Maritime History of Muslims in the Indian Ocean

Abstract

The history of Muslims in the subcontinent surrounds a number of myths and fallacies about their seafaring activities. In this context, one of the commonly held assumptions is that the Muslim history has no account related to maritime affairs; rather Muslims had been reluctant to naval activities and they mostly confined themselves to the land routes for their travelling and trading activities.Owing to this delusion, their contributions to maritime culture and civilization have been either distorted or completely disregarded in several accounts. To rectifysuch historical fallacies, this paper explores and highlights the maritime activities of Muslims in the Indian Ocean. It traces the historical origin of the maritime affairs in the Indian Ocean during the pre-Muslim era in general and during reign of Muslims in particular. Historical facts and available literature reveal that Muslims had a long and traditional association with Indian Ocean. Being ‘merchants’, Muslims have contributed a lot in shaping the maritime culture of this region that is evident in the historical records. Arguably, the study can open new areas of discussions about the role of Muslims in maritime affairs with specific reference to the Indian Ocean.