page_title: Ancient maritime history
section_title: Indian subcontinent
hierarchical_section_title: Ancient maritime history / Ancient seafaring / Ancient routes and locations / Indian subcontinent
caption_attribution_description: Summary Map showing the extent of the Chola empire during Rajendra Chola I. Source of map: http://www2.demis.nl/mapserver/mapper.asp (mention&#160;: "Disclaimer: With this statement DEMIS BV grants you permission to freely copy the PNG images returned by our server and use them for your own purposes, including web pages. We would appreciate a reference to our server but such a reference is not required, nor do we take responsibility for the accuracy or quality of the maps". at http://www2.demis.nl/mapserver/DataSrc.htm) Modified by myself using Adobe Photoshop
context_page_description: Maritime history dates back thousands of years. In ancient maritime history, evidence of maritime trade between civilizations dates back at least two millennia. The first prehistoric boats are presumed to have been dugout canoes which were developed independently by various stone age populations. In ancient history, various vessels were used for coastal fishing and travel. A mesolithic boatyard has been found from the Isle of Wight in Britain
  The first true ocean-going boats were invented by the Austronesian peoples, using novel technologies like multihulls, outriggers, crab claw sails, and tanja sails. This enabled the rapid spread of Austronesians into the islands of both the Indian and the Pacific Oceans, known as the Austronesian expansion. They laid the groundwork for the maritime trade routes into South Asia and the Arabian Sea by around 1000 to 600 BC, which would later become the Maritime Silk Road.
  Egyptians had trade routes through the Red Sea, importing spices from the "Land of Punt" and from Arabia.
context_section_description: In the Indian maritime history, the world's first tidal dock was built in phase II of Lothal during the Harappan civilisation near the present day Mangrol harbour on the Gujarat coast. Other ports were probably at Balakot and Dwarka. However, it is probable that many small-scale ports, and not massive ports, were used for the Harappan maritime trade. Ships from the harbour at these ancient port cities established trade with Mesopotamia, where the Indus Valley was known as Meluhha.
  Emperor Chandragupta Maurya's Prime Minister Kautilya's Arthashastra devotes a full chapter on the state department of waterways under navadhyaksha (Sanskrit for Superintendent of ships) . The term, nava dvipantaragamanam (Sanskrit for sailing to other lands by ships) appears in this book in addition to appearing in the Buddhist text, Baudhayana Dharmasastra as the interpretation of the term, Samudrasamyanam.
  The Tamil Chola Empire possessed the largest naval force of Indian subcontinent to have until modern times and represented the zenith of ancient Indian sea power.  Chola Emperor Rajendra Chola had established his rule extending up from India (coramandal coast or present day coast of southern part of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu) to South East Asia with his impressive Chola Navy. Rajendra Chola annexed during his overseas conquests Sri Lanka, Maldives, islands of Andaman, Nicobar, Lakshadweep, parts of the Malay Peninsula and Indonesian archipelago. Through conquest of the Srivijaya Empire, the Cholas secured the sea trade road to China.
caption: This map shows Rajendra Chola's territories and the sea trade route to China.
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