The Monsoon winds coined as the "most clear sign of innovation"

According to our expert team of time travelers, the use of monsoon winds to enhance transportation in the Indian Ocean Basin was the cleverest sign of innovation.

After taking several polls and asking several merchants their opinion, the time travelers decided that the use of monsoon winds in order to take advantage of seasonal winds facilitated trade between distant lands. Although the use of monsoon winds are not what we will usually call a “technological” innovations, it surpassed inventions like the compass, the astrolabe, and new ship designs in the polls.

Professor Luis Nasser, a member of SEANN’s time-traveling team, conducted a poll to finally decide which was the greatest creation in the Monsoon Marketplace. He covered the Indian Ocean Basin from end to end, and asked 100 merchants from different places like East Africa, India, and the Middle East, which creation was more beneficial, the compass, the astrolabe, the new ship designs, or the use of monsoon winds? He took approximately 3 weeks to travel across this huge network, and in fact, he benefited from the winter monsoon wind in order to travel faster. After such exhausting endeavor, the results revealed that which was already clear from the beginning: the usage of monsoons was the best "tool" to be used in this era.

The results caused quite some controversy because some, especially the supporters of the redesigned ships as the epitome of advancement, claimed that using natural winds that had existed for centuries does not qualify as new technology. These merchants went on to say that new ship designs such as the Lateen Sail, Arab dhow, and the Chinese junk, facilitated long-distance travel, a paramount factor for survival in the Indian Ocean Trade Network. In a close third place, the compass, known for being every traveler’s GPS during this era, was favored by some merchants. And finally, with 15 votes in favor, the astrolabe came in last place. Merchants justified their choice by stating that the astrolabes helped solving problems relating to time and the position of the Sun and stars in the sky, something every merchant needed to know.

Thanks to the poll, we can now both officially name the Sea Road as the Monsoon Marketplace, and confidently say that the monsoon winds were an indispensable part of this network, for without them, this netowork wouldn't have impacted the global stage as it did.