TheMaritime Silk Road orMaritime Silk Route is themaritime section of the historicSilk Road that connectedSoutheast Asia,East Asia, theIndian subcontinent, theArabian Peninsula, easternAfrica, andEurope. It began by the 2nd century BCE and flourished until the 15th century CE.[2] The Maritime Silk Road was primarily established and operated byAustronesian sailors in Southeast Asia who sailed large long-distance ocean-goingsewn-plank andlashed-lugtrade ships.[3]: 11 [4] The route was also utilized by thedhows of thePersian andArab traders in theArabian Sea and beyond,[3]: 13 and theTamil merchants inSouth Asia.[3]: 13 China also started building their own trade ships (chuán) and followed the routes in the later period, from the 10th to the 15th centuries CE.[5][6]
The network followed the footsteps of older Austronesianjade maritime networks in Southeast Asia,[7][8][9][10] as well as the maritimespice networks between Southeast Asia andSouth Asia, and theWest Asian maritime networks in theArabian Sea and beyond, coinciding with these ancient maritime trade roads by the current era.[11][12][13]
The term "Maritime Silk Road" is a modern name, acquired from its similarity to the overlandSilk Road. Overland Silk Road was itself a modern name, the idea of which was invented as late as 1877 by a Prussian geographer, Baron von Richthofen while he engaged in a geological survey of China for connecting China with Germany through railways, and the term "Silk Road" only entered the English language in 1938 with the publication of a popular book by Swedish explorer Sven Hedin.[14] The ancient maritime routes through theIndo-West Pacific (Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean) had no particular name for the majority of its very long history.[3] Despite the modern name, the Maritime Silk Road involved exchanges in a wide variety of goods over a very wide region, not just silk or Asian exports.[6][15]
The Maritime Silk Road developed from the earlierNeolithiclingling-ojademaritime trade networks established byAustronesians inSoutheast Asia. This extensive ancient maritime trade network in Southeast Asia, covering a 3000-kilometer area around theSouth China Sea, existed long before the Maritime Silk Road.[16] It lasted for around 3,000 years, partially overlapping with the Maritime Silk Road, from 2000 BCE to 1000 CE. It was initially established by the indigenous peoples ofTaiwan and the northernPhilippines. Rawnephrite jade (Fengtian jade) was sourced from deposits in eastern Taiwan and worked into ornaments and tools in the Philippines (the most notable and most numerous of are double-headed pendants and penannular earrings known aslingling-o). This network later included southernVietnam (theSa Huỳnh culture),Borneo, easternpeninsular Malaysia, easternCambodia, peninsularThailand, and other areas in Southeast Asia where these jade ornaments, along with other trade goods, were manufactured and exchanged (also known as theSa Huynh-Kalanay Interaction Sphere). Taiwan-sourced jade declined in use after around 500 BCE, and non-Taiwanese jade and other materials became more common.[16][7][8][9][10] The distribution of these jade artifacts were also accompanied by other evidence of maritime trade and shared material culture particularly between the Austronesians of the Neolithic Philippines, southern Vietnam, and Borneo.[16]
The wide distribution throughoutIsland Southeast Asia of the ceremonialbronze drums (c. 600 BCE to 400 CE) sourced from theDong Son culture of northern Vietnam is also evidence of the antiquity and density of this prehistoric Southeast Asian maritime network.[3]
During the operation of the maritime trade in jade artifacts, the Austronesianspice trade networks were also established byIslander Southeast Asians withSri Lanka andSouthern India by around 1500 to 600 BCE.[17][18][11][12] These early contacts resulted in the introduction of Austronesian crops and material culture to South Asia,[18] includingbetel nut chewing,coconuts,sandalwood, domesticatedbananas,[18][17]sugarcane,[19]cloves, andnutmeg.[20] It also introduced Austronesian sailing technologies likeoutrigger boats which are still utilized in Sri Lanka and southern India.[12][18] Semi-precious stone and glass ornaments showing northernIndian designs have also been recovered from theKhao Sam Kaeo (c. 400-100 BCE) andBan Don Ta Phet (c. 24 BCE to 276 CE) archaeological sites inThailand, along with trade goods from the Austronesian Sa Huynh-Kalanay Interaction Sphere. Both sites are coastal settlements and part of the jade trade network, indicating that the maritime routes of Austronesians had already reachedSouth Asia by this period.[3][21][15] South Asian crops like themung bean andhorsegram were also present in Khao Sam Kaeo, indicating the exchange was reciprocal.[18] There is also indirect evidence of very early Austronesian contacts withAfrica, based on the presence and spread of Austronesian domesticates like bananas,taro,chickens, andpurple yam in Africa in the first millennium BCE.[18]
The western circuit of the Maritime Silk Road also developed from earliermaritime trade routes in West Asia. These linkedSri Lanka, theMalabar Coast ofIndia,Persia,Mesopotamia,Arabia,Egypt, theHorn of Africa, and theGreco-Roman civilizations in theMediterranean. These trade routes (initially only near-coastal, short-range, and small-scale) has existed since theNeolithic, from at least theUbaid period (c. 5000 BCE) ofMesopotamia. They became regular trade routes between urban centers in West Asia by the first millennium BCE.[6][18][13]
By around the 2nd century BCE, the prehistoric Austronesian jade and spice trade networks in Southeast Asia fully connected with themaritime trade routes ofSouth Asia, theMiddle East, easternAfrica, and theMediterranean, becoming what is now known as the Maritime Silk Road. Prior to the 10th century, the eastern part of the route was primarily used by Southeast Asian Austronesian traders using distinctivesewn-plank andlashed-lug ships, althoughPersian andTamil traders also sailed the western parts of the routes.[3][13] It allowed the exchange of goods fromEast and Southeast Asia on one end, all the way toEurope and eastern Africa on the other.[1][13]
Austronesianthalassocracies controlled the flow of trade in the eastern regions of the Maritime Silk Road, especially thepolities around thestraits ofMalacca andBangka, theMalay Peninsula, and theMekong Delta; through which passed the main routes of the Austronesian trade ships toGiao Chỉ (in theTonkin Gulf) andGuangzhou (southernChina), the endpoints (later also includingQuanzhou by the 10th century CE). Chinese records misidentified these kingdoms as being "Indian" due to theIndianization of these regions.[3] Secondary routes also passed through the coastlines of theGulf of Thailand;[1][22] as well as through theJava Sea,Celebes Sea,Banda Sea, and theSulu Sea, reconnecting with the main route through the northern Philippines and Taiwan. The secondary routes also continue onward to theEast China Sea and theYellow Sea for a limited extent.[1] Glass artifacts fromIndia andEgypt that passed through glassworkers in Southeast Asian and South Asian ports have been recovered from graves in theKorean peninsula (c. 2nd-6th centuries CE), showing the furthest northeastern extent of the Maritime Silk Road.[15]
The main route of the western regions of the Maritime Silk Road directly crosses theIndian Ocean from the northern tip ofSumatra (or through theSunda Strait) toSri Lanka, southernIndia andBangladesh, and theMaldives. It branches from here into routes through theArabian Sea entering theGulf of Oman (into thePersian Gulf), and theGulf of Aden (into theRed Sea). Secondary routes also pass through the coastlines of theBay of Bengal, the Arabian Sea, and southwards along the coast ofEast Africa toZanzibar, theComoros,Madagascar, and theSeychelles.[1][23] The Maldives was of particular importance as a major hub for Austronesian sailors venturing through the western routes.[1]
The route was influential in the early spread ofHinduism andBuddhism to the east.[24][25] The close links of these religions to trade with South Asia led to the widespread adoption ofSanskrit as the tradelingua franca in the early Maritime Silk Road by the 4th century CE.[3]Han andTang dynasty Chinese records also indicate that the early Chinese Buddhistpilgrims to South Asia booked passage with the Austronesian ships (which they called thek'un-lun po) that traded in the Chinese port city ofGuangzhou. Books written by Chinese monks like Wan Chen and Hui-Lin contain detailed accounts of the large trading vessels from Southeast Asia dating back to at least the 3rd century CE.[26]
Austronesians were already sailing as far asEast Africa and theArabian Peninsula even during the earlier period.[27] Austronesians colonized the island ofMadagascar off the coast of Africa some time in between the 1st century CE to the 6th or 7th centuries CE.[27][28][29] It remained a part of the Maritime Silk Road, along with the nearby African, Arab, and Persian trading ports ofKilwa Kisiwani andZanzibar (Tanzania), and other ports along the mainland coasts of modernSomalia,Kenya, andMozambique.[30] Records from Portuguese explorers in the late 15th and early 16th centuries indicate that direct maritime links between Indonesia and Madagascar persisted up until shortly before the colonial period.[1]
Srivijaya, aHindu-Buddhist Austronesian polity founded atPalembang in 682 CE, rose to dominate the trade in the region around the straits ofMalacca andSunda and the South China Seaemporium by controlling the trade in luxury aromatics and Buddhist artifacts from West Asia to a thriving Tang market.[3]: 12 It emerged through the conquest and subjugation of neighboring thalassocracies. These includedMelayu,Kedah,Tarumanagara, andMataram, among others. These polities controlled the sea lanes in Southeast Asia and exploited the spice trade of theSpice Islands, as well as maritime trade-routes betweenIndia andChina.[31]
By the 7th century CE,Arabdhow traders also ventured into the routes earlier pioneered by Persian traders toSri Lanka, coinciding with thespread of Islam throughoutWest Asia. They pushed deeper east intoSrivijaya andGuangzhou, leading to the earliest spread ofIslam into Southeast Asian polities. During this period, thePersian language (Fārsī), became the dominant lingua franca of both the Maritime and overlandSilk Road.[3][32]
TheButuan boat burials of thePhilippines, which feature elevenlashed-lug boat remains of theAustronesian boatbuilding traditions (individually dated from 689 CE to 988 CE), were found in association with large amounts of trade goods fromChina,Cambodia,Thailand (Haripunjaya andSatingpra),Vietnam, and as far asPersia, indicating they traded as far as theMiddle East.[33][34][35]
By the 10th to 13th centuries, there was an economic boom in maritime trade, led primarily by the fact that theSong dynasty of China started building its own trading ships (chuán) capable of sailing sea routes. The Song court also loosened restrictions on private trade, despite the traditional ChineseConfucian disdain for trade.[3] This was partly due to the loss of access by the Song dynasty to the overlandSilk Road.[3]Song maritime technology was developed from observing Southeast AsianAustronesian ships. Before this, Chinese ships were essentially fluvial (riverine) in nature and operation and were not seaworthy.[36][4]
The Song started sending trading expeditions to the region they referred to asNan hai (Chinese:南海;pinyin:Nánhǎi;lit. 'South Seas'), mostly still dominated bySrivijaya, venturing as far south as theSulu Sea and theJava Sea. This led to the establishment of new trading ports in Southeast Asia (like inJava andSumatra) that specifically catered to the Chinese demand for goods like "dragon's brain perfume" (camphor) and other exotica.Quanzhou also became a major Chinese trading port during this period, joining the older trading port ofGuangzhou. Both became tightly linked to their Southeast Asian counterparts, leading historians to characterize the distinct trading circuit in this region as the "Asian Mediterranean", from its similarity to theMediterranean Sea Trade.[3] However, the Song enacted a 9-month limit on how long trade ships can stay at sea, limiting the range of Chinese trade ships to Southeast Asia.[5][37]
Arab and Tamil traders also increased their participation with direct trade to Chinese ports through theStrait of Malacca in the 10th to 13th centuries. The surprisenaval expeditions in 1025 ofRajendra I of the TamilChola Empire againstSrivijaya's ports along the strait, may have been motivated by Srivijaya's attempt to regulate or block Tamil trading guilds.[3] The Chola invasions ended Srivijaya's monopoly on the Strait of Malacca routes for around a century, during which many of the Srivijayan cities were occupied by the Chola. Srivijaya was left greatly weakened and was eventually subjugated bySinghasari by around 1275, before finally being absorbed by the successor thalassocracy ofMajapahit (1293–1527).[38][39]
China was invaded by theMongolYuan dynasty in the 13th century. Chinese shipping during this period was monopolized by the state, via foreign Muslim merchants partnered with the Yuan government inortogh relationships. Though unlike the Song, the Yuan lifted the 9-month limit, allowing Chinese trade to venture as far as South Asia. The Yuan also attempted naval invasions onJapan,Majapahit, andVietnam (AustronesianChampa, andKinhĐại Việt). All of which failed.[5][37] China itself was later devastated by floods, drought, and famine. Concurrently, theBlack Death was sweeping through Europe and Western Asia. All of these factors led to a slump in trade along the Maritime Silk Road in the 14th century.[3]
In the late 14th century, the city-state ofPalembang (the former capital of Srivijaya, which has sinceIslamized) sent an envoy to theHongwu Emperor, the first emperor of theMing dynasty (which overthrew the Yuan), to reestablish trade routes. The ruler of Palembang was hoping to regain the city's former wealth, independent of the Hindu-Buddhist Majapahit.Hayam Wuruk of Majapahit, angry at the actions of the vassal state, sent a punitive naval attack on Palembang in 1377, causing a diaspora of princes and nobles to theKingdom of Singapura. Singapura, in turn, was attacked and sacked in 1398.Parameswara, originally from Palembang and the last ruler of Singapura, fled to the western coast of theMalay Peninsula and founded the MuslimSultanate of Malacca in the early 15th century.[40]
During the same period in the early 15th century, the Ming dynasty launchedthe expeditions ofZheng He, with the goal of forcing the "barbarian kings" of Southeast Asia to resume sending "tribute" (i.e. regular trade routes) to the Ming court. This was typical of theSinocentric views at the time of viewing "trade as tribute". Zheng He's expeditions were short-lived, as the drain in imperial funds and the threat of invasion from the north led theXuande Emperor to cease the expeditions. He enacted thehai jin laws shortly after, and banned outgoing trade altogether. Although ultimately, Zheng He's expeditions were successful in their goal of restoring trade relations with Southeast Asia (in this case,Malacca) and the Ming dynasty.[3] By the mid-15th century, the Sultanate of Malacca had gained effective control of the Strait of Malacca. Further weakening Majapahit's influence greatly, which was already suffering from internal rebellions.[41] Trade from Malacca continued to arrive in Chinese ports in the brief period prior to the fall of Majapahit, thePortuguese invasion ofMalacca, and the fall of the Ming dynasty to theManchu invasions.[3][5][37][42]
The Maritime Silk Route was disrupted by thecolonial era in the 15th century, essentially being replaced with European trade routes. Shipbuilding of the formerly dominant Southeast Asian trading ships (jong, the source of the English term "junk") declined until it ceased entirely by the 17th century. Although Chinese-builtchuán survived until modern times.[3][43][4] There was new demand for spices from Southeast Asia and textiles from India and China, but these were now linked with direct trade routes to the European market, instead of passing through regional ports.[3]
By the 16th century, theAge of Exploration had begun. ThePortuguese Empire's capture ofMalacca led to the transfer of the trade centers to thesultanates ofAceh andJohor. TheSpanish Empire in thePhilippines established theManila-Acapulco Galleon Trade, which acquired trade goods likeChinaware and silk from Quanzhou and Zhangzhou, and spices (mostly from theSpice Islands of Moluccas) for the markets in Latin America and Europe. All of which were traded over thePacific toAcapulco inMexico and throughout the Spanish Americas; and also later traded via theFlota de Indias (Spanish treasure fleet) fromVeracruz in Mexico toSeville in Spain and onward throughout Europe. The Manila-Acapulco Galleon Trade route was the first permanent trade route across the Pacific. Similarly, theWest Indies Spanish treasure fleet was the first permanent transatlantic trade route in history. Both bypassed theIndian Ocean Maritime Silk Road entirely.[3]
The archaeological evidence of the Maritime Silk Road include numerous shipwrecks recovered along the route carrying (or associated with) trade goods sourced from various far-flung ports. The origins of these early ships are readily identifiable by a combination of distinctive features and shipbuilding techniques used (such aslashed-lug andsewn boat traditions).[37][4] These include thePontian boat (c. 260–430 CE),[3] thePunjulharjo boat (c. 660-780 CE),[44] theButuan ship burials (multiple boats ranging fromc. 689 to 988 CE),[35][45] theChau Tan shipwreck (c. late 8th to early 9th century CE),[44] theIntan wreck (c. early to mid-10th century CE),[3] theKarawang shipwreck (c. 10th century CE),[44] and theCirebon wreck (c. late 10th century CE), among others.[3]: 12 [46][47][48][36]
Almost all of the ships recovered from Southeast Asia before the 10th century belong to theAustronesian shipbuilding traditions, displaying variations and combinations of sewn-plank and lashed-lug techniques. Another early partial shipwreck, thePak Klong Kluay shipwreck (c. 2nd century CE), uniquely joined planks using peggedmortise and tenon joints. Though this is similar toPhoenician and laterGreco-Roman shipbuilding techniques, the ship is also Austronesian, with timber sourced locally from Southeast Asian trees and evidence of lashed-lug techniques on the inner surface. Some authors have pointed to this as evidence that the Phoenician mortise and tenon shipbuilding techniques originally developed outside of the Mediterranean.[44]
Only two shipwrecks recovered from Southeast Asia prior to the 10th century CE are not Austronesian and exhibit early Arabdhow shipbuilding techniques: thePhanom-Surin ship (c. 7th century CE) and theBelitung shipwreck (c. 826 CE),[36][44] Dhows similarly use sewn-plank techniques, but differ from Austronesian sewn-plank techniques in which the stitches are only visible from the inner surfaces and are discontinuous. They also did not originally use lashed-lug techniques, though later ships like the Belitung shipwreck adopted it from contact with Austronesian shipbuilders.[36] Some of the timber used on the major components of the Phanom-Surin ship is also sourced from Southeast Asian trees, despite its West Asian construction.[44] Similarly, some of the later Austronesian ships display elements of West Asian shipbuilding techniques (like cross-armedanchors) suggesting that the merchants and crew of the ships had multinational origins, regardless of where the ships were originally built.[44]
China did not start building sea-going ships that ventured into the Maritime Silk Road until theSong dynasty (c. 10th century CE).[3][5][36][44] The earliest known Chinese shipwrecks found along the Maritime Silk Road are theMing-eraTuriang wreck (c. 1305-1370 CE) and theBakau wreck (c. early 15th century CE).[3][49][50] Chinese-built ships (chuán) are also readily identifiable by being built with iron nails and clamps, in contrast to Austronesian and Western Asian ships which were built entirely with wood joining and fiber lashings. Other distinctive features of Chinese ships which developed from their earlier fluvial (riverine) ship technologies include a flat-bottomed design (thekeel was absent), a centralrudder (instead of two side-mounted quarter rudders), and the division of the hull into water-tight compartments.[4] By around the end of the Maritime Silk Road in the 14th and 15th century, ships that combined features of both Chinese and Austronesian boatbuilding traditions also start to appear, even reaching as far as India.[36][44]
Indian ships are similarly absent in the archaeological context in the eastern routes of the Maritime Silk Road prior to the 10th century CE.[3]: 10 TheGodavaya shipwreck (c. 2nd century CE) is the earliest evidence of maritime networking in theIndian Ocean, but it only involved local exchanges in raw materials along theSouth Indian coast.[44]
The archaeological evidence demonstrates that the trading ships in theSouth China Sea and theIndian Ocean were Austronesiansewn-plank andlashed-lug vessels and Arabdhows prior to the 10th century CE. Austronesian vessels dominated the long-distance maritime trade for much of the history of the Maritime Silk Road.[3]: 10 [43]
Chinese ceramics are also valuable archaeological markers of the Maritime Silk Road due to their relative indestructibility and the fact that they can be precisely dated. They first entered Southeast Asia via the ancient Austronesian maritime networks in the 2nd century BCE but were not initially a major export of China. They became exported by theTang dynasty (618-907 CE), rapidly increased in volume during theSong (960-1279 CE) andYuan dynasties (1279-1367 CE), before declining in theMing Dynasty (1368-1643 CE), and ceasing entirely in the 15th century. Their distribution throughout the Southeast Asian trade network is uneven, reflecting differences in local demand, buying power, and trade specialization. The largest concentrations of Chinese ceramics are found along theStrait of Melaka andJava, with other significant concentrations inSulawesi,Borneo, theRiau Archipelago, and thePhilippines.[51]
Although usually spoken of in modern times in the context of theEurocentric andSinocentricdemand for luxury goods and exotica by theRoman andChinese empires (hence the fixation onsilk in its name), the goods carried by the trading ships varied by which product was in demand by region and port.[3][6] They included ceramics, glass, beads, gems, ivory, fragrant wood, metals (both raw and finished goods), textiles (including silk), food (including grain, wine, and spices), aromatics, and animals, among others.[6]Ivory, in particular, was a significant export of east Africa (originating from overland trade routes through the African interior), leading Chirikure (2022) to label the western leg of the trade route as the "Maritime Ivory Route".[23]
It was also not small-scale trade or high value-low volume trade as some earlier historians had assumed. The goods carried by recovered shipwrecks show that they engaged inmerchant capitalism. A very large number of goods, often mass-produced, were traded along the route.[3][52]
The trade route encompassed numbers of seas and ocean; includingSouth China Sea,Strait of Malacca,Indian Ocean,Gulf of Bengal,Arabian Sea,Persian Gulf and theRed Sea. The maritime route overlaps with historic Southeast Asian maritime trade, spice trade,Indian Ocean trade and after 8th century—the Arabian naval trade network. The network also extend eastward to theEast China Sea and theYellow Sea to connect China with theKorean Peninsula and theJapanese archipelago.[1][3]
The Maritime Silk Road differed significantly in several aspects from the overlandSilk Road, from where it acquired its name, and thus should not be viewed as a mere extension of it. Traders traveling through the Maritime Silk Road could span the entire distance of the maritime routes, instead of through regional relays as with the overland route. Ships could carry far larger amounts of goods, creating greater economic impact with each exchange. Goods carried by the ships also differed from goods carried by caravans. Traders on the maritime route faced different perils like weather andpiracy, but they were not affected by political instability and could simply avoid areas in conflict.[6]
In May 2017, experts from various fields held a meeting in London to discuss the proposal to nominate "Maritime Silk Route" as a newUNESCO World Heritage Site.[53]
The academic research on the ancient Maritime Silk Road has been appropriated and mythologized by modern countries for political reasons.China, in particular, uses a mythologized image of the Maritime Silk Road for itsBelt and Road Initiative, first proposed byGeneral Secretary of the Chinese Communist PartyXi Jinping during avisit toIndonesia in 2015. It attempts to reconnect the old trade routes between the port cities of Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean, and assumes erroneously that Chinese sailors played a major role in developing the route.[3]
India has also mythologized the Maritime Silk Road withProject Mausam, launched in 2014, which similarly attempts to reconnect old trade links with surrounding countries in the Indian Ocean. India also portrays itself as playing a central role in the Maritime Silk Road, and early Indian nationalist historians often depicted its trade connections and cultural diffusion as "Indian colonizaton" under the vision of aGreater India.[3][14][54][55]
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