Question

Explain the nature of Indias early maritime connection to Rome.

Answer 1

Roman trade with India started around the beginning of the Common Era following the reign of Augustus and his conquest of Egypt.[1] The use of monsoon winds, which enabled a voyage safer than a long and dangerous coastal voyage, helped enhance trade between India and Rome.[2] Roman trade diaspora stopped in Southern India, establishing trading settlements which remained long after the fall of the Roman empire[3] and Rome's loss of the Red Sea ports,[4] which had previously been used to secure trade with India by the Greco-Roman world since the time of the Ptolemaic dynasty.[5]