Indo-Mediterranean

[3] Caravan traffic through the extended arid zone at the heart of much of Afro-Eurasia played a significant role in allowing for Indian Ocean and Mediterranean ports to thrive and trade with each other.

The Achaemenid Empire established dominance over territories throughout the Middle East by the fourth century BCE, creating new possibilities for interaction across Eurasia and its southern maritime spaces.

[6] It was then overtaken by Alexander the Great's eastward conquests in that century which resulted in an expansion of the Hellenistic world to northwest India; this helped link the Indian Ocean trade to the Eastern Mediterranean.

Islam's success in connecting land and maritime spaces throughout Afro-Eurasia, contrasting with certain anti-maritime attitudes such as kala pani that could be found in the Indian Ocean and Mediterranean from the pre-medieval era,[20] can be seen in the 14th century voyages of the famous traveller Ibn Battuta.

For the Ottomans, their conquest of Constantinople in 1453 increased their reach in the Mediterranean, and in the next century, they also gained access to the western Indian Ocean by acquiring Egypt and Baghdad.

[27] In general, the Western European presence in the Indian Ocean was based on precedents formed in the Mediterranean by Venice and Genoa, bringing gun-based "trading-post empires" to a previously peaceful region.

[32] The 1869 completion of the Suez Canal then helped to greatly expand European colonialism, as it enabled faster passage from Europe to Indian Ocean Afro-Asia.

Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar affirmed the initiative in 2024, citing the historical importance and rising trade taking place in the region.

From 1869 onwards, the Suez Canal (depicted above) has offered a direct Indo-Mediterranean maritime route, and has become the main intermediate trade corridor in the region. [ 1 ]
Roman trade in the Indian subcontinent according to the Periplus Maris Erythraei 1st century CE
The expansion of the Caliphate in the Mediterranean region from 622 to 750 AD.
Expansion under Muhammad , 622–632
Expansion during the Rashidun Caliphate , 632–661
Expansion during the Umayyad Caliphate, 661–750
The Ottoman Empire at its territorial peak in 1590
British imperial dominance was achieved by the mid-20th century in much of the Eastern Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean
The proposed India–Middle East–Europe Economic Corridor .
In some cases, 21st century Arctic shipping routes are almost half as long as Suez Canal routes