How to Cite:
Thandiwe Mokoena, "Climate Histories of the Indian Ocean: Precolonial Knowledge Systems and Monsoon Patterns (1200–1700)" International Journal of Humanities Science Innovations and Management Studies, Vol. 2, No. 2, pp. 13-19, 2025.

Abstract:
This paper explores the intersection of climate history and indigenous knowledge systems in the Indian Ocean world between 1200 and 1700 CE, with a particular focus on monsoon patterns and their impact on maritime trade, agriculture, and sociopolitical life. Drawing on historical chronicles, travelers’ accounts, navigation manuals, and oral traditions from coastal societies in South Asia, East Africa, and the Arabian Peninsula, the study examines how precolonial communities perceived, recorded, and responded to climatic phenomena. By analyzing monsoon variability and its implications for mobility and ecological resilience, the paper highlights the sophistication of non-Western environmental epistemologies. It argues that these knowledge systems were not merely adaptive but predictive, embedded in ritual, cosmology, and seasonal rhythms. Furthermore, this paper contextualizes climate variability such as prolonged droughts or intensified rains within broader patterns of economic, religious, and imperial change across the Indian Ocean littoral. Ultimately, this study contributes to the growing field of historical climatology by de-centering Eurocentric narratives and positioning precolonial Indian Ocean societies as active environmental observers and agents of ecological memory.

Keywords: Indian Ocean World, Monsoon Variability, Precolonial Knowledge Systems, Historical Climatology, Maritime Trade, Environmental Epistemology, Climate and Society, Early Modern History (1200–1700), Oral Traditions, Indigenous Environmental Knowledge.

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