TRAJECTORY OF THE INDIAN OCEAN TRADE FROM 1400 CE TO 1600 CE: A SHIFT FROM PEACEFUL COMMERCE TO NAVAL HEGEMONY

Abstract

This study examines the trading system and its evolution in the Indian Ocean between 1400 CE and 1600 CE. It discusses the pre-existing maritime order, Chinese maritime expeditions under Zheng He, the rise of regional powers such as Malacca, and the arrival of the Portuguese in the Indian Ocean. This study throws a light on the aspects that were held before European intervention. The Indian Ocean was a connected and commercially vibrant world, based largely on peaceful trade and multicultural interaction. Chinese participation in this was largely diplomatic, aimed at regional peace rather than colonial conquest. The study further demonstrates how the arrival of the Portuguese fundamentally changed the nature of maritime trade through naval militarization, violence, and monopoly. Drawing on the works of historians such as K.N. Chaudhuri, Richard Hall, Louise Levathes, Sanjay Subrahmanyam, Sanjeev Sanyal and Jonathan Gil Harris, the study shows how the Indian Ocean slowly transformed from a decentralised Asian trading network into a site of European imperial competition. The Chinese role was largely diplomatic, motivated by a desire for regional stability rather than colonial expansion. The study argues that the Portuguese arrival also radically transformed the nature of maritime trade through naval militarisation, violence and monopoly. The study, drawing upon the works of historians like K.N. Chaudhuri, Richard Hall, Louise Levathes, Sanjay Subrahmanyam, Sanjeev Sanyal and Jonathan Gil Harris, points to the gradual transition of the Indian Ocean from a decentralised Asian trading network to a space of European imperial competition.