The development of maritime trade between India and the West from c. 1000 to c. 120 B.C.

Abstract

Maritime trade between the Roman world and India has gathered a considerable amount of attention from scholars. It is seldom appreciated, however, that this commerce evolved directly from that of previous periods. As early as the first quarter of the first millennium B.C. there is indirect evidence for sea-borne trade in the Arabian Sea. Most early references from Mesopotamia, however, regard regional trade in the Persian Gulf. During the Persian period the trade network was extended to India. Contacts between India and the West were stimulated by the activities of Persian leadership. The Persian empire ranged from Egypt to India and Persian kings made concerted efforts to integrate, commercially, its various provinces. These endeavors were later paralleled by those of Alexander of Macedon. Because of their frequent conflicts, the subsequent Hellenistic kings were too preoccupied to expend their resources on such endeavors. Trade between India and the West, however, continued to expand. The Mediterranean market was the driving, but not only, force in the development of the commerce between India and the West. By the Roman era, it was propelling a very substantial trade to the East. By contrast, Indian markets wanted little from the West except gold. This "demand imbalance" led to a western species drain. Geographical and meteorological characteristics of the region were largely responsible for the nature of the trade system that developed in the Arabian Sea. Arabia was located between the market and the product. The peninsula also produced goods greatly demanded by the West. It had the advantage, therefore, of a preexisting commercial infrastructure. Arabians naturally assumed the role of middlemen in the trade between India and the West. The monsoon winds that blow alternately west and east were ideally suited for carrying ships between the two regions.