Maritime Security in the Indian Ocean and Western Pacific

Heritage and Contemporary Challenges

Howard M. Hensel, Amit Gupta, Howard M. Hensel, Amit Gupta

• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN: 9780415789479
• eBook ISBN: 9781351838832
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Politics
• Index: Politics & International Relations

Scholars and policy makers have traditionally viewed portions of the Indian Ocean and the Western Pacific as separate and discrete political, economic, and military regions. In recent years, however, a variety of economic, political, and military forces have made many within the academic community, as well as a growing number of national governmental leaders, change their perceptions and recognize that these maritime expanses are one zone of global interaction. Consequently, political, military, and economic developments in one maritime region increasingly have an impact elsewhere.

Analyzing and assessing the contemporary maritime challenges in the Indian Ocean and the Western Pacific, this valuable study highlights the current prospects for peace and security in what is rapidly becoming recognized as an integrated and interactive political, military-strategic, and economic environment.

This work will be of interest to researchers and policy makers involved in regional studies, as well as security studies, conflict resolution, military, and peace studies.

Part I

The maritime heritage of the Indian Ocean and the Western Pacific

1 The Indian Ocean, crossroads between East and West

Pre-1904

Howard M. Hensel

The Indian Ocean has served throughout history as the maritime avenue for linkages between the civilizations of South Asia and those of the Mediterranean and, later, Western Europe, as well as serving as the maritime link to the civilizations of East and Southeast Asia. This chapter will explore patterns of change and continuity as economic and political relations transformed throughout recorded time prior to the 20th century.¹ In doing so, the chapter will focus on such topics as the degree to which the Indian Ocean has been viewed as an integrated, maritime whole or perceived primarily in terms of subregions by various peoples throughout history; the degree to which the Indian Ocean has been seen as economically and politically connected to East and Southeast Asia, as well as to the Mediterranean and Europe; the types of goods that were traded by merchants that relied upon the Indian Ocean as an avenue for commerce between East and West; and the varying relationships and rivalries among the principal maritime powers as they pursued their respective policies in the Indian Ocean region and in the Far East. This historical overview will suggest that, notwithstanding the traditional and continuing importance of political and economic integration within subregions, the Indian Ocean region gradually came to be increasingly perceived not only as an integrated politico-economic maritime whole, but also as a region economically and politically linked to the Far East through the waters of the Western Pacific. Indeed, by the end of the 19th century and outset of the 20th century, the economic and foreign policies of the major powers active in the Indian Ocean and Western Pacific were predicated upon a growing recognition of the increasing maritime integration of the entire area east of Suez.

I

Geographically, the Indian Ocean can be subdivided into at least three or four subunits. The western portion of the Indian Ocean, eventually referred to in Greco-Roman antiquity as the Erythraeum Mare (Erythraean Sea) or “Red Sea,” included the waters along the coast of Africa, extending imprecisely southward, roughly to the area just south of modern-day Mombasa; the modern-day Gulf of Aden; the Gulf of Oman; and the Arabian Sea. Subsequently, Arab Moslem mariners referred to the Arabian Sea as the Bahr Larawi (Sea of Lar), with the waters of the Bahr al-Habashah and, further south, the Bahr al-Zanj washing the coastline of Africa. The “western sea” also included the Persian Gulf, known in antiquity as the Sinus Persicus and, during the Middle Ages, as Bahr Faris, as well as the modern-day Red Sea, known in antiquity as the Sinus Arabicus and, during the Middle Ages, as Bahr al-Qulzum. The eastern Indian Ocean, the modern-day Bay of Bengal, was referred to by the ancients as the Sinus Gangeticus (the Gulf of the Ganges) and by Arab Moslems as the Bahr Harkand (Sea of Harkand), and was seen as extending southeastward imprecisely toward the Strait of Malacca, Sumatra, and Java. The vast expanse of ocean south of a line extending from Cape Delgado on the northeast coast of Mozambique to just south of Sri Lanka and, thence, extending southeastward, imprecisely to the coast of Sumatra, about which the ancients knew little or nothing, was referred to in antiquity as the Mare Prasodum – the “Green Sea.” Finally, during antiquity, the geographic designation Indikon pelagos (Indian Ocean) referred only to the waters that washed the shoreline of Malabar and Coromandel coasts of modern-day India.²

From earliest recorded history, the ancient Egyptians were the first to actively engage in maritime activities in the western portion of the Indian Ocean. Their objective was to obtain incense and gold by navigating the waters along the African shoreline toward the mysterious “land of Punt,” which was probably located along the coastline of modern-day Somalia. The first Egyptian expeditions to Punt occurred as early as the First Dynasty (ca. 2950–2775 BC), with several recorded maritime expeditions sent to Punt during the Fourth–Sixth Dynasties (ca. 2575–2175 BC). Notwithstanding a lull in maritime contact between Egypt and Punt between the Seventh–Tenth Dynasties, maritime traffic resumed during the Eleventh Dynasty and continued through the Twentieth Dynasty (ca. 1975–1075 BC).³ Indeed, in order to facilitate maritime communications between the Mediterranean and the modern-day Red Sea, Queen Hatshepsut (ca. 1473–1458 BC) attempted to construct a permanent canal linking the Nile River with the Red Sea. Later, during the 7th century BC, Pharaoh Necho II (ca. 610–595 BC) made another attempt to establish a similar water route.⁴ Notwithstanding their maritime activities along the African coast, however, apparently the ancient Egyptians did not establish regular maritime contacts with the Indus Valley or the Mesopotamian civilizations of early antiquity.⁵

Meanwhile, the Sumerians of Mesopotamia engaged in maritime activities in the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman as early as the reigns of Sargon I (ca. 2334–2279 BC) and Naram-Sin (ca. 2254–2218 BC), but it is unlikely that Sumerian maritime activities extended west of coastal Oman.⁶ Similarly, prior to the first millennium BC, any contacts between the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley farther to the east were apparently continental, not maritime, in nature.⁷

The first millennium BC witnessed the entry of the Phoenicians into the Indian Ocean. It was they who, working for King Solomon (ca. 973–933 BC), constructed a fleet of ships with which to actively engage in maritime trade.⁸ Similarly, the Phoenicians assisted in constructing a fleet that the Assyrians maintained from the late 700s to the late 600s BC⁹ Indeed, during the 7th and especially the 6th centuries BC, there were active maritime communications between Mesopotamia and India.¹⁰ While ancient reports of Phoenician circumnavigation of Africa are unreliable, between the 10th and 7th centuries BC, the Phoenicians certainly were increasingly active in maritime trade along both the African and Asian coasts as far as Gujarat.¹¹ Finally, mention must be made of the Minaeans, Nabataeans, Sabaeans, and Himyarites located along the western and southwestern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, who were actively engaged in the spice and incense trade from the mid-7th century BC until the 3rd century AD¹²

Between 559 and 330 BC, however, the Persians were the first to establish and maintain an empire that unified much of Southwestern Asia, extending from the Indus Valley in the east to Asia Minor and Egypt in the west. Emphasizing the significance of maritime communications, as well as overland trade routes, the Persians utilized Phoenician and, later, Greek maritime expertise to establish maritime trade links throughout the empire and beyond. Indeed, in order to facilitate maritime ties between Egypt and the east, Darius I (521–486 BC) restored the Nile-Red Sea canal. As a result, under the Persians, east-west trade reached “unprecedented proportions.”¹³

Alexander the Great (336–323 BC), whose conquests supplanted the Persian Empire, conceived of a universal empire extending from Greece and Egypt in the eastern Mediterranean to the Indus River, economically and politically integrated via maritime, as well as overland, communications. Toward that end, “Alexandrias” were founded throughout the empire. In addition, Alexander commissioned a number of maritime expeditions to chart the oceanic routes that were to link the various centers located along the coastline of the Erythraean Sea. Unfortunately, Alexander’s death in 323 BC ended the vision of a unified politico-economic empire in Southwest Asia and the Eastern Mediterranean.¹⁴

Following Alexander’s death, the empire was divided between his subordinates. The Seleucid kingdom, founded by Alexander’s lieutenant Seleucus, was composed of the Asiatic portion of Alexander’s empire, including the Persian Gulf, whereas Ptolemy I founded a dynasty, the Ptolemies, which controlled Egypt and the Red Sea until the Roman conquest in 30 BC. Hence, instead of the integrated economic whole envisioned by Alexander, the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf became rival maritime commercial routes.¹⁵

Although Seleucus and the founder of the Mauryan Empire (ca. 321–185 BC) in India, Chandragupta, concluded a maritime trade agreement, maritime links between Mesopotamia and India were disappointing. For his part, Chandragupta maintained a naval fleet, backed by a well-organized Admiralty, designed to control the waters adjacent to the Mauryan Empire. But, notwithstanding Seleucid maritime expeditions designed to protect the commercial routes through the Persian Gulf, maritime commerce was inhibited by attacks from groups, especially those located at Gerrah on the western side of the Persian Gulf. Consequently, Alexander’s hope of establishing extensive maritime trade links between the Gulf and India failed to materialize under the Seleucids. Ultimately, during the 2nd century BC, the Parthians displaced the Seleucids and established the Parthian Empire, which continued until the mid-220s AD¹⁶

Alternatively, the Red Sea route connecting the eastern Mediterranean with India proved to be much more important than the Persian Gulf route, with Alexandria in Egypt becoming both an extremely significant market for goods from the east and a center for science and learning. During the three centuries that the Ptolemies ruled Egypt, the Greco-Egyptians explored the Erythraean Sea and established regular maritime commercial links with India. Some maritime trade with India was conducted directly, whereas much of the Indo-Egyptian maritime trade was conducted indirectly, with Aden and Muza on the coast of the Arabian Peninsula serving as the centers where traders from Egypt and India exchanged goods. Reflecting the importance placed on maritime commerce by the Ptolemies, the canal linking the Nile and the Red Sea was reopened to traffic. Moreover, ports were established on the west side of the Red Sea in order to facilitate the overland movement of goods from the Red Sea to receiving centers on the Nile. From there, goods would be shipped down the Nile to the great emporium at Alexandria.¹⁷

The establishment of Roman control over Egypt in 30 BC resulted in an expansion of maritime trade links between the Mediterranean world and the east. Indeed, the canal linking the Nile and the Red Sea was again opened during the reign of the Emperor Hadrian (AD 117–138). At least through the reign of Emperor Marcus Aurelius (AD 161–180), maritime commercial links were regularized down the east coast of Africa to a port immediately south of Zanzibar. Commercial maritime traffic eastward to India followed one of two principal routes: some ships followed the coastal route stopping at ports located in the Persian Gulf, whereas others sailed directly across the Erythraean Sea to India. For some, the voyage terminated at one or several of the ports along the Malabar Coast, whereas others sailed around Cape Comorin to ports along the Coromandel Coast and, eventually, to the mouth of the Ganges River. Indeed, a small number of Roman trading posts were established on the Coromandel and Malabar Coasts. Finally, during the late Roman period, some ships reportedly traveled as far as the Gulf of Thailand and, in AD 160, an attempt was made to establish maritime contact with China. Notwithstanding these adventurous attempts to establish contact with the peoples east of India, commercial relations between east and west concentrated almost exclusively on traffic between India and the Mediterranean.¹⁸ Summarizing what Gibbon characterized as the “ ‘splendid and trifling’ ” trade across the Erythraean Sea, Auguste Toussaint observed that the types of goods that were exchanged for Roman gold coins were “nothing … similar to what today we call ‘raw materials’ but on the contrary, almost uniquely luxury items: spices, perfumes, silks, muslins, tortoise-shell, ivory, pearls, precious stones, unguents, dyes, and other rare products.”¹⁹

By focusing on maritime commercial trade routes to the east, the Romans circumvented the “Parthian Wall,” which controlled overland routes to India, thereby, indirectly, weakening the Parthians.²⁰ Moreover, the Romans also weakened the Sabaeans and the Himyarites of the southern Arabian Peninsula, who had long served as intermediaries in east-west trade. In doing so, the Romans indirectly contributed to the emergence of the Axumites, who were centered on the southwestern side of the Red Sea.²¹ Following the transfer of Roman power from the city of Rome to Constantinople under the Emperor Constantine (324–337), direct Roman maritime traffic to India declined, with the Byzantines instead increasingly utilizing both the Himyarites and the Axumites as intermediaries in their effort to acquire eastern luxury goods.²²

The rise of the Sassanids, beginning with the overthrow of the Parthian Empire in the mid-220s AD and extending until the conquest of the territo...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of figures
• List of contributors
• Introduction
• Part I The maritime heritage of the Indian Ocean and the Western Pacific
• Part II Contemporary maritime challenges in the Indian Ocean and the Western Pacific
• Conclusion
• Index