The port of Al Baleed (southern Oman), the trade in franckincense and its coveted treasures

Author(s):  
Alexia Pavan

Medieval times as Zafar. Placed in a strategic position for its geographical location, climate, availability of water and abundance of fodder, its long history dates back to the Bronze Age. The settlement reached its peak in Mediaeval times when it was a (a hub?) of international trade along the Indian Ocean. Many commodities were exported from the region or passed through the port. Among them a number of regional products such as: myrrh, dragon’s blood, aloe and madder, the most important being, however, frankincense and Arabian horses. Frankincense trade in Mediaeval times is barely studied despite its importance and great incomes generated by this trade during the period. The paper will present a general overview of the site of Al Baleed and its importance in the trade of frankincense, mainly in relation with the Far-eastern market with an overview of the coveted treasures from the region of Dhofar.

2021 ◽  
pp. 222-234
Author(s):  
James F. Hancock

Abstract Albuquerque's victory in Malacca gave Portugal a major foothold in the Far Eastern pepper trade, but the Portuguese were never able to fully dominate it. The chapter summarizes the struggles of Portugal's building of its empire. It also discusses the cartaz system, where the Portuguese claimed suzerainty over the Indian Ocean and no one else was allowed to sail unless they purchased a safe conduct pass. The cartaz obliged Asian ships to call at a Portuguese-controlled port and pay customs duties before proceeding on their voyage. Ships without this document were considered fair game and their goods could be confiscated. It was, pure and simple, a protection racket. The cartaz system, plus customs duties and outright piracy, provided most of the funds defraying the costs of the Portuguese navy and its garrisons. The chapter also outlines the importance of Indian cotton in the Spice Trade and the routes of spices into Europe. Further, the chapter provides highlights of the Portuguese profits on spices. Portuguese imports of pepper held strong over most the sixteenth century. The total weight of the spice cargoes averaged 40,000 to 50,000 quintals (1 quintal = 130 pounds or 59 kilograms) annually in the first half of the century and 60,000 to 70,000 quintals later on. Records have been left of one cargo in 1518 that totalled almost 5 million pounds (2.27 million kilograms), of which 4.7 million pounds (2.13 million kilograms) was pepper, 12,000 pounds (5443 kilograms) cloves, 3000 pounds (1360 kilograms) cinnamon and 2000 pounds (907 kilograms) mace (Krondl, 2007). Most of the pepper and other spices were purchased in Malabar on the open market. Portuguese profits on the pepper trade could run as high as 500%. Lastly, the chapter briefly discusses how other European countries looked for alternative routes to the spices.


2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 236-245
Author(s):  
Suchandra Ghosh

Abstract Gujarat’s role in the international trade network has long been researched. During the first half of the second millennium CE, the Indian Ocean emerged as a vast trading zone; its western termini were Siraf/Basra/Baghdad in the Persian Gulf zone and Alexandria/Fustat (old Cairo) in the Red Sea area, while the eastern terminus extended up to the ports in China. However, this essay privileges a single place, Anahilapura, which acted as a hinterland to many of the ports of Gujarat.


2016 ◽  
Vol 144 (11) ◽  
pp. 4421-4439 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolyn A. Reynolds ◽  
James D. Doyle ◽  
Xiaodong Hong

Abstract The initial-state sensitivity and interactions between a tropical cyclone and atmospheric equatorial Kelvin waves associated with the Madden–Julian oscillation (MJO) during the DYNAMO field campaign are explored using adjoint-based tools from the Coupled Ocean–Atmosphere Mesoscale Prediction System (COAMPS). The development of Tropical Cyclone 5 (TC05) coincided with the passage of an equatorial Kelvin wave (KW) and westerly wind burst associated with an MJO that developed in the Indian Ocean in late November 2011. COAMPS 18-h adjoint sensitivities of low-level kinetic energy to changes in initial state winds, temperature, and water vapor are analyzed for both TC05 and the KW to document when the evolution of each system is sensitive to the other. Time series of sensitivity patterns confirm that TC05 and the KW low-level westerlies are sensitive to each other when the KW is to the southwest and south of TC05. While TC05 is not sensitive to the KW after this, the KW low-level westerlies remain sensitive to TC05 until it enters the far eastern Indian Ocean. Vertical profiles of both TC05 and KW sensitivity indicate lower-tropospheric maxima in temperature, wind, and moisture, with KW sensitivity typically 20% smaller than TC05 sensitivity. The magnitude of the sensitivity for both systems is greatest just prior to, and during, their closest proximity. A case study examination reveals that adjoint-based optimal perturbations grow and expand quickly through a dynamic response to decreased static stability. The evolution of moist-only and dry-only initial perturbations illustrates that the moist component is primarily responsible for the initial rapid growth, but that subsequent growth rates are similar.


1976 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-46
Author(s):  
Paloma Lopez de Ceballos

Singapore's destiny is closely tied to its strategic position linking up the Indian Ocean with the South China Sea. Since the independence of this rapidly growing country, its port has become fourth in the world. Its growth is the fruit of the government's efforts to make Singapore an intermediary metro polis between the international capital and the developing countries. The island is surrounded by 130 million Malaysians and Indonesians who are irritated by its economic role.


2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 67-95
Author(s):  
Agnese Fusaro

Abstract The site of al-Balīd (Southern Oman), identified as the ancient Ẓafār, was a major port city in the Islamic period. Its strategic position and its history, strongly interdependent with that of neighbouring regions, gave it an important socio-economic role. The abundant ceramics and the rich and diverse archaeological materials recovered at the site prove that al-Balīd has always maintained relationships with people living inland and, at the same time, that it was intensively involved in the Indian Ocean trade. The pottery also reflects the coexistence of different traditions, various social classes, and several communities at al-Balīd.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 124
Author(s):  
Usmawadi Usmawadi

Indonesia is one of the producers of tuna and tuna species (tuna, skipjack, and mackerel tuna), which are increasing every year. Its geographical location and area of its many Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs) bordering many neighboring countries, requires Indonesia to implement the CLS 1982 provisions on far-migratory fish. In this connection, Indonesia implements two forms. Firstly, in the form of legislation, which Indonesia has issued about 17 regulations, starting from the level of the Law to the Ministerial Regulation. Secondly, Indonesia has been active as a member of regional fisheries organizations whose territory borders on the Indonesian EEZ. Consequently, from the issuance of this Ministerial Regulation, Indonesia must carry out fisheries monitoring on board, to meet the higher quality data needs. So that Indonesia is faced with carrying out monitoring on fishing vessels operating in the convention area of the RFMOs, namely the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission, the Commission for Southern Blue Fin Tuna Conservation, and the Central and Western Pacific Fisheries Commission. In order to optimize this implementation, Indonesia needs to prepare officials, facilities, and infrastructure that can support the compliance and enforcement of legislation that has been issued. Indonesia should immediately formulate fisheries policies in the high seas outside the Indonesian EEZ, which involve and benefit Indonesian fishermen.


2015 ◽  
Vol 28 (10) ◽  
pp. 4127-4140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brandon O. Wolding ◽  
Eric D. Maloney

Abstract Diagnostics obtained as an extension of empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis are shown to address many disadvantages of using EOF-based indices to assess the state of the Madden–Julian oscillation (MJO). The real-time multivariate MJO (RMM) index and the filtered MJO OLR (FMO) index are used to demonstrate these diagnostics. General characteristics of the indices, such as the geographical regions that most heavily influence each index, are assessed using the diagnostics. The diagnostics also identify how a given field, at various geographical locations, influences the index value at a given time. Termination (as defined by the RMM index) of the October 2011 MJO event that occurred during the Cooperative Indian Ocean Experiment on Intraseasonal Variability in the Year 2011 (CINDY) Dynamics of the MJO (DYNAMO) field campaign is shown to have resulted from changes in zonal wind anomalies at 200 hPa over the eastern Pacific Ocean, despite the onset of enhanced convection in the Indian Ocean and the persistence of favorable lower- and upper-level zonal wind anomalies near this region. The diagnostics objectively identify, for each specific geographical location, the index phase where the largest MJO-related anomalies in a given field are likely to be observed. This allows for the geographical variability of anomalous conditions associated with the MJO to be easily assessed throughout its life cycle. In Part II of this study, unique physical insight into the moist static energy and moisture budgets of the MJO is obtained from the application of diagnostics introduced here.


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