Misplaced Pages

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Fabartus (talk | contribs) at 20:28, 22 April 2007 (Expand). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

The Arabian Sea (Arabic: بحر العرب; transliterated: Bahr al-'Arab, Latin: Mare Erythraeum or Erythean Sea) is a region of the Indian Ocean bounded on the east by India, on the north by Pakistan and Iran, on the west by Arabian Peninsula, on the south, approximately, by a line between Cape Guardafui, the north-east point of Somalia, Socotra and Kanyakumari (Cape Comorin) in India. Template:TOCnestright

It was known as the Sindhu Sagar to Indians in the Vedic period of their history, and an important marine trade route in the era of the coastal sailing vessels from possibly as early as the 3rd millenium BC, certainly the late Second millenium BC through the latter 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 it's 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 transshipping to pack animal caravan, travel through desert country and risk of bandits and extortionary tolls by local potentiates. These are the reality of the conditions which gave rise to the truth behind the tales of the Arabian Nights stories, and those of Sinbad the Sailor.

So important was this southern coastal route past the rough country in the southern Arabian peninsula ([[Yeman and Oman today), that 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 an merchantile empire rooted in the trade with Europe via Alexandria.

It has two important branches — the Gulf of Aden in the southwest, connecting with the Red Sea through the strait of Bab-el-Mandeb; and the Gulf of Oman to the northwest, connecting with the Persian Gulf. Besides these larger ramifications, there are the gulfs of Cambay and Kutch on the Indian coast. Its islands are few, the chief being Socotra, off the African, and the Laccadives, off the Indian coast.

Description

The maximum width of the Arabian Sea is approximately 2,400 km, and its maximum depth is 4,652 metres, in the Arabian Basin approximately at the same latitude as the southernmost tip of India. The Indus River, also known as the Sindhu river, is the largest river flowing directly into this sea; others include the Netravathi, Sharavathi, Narmada, Tapti, Mahi, and the numerous rivers of Kerala in India. The Arabian Sea coast of central India is known as the Konkan Coast, and that of southern India is known as the Malabar Coast.

Trade routes

Ocean trade routes have crossed the Arabian Sea since ancient times, linking the Near East with East Africa, India, Southeast Asia, and China. Historically, sailors in a type of ship called a dhow used the seasonal monsoon winds to cross the water. The sea forms part of the chief shipping route between Europe and India via the Suez Canal, which links the Red Sea with the Mediterranean Sea.

The countries with coastlines on the Arabian Sea are Yemen, Oman, Iran, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, and Somalia.

Cities on the coast include Mumbai (Bombay), Surat, Goa, Mangalore, and Kochi in India, Karachi and Gwadar in Pakistan, and Aden in Yemen.

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)

Template:SouthAsiaWaters

15°55′10″N 63°54′22″E / 15.91944°N 63.90611°E / 15.91944; 63.90611

• Arabia
• Marine ecoregions
• Seas
• Indian Ocean
• Global 200 ecoregions