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Indian Ocean Trade Timeline

(c. 3000 BCE–Present)

Indian Ocean Trade connected East Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and China through maritime routes that exchanged goods, ideas, religions, and technologies. Less

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Ancient and Austronesian Networks

Harappan–Mesopotamian maritime trade

2600 BCE - 1900 BCE

An extensive maritime trade network connected the Harappan and Mesopotamian civilizations during the middle Harappan phase. Merchants from Dilmun, in the Persian Gulf, acted as important intermediaries in this commerce.

Indo-Pacific beads reach Japan

300 BCE

Indo-Pacific beads discovered in Japan provide evidence of Indian Ocean-linked exchange reaching the Japanese archipelago during the Yayoi period.

Image source: Yayoi period

Indo-Pacific beads reach Japan

Roman–Indian trade expansion

27 BCE - 180

Trade between the Roman Empire and India expanded after Augustus established a period of peace and prosperity. It reached its height during the first two centuries of the Common Era before being curtailed by the Antonine plague.

Srivijaya maritime empire

600 - 1300

Between the seventh and thirteenth centuries, Srivijaya flourished as a thalassocratic empire in the Indonesian archipelago. It controlled maritime networks linking Maritime Southeast Asia with India and China.

Image source: Srivijaya

Srivijaya maritime empire

Borobudur ship and the Cinnamon Route

800

An eighth-century depiction at Borobudur shows a wooden double-outrigger sailing vessel. It is associated with ancient trading links between Indonesia, Madagascar, and East Africa, sometimes called the Cinnamon Route.

Berenice identified with Ras Banas ruins

1818

Following Belzoni’s 1818 discovery, the site of Berenice was equated with ruins near Ras Banas in southern Egypt, helping identify an important Red Sea port associated with ancient Indian Ocean commerce.

Roman pottery found at Arikamedu

1937

Roman pottery was found at Arikamedu in 1937. Later excavations demonstrated that the site was a trading station importing Roman-manufactured goods during the first half of the first century AD.

Islamic and Asian Trade

Islam spreads along western Indian Ocean shores

700

Muslim missionaries and merchants began spreading Islam along the western shores of the Indian Ocean from the eighth century, and possibly earlier, connecting religious expansion with commercial mobility.

Image source: Spread of Islam

Islam spreads along western Indian Ocean shores

Shanga stone mosque

700 - 1500

A stone mosque at Shanga, Kenya, dates from the eighth through fifteenth centuries. Its existence reflects the long-standing Islamic commercial and cultural connections of the Swahili coast.

Zheng He’s Indian Ocean voyages

1405 - 1433

Chinese fleets under Zheng He crisscrossed the Indian Ocean during the early fifteenth century, projecting Ming power and participating in diplomatic and commercial exchange across the region.

Image source: Ming treasure voyages

Zheng He’s Indian Ocean voyages

Japanese Red Seal ships

1600 - 1699

During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Japanese ships entered Indian Ocean commerce through the Red Seal ship system, linking Japanese merchants with wider Asian maritime markets.

Indian Ocean Slave Trade

African slave trade across the Indian Ocean

800 - 1700

Muslim merchants traded an estimated 1,000 African slaves annually between 800 and 1700. The volume later increased to approximately 4,000 annually in the eighteenth century and 3,700 annually between 1800 and 1870.

Image source: Indian Ocean slave trade

African slave trade across the Indian Ocean

Indian Ocean slave deportations

1500 - 1850

European traders deported an estimated 567,900 to 733,200 enslaved people within the Indian Ocean between 1500 and 1850. Nearly the same number were deported from the Indian Ocean to the Americas during the period.

Eastern Indian Ocean slave trade

1500 - 1599

Slave trading also occurred in the eastern Indian Ocean before the Dutch settled there around 1600, although the volume of this earlier trade remains unknown.

Portuguese Estado da Índia and slave trade

1500

European slave trading in the Indian Ocean began when Portugal established Estado da Índia in the early sixteenth century, integrating coercive labor trafficking into its maritime empire.

Image source: Portuguese India

Portuguese Estado da Índia and slave trade

Iberian Union slave shipments

1580 - 1640

During the Iberian Union, similar annual numbers of enslaved people were estimated to have been brought from Asia to the Philippines. From the sixteenth century until the 1830s, approximately 200 enslaved people were exported annually from Mozambique.

Image source: Iberian Union

Iberian Union slave shipments

Asian slave trading to Dutch Indonesia

1600 - 1799

Indian and Chinese slave traders supplied Dutch Indonesia with an estimated 25,000 enslaved people during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

Slaves build Colombo fortress

1600 - 1799

Approximately 4,000 African slaves were used to construct the Colombo fortress in Dutch Ceylon, demonstrating how coerced labor supported colonial infrastructure.

Image source: Colombo

Slaves build Colombo fortress

Dutch colonial slave trade expands

1600 - 1799

The Dutch East India Company’s rise brought a sharp increase in slave trafficking. As many as 500,000 enslaved people may have been present in Dutch colonies in the Indian Ocean during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

Bali’s regional slave networks

1620 - 1830

Bali and neighboring islands supplied regional networks with approximately 100,000 to 150,000 enslaved people between 1620 and 1830.

EIC slave voyage from Coromandel

1622

In 1622, an East India Company ship carried enslaved people from the Coromandel Coast to the Dutch East Indies, illustrating the companies’ involvement in Indian Ocean trafficking.

Image source: East India Company

EIC slave voyage from Coromandel

French Mascarene colonies expand

1721 - 1735

France established colonies on Réunion and Mauritius in 1721. By 1735, approximately 7,200 enslaved people populated the Mascarene Islands.

Image source: Mascarene Islands

French Mascarene colonies expand

Mascarene slave population peaks

1807

The enslaved population of the Mascarene Islands reached approximately 133,000 by 1807, as plantation economies expanded in the French-controlled islands.

Image source: Culture of Mauritius

Mascarene slave population peaks

British capture of the Mascarene Islands

1810

Britain captured the Mascarene Islands in 1810. Although Britain had prohibited the slave trade in 1807, clandestine trafficking continued to supply enslaved people to French planters.

End of Mascarene slavery

1848

Between 1670 and 1848, an estimated 336,000 to 388,000 enslaved people were deported to the Mascarene Islands. The process ended with abolition in the French colonies in 1848.

Image source: Timeline of abolition of slavery and serfdom

End of Mascarene slavery

European Expansion

Portuguese route around Africa

1497 - 1498

Under Vasco da Gama, Portugal discovered a naval route to the Indian Ocean around the southern tip of Africa in 1497–1498. The voyage opened a direct European sea link with India.

Image source: Vasco da Gama, Goa

Portuguese route around Africa

Portuguese bases in the Persian Gulf

1500 - 1599

During the sixteenth century, Portugal established bases in the Persian Gulf, extending its network of fortified ports and attempting to control key routes between the Indian Ocean and the Middle East.

Mamluk fleet and the Battle of Chaul

1507

The Mamluks sent a fleet under Amir Husain Al-Kurdi in 1507. The fleet subsequently fought the Portuguese in the Battle of Chaul as regional powers challenged Portugal’s growing naval presence.

Ottoman challenge to Portugal

1581

The Ottomans attempted to challenge Portuguese hegemony in the Persian Gulf by sending an armada against the Portuguese under Ali Bey in 1581.

English East India Company established

1600

The English East India Company was established at the beginning of the seventeenth century. Its maritime operations connected the Indian Ocean to European commercial networks.

Dutch East India Company established

1602

The establishment of the Dutch East India Company in the early seventeenth century rapidly increased the volume of commerce and slave trafficking within the Indian Ocean region.

Image source: Dutch East India Company

Dutch East India Company established

Portuguese expulsion from Bahrain

1602

In 1602, Iranian forces commanded by Imam-Quli Khan Undiladze expelled the Portuguese from Bahrain, weakening Portugal’s position in the Persian Gulf.

Capture of Hormuz

1622

With the assistance of four English ships, Shah Abbas retook Hormuz from Portugal in 1622. The victory ended Portuguese control of the strategically important island.

Middle Eastern disruption of trade routes

2026

Disruption in the Middle East to routes between Europe and India has been associated with the establishment of colonialism and the World Wars period in Europe. In early 2026, the Middle East war also disrupted shipping in the Red Sea and Strait of Hormuz, while conflicts remained relatively rare elsewhere in the Indian Ocean.

Image source: Red Sea crisis

Middle Eastern disruption of trade routes

Key Facts

  1. Monsoon winds made seasonal sailing possible and shaped the timing and direction of voyages across the Indian Ocean.
  2. Major trade goods included spices, textiles, porcelain, ivory, gold, precious stones, timber, and enslaved people.
  3. Key ports included Kilwa, Mogadishu, Aden, Calicut, Cambay, Malacca, and Quanzhou.
  4. Indian Ocean commerce encouraged cultural exchange, including the spread of Islam, Buddhism, languages, artistic traditions, and technologies.
  5. From the late fifteenth century, Portuguese and later European powers sought to control important sea routes and ports, reshaping established trading networks.

Source

This Indian Ocean Trade timeline was generated with the help of AI, using information found on the internet.

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