Indian Ocean trade
Topic: Economy of Early India: Agriculture, Trade, Guilds, Coinage · NCERT: Class 7, Ch 7 "The Gupta Era: An Age of Tireless Creativity"
Meaning
Indian Ocean trade was the sea network that linked Indian ports with distant lands. Ships crossed the Arabian Sea to West Asia, Arabia, East and North Africa and the Roman world. They crossed the Bay of Bengal to Southeast Asia and China. India sent out goods such as pepper and other spices, textiles, ivory, pearls and gems. It took in gold and silver coins, wine, coral, glass and metals. Seafaring was risky, but the profits were high. The trade grew from the early centuries BCE and was busy in the Gupta age. It also carried Indian ideas and religions overseas.
Example
The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea was written by an unnamed Greek sailor, c. 1st century CE. It describes ships at Muziris on the Malabar coast loading pepper, pearls, ivory and silk cloth, and unloading large amounts of coin, coral and copper.
Don't confuse with
- Silk Route trade: this was an overland network through Central Asia, parts of which the Kushanas controlled. Indian Ocean trade went by sea.
Related concepts
- Trade routes
- Uttarapatha
- Dakshinapatha
- Hippalus
- Indo-Roman trade
- Periplus of the Erythraean Sea
- Pliny's Natural History
- Ptolemy's Geography
- Muziris
- Arikamedu