A Historical Study of the Persian Gulf and Indo-Arab Trade Until the 5th Century AH

Abstract

Since the very ancient times when glorious civilizations of Mesopotamia and the Aryan empires evolved, the Persian Gulf assumed great economic and connection importance and was considered a bridge between the ancient civilizations of those times. Ancient artifacts found in prehistoric civilizations of Iran show the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman played a key role in trade relations and trade exchanges between the old Iranian cities and settlements with Southeast Asia, Europe and Africa, while being regarded as the connecting chain between central and internal civilizations with the South Iranian islands and ports, Iraq, Mesopotamia, India, China, Egypt and East Africa.

Researches have suggested that relations between the Persian Gulf and India remained strong during the Islamic period. Following the expansion of trade relations between the Islamic world and the Indian subcontinent, some ports were set up in the Persian Gulf to settle merchants and to stop ships. These ports played an important role in trade relations between India and the Islamic world. In this paper, we discuss the status of the Persian Gulf in Iran-India relations.