Database: Maritime Trading

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Abu Zayd and Al-Harith Sailing From Basra to Oman / Around 1240, Baghdad, Iraq

The Indian Ocean trade routes connected Baghdad to East Africa, India, Southeast Asia, and China. Faster to cross than the land ones, they were also fraught with dangers.

The Akhbar as-Sin wa'l-Hind (Accounts of China and India) describes the travel of one Sulayman al-Tajir (the merchant) and other unnamed explorers across the Indian Ocean between 850 and 910. The 5-month journey took them from Baghdad to Guangzhou through Oman, southern India, Malaysia, and Indonesia. All along the way, Sulayman and his peers traded fine clothes and coins for Indian ambergris, Indonesian spices and Chinese porcelain. They also noticed the presence of Muslim and Christian communities in many ports and commented on the food and customs of these foreign lands. The discovery in 1998 of an Arabian shipwreck dated from 830 near the Indonesian island of Belitung confirmed much of the information related in the Akhbar as-Sin wa'l-Hind and the impressive global reach of Abbasid trading networks.

These maritime travels could be dangerous. Rudimentary astronomical instruments made coastal navigation the only option and reefs claimed many boats. The vessels themselves were surprisingly frail, with uncaulked planks sewn together with coconut fibres rather than nailed. More efficient building methods existed on the Mediterranean shores, but the much higher cost of iron in the Western Indian Ocean led to the survival of the region's traditional watercraft. Only disastrous encounters with 15th century Chinese junks and Portuguese caravels forced shipbuilders to alter their plans.