Jayson Wieczorek

Period 7
Southernization
1. Some interactions that were happening in the Indian Ocean Basin were the
cultivation and trade of cotton, expansion in search of bullion, and the trade of
spices from India into the Mediterranean. Indias textile industry was rapidly growing
and quickly spread into Egypt. In the 2nd century CE, textiles had spread to the
Mediterranean and East Africa, and by the 5 th century, into Southeast Asia. Siberia
had long been the main source of Indias bullion, but with increasing nomadic
disturbances, India needed to find a new source. This led them to expand into
Southeast Asia, Indonesia, and East Africa. Spices were sparsely traded during the
first few centuries CE, but the trade took off during and after the Crusades, which
introduced spices as spoils of war to the Europeans.
2. The commodities being transported in the India Ocean were cotton, from India to
Africa and Southeast Asia, Spices, from India to the Mediterranean, Silk, from East
Asia to India and Europe, and gold bullion, from East Africa to India.
3. Some global significances of Southernization are that it led to increased trade in
the Indian Ocean, which allowed new goods to be exported/imported, Ideas spread
rapidly from place to place, some examples are the base 10 mathematics used in
India, political structures, and religion, and Southernization was an example of what
would happen during Westernization. It paved the way for Westernization and gave
empires a feel as to how distant expansion might affect their society.
4. The statement means that without Europe exploring into more tropical regions,
such as East and Southeast Asia, many of the goods and ideas that they acquired
could not have been transferred into the West. The Indian Ocean opened up a whole
new spectrum of what the Europeans could attain, as far as goods and ideas, and
caused them to bring the ideas back to Europe and integrate them into their
societies. These ideas and products helped make Northwestern Europe a major
power in the world.
5. World-changing Chinese inventions were a repercussion of Southernization
because it allowed China to access to new ideas, namely Indian, and helped further
their own innovations. China adopted some of the mathematical techniques
employed by the Indians, as well as new products like cotton and Champa rice. The
bubonic plagued being transmitted from China to the Middle East, Africa, and
Europe was caused by the extensive trade networks along the Silk Road and the
Indian Ocean. People were constantly in contact with others from different regions
and this constant interaction provided a haven for the bubonic plague to spread as
rapidly and vastly as it did. The expansion of Islam was a repercussion of
Southernization because the Muslims imported cotton and other crops from India
and East Asia. These new products allowed the Muslims to develop extensive
agricultural systems which allowed them to stabilize their political and economic
structures. The African slave trade also provided connections for Islam to grow off of
and expand. Muslims are also credited with finding new sources of gold bullion.

Portuguese exploration was a result of Southernization because most of the

Portuguese techniques for sailing were developed by the Muslims. They could not
have acquired this knowledge without the expansion of Islam which in turn, could
not have happened without Southernization. The lateen sail was developed by the
Muslims and so was the table that indicated the declination of the sun at noon
based on longitude. Both of these technologies were extensively used by the
Portuguese during their sailing voyages.
6. I think the author was motivated to use the term Southernization to describe
the exchanges in world history because she wanted to inform people of the first
impetus that allowed for all of these technologies and ideas to spread. Many times
people do not realize that the expansion into Southeast Asia was the key reason for
the rise of Islam or the increased trade between India and China and Europe and
Africa.