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HOMEWORK HELP ASAP!!!! How did the Indian Ocean Trade Network impact economies of Africa, India, and China?

I have a homework assignment due tomorrow (and just so you know, lots of people have procrastinated on this) and I'm on the last question. I've looked everywhere online and everywhere in my textbook and I can't find it anywhere! Can someone please answer this in a way that I'll be able to understand (like 10 year old writing) so I can write it in my own words? Please and thank you!

Public Comments

1. The Indian Ocean Trade spread diseases and created more feuds, but mostly, it linked cultures, spread new religions, enhanced trading skills, and increased economic growth in several different regions of the world. Before the Indian Ocean Trade, most regions knew nothing of their neighboring civilizations. This trade network united the world. Because of it, just about all civilizations are conversant with each other. The Indian Ocean Trade began with small trading settlements around 800 A.D., and ended in the 1500's when Portugal invaded and tried to run the trade for its own profit. As trade intensified between Africa and Asia, powerful city-states flourished along the eastern coast of Africa. During the 300 years between 1250 and 1550 CE an increasingly sophisticated international trading system linking China to Europe via the Muslim world evolved, with a tremendous impact on the economy of Eurasia. The Mongol conquests reshaped the political and economic map, opening overland routes to China along which key technologies and trade goods flowed west. The Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem came to an end, and in its place Venetian, Genoese, and Catalan merchants established their fondacchi in the Levant and Black Sea trading areas.
2. The Indian Ocean is one of the oldest trade routes between Africa and Asia. During the early days of Indian Ocean trade, the buying and selling of goods took place only between the Swahili people living in East Africa and Arabs from Asia. Indian Ocean trade was made easy by the monsoon winds that circulated between Asia and the Eastern coast. These winds blew north to the south and from the south back to the north in a circular fashion. These winds change direction with the change of seasons. In the ninth century an astrolabe was introduced to the Islam world by the Greeks. An astrolabe was helpful to the Arabs because it helped them find direction to the east coast and the most suitable time for making the return trip to Asia. The Chinese also traded with the Swahili people. The Arabs did not like this because they wanted to control this trade. The Chinese mainland was too far and it took too long for Chinese ships to reach the eastern coast of Africa. It took the Arabs from Persia close to two months traveling to the eastern coast. Arabs who settled on the eastern coast and married members of the ruling class and traders also helped trade with the Arabs. Intermarrying with the local people helped them to direct trade to Arabs instead of Chinese people. The Chinese were then forced to trade only with Arab people in Asia. The Arab people exchanged cowrie shells, cloth, and beads for gold, rhino horns and ivory. It was because of these trade dealings and intermarriages that an Arab influence including Islam came to be introduced in the area. This trade route was helpful in the creation of the Swahili language and culture that involved much blending between the local and Arab ways of life. This trade network expanded beyond the east coast into the kingdoms in the interior. Kingdoms like Zimbabwe and Mapunbugwe grew rich and powerful because of this trade route. In Mapungubwe carvings made from ivory were discovered. These ivory carvings were made for the eastern coast. These ivory carvings included things like ivory bracelets used by Indian women in marriages and burials. Ivory was also important in China. It was used to make ceremonial chairs for the nobility. African ivory was good because it was soft and easy to carve into many different shapes. A small number of slaves were also exported to work in the salt mines of Basra, in modern day Iraq. Indian Ocean trade networks also helped in the birth of new kingdoms on the island of Madagascar. People from Indonesia and eastern Africa settled on this island and intermarried. Together they created the Merina Kingdom that continued trade with the eastern coast of Africa and Indonesian people. This trade made the Merina part of the Indian Ocean trade network, which covered the whole of the Indian Ocean continents and islands.
3. Here you go!!! Enjoy