sundaynoonresponse. Essays - Islam, Geography Of Asia, Continents

One of the prominent practices of the religion of being Islamic is taking a hajj to Mecca. It is a mandatory religious duty for all Muslims to carry out at least once in his or her lifetime. The hajj is a pilgrimmage to Mecca. The pilgrimage shared similarities to the trade routes located in the Indian Ocean at that time. The trade routes were twisted and differing routes depending on how valuable the items that were being traded were. The hajj not only was a spiritual journey, but it had economic advantages as well. Most of the Muslims during that time period were merchants and it was through the hajj's that some of the Muslim merchants colaborated and traded goods and items. As they traveled more and more through the lands, they encountered cities that they never had visited before. This further expanded the items in which they could trade and further helped the economy during that time. It was especially advantagous to be a maritime Islamic back in those times, not only because of the sophisticated trade routes, but mostly because of just how many merchants were Islamic. "The Indian Ocean is the world's third largest ocean, ecompassing a surface approximately 26 million square miles. (3). In those times the South Asian part of the continent was the center of all maritime trade and was an important port for the Mediterranean to the west and South and East asia to the east. There were also emerging sea routes in the Pesian Gulf and the Red Sea. Because of the monsoons and the uneven distributions of resources, the early people in that area wanted to decode the monsoons. By doing this, the people could know which climate was sufficient for certain activity. For example, the monsoons could provide some areas with winds and floods, while making other areas dryer. The areas that had dry climates planted grains, while the wetter climates were appropriate for rice cultivation. There were still certain resources that were non existent in some areas, but plentiful in other areas and the only way to access those new resources was through trade. Since many merchants were Muslim, it allowed the Muslims to have access to more resources than other people simply because they shared the same religion. It was also advantagous to be involved in the maritime aspect of trade because that was the best way to get the resources. As shipping industries became better so did the trade routes. People became better at mapping out the Oceans and because of this, trade routes became longer and more extensive. This gave the people even more exposure and allowed them to expand and build even more resources. With the Muslim merchants rising, they eventually got wealthy enough to build great and bustling cities.