_ 140 _ There is no room in such a rapid sketch of the Indian Ocean at the time of the Discoveries for any detailed treatment of its economy and in any case, this has been the subject of excellent publications, particularly in Portugal. It is worth emphasizing that the famous 'spice trade' was merely one element in a vast network. Its importance for the West should not blind one to the great volume of other trade, for example, that in the food and textiles which were exchanged for the eastern Ocean's spices such as cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg, and in animals used in warfare such as Ceylon's elephants and horses from Arabia and Ormuz, as well as in those precious stones and metals which experienced traders directed towards India, where they accumulated without being re-exported. There is room to make a few more points only about major aspects of this trading society: - Nearly all the traders of the Indian Ocean were Muslims, by origin they went back to times when Arabs and Persians had frequented the southern seas and then in the course of the 15th century the rise of Islamic political power in their own countries brought them to the fore and gave them support.
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