ABSTRACT
An extensive and sophisticated indigenous network of maritime trade considerably predated the arrival of the Europeans in Asia at the end of the fifteenth century. Traditionally, what one could perhaps describe as trade along the “great arc of Asian trade” embraced the Persian Gulf in the north west of the arc and Japan in the north east. The principal natural divisions of the huge area traversed were the Arabian Sea, the Bay of Bengal and the South China Sea. A considerable amount of trade would seem to have been carried on within, as well as across these divisions. By far the longest distance was covered by the route that connected the port of Aden at the mouth of the Red Sea to that of Canton in the South China Sea. There is evidence to suggest that this route was in regular use from at least the seventh century on. The principal group which had initiated trade on this route was that of the Persian merchants. From about the ninth century, however, this group was supplanted, by and large, by Arab merchants. It would seem that sometime during the twelfth century, Chinese junks also began operating on this route. The Chinese participation on the route would seem to have reached important levels by the early years of the fifteenth century. Between 1404 and 1433, a series of six commercial-cum-naval expeditions were despatched from China under the command of Admiral Cheng Ho. But in 1433, the Chinese authorities abruptly withdrew from these ventures and there is no record of these long distance voyages ever having been resumed. In the meantime, the Arabs had also gradually pulled out of this long distance route..
