Indian Ocean Dhow Merchant Vessels

Timeline

1. c. 900–920Coasts of Oman and Yemen · YemenDhows, with hulls of planks stitched together with coconut fiber and free of iron nails, were well suited to tropical waters; combined with the lateen sail's ability to sail close to the wind, they became the standard merchant vessel type of Arabian Sea shipwrights.
2. c. 930–970Indian Ocean monsoon routes · West Coast of IndiaMerchants used the patterns of the southwest and northeast monsoons to sail dhows between Basra, Aden, the Malabar Coast, and East African ports, forming an annual ocean-going trade cycle carrying spices, pearls, and cotton cloth.
3. c. 980–1000East African Swahili Coast · Swahili CoastBy the end of the tenth century, dhow merchant ships had brought East African ports such as Kilwa and Mombasa into the Indian Ocean trade sphere, importing ceramics and textiles and exporting ivory and gold, spurring the rise of Swahili cities.