ABSTRACT
Paralleling traffic along the Central Asian land routes of the Silk Roads for more than 2000 years has been traffic over the Indian Ocean. Chinese ships became involved directly, perhaps as early as late Tang times. Due to the many things they lacked, from grain to textiles to metals, commerce was vitally important to the early Mongols, even when they were still confined to the steppe. Once positioned along the coast, the Mongols not only built up their political position but their commercial as well. Mongol overseas adventures principally used the new fleets developed to fight the Song coupled with surrendered ships, principally Song but also ships from Korean allies. The military attacks were ultimately unsuccessful, although Hakata and Van Don were severely damaged, as was the trade based on them.
