Indian Ocean trade

Indian Ocean trade is vital for the global economy and has been described as the "cradle" for global trade. Traditionally connecting the western world to the eastern world since antiquity, long-distance maritime trade by South East Asian and South Asian, and Middle Eastern and later African ships has made it a dynamic zone of interaction between peoples, cultures, and civilizations stretching from Southeast Asia to East and Southeast Africa, and the East Mediterranean in the West, in prehistoric and early historic periods. Cities and states on the Indian Ocean rim focused on both the sea and the land. The ocean was historically called the "Mahodadhi", divided into the two seas Purvapayodhi (sunrise) and Apara (sunset). The Indian Ocean is critical for global trade and 50% of container traffic and 80% of global seaborne oil traverses the region. The earliest long distance trade was by the sea-faring Austronesian peoples who settled in a vast swathe of coastal lands in the Indian Ocean from islands surrounding southern China such as Taiwan and Japan, to coastal areas of Maritime South East Asia, South Eastern India and Sri Lanka. These routes were later continued by South Asian, East Asian and European merchants such as the colonial trade routes of the Dutch East India Company. This trade continues into the modern era, with the region becoming a significant geopolitical asset competed for by China, India and other powers. The Indian Ocean has been described as the "cradle of globalisation". Up to half of the world's trade and two third of oil pass through the Ocean. The Middle East has also been a major actor in the history of western Indian Ocean trade, connecting Africa with the Middle East and South Asia. Gulf ports have played a continuous role in connecting Europe to South Asia since the Hellenistic and Roman period. The disruption in the Middle East to the trade routes between Europe and India likely played a major role in the establishment of colonialism and the World Wars period in Europe, which can also be seen in the modern-era, such as disruption to shipping in the Red Sea and Strait of Hormuz in early 2026 due to the Middle East war, though conflicts are relatively rare in Indian Ocean outside West Asia and the Greater Middle East.

Eastern Indian Ocean

Austronesian

The maritime trade network in the eastern Indian Ocean was run by the Austronesian peoples of Maritime Southeast Asia, with evidence supporting trade networks being established by at least 3000 BCE. They established trade routes between East Asia (China, Japan and the Philippines) and coastal South Asia (South Eastern India and Sri Lanka), ushering an exchange of material culture (like catamarans, outrigger boats, lashed-lug and sewn-plank boats, and paan) and cultigens (like coconuts, sandalwood, bananas, sugarcane, cloves, and nutmeg); as well as connecting the material cultures of India and China. Activity in Japan is shown in the Yayoi period (3rd century BCE) as evidenced by the discovery of Indo-Pacific beads.This trade network possibly expanded to reach as far as Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, and also resulting in the Austronesian colonization of Madagascar by the first half of the first millennium AD. Spices (mainly cinnamon and cassia) were traded with East Africa using catamaran and outrigger boats and sailing with the help of the Westerlies in the Indian Ocean that likely passed through the Maldives and the Chagos Archipelago. It continued up to historic times, later becoming the Maritime Silk Road and the European colonial trade routes East of the Suez. In modern days, the trade routes are still used between the Middle East and East Asia, through the major sea ports in Sri Lanka, Singapore and Indonesia to ship high value goods such as petroleum and Chinese wares.

Chinese travel

Chinese fleets under Zheng He crisscrossed the Indian Ocean during the early part of the 15th century. The missions were diplomatic rather than commercial, but many exchanges of gift and produces were made.

Japanese trade During the 16th and 17th century, Japanese ships also made forays into Indian Ocean trade through the Red Seal ship system.

Greater India Hindu-Buddhist period

The Satavahanas developed shipping ventures in Southeast Asia. The 8th century depiction of a wooden double outrigger and sailed Borobudur ship in ancient Java suggests that there were ancient trading links across the Indian Ocean between Indonesia and Madagascar and East Africa sometimes referred to as the 'Cinnamon Route.' The single or double outrigger is a typical feature of vessels of the seafaring Austronesians and the most likely vessel used for their voyages and exploration across Southeast Asia, Oceania, and Indian Ocean. During this period, between 7th to 13th century in Indonesian archipelago flourished the Srivijaya thalassocracy empire that rule the maritime trade network in maritime Southeast Asia and connecting India and China.

Western Indian Ocean

Ancient Middle Eastern

There was an extensive maritime trade network operating between the Harappan and Mesopotamian civilizations as early as the middle Harappan Phase (2600-1900 BCE), with much commerce being handled by "middlemen merchants from Dilmun" (modern Bahrain and Failaka located in the Persian Gulf). Such long-distance sea trade became feasible with the development of plank-built watercraft, equipped with a single central mast supporting a sail of woven rushes or cloth.

Several coastal settlements like Sotkagen-dor (astride Dasht River, north of Jiwani), Sokhta Koh (astride Shadi River, north of Pasni), and Balakot (near Sonmiani) in Pakistan along with Lothal in western India, testify to their role as Harappan trading outposts. Shallow harbours located at the estuaries of rivers opening into the sea allowed brisk maritime trade with Mesopotamian cities. Recent archaeological study has highlighted the growing corpus of evidence supporting direct maritime contacts between bronze age Egypt and India via the Red Sea. Scholars such as Gregory Possehl have also proposed maritime activities between the Indus Valley Civilization and East Africa.

Hellenistic and Roman period

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