History Of The Trade Development In Asia - Book Report/Review Example

History Of The Trade Development In Asia As the title of the book suggests, Asia was once a place that was booming in trade. Most people during this time travelled as traders, scholars or monks. While travelling, these people learnt a lot from other people’s cultures, beliefs and practices. It is through the experiences of all these travellers that readers learn of the recurring themes such as the fear of pirates and the court ceremonies. The Asia that the author refers to in this book stretches from Japan to Arabia and was also connected to parts of Northern Africa and Southern Spain. Stewart Gordon, the author of the book, who regularly conducts workshops in universities, colleges and high schools. He is a senior research scholar at the Centre for South Asia Studies at the University of Michigan. According to Gordon, the Intan Shipwreck was a ship that sank in Java Sea, 6,000 miles away from the southeast and only 45 miles away from the coast. Though not much is known regarding the cause of its sinking, Gordon speculates that it might have sunk because of a sudden storm and due to aging (p.57). The author dismisses other causes of the wreck because the ship was not made of metal and there were no rocks in the vicinity. As documented in chapter 4, the ship not only carried tin ingots, but it also carried other items which were not necessarily luxurious. The ship travelled along the coasts of most big ports, from the Middle East ports all the way to the port in China. Readers can also assume that the ship was carrying different things such as silk, glass beads, bronze and cotton and other ancient materials. Tin ingot was perhaps meant to be taken to Java, where Gordon documents as a place that had no metal deposits. Though the unfortunate event occurred and the ship sunk, transporting all the mentioned goods, particularly tin shows it was crucial in the culture of people in South East Asia. It is important to know about this shipwreck because of its cultural diversity of the contents it holds. Upon recent discoveries in this century, the ship contains artefacts from dynasties and provides a revelation to other unseen artefacts. From these contents, we learn that the South Asia and Southeast Asia traders were trading with foreign markets. The contents on the ship wreck are educational for modern-day scholars and students. This shipwreck also provides crucial information on goods sold in the Asian and Indian port markets. Ibn Sina was a reputable physician and philosopher in the Medieval Islamic tradition, imprisoned for his philosophical ideas, though he escaped disguised as a Sufi (Gordon 39). As evidently shown in chapter 3, he was born in Bukhara. He also spent four months in a castle confinement, where he wrote two of his important works. Some of his books such as the medical books were as Gordon states, “commentaries and extensions of the ideas of classic Greek authors of the time such as Plato and Aristotle” (p. 42). His family did not have the same beliefs of other educated elite. On page 43, Gordon states that they supported the Ismaili beliefs. From Gordon’s book, we learn that these Ismaili beliefs were from the Ismaili people, a group from the Shia sect, who emphasized of the hidden nature of the truths in the Quran. The group also believed that the spiritual teachers such as imams had to know such hidden truths. It was wrong for people to hold such beliefs during this time in the Middle-East so Ibn Sina’s family discussed them quietly and privately (Gordon 43). His beliefs and philosophies were not welcomed by rulers of his time. This is why he spent much of his life as runaway to avoid imprisonment by certain rulers such as the King of Afghanistan, Mahmud of Ghazni. Even though his life was always in danger, he continued to write and spread his philosophical views in all the places that he went. Ibn Sina is a historically significant figure because his writings and life show the commitment that the Muslim Elites from Spain to Central Asia had, even after the fall of Rome. Ma Huan was a translator because of his proficiency in translating the Arabic writings to other traders who were not Arabs. From Gordon’s book, it is evident that he was recruited as a translator of foreign documents in a fleet that was sailing from Nanjing (p. 117). Readers also learn that he is the man who recorded that Malacca was once controlled by Thailand and that the King from Malacca had converted to Islam. As one of the many readers of this book, I learnt that Ma Huan recorded Malacca’s king had converted to Islam (p. 127). He also record why most traders were not interested in travelling to lesser states, because they believed they had no products and were small in area (Gordon 128). From his recordings readers learn that there was Tin mining on the Malay Peninsula. Tin crucial for the traders in the fifteenth century as much as it was important in the 10th century when there was a recording of the Intan shipwreck (Gordon 128). The author says Ma Huan’s writings show he was respectful, because they portray his respectful actions towards those that he met in foreign lands. He wrote that he saw people from other cultures as people who only had a different culture. He is different in character and in his writings from Ibn Battuta, because he did not talk about the conflicts came across while travelling (Gordon 135). Instead he appreciated for what he saw. He was happy to learn the language spoken by people outside his home country, China. He is a significant figure in history because his memoir gives enough details of an eye-witness account of imperial fleets which existed years ago and the voyages they made across seas. Ibn Battuta was from a traveller from Morocco and a Muslim scholar (Gordon 97). He is an inspirational traveller to most of the young Muslims today. The information from the book shows that he was born from a noble family, based on the way the Sultan Muhammad Tughluq addressed him when he arrived in his kingdom, because he embraced him with courtesy (P. 97). Ibn Battuta was more of a traveller and not a philosopher or translator like Ibn Sina and Ma Huan. For example, on page 100, Gordon informs his readers that Ibn Battuta already knew that he loved travelling and learning more about other religions. While travelling, he met the local elites and gathered their stories. He also focused on religious doctrines such as the teachings in Islam. His love for these teachings shows that it is the reason attributed to his visits to holy places for the Muslim faithful. He was also a notable, because of the stories he told those he met while travelling. He is a significant figure in history because he serves as an inspirational example to Muslim travellers. Tome Pires was a small figure and not from a noble family as stated by Gordon on page 158. He was not a traveller or a trader like the other notables and nobles that Gordon mentions in different chapters of his book. He was a Portuguese from Lisbon, born in year 1468 CE (Gordon 158). Contrary to the way most noble travellers were received by rulers, Pires was not well received by sultans or emperors when he visited their kingdoms perhaps due to the many setbacks that he incurred. For example, as a government scribe from Portugal, he was chosen to go on diplomatic missions to China, which turned out not to be as successful as he had hoped. He was Prince Alfonso’s apothecary until the prince died in year 1491 when Pires decided to leave Portugal for India in year 1511 CE. Most of Pire’s books also reveal that he had the knowledge of markets, plants and politics. He perhaps acquired this knowledge from the local traders while he was travelling. Though his books, readers learn that he divided the Asian world in sections, where the Moors were the trade enemies, the Christians as friends and heathens labelled as allies and some as converts. From Pires’s view, the Chinese were natural allies though they later turned against the Portuguese when the old emperor died and a new emperor ruled. As mentioned before, his mission to China was not successful because he found his way to the jail for failing to do as the new emperor commanded and later beheaded together with his companions. After the beheading of Pires and his friends, there was a ban for foreign traders in China and the Portuguese plan to control the Asian world failed as noted in the concluding sections of chapter nine of Gordon’s book. Perhaps Gordon chose to place him last amongst other travellers because his story is not as inspiring as the stories of other traders. Gordon’s approach to the Asian world is relevant in showing that Asia dominated the world history for a longer period than the recordings made for the western world. Most of the records of Asian history are not as accurately presented in the films, literature books and other sources, like the history of other civilizations. It is only the monumental architecture, court records, surviving caches of historical documents among others which provide modern-day historians with historical records. However, this book provides the world with a lot of information that gives details of what took place in historical Asia. In the process of informing his readers about the historical world of Asia Gordon shares the codes of honour that most used during this time, their inventions and shipping fleets. After reading the book, Gordon’s strong points came up because of the way he organized all the events in the book. In its essence the book allows readers to learn more about history in individual and structural terms. The information in the book also provides a new balance to the world’s assumptions of global history, which portrays little about the Asian world. I did not come across any weaknesses or parts that I thought the author should have included in the book. In each chapter the author provides all the details that reveal rich discoveries. Though the setting of most stories is in the 9th and 10th century, the book still provides all the information which would be useful for people who intend to travel to the east. Work Cited Gordon, Stewart. When Asia was the world. Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press, 2009. . Read More