solved Chapter 15: Southern Empires, Southern Seas, 1200-1500 Discussion Question: Choose

Chapter 15: Southern Empires, Southern Seas, 1200-1500
Discussion Question:
Choose ONE from below.  Identify which question you are addressing at the BEGINNING of your post.
OPTION A:
How did environmental differences affect social, political, and economic institutions in the Delhi Sultanate, Mali and Mesoamerica?
OPTION B:
View the short video: John Green’s Int’l Commerce, Snorkeling Camels, and The Indian Ocean Trade: Crash Course World History #18, available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6XtBLDmPA0&list=PLBDA2E52FB1EF80C9&index=1 Based on the video and course materials, consider the following: What had the greater impact driving Indian Ocean trade — the desirability of the goods OR the technological advances OR ???   Include examples to support your argument.
Be sure to REPLY to the posts of two other students. 
Use Book: Richard W. Bulliet, et. al., The Earth and Its Peoples, vol. 1: to 1550, 7th  (Cengage Advantage Books, 2019), ISBN-13: 9781337401487. 

First reply: The desirability of the goods AND the technological advances both took great impact driving the Indian Ocean Trade. Although in the Crash Course video he talked a lot more about the desirability of the goods, he also mentioned a little bit about the technological advances like compasses to help the traders navigate, which I think is very crucial. Although they depended on monsoon winds to travel the Indian Ocean, they also relied, “On the stars to guide them, skilled pilots steered large vessels by the quicker route straight across the water,” (p. 379). John Green mentions how crucial the magnetic compasses that came from China to know where you are going and the astrolabe that was popularized by the Muslim sailors which help navigate by the stars are. Despite the significance of trading goods like books, coffee, weapons (from Middle East), gold, animal skin, timber, ivory (from Africa), silk, porcelain (from China), spices, grains (from Southeast Asia), and many more other goods from other lands, without the advanced technology and how you will arrive at your destination you cannot trade the goods successfully.
Second reply: The Indian Ocean trade was heavily reliant on the desirability of goods. Due to the prosperity of empires, cities, and kingdoms throughout Asia, Europe, and Africa, the “demand for luxuries-precious metals and jewels, rare spices, fine textiles, and other manufactures- rose” (pg. 378). While larger, and more advanced ships, such as dhows, expanded their capacity and were able to transport more goods, it might have been because the demand was high, and it was easier to transport a large amount of goods if there was a larger ship. In the video, John Green states that the “terms of trade were set by the merchants and by the demands of the market” (Crash Course). The Indian Ocean trade system may have developed more technological advancements in order to fulfill the demands of the cities and empires. Different regions had a different goods they could offer, and were native to that area, so the demand led the way and pushed for Indian Ocean trade.