Back Handel in die Indiese Oseaan Afrikaans تجارة المحيط الهندي Arabic Comercio transíndico Spanish Histoire du commerce dans l'océan Indien French Rete commerciale dell'Oceano Indiano Italian இந்திய பெருங்கடல் வர்த்தகம் Tamil
Indian Ocean trade has been a key factor in East–West exchanges throughout history. Long-distance maritime trade by Austronesian trade ships and South Asian and Middle Eastern dhows, made it a dynamic zone of interaction between peoples, cultures, and civilizations stretching from Southeast Asia to East and Southeast Africa, and the East Mediterranean in the West, in prehistoric and early historic periods. Cities and states on the Indian Ocean rim focused on both the sea and the land.