ABSTRACT
From the twelfth through the fifteenth century AD, the Chinese again increased their participation in the western terminus of the Indian Ocean trade, and the peoples of Mediterranean Europe also intensified their involvement. The Chinese involvement was far more significant in the short run, and seems to have helped to spark the rise of Italian trade. However, the Italian development was more important in the long run, since it laid the basis for Europe’s leading role in modern times. Technological and business advances in both China and the Mediterranean, backed up by a military superiority that also stemmed from innovations, enabled their emergence. This chapter will trace this period through three different stages:
1 when first the Chinese and then the Italians (with French help) reasserted their involvement in the western and eastern extensions of the Indian Ocean trade (in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, after starts in the eleventh century);
2 when the Chinese reached the height of their participation in Indian Ocean trade (in the late thirteenth to the early fifteenth centuries); and
3 when the Chinese pulled back out of Indian Ocean trade, while the Italian impact continued to grow (through the fifteenth century).
