Direct Sea Trade Between Early Islamic Iraq and Tang China: from the Exchange of Goods to the Transmission of Ideas (original) (raw)
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The Muslim Merchants of Premodern China
The Muslim Merchants of Premodern China
Merchants of an Imperial Trade One day in late September of 758, Persians and Arabs raided the frontier port city of Guangzhou (Canton). According to two sources, they plundered the city and burned its warehouses and storehouses before departing by sea. 1 Another source describes them as troops from the countries of Arabia (Dashi 大食) and Persia (Bosi 波斯) and recounts that they captured the city after the prefect, Wei Lijian 韋利見, abandoned the city and went into hiding. 2 Who were these men whothousands of miles from their homes in west Asiawere able to seize one of the major cities of the Tang, if only briefly? Speculative answers have included seeing them as a reflection of the newly established Abbasid Caliphate, as disgruntled troops sent by the Caliph to quell a rebellion in central Asia (who somehow made their way to the coast of China), or as followers of the Hainanese warlord Feng Ruofang 馮若芳, who specialized in capturing and enslaving Persian sailors, about whom we will have more to say. They might also have been traders enraged by grievances against local officials or some other trade issue (thus the burning of the warehouses). We will be returning to this question; here it is enough to note that this incident marks the first mention of Arabs in Tang documentary sourcesa signpost, as it were, for the early stages of the first great age of Asian maritime commerce. This age was a period quite distinct from those that followed. At its height, it involved a flourishing and lucrative trade in luxuries between the two great Asian empires of the day: the Abbasid Caliphate (750-1258) in the west and the Tang Empire (618-907) in the east. It was also a period of significant change at both ends of the continent. The Abbasids continued the process of the Islamicization of much of southwestern and central Asia, which the Umayyad Caliphate (661-750) had initiated, but
Egitto e vicino oriente
Over the last few years the Chinese porcelain found in ports and urban centres involved in inter-Asian trade along the Indian Ocean routes, together with material from the wrecks of merchant ships and collections, has offered ample evidence for the study of the cultural, economic and social relations between the various entities involved in this network of commercial and diplomatic exchanges. This is particularly true for the period preceding the advent of the European powers along these routes and their subsequent predominance as from the 16th century. It is a period that is increasingly being studied to re-evaluate the globalization processes in the ancient world. Here, Chinese porcelain represents material evidence that we can, without the least exaggeration, define as incomparable. In fact, the origins of and trade in raw materials and technologies, the hybridization of decorative motives and forms, and the wide-ranging diffusion and re-elaboration of practices and meanings associated with Chinese porcelain and stoneware, attest to intercultural dynamics and a global or, better, glocal utilization of these materials. In the broader context of relations between China and the Arabian Peninsula, few sites offer such remarkable leads for analysis of the connections between the production, reception, and use of Chinese porcelain during the Islamic period. This article focuses mainly on the period between 1279 and 1435, which saw the trade between China and Arabia, together with the consumption and impact of Chinese porcelain on the southern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, at its most flourishing.
Priestman, 2016: The Silk Road or the Sea? Sasanian and Islamic Exports to Japan
Priestman, S. 2016: 'The Silk Road or the sea? Sasanian and Islamic Exports to Japan', Journal of Islamic Archaeology, 3(1): 1-35.
This article considers the movement of commodities manufactured in southern Iraq during the Sasanian and Early Islamic periods to the furthest eastern extremity of the Old World: to the archipelago of Japan. In particular the focus is on two categories of non-perishable finds that survive within the archaeological record: glass vessels and turquoise blue alkaline glazed ceramic jars. We begin by providing an outline of the definition and dating of what is a commonplace and widely distributed ceramic product within the Middle East and western Indian Ocean area. It is then possible to place these finds within a broader context by reviewing the evidence for the earliest West Asian exports to Japan and what these might tell us about the mechanisms of their transmission and circulation and the role of such imports within an East Asian context. Specifically these include glass vessels dated to the Sasanian period followed some time later by ceramic vessels manufactured at the time of the Abbasid Caliphate. The continued arrival of Islamic glass into this later period is not a subject that will be covered specifically as it does not contribute directly to the main arguments that are developed below. Finally the finds are used to shed light on the broader debate surrounding the development of the Indian Ocean economy and to what extent Japan itself may have been commercially integrated within a wider commodity exchange network.
Asian Affairs, 2012
Under the new situation of international trade competition, it is very important to reexamine China's trade policies and foreign relations with other economic forces in East Asia from a historical perspective. It is also possible to re-analysis the Ancient Silk Road and the Tribute System, and make some new explanation. This paper holds that the construction and expansion of the foreign trade networks in ancient China was not only closely relative to the changes and development of domestic strength, but also tightly relevant to the cooperation, comparison and interaction with other countries, especially those surrounding China in East Asia. The ancient trade relations also reveal the irregular fluctuation pattern from a long period of time.
Trade and contacts between southern Arabia and East Asia: the evidence from al-Balīd (southern Oman)
Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 50, 2020
Relations between the southern part of the Arabian Peninsula and East Asia are recorded in a number of different written sources. Given that most of the traded goods were perishable, the archaeological evidence is today limited to pottery and coins, although the latter has rarely been found in Arabia. The aim of this paper is to investigate the connections between the two areas, focusing on the recent discoveries from the settlement of al-Balīd (ancient Ẓafār), which flourished along the southern coast of the Sultanate of Oman during the medieval period, reaching its peak between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries AD. Work at the site has recently been resumed and is currently focused on the excavation of the citadel (Husn al-Balīd) and on the study of small finds and pottery, including the collection of ceramics from East Asia. Not only frankincense, silk, Chinese porcelain, and stoneware, but also resins, natural pigments, and exotic animals were travelling at that time between Arabia and East Asia in both directions. Following the written sources and by studying the East Asian imports discovered during the recent excavations at Husn al-Balīd, two periods of major contact have been identified and are discussed below.