Monday, September 29, 2008
1 - 15 centuries before Vasco da Gama, West knew of sea route to India
While most educated people today know about the overland medieval Silk Route linking China with Italy, few are aware of the ancient Incense Route that connected India with Rome.
Shipping along the Incense Route was the most important carrier of world trade in classical times. From the Mediterranean Sea the route extended overland across Palestine, where cities and caravanserai lined it. And then, on reaching the Suez, it embarked on ships that hugged the coast of Arabia to reach India.
This trade was so important and so expensive having to be paid for in gold that Roman elders decried it. The situation was similar to the U.S. today in that imports far exceeded exports. Rome was being bankrupted in the pursuits of trinkets - said the wise heads - to the benefit of the Kushanas, the Cholas, the Pandyans and the Cheras of India.
Many of us must have read - without being able to identify the city of Ophir - the much quoted poem' Cargoes' by a former Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom, John Masefield.
To read the full article, click here..
To read the ePaper, visit: http://www.newsindia-times.com
Shipping along the Incense Route was the most important carrier of world trade in classical times. From the Mediterranean Sea the route extended overland across Palestine, where cities and caravanserai lined it. And then, on reaching the Suez, it embarked on ships that hugged the coast of Arabia to reach India.
This trade was so important and so expensive having to be paid for in gold that Roman elders decried it. The situation was similar to the U.S. today in that imports far exceeded exports. Rome was being bankrupted in the pursuits of trinkets - said the wise heads - to the benefit of the Kushanas, the Cholas, the Pandyans and the Cheras of India.
Many of us must have read - without being able to identify the city of Ophir - the much quoted poem' Cargoes' by a former Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom, John Masefield.
To read the full article, click here..
To read the ePaper, visit: http://www.newsindia-times.com
Labels: ancient, China, Incense Route, india, Italy, Mediterranean Sea, Palestine, Rome, route, Saudi Arabia, Silk Route linking, Vasco da Gama
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