Impact Of Islam On Indian Ocean Trade

In the 16th century, the Portuguese was able to find a route around the Cape of Good Hope that got them involved in the Indian Ocean trade. The trade was dominated by Asian traders who operate from East Africa to India and from Eastern India to Indonesia. The Portuguese replaced these Asian traders to Venetian, Genoese and Catalan traders. Soon in 1507-1515, Portugal conquered carefully calculated cities like Goa, Malacca and Hormuz and set up a base in these cities. The impact the Portuguese bring to the Indian Ocean trade is when they enter the trade for the benefit of wealth and power over Spain and the Muslims, they took control over trading cities with spices through the use of violent force and strategic methods which cause the Portuguese

In Afonso de Albuquerque’s book, he have say, “This was the best place to intercept the trade...we would close the Straits so that never again would the Muslims be able to bring their spices by this route...I am very sure that, if this Malacca trade is taken out of their hands, Cairo and Mecca will be completely lost.” This address how the Portuguese are taking out the Muslims from the trade routes. However, Islam have play a key role in the Indian Ocean trade like Ibn Battuta whom according to Berkeley Orias, “main reason to travel was to go on a Hajj, or a Pilgrimage to Mecca, to fulfill the fifth pillar of Islamic...Near the end of Ibn Battuta's life, the Sultan of Morocco insisted that Ibn Battuta dictate the story of his travels to a scholar and today we can read translations of that account.” The Muslims have contribute heavily to the knowledge gain and without them the Indian Ocean trades will not be the way it is now but with the Portuguese trying to take these people out of the trade, trades will not be able to flourish the way it was

George Percy Badge wrote, “They have guns with a noise like thunder and a ball from one of them, after traversing a league, will break a castle of marble.” This imply how using violence, the Portuguese have frightened the traders which made it easier for the Portuguese to get them to submit and obey their instructions. The other method the Portuguese use was the cartaz which Sushil Chaudhury have say that, “Under the cartaz system, every Asian ship was required to take a cartaz from the Portuguese... If a ship was found without a cartaz, it was automatically confiscated and its crew immediately killed or sent to the galleys.” This means other traders have to rely on the Portuguese in order to be able to trade freely. As a result, the Portuguese was able to took control of the trades and because of their reputation of force, everyone is afraid to fight back and the Indian Ocean trade continue its