India, China, and the Maritime Silk Road: More Than Just a Trade Route

From ancient times to the medieval era, the Maritime Silk Road (also known as the Indian Ocean trade routes) has served as a trade superhighway connecting India, China, Southeast Asia, the Arab world, East Africa, and the Mediterranean.

The Maritime Silk Road is an icon of pre-modern globalization, and we can learn a great deal about the interconnectedness of the ancient and medieval world through examining the unique details of this network. But it was more than just a trade route -- the Maritime Silk Road was traversed not only by merchants, but also diplomats, adventurers, monks, and others.

Enjoy the video!

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Sources (non-exhaustive!):
The Formation of Chinese Maritime Networks to Southern Asia, 1200-1450 by Tansen Sen
Sino–Malay Trade and Diplomacy from the Tenth through the Fourteenth Century by Derek Heng
An Early Age of Commerce in Southeast Asia, 900-1300 CE by Geoff Wade
"Indianization" from the Indian Point of View: Trade and Cultural Contacts with Southeast Asia in the Early First Millennium C.E. by Monica L. Smith

[vineetmishra]

Liking the video before watching cuz I know it's gonna be lit🔥🔥

[croatia]

In the US, India’s history is very overlooked. The Chola Empire, one of the richest and longest lasting trading kingdoms in human history, gets less teaching time in world history classes than Henry VIII of England, a single ruler who was king of a country of only about 5 million at the time. I wouldn’t know any Indian history outside of the Maurya, Gupta, Chola, Mughal, and British empires if it weren’t for this channel. Thank you, and I hope history isn’t taught with as much eurocentrism in the future.

[Sri_Krish]

Another Great Video 👏 Thanks from Tamilnadu, India

[piyushkumarvikram]

Bro as an Indian, I feel that you are way too OP. I remember studying history of my country and it felt like burden/useless subject because of the way textbooks are style/designed/written. But you made it really interesting, and I feel teachers could also use it to create a positive interest in the subject. I have a feeling buddy you will go a long and best of luck buddy!!!

[majapahitsumatra]

I'm delighted to learn about all these things, most of us just think of British and mughals when they think about Indian history, no one to blame except our textbook writers

[islandsunset]

There is festival in Odisha called Bali Jatra. It started as a celebration of time when oriya merchants and people went to Indonesia and Sri Lanka using the winds patterns. It is held in Karthik purnima.

[jasatotakouzeno]

I was always curious why here (Luzon, Philippines) had a large indian influence. One of our earliest forms of written writing was in sanskrit (Laguna Copperplate). Thanks for shedding light on us SEAns who don’t know even our own history :3

[kabeshkiboi]

I literally cried.
Dude, we missed you! <3
Thanks for this video, I've always been looking forward to this.

[chavalivenkatapadmavathi]

Thank you odd compas you are doing so much to lift india's history to world theater i'd suggest you do a video on satavahana empire

[randomvlogsanne]

I love how you focus on the not-so-known history of India and Southeast Asia as well. I've always wondered about the cultural similarities between India and Southeast Asian countries (especially Thailand), and "now I know" why. :)

[msnnarendran]

the moment I saw the notification, I knew I was gonna learn more about my Tamil people history, A history which has been neglected and many times tried to be deleted from the history, thanks to the channel for letting the people to know about the significance of South Indian Kingdoms keep it up guys

[nikhilnair]

Fun fact: European colonization also began in a similar fashion to Ming interferences in Kerala politics. One of the first political steps taken by the Portuguese in India was to support Kochi gain full independence from Kozhikode. It was in fact the Portuguese who crowned the ruler of Kochi, breaking his fielty to the Samudri of Kozhikode.

[cyberhikikomori]

The way I see it, Medieval India is to Asia as Italy was to Medieval Europe.

Inherited a cultural legacy from a once-unified empire, now composed of multiple states; is itself an important hub of culture, science & religion exporting these to the rest of Asia; more interested in trade & cultural exchange than territorial hegemony.

India's contribution to SEA cultural identity is as much if not more than China's

[lolollolol]

We never learn about Chinese or Indian history here in Canada. This is great. Thank you.

[Skyvastern]

Tamils helped so much in expanding our Indian culture to the rest of the world. I think they're really underrated, as not many people know about their contributions. At least here in North India.

[simulify]

Good video. I like that you focus on South Asian history, most of us don't know about our own region

Edit: So India has pretty much influenced countries of South East and East Asia

[Alexander_D_Shaffer]

Every time I see the notification that there is another Odd Compass video, my day is instantly made! Hello from Taiwan, along the periphery of the Maritime Silk Road!

[the_miracle_aligner]

So you're telling me that ever since ancient times, Everyyyyboday wanted to suck on the warm teat of the Chinese market? XD Another great video man, Your channel is one of the most intriguing discoveries I made this year. As an Indian myself it so refreshing to finally learn more about different eras in Indian history than what was taught in school, which was rather limited tbh. Keep up the great work <3

[MukulBhardwaj]

I dont even know why this video hasn't got hundreds of thousand of views till now, its been a month already! the content quality is super!

[nikhilkay]

Once again, you provided 15 minutes of unparalleled knowledge on medieval Asia. your channel deserves at least a million subscribers.