As trade flourished along the network’s routes, so did construction, such as this massive fifth-century basilica in Adulis, a port city in what’s now Eritrea ... the Romans by generations. The Indian ...

His book, The Rihla, talks of his travels in the Maldives and all throughout the Indian Ocean trading ports, and is perhaps the best depiction of the port cities, types of vessels, cargo traded ...

Sometime in the year 1342, the Moroccan traveller Ibn Batutah made his way from Delhi to Cambay, a busy port on India ... among many vibrant trading cities on the Indian Ocean’s shores.

China has provoked the ire of the Indian ... of a new port city in Sri Lanka. New Delhi has responded cautiously to the move which could see Beijing project power into the Indian Ocean.