But despite this diversity, for the most part, especially on the western half of the Indian Ocean basin, the trade was dominated by Muslim merchants. Why? Largely because they had the money to build ships, although as we will see, in the 15th century, the Chinese state could have changed that balance completely. By the way, I need to point out that when I say the trade was dominated by Muslim merchants, the emphasis should be on the merchants, not the Muslim or the dominated. As previously noted, we tend to think that states and governments and the funny-hatted people who rule them are the real movers and shakers in history, but that's really not the case. In the Indian Ocean, the terms of trade were set by the merchants and by the demands of the market, not by the whims of political rulers. And the self-regulating nature of that trade was remarkable and pretty much unprecedented.