A rond-point for vessels plying the Indian Ocean: Sri Lanka in Arab cartographic tradition (original) (raw)
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Indian Ocean navigation in Islamic sources 850-1560 CE
History Compass, 2018
Oceanic histories have become increasingly popular in the last few decades, as maritime-based approaches to historical inquiry, often referred to as a "new thalassology," gain prominence. Indian Ocean studies in particular have flourished as a result of this trend. However, the study of Indian Ocean navigation has not received the same level of academic attention. This paper briefly reviews the historical and historiographical development of Indian Ocean navigation and argues that although significant work-based largely on Arabic manuscripts sources-was conducted in the twentieth century, the field has become somewhat stagnant. It concludes with recommendations for future research that could further enhance our understanding of Indian Ocean navigation and enrich the broader field of Indian Ocean studies. 1 | INTRODUCTION There has been considerable historiographical focus on the oceanic expansion of Europeans, particularly into the Atlantic, and on the development of sustained trade routes between Europe, Africa, and the Atlantic in the late fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The "Age of Discovery" has captured the popular historical imagination for over a century and celebrated the exploits of Prince Henry the Navigator, Christopher Columbus, and Ferdinand Magellan. This narrative has asserted considerable influence on the study of maritime navigation and focused scholarly attention primarily on European navigational developments. Consequently, the importance of the Indian Ocean only emerges when Vasco da Gama enters its waters in 1498, and connects it to the global maritime trade routes first established and maintained by Europeans. With the rise in popularity of "world history" in the last three decades, however, there has been a corresponding "thalassological turn," as historians have worked to provide a more global examination of maritime activities that extends beyond the dominant Eurocentric narrative. Ocean-based histories have become particularly prominent, creating networks of scholars devoted to historical oceanic "worlds," such as the Atlantic World, or the Pacific World, to counter the perceived limitations of traditional, land-based regional studies (Vink, 2007). This has led to corrective
ANCIENT SEAPORTS ON THE WESTERN COAST OF INDIA -THE HUB OF MARITIME SILK ROUTE NETWORK
ACTA VIA SERICA, 2018
The extensive maritime trade network between the Harappan and Mesopotamian civilizations as early as the 3rd millennium BCE is a testimony to the long maritime trade history of India. From the dawn of the historical epoch, the maritime trade network of India expanded extensively. The findings of a large number of coins, pottery, amphorae and other materials from Italy and various other European countries, west Asia, China, Korea, Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, Sri Lanka, Southeast Asia and Far-East countries in India, particularly in the coastal regions, are a testimony to the dynamic maritime trade of India with other countries in the early period. Similarly, pottery, sculptures, inscriptions and other materials of Indian origin are also found in those countries. The depiction of different types of ships on the coins, paintings, sculptures, seals and sealing, exhibit the variety of vessels used for navigation and other purposes in the early period. The over 7500 km long coastline of India is well known for its seaports located at river mouths or outlets to the sea. The Periplus Maris Erythraei, Ptolemy, and Indian literary sources mentioned many seaports on the western coast of India. Interestingly, archaeological investigations in many of these port-towns have yielded material evidence exhibiting their dominant role in transoceanic trade and commerce with many countries in the early periods. This paper discusses in detail all the major ancient seaports on the western coast of India and their maritime trade activities. At the outset, the paper briefly deals with the Harappan's maritime network, their seaports and the type of ships of that period. Following this, the maritime trade network of India during the historical period with various countries in the east and west, the traces of Indian influence and materials abroad and foreign materials found in India, the products exported from India, the trade winds and navigational devices and the depiction of ships on the coins, paintings, and sculptures, of the period are discussed in detail. After briefly highlighting the coastline of India and its favourable nature for safe anchorage of ships and the strategic position of the seaports of western India, an extensive account of the major ancient seaports of western India like Barygaza,
Southeast Asian history has seen remarkable levels of mobility and durable connections with the rest of the Indian Ocean. The archaeological record points to prehistoric circulations of material culture within the region. Through the power of monsoon sailing, these small-scale circuits coalesced into larger networks by the 5th century BCE. Commercial relations with Chinese, Indian, and West Asian traders brought great prosperity to a number of Southeast Asian ports, which were described as places of immense wealth. Professional shipping, facilitated by local watercraft and crews, reveals the indigenous agency behind such longdistance maritime contacts. By the second half of the first millennium CE, ships from the Indo-Malayan world could be found as far west as coastal East Africa. Arabic and Persian merchants started to play a larger role in the Indian Ocean trade by the 8th century, importing spices and aromatic tree resins from sea-oriented polities such as Srivijaya and later Majapahit. From the 15th century, many coastal settlements in Southeast Asia embraced Islam, partly motivated by commercial interests. The arrival of Portuguese, Dutch, and British ships increased the scale of Indian Ocean commerce, including in the domains of capitalist production systems, conquest, slavery, indentured labor, and eventually free trade. During the colonial period, the Indian Ocean was incorporated into a truly global economy. While cultural and intellectual links between Southeast Asia and the wider Indian Ocean have persisted in the 21st century, commercial networks have declined in importance.
ANCIENT SEAPORTS ON THE EASTERN COAST OF INDIA: THE HUB OF THE MARITIME SILK ROUTE NETWORK
ACTA VIA SERICA, 2019
India has occupied the most important position of sea trade in the entire South Asian region since the beginning of maritime trade. The extensive maritime trade network between the Harappan and Mesopotamian civilizations as early as the 3 rd millennium BCE is testimony to the long maritime trade history of India. The Harappans constructed many seaports including the first high-tide dockyard in the world for berthing and servicing ships at the port town of Lothal, Gujarat. From the dawn of the historical epoch, the maritime trade network of India expanded extensively. The long 5422.6 kms coastline of the Indian mainland (excluding the coastlines of the Andaman and Nicobar islands and the Lakshwadweep Islands) is well known for its several seaports manly located at the river mouths or outlets to the sea. The main objective of this paper is to discuss in detail all the major ancient seaports on the eastern coast of India and their maritime trade activities. The narrative of these ports is based on archaeological explorations and excavations, foreigners' accounts, Indian literary sources, inscriptions, archival materials, and the field study and personal observation of the author.
Maritime Indian Ocean Routes: the port of Gwadar/Gwātar
2013
Fra le principali rotte dell'Oceano Indiano-sia marittime sia terrestri-Gwadar, divisa nella seconda metà del XIX secolo dalla Commissione Britannica per le Frontiere fra la baia orientale persiana di Gwātar e quella occidentale di Gwadar, rappresentò una delle principali vie di comunicazione tra il Medio Oriente ed il Subcontinente Indiano, giocando un ruolo strategico nel commercio di schiavi, avorio, datteri e spezie dall'Africa orientale e dalla Penisola araba verso l'Asia centrale e viceversa. Tanto Gwātar quando Gwadar, sulla regione costiera del Makrān, sono state definite scientificamente terra incognita. History long the shores of the Western Indian Ocean, trade relations between the people of the Asian, Arabian and East African coasts were innumerable and deeply intelinked. Such links and relationships of trade and power were to be sought in those elements that constituted the close equilibrium of the Indian Ocean, that is, in the monsoons, in the presence of commercial thalassocracies (the well known 'merchant-states'), in the predominance of mercantile laws, and in the trade routes of spices, ivory and slaves. Starting from the sixteenth century onwards, the European desires for conquest of commercial monopolies in the slave A