https://padlet.com/nbustos271_1/9d3icyv8o1d7vne1 en-us 2023-01-17 18:29:08 UTC 2025-10-16 15:45:54 UTC hello@padlet.com nbustos271_1 https://padlet.com/nbustos271_1/9d3icyv8o1d7vne1/wish/2448623665 My name is Hassan Variar. I am a middle class Arab trader who has been working for many years predominantly out of Calicut. My adventure began around January of the year 1350 when I am working with my group of traders to bring many different reasources. Recently, me and my traders have done multiple jobs for the extremely wealthy Rajput of Calicut. Our last job took us to the east to obtain a shipment of porcelain and silk. We now have to take what we have to Madagascar, with intent to trade everything for as much ivory as possible. As long as we do our job right, we should be fine and make a lot of money off of this job. It should be especially simple because, "Chinese luxury products such as silk and porcelain were desired in East Africa and the Middle East where they could not be produced, so merchants carried those goods from China, where they were produced" (Strayer and Nelson: Intro). However, we cannot depart until early June.]]> 2023-01-18 16:38:49 UTC https://padlet.com/nbustos271_1/9d3icyv8o1d7vne1/wish/2448623665 nbustos271_1 https://padlet.com/nbustos271_1/9d3icyv8o1d7vne1/wish/2450769111 We departed in early June as planned. The trip would take us no more than a few weeks. It was around this time one of the crewmates, Omar Abdallah, came to me with some fears about the job. He wondered if the Rajput was offering too much for doing this work, and if he planned to take all of our money after the job was done. I told him that "Neither the Mughal emperors nor the Rajput kings fully controlled the trade that took place in the port cities" (Strayer and Nelson: India). However, Omar told me that this is different, as we are working directly for someone, and therefore they can cheat us out of money. I then told him he needs to calm down, as it is time for afternoon prayer. He felt much more comfortable for the rest of the trip, and there was very little conflict from there.]]> 2023-01-20 08:01:11 UTC https://padlet.com/nbustos271_1/9d3icyv8o1d7vne1/wish/2450769111 nbustos271_1 https://padlet.com/nbustos271_1/9d3icyv8o1d7vne1/wish/2450793429 As we arrived in Madagascar, we hit our first issue. We could find nobody to take our reasources for a good price! By that, I mean nobody was specifically offering ivory, or we would have people offering almost no ivory for everything we have. We decided that wasting any more time waiting to find a good deal in Madagascar would most likely lead to us missing the return window for the monsoon winds, so we quickly depart of Kilwa. It's an absolute shame that nobody could offer a good deal on the reasources we required.]]> 2023-01-20 08:29:39 UTC https://padlet.com/nbustos271_1/9d3icyv8o1d7vne1/wish/2450793429 nbustos271_1 https://padlet.com/nbustos271_1/9d3icyv8o1d7vne1/wish/2450794449 After a little under a weeks worth of travel we arrive in Kilwa. We already knew how to speak Swahili, which is, "a mixture of the original African Bantu language and Arabic" (Strayer and Nelson: Swahili Coast). Kilwa was a beautiful sight to behold, with large mosques constructed using coral and stone, with multiple floor buildings showing how wealthy the Swahili people are. I even had the fortune to personally visit the Great Mosque. While they predominantly used copper coins to buy and sell goods, we were still able to strike of a trade of decent value that sold our porcelain and silk for a good quantity of ivory. We passed the time until it became early October, so with all the reasources we needed, we marveled at the structures one last time then departed to return home to Calicut.]]> 2023-01-20 08:30:43 UTC https://padlet.com/nbustos271_1/9d3icyv8o1d7vne1/wish/2450794449 nbustos271_1 https://padlet.com/nbustos271_1/9d3icyv8o1d7vne1/wish/2450806074 Following the path of the monsoon winds, we made it back fairly quickly just before November ended. The Rajput sent a group of soldiers to collect the reasources we had traded for. For a moment it seemed as though Omar was correct and the Rajput was not going to give us our fair share, but then the soldiers returned around 20% of the ivory, and bid us farewell. It seems we were right to place our trust in the Rajput afterall, and now we had lots of ivory!]]> 2023-01-20 08:44:56 UTC https://padlet.com/nbustos271_1/9d3icyv8o1d7vne1/wish/2450806074 nbustos271_1 https://padlet.com/nbustos271_1/9d3icyv8o1d7vne1/wish/2450811420 Sources Cited:
- Indian Ocean in World History. Medieval Era, 300 C.E. to 1450 C.E. Medieval Era Overview, Sultan Qaboos Cultural Center (SQCC), www.indianoceanhistory.org/LessonPlan/MedievalEra.aspx. Accessed 1 Dec. 2021.

- Duval, Benjamin. “The Monsoon Trade System: An Indian Ocean Network.” Byzantine Emporia, 26 Dec. 2014, byzantinemporia.com/monsoon-trade-system/. Accessed 1 Dec. 2021.

- Strayer, Robert W., and Eric Nelson. Ways of the World: A Brief Global History with Sources. Bedford/St. Martin's, A Macmillan Education Imprint, 2016.]]> 2023-01-20 08:51:49 UTC https://padlet.com/nbustos271_1/9d3icyv8o1d7vne1/wish/2450811420