Indian Ocean Maritime Research Articles

Unprecedented monsoon precipitation over southwest Pakistan in 2022: Regional processes in moistening the climatological heat low

AbstractDuring the 2022 Asian summer monsoon, the climatological driest parts of Sindh and Balochistan provinces in southwestern Pakistan and the northern Arabian Sea (regions of climatological heat low, HLOW) experienced unprecedented precipitation (>500% of the normal) whereas precipitation was reduced from the Indo‐Gangetic Plain to the tropical western Pacific. Our working hypothesis is that the weakened large‐scale monsoon is a direct response to tropical sea‐surface temperature: wave responses that develop in response to changes in diabatic heating anomalies over the regional precipitation centers within the Asian monsoon intensify and transition HLOW into an anomalous moist low. To validate the hypothesis, process‐oriented diagnostics are applied to European Centre of Medium‐range Weather Forecasts Reanalysis v5 (ERA5), and numerical experiments are performed with a linear atmospheric general circulation model. Model solutions confirm that the weakened large‐scale monsoon, essentially a linear response, is determined by persistent warm sea‐surface temperature and enhanced precipitation anomalies over the equatorial and southeastern Indian Ocean–Maritime Continent, and Rossby waves emanating from there, and from continental India, deepen the HLOW. Concomitantly, as a Rossby wave response to negative precipitation anomalies over the northern Bay of Bengal and Indochina during June, and their poleward migration during July–August, positive height anomalies develop and intensify over northern India. The resultant horizontal pressure gradient between HLOW and northern India drives concentrated low‐level wind anomalies that are efficient in advecting the strongest climatological moisture gradient to precondition the lower troposphere during June, and in determining the unprecedented precipitation during July–August when the seasonal cycle prevails over HLOW. Model sensitivity to horizontal moisture advection confirms ERA5 diagnostics. Nearly identical tropical forcing and large‐scale weakened monsoon responses are observed during 2010 and 2020. In these years, diagnostics identify subtle changes in latitudinal position of negative precipitation anomalies over the Bay of Bengal and Indo‐Gangetic Plain that lead to lesser contribution by horizontal moisture advection, resulting in weaker positive precipitation anomalies over southwest Pakistan.

A multi‐analytical approach applied to pottery from Oman as a key to understanding ancient Indian Ocean maritime trade

AbstractThe populations in Sumhuram (third/second century bce to fifth century ce) and Hamr al‐Sharqiya 1 (HAS1) (first millennium bce to first/second century ce) were involved in one of the most important examples of large‐scale trade systems in antiquity: the maritime network connecting the coasts of the Indian Ocean. This research focuses on a total of 35 southwestern Arabian and Indian pottery sherds from both the settlements of Sumhuram and Hamr al‐Sharqiya 1, analysed through a multi‐analytical complementary approach. This study intends to test the input potential of this type of approach applied to ceramics in the context of the Indian Ocean trade network. The techniques adopted are powder X‐ray diffraction, optical microscopy, inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry and scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy‐dispersive X‐ray spectroscopy. The results obtained allow the identification of eight distinct groups, each characterized by unique (textural, mineralogical, geochemical) signatures, providing specific clues for determining their provenance, specifically from the Indian subcontinent and southwestern Arabia. This paper shows the importance of this type of archaeometric study that must be integrated into a transdisciplinary approach.

An Outport for Gedi?—Archaeological Survey in Mida Creek, Kenya

Communities of the East African coast have had a long history of international interaction. Swahili maritime networks linked African port towns across the Indian Ocean seaboard, thus enabling merchandise to reach the hinterlands of the continent. One of these Swahili towns is the ancient city of Gedi, located on the central Kenyan coast near the medieval town of Malindi. Located inshore, 6 km from the main ocean to the southeast and 3 km from Mida Creek to the southwest, Gedi’s lack of seaward connectivity has perplexed scholars. To effectively function within the vibrant Indian Ocean maritime trade networks of the 10th to 16th centuries CE, Gedi needed access to the sea. Inevitably goods had to be transported overland from a port or landing place. The ‘MUCH to Discover in Mida Creek’ project carried out an archaeological survey around the Creek to form a broader understanding of the region’s maritime past. The study identified a range of sites that evidence past coastal activity. In particular, a concentration of contemporary house sites at Chafisi near the closest point on the Creek to Gedi would suggest it may have acted as an outport for the stone town.

Gender Norms and Perceptions in Islamic World: A Study of the Travel Account of al-Sirafi

Religion has been a factor that greatly influences the formation and shaping of traditions. Through analyzing the Travel Account of al-Sirafi, this paper draws a correlation between Islam and the perception of foreign female figures in the view of Islamic believers. This insight sheds light on the hidden gender inequalities behind the portrayal of the seemingly harmonious gender ideas in Islamic doctrines. The intention of this article is not to criticize the plausible religious oppression of women, but to apply the nautical text to discover the cultural collision throughout the Indian Ocean maritime trade between the 9th and 10th centuries.

Recent Developments in the Archaeology of Long-Distance Connections Across the Ancient Indian Ocean

Scholarship on the ancient Indian Ocean, which stretches deep into the previous century, is available from an array of academic disciplines including but not limited to history, archaeology, epigraphy, numismatics, art history, and materials science. It spans from prehistory to the present era and includes evidence ranging from the Mediterranean to East Asia. What binds together the world of Indian Ocean research is an enduring interest in the complex maritime-based links crosscutting this space and—for archaeologists—the movements of cultural elements (objects, ideas, people, etc.) that have left behind some material trace. Recent field projects and materials science studies have greatly expanded this material database, refining (and sometimes challenging) traditional interpretations about Indian Ocean maritime relations. This review presents a streamlined perspective, focusing on recent archaeological contributions about long-distance interregional connections across the Indian Ocean from 500 bce to 1000 ce.

Transoceanic Interconnectivities Between India- Tanzania Coastal Communities from the Antiquity to Contemporaries: The Archaeologic Perspectives from the Ancient Maritime Trade Connections via the Indian Ocean

The currently available archaeological and historical records indicate that since the prehistoric times, India and Tanzania shared a very long antiquity in terms of human civilization through the Indian Ocean maritime trade especially during the Neolithic period in aspects such as maritime trade links, ancient technology transfer, and intermarriages, expressly in monumental built heritage assets along the coast of the Indian Ocean. Outstandingly, the East African coast and its offshore islands preserve a lot of ancient remnants of built heritage assets, religious and symbolic entities, and socio-cultural traditions. Archaeologically, Swahili culture, which is one of the most powerful African civilizations along the coastal towns and littoral regions in East Africa is to some extent predisposed and inspired by Indian elements of early civilizations. The prehistoric contacts between the Indian Ocean communities of East Africa and Indian subcontinent have left some legacies in terms of language, crop and animal domestication, trade, architecture, and intermarriage. Some of these cultural elements are clearly visible in the forms of a spectacular series of historic stone towns along the coast and littoral regions of Tanzania for instance, especially ones that contain ruins of houses, mosques, and tombs built of coral limestones are typically Indian heritage inspired, which significantly influenced coastal and littoral societal socio-cultural developments in Tanzania.

BIMSTEC: An Engine of Promoting Multilateralism in the Bay of Bengal?

From ancient times, the Bay of Bengal has been considered as a crucial participant in world trade and politics. Its historical significance as a crucial part of the old Indian Ocean maritime route and its current relevance as a critical component of the Indo-Pacific economic zone has made it an important regional actor. Despite this, the international world has not fully recognized the region’s economic potential, resulting in its underdevelopment. Not until 1997, when the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) was founded, attempts were made to combat the region’s reputation as ‘incomplete’ and ‘inadequate’. From its formation, BIMSTEC has worked assiduously to advance regional multilateralism in every facet of collaboration. Throughout its 25 years of existence, BIMSTEC has surmounted several challenges and uncovered new paths for expansion. Yet, the resurgence of division and the emergence of new alliances in the Indo-Pacific region have dissuaded many significant organizations in the region. Thus, the rise of regionalism and multilateralism in the Bay of Bengal region now presents a new challenge. In modern international politics, the advent of powerful regional powers and many new entities has encouraged governments to adopt a “taking sides” strategy. In this scenario, BIMSTEC can function as a mediator for the parties’ harmonious cohabitation. BIMSTEC members may also take strength from one another during these difficult times. The study illuminates the measures used by BIMSTEC as well as the nations’ efforts to link and promote multilateralism in the area. The paper also emphasizes suggestions for improving multilateralism via BIMSTEC.

A Study of Aromatic Woods in Seventeenth-Century India: Circulation of Aloewood and Sandalwood through Facilitating Port Cities and Trade Networks

Abstract During the seventeenth century, various commodities carved out an economic sphere for themselves across the littoral parts of the Indian Ocean through the interconnectedness of its port cities. The present article focuses on two significant aromatic woods: aloewood and sandalwood, both plant-based materials, and locates them as “commodities” in commercial networks across the maritime space. Various port cities like Surat, Patna, Mausalipatam and Cambay, all central to the trading activities of the European companies, served as chief nodes in the grid of circulation that enabled their mobility, value addition and economic exchanges. Revisiting English factory records, Dutch East India Company documents and European travel accounts, this article explores the neglect of ephemeral objects in the material hierarchy of trading items. It also accounts for the thriving presence of these aromatic woods in the Indian Ocean maritime networks as two key materials in European trading interests and as facilitators of the early modern economy.

The Sailing Scribes: Circulating Law in the Twentieth-Century Indian Ocean

What did the practice of law look like on the high seas? This has been a matter of some discussion among legal historians, with the bulk of the evidence coming from encounters between European ships in the Atlantic and Asia. This article takes a different tack, taking as its starting point a series of contracts copied into the logbook of the early-twentieth century Arab dhow captain (nakhoda) ‘Abdulmajeed Al-Failakawi. Although some of these appear to have been contracts that the nakhoda entered into or witnessed, most were contractual templates that presented formulas for a variety of written obligations between members of the Indian Ocean maritime community. In reading these formulas alongside contracts left behind by Al-Failakawi and other Indian Ocean nakhodas, I reflect on how law circulated by members of an itinerant society of mariners that sought to forge the contours of a commercial world on their ships and across the waters, and weave it through an imperial seascape. I explore how workaday forms of law and legal epistemologies circulated around the maritime marketplaces of the Indian Ocean world, at the margins of a colonial and imperial political economy, through actors who read across different genres of literature, and who moved between the multiple roles of captain, navigator, supercargo, and scribe.

Indonesia Perspective on Counter-Piracy in the Continuity of the Indian Ocean Maritime Security Cooperation

Indonesia Perspective on Counter-Piracy in the Continuity of the Indian Ocean Maritime Security Cooperation

The Belt and Road Initiative in Sri Lanka: Challenges for Debt-led Development

Sitting in the middle of the Indian Ocean and major international maritime routes, Sri Lanka’s strategic geographic location has brought both opportunities and complications to its economic development. In view of the mixed outcome and perceptions of the Chinese investment projects in Sri Lanka, this paper investigates the nuances of both successful and failed experiences in Chinese investment, and the management approach the Chinese project managers have sought to adapt to improve their community engagements and secure public support. While these efforts have not, largely, been effective, we also find little evidence that China has conspired to dominate Sri Lanka. By refuting the sweeping debt-trap argument, we further seek to reflect upon Hong Kong’s possible role in addressing the critical managerial and capacity issues in Sri Lankan investment.

The Diver’s New Papers: Wealth, People, and Property in a Persian Gulf Bazaar

Abstract This article explores the contours of debt and labor in the early twentieth-century Persian Gulf pearl dive. It examines the barwa, a declaration exchanged by nakhodas (dhow captains) about the amounts that divers owed and the terms by which they might be hired out. By looking both through and at the barwa, we find a window into the Indian Ocean maritime bazaar, and into the artifacts through which mobile and itinerant laborers were bound to the dhow and its captain. Maritime actors used these papers to navigate the boundary between person and property, and between free and unfree, all within a changing commercial and legal world.

Sewn-plank construction techniques in the western Indian Ocean: evidence from the timbers of Al Baleed, Oman

The boat timbers discovered in the Islamic port of Al Baleed in southern Oman constitute a unique collection within the context of the Indian Ocean’s maritime technology between the 10th and 15th centuries AD (Belfioretti, Vosmer 2010). The timbers consist of planks from sewn-boats that have been recycled in the site’s buildings, and include preserved ropes, caulking material and decorative motifs. A study of the remains reveals a variety of forms, techniques and materials used for the construction of the sewn vessels involved in Indian Ocean maritime trade during the Middle Islamic period.

The geo-politics of north Indian Ocean: India's possible retaliations to chinese aggression

Over the last two decades, China and India have shown significant economic and political growth in the Indo-Pacific region. Despite the source of Covid-19, China has successfully recovered and boosting its production. Where India, USA and European countries are experiencing negative growth, China still have 3.6% growth rate. It is the best time for China to show it's hegemony in the Indo-Pacific region. It is reviving its export through the North Indian Ocean Maritime Route. During this Covid-19 pandemic, the boundary dispute between India and China has become worst after 1962. To establish itself as global superpower, China is creating geopolitical pressure on India. India can retaliate this Chinese aggression, obstructing North Indian Ocean Maritime Route. China's geostrategic interest in this region is mainly to protect its ship-liners. Sri Lanka's enticing geostrategic position is favourable for maritime surveillance and security. All most every Chinese ship has to pass the southern coastline of Sri Lanka during the course between Strait of Hormuz and Malacca. Thus, China has invested a lot to establish its strategic posts in Sri Lanka which directly strike Indian dominance in North Indian Ocean. This paper suggests a few counter mechanisms which India could adopt in responses to this Chinese aggression in the North Indian Ocean and Sri Lanka.

Towards an Indian Ocean and Maritime Asia Slave Trade Database: An Exploration of Concepts, Lessons and Models

While over the last three decades the Transatlantic Slave Trade Database (TASTD) has mobilized an astounding scholarly energy, the history of the slave trade in Asia has so far remained underdeveloped. Although numerous scholarly articles have indicated the widespread presence of slavery and the slave trade throughout maritime Asia from the early modern period well into the 19th century, estimates for the slave trade in the Indian Ocean are still tentative, and tend to focus especially on the (western) Indian Ocean region. Since 2015 an international group of researchers has come together to work towards consolidating research on the slave trade in Asia and East Africa. This article discusses a core activity of this group, namely the development of the Indian Ocean and Maritime Asia Slave Trade Database (ESTA) which is hosted at the International Institute of Social History in close collaboration with the Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies, Linnaeus University and ENS Lyon. We explore and evaluate the applicability of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database to the Asian context. We subsequently identify the specificities of the Indian Ocean and Indonesian Archipelago sources and patterns of slave trading, and their implications for possible datamodel designs. The article further underlines the importance of the ESTA database for comparative research reaching across colonial powers, local and global systems of slavery, across wider-ranging and more strongly defined ‘regions’ within the Indian Ocean Maritime Asia world, and even beyond to the transatlantic slave trade. A vital aim in the construction of a comprehensive Indian Ocean and Indonesian Archipelago database is the recording and reconstruction of the slave trade, especially in light of the entanglements of global long-distance slave trading with local systems of slavery and forced labour. The article identifies several challenges in the exploration of the historical and historiographic contexts and proposes and evaluates two database models, concluding with the advances made and the challenges ahead.

The maternal origin of indigenous domestic chicken from the Middle East, the north and the horn of Africa

BackgroundIndigenous domestic chicken represents a major source of protein for agricultural communities around the world. In the Middle East and Africa, they are adapted to hot dry and semi-dry areas, in contrast to their wild ancestor, the Red junglefowl, which lives in humid and sub-humid tropical areas. Indigenous populations are declining following increased demand for poultry meat and eggs, favouring the more productive exotic commercial breeds. In this paper, using the D-loop of mitochondrial DNA as a maternally inherited genetic marker, we address the question of the origin and dispersal routes of domestic chicken of the Middle East (Iraq and Saudi Arabia), the northern part of the African continent (Algeria and Libya) and the Horn of Africa (Ethiopia).ResultsThe analysis of the mtDNA D-loop of 706 chicken samples from Iraq (n = 107), Saudi Arabia (n = 185), Algeria (n = 88), Libya (n = 23), Ethiopia (n = 211) and Pakistan (n = 92) show the presence of five haplogroups (A, B, C, D and E), suggesting more than one maternal origin for the studied populations. Haplogroup E, which occurred in 625 samples, was the most frequent in all countries. This haplogroup most likely originates from the Indian subcontinent and probably migrated following a terrestrial route to these different countries. Haplotypes belonging to haplogroup D were present in all countries except Algeria and Libya, it is likely a legacy of the Indian Ocean maritime trading network. Haplogroup A was present in all countries and may be of commercial origin. Haplogroup B was found only in Ethiopia. Haplogroup C was only detected in the South-Western region of Saudi Arabia and in Ethiopia.ConclusionThe results support a major influence of the Indian subcontinent on the maternal diversity of the today’s chicken populations examined here. Most of the diversity occurs within rather than between populations. This lack of phylogeographic signal agrees with both ancient and more recent trading networks having shaped the modern-day diversity of indigenous chicken across populations and countries.

Long-lead ENSO control of the boreal summer intraseasonal oscillation in the East Asian-western North Pacific region

The boreal summer 30–60-day intraseasonal oscillation (ISO) in the East Asian-western North Pacific (EAWNP) region strongly influences persistent heavy rainfall in East Asia and tropical cyclone activities in the tropical western Pacific. In this study, we show that there exists a significant interannual south-north shift of the EAWNP-ISO activity between the equatorial eastern Indian Ocean—Maritime continent region and the subtropical South China Sea—western Pacific. This is reflected by the year-to-year changes in the occurrence frequency of individual ISO phases that correspond to different latitudinal locations of the convection anomaly. This interannual shift is largely controlled by the El Niño—Southern Oscillation (ENSO) in the preceding winter and spring. Following an El Niño event, the ISO convective activity tends to occur in the equatorial eastern Indian Ocean—Maritime continents, whereas after a La Niña, frequent ISO-related precipitation occurs in the region of south China and the subtropical South China Sea—western Pacific. This result implies long-lead predictability for the occurrence of the summertime EAWNP-ISO activity and its associated weather.

Indo-Pacific Maritime Cooperation: ASEAN Mechanisms on Security Towards Global Maritime Governance

The importance of the sea in the current era of globalization has called all countries for managing their interests at sea as well as their common concern collectively, cooperatively and inclusively. By looking at the notions of the sea as a medium of connectivity and sea as a resource coupled with its vulnerability particularly in Indian and Pacific Oceans, Indo-Pacific maritime cooperation towards global ocean governance accordingly are vital to the international stability, a successful of sea-based trading system and sustainability use of the oceans. Therefore this article discusses the rationale of Indo-Pacific Maritime Cooperation, which made possible by the common concern of countries that locate between the Indian and West Pacific ocean maritime, the vulnerabilities of the region and the existence of various ASEAN’s mechanisms on Maritime Security Cooperation as well as regional regime and international law. Nevertheless, ASEAN needs to note some issues relating to its consolidation as well as the internal challenges in the realization of global maritime governance.

Implication of tropical lower stratospheric cooling in recent trends in tropical circulation and deep convective activity

Abstract. Large changes in tropical circulation from the mid-to-late 1990s to the present, in particular changes related to the summer monsoon and cooling of the sea surface in the equatorial eastern Pacific, are noted. The cause of such recent decadal variations in the tropics was studied using a meteorological reanalysis dataset. Cooling of the equatorial southeastern Pacific Ocean occurred in association with enhanced cross-equatorial southerlies that were associated with a strengthening of the deep ascending branch of the boreal summer Hadley circulation over the continental sector connected to stratospheric circulation. From boreal summer to winter, the anomalous convective activity center moves southward following the seasonal march to the equatorial Indian Ocean–Maritime Continent region, which strengthens the surface easterlies over the equatorial central Pacific. Accordingly, ocean surface cooling extends over the equatorial central Pacific. We suggest that the fundamental cause of the recent decadal change in the tropical troposphere and the ocean is a poleward shift of convective activity that resulted from a strengthening of extreme deep convection penetrating into the tropical tropopause layer, particularly over the African and Asian continents and adjacent oceans. We conjecture that the increase in extreme deep convection is produced by a combination of land surface warming due to increased CO2 and a reduction of static stability in the tropical tropopause layer due to tropical stratospheric cooling.

Decadal Transition of the Leading Mode of Interannual Moisture Circulation over East Asia–Western North Pacific: Bonding to Different Evolution of ENSO

AbstractThe El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) cycle has a great impact on the summer moisture circulation over East Asia (EA) and the western North Pacific [WNP (EA-WNP)] on an interannual time scale, and its modulation is mainly embedded in the leading mode. In contrast to the stable influence of the mature phase of ENSO, the impact of synchronous eastern Pacific sea surface temperature anomalies (SSTAs) on summer moisture circulation is negligible during the 1970s–80s, while it intensifies after 1991. In response, the interannual variation of moisture circulation exhibits a much more widespread anticyclonic/cyclonic pattern over the subtropical WNP and a weaker counterpart to the north after 1991. Abnormal moisture moves farther northward with the enhanced moisture convergence, and thus precipitation shifts from the Yangtze River to the Huai River valley. The decadal shift in the modulation of ENSO on moisture circulation arises from a more rapid evolution of the bonding ENSO cycle and its stronger coupling with circulation over the Indian Ocean after 1991. The rapid development of cooling SSTAs over the central-eastern Pacific, and warming SSTAs to the west over the eastern Indian Ocean–Maritime Continent (EIO-MC) in summer, stimulates abnormal descending motion over the western-central Pacific and ascending motion over the EIO-MC. The former excites an anticyclone over the WNP as a Rossby wave response, sustaining and intensifying the WNP anticyclone; the latter helps anchor the anticyclone over the tropical–subtropical WNP via an abnormal southwest–northeast vertical circulation between EIO-MC and WNP.