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Arabian Sea
Coordinates	18°N 66°E / 18°N 66°E / 18; 66
Basin countries	India, Iran, Maldives, Oman, Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen
Max. width	2,400 km (1,500 mi)
Surface area	3,862,000 km (1,491,000 sq mi)
Max. depth	4,652 m (15,262 ft)

The Arabian Sea is a region of the northern Indian Ocean bounded on the north by Pakistan and Iran, on the west by northeastern Somalia and the Arabian Peninsula, and on the east by India. An ancient name was the Erythraean Sea.

Alternative names

The Arabian Sea historically and geographically has been referred to by many different names by Arab travelers and European geographers, that include Sindhu Sagar, Erythraean Sea, Sindh Sea, and Akhzar Sea.

Trade routes

The Arabian Sea has been an important marine trade route since the era of the coastal sailing vessels from possibly as early as the 3rd millennium BCE, certainly the late 2nd millennium BCE through the later days known as the Age of Sail. By the time of Julius Caesar, several well-established combined land-sea trade routes depended upon water transport through the Sea around the rough inland terrain features to its north.

These routes usually began in the Far East or down river from Madhya Pradesh with transshipment via historic Bharuch (Bharakuccha), traversed past the inhospitable coast of today's Iran then split around Hadhramaut into two streams north into the Gulf of Aden and thence into the Levant, or south into Alexandria via Red Sea ports such as Axum. Each major route involved transhipping to pack animal caravan, travel through desert country and risk of bandits and extortionate tolls by local potentiates.

This southern coastal route past the rough country in the southern Arabian peninsula (Yemen and Oman today) was significant, and the Egyptian Pharaohs built several shallow canals to service the trade, one more or less along the route of today's Suez canal, and another from the Red Sea to the Nile River, both shallow works that were swallowed up by huge sand storms in antiquity. Later the kingdom of Axum arose in Ethiopia to rule a mercantile empire rooted in the trade with Europe via Alexandria.

Islands

There are several islands in the Arabian Sea, with the largest being Socotra (Yemen), Masirah (Oman), Astola Island (Pakistan) and Andrott (India).

Astola Island, also known as Jezira Haft Talar (Template:Lang-ur) or 'Island of the Seven Hills', is a small, uninhabited island in the northern tip of the Arabian Sea in Pakistan's territorial waters. It is a popular eco-tourism destination in the region. Overnight tourists camp on the island and bring their own provisions. Camping, fishing and scuba-diving expeditions are popular. It is also a site for observing turtle breeding. Endangered animals such as the green turtle (Chelonia mydas) and the Hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbracata) nest on the beach at the foot of the cliffs. The island is also a very important area for endemic reptiles such as the Astola Viper (Echis carinatus astolae).

Socotra (Template:Lang-ar Suquṭra), also spelled Soqotra, is the largest island, being part of a small archipelago of four islands. It lies some 240 kilometres (150 mi) east of the Horn of Africa and 380 kilometres (240 mi) south of the Arabian Peninsula. The island is very isolated and through the process of speciation, a third of its plant life is found nowhere else on the planet. It has been described as the most alien-looking place on Earth.

Masirah (Template:Lang-ar) is an island off the East coast of Oman. The main industries here are fishing and traditional textile manufacturing. Formerly, traditional ship building was important. The rugged terrain of the island and surrounding rough coastline has led to the appearance of many wrecked dhows on the beaches of the island, most of them well preserved by the salt water and intense heat. The ocean bottom environment surrounding Masirah is hostile as the majority of the area is covered in either sand or hard rock. Despite the poor quality ocean bottom, the area is very productive with marine fisheries, and any hard objects (barrels, engines) are immediately colonized by local fauna.

See also

• Tropical cyclones in the Arabian Sea
• Periplus of the Erythraean Sea
• Erythraean Sea
• Piracy in Somalia

Notes

1. The Voyage around the Erythraean Sea
2. Geographica Indica - The Arabian Sea
3. The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea:Travel and Trade in the Indian Ocean by a Merchant of the First Century

References

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)

External links

• Arabian Sea (World Wildlife Fund)
• Al-Hind: Early Medieval India and the Expansion of Islam 7Th-11th

• Arabian Peninsula
• Marine ecoregions
• Arabian Sea
• India–Pakistan border
• Oman–Yemen border
• Asia
• Bodies of water of India
• Seas of the Indian Ocean