut Baghdad off from the sea. In 878, Huang Ch’ao sacked Canton and massacred many foreign traders. Muslim trade later recovered, but in the eleventh century the decline of the Abbasid Caliphate and the rise of the Fatimids shifted the balance of maritime commerce toward routes through the Red Sea.
7th century – 11th century
Indian Ocean, Persian Gulf, Red Sea, East Africa, and South Asia
Muslim commerce in the Indian Ocean formed the most developed intercontinental trade network linking Africa, Arabia, Persia, India, Southeast Asia, China, and the western Indian Ocean islands during the seventh to eleventh centuries. Its resilience rested on established commercial relations, despite piracy, slave trading, regional wars, port destruction, and major shifts from Persian Gulf routes toward the Red Sea in the eleventh century.
Continue exploring
The Story
Between the seventh and eleventh centuries, Muslim merchants occupied a dominant position in the commercial relations of the Indian Ocean. Their activities connected the shores of East Africa with Arabia, Persia, India, Southeast Asia, and China, while drawing strength from the Islamic world’s geographical position between several continental regions. The network developed into the only truly intercontinental trade system described for this period.
The Indian Ocean was generally less affected by warfare than the Mediterranean. Merchants sought to preserve established exchanges even as Islam expanded across the region, and commercial relations were not usually destroyed by forceful conversion. This relative continuity did not make the maritime world peaceful: slave trading was accompanied by coercion, piracy remained widespread, and political violence could devastate important ports and interrupt shipping.
Several crises tested the network during the ninth and tenth centuries. The Zandj revolt in lower Iraq and the Persian Gulf, dated 866–883, devastated Basra, Ubulla, and Abadan and cut Baghdad off from the sea. In 878, Huang Ch’ao sacked Canton and massacred many foreign traders. Muslim trade later recovered, but in the eleventh century the decline of the Abbasid Caliphate and the rise of the Fatimids shifted the balance of maritime commerce toward routes through the Red Sea.