Throughout millennia, India has been at the intersection of historic maritime routes, radiating across the Western and Eastern reaches of the Indian Ocean. The Indian Peninsula lies at the centre of these routes, dominating the Indian Ocean. The South-West and South-East monsoon winds determined shipping and trade patterns. Ports on the Indian coastline were at the very centre of this flourishing international trade. Pepper, cloves, cardamom and nutmeg brought the world to India, to its historic Malabar Coast, known as Spice Coast. Fishermen, sailors and merchants travelled the waters of the Indian Ocean linking the world’s earliest civilisation from Africa to East Asia in a complex web of relationships. Later these spices would bring the ships of the Dutch East India Company followed by the French, the Portuguese and the English in search of these valued condiments. The trading posts established by the Europeans ultimately led to our colonisation by the British.
2. The Spice Route Initiative reportedly soon to be launched as a major Government project, seeks to revive, in a contemporary context, these long-standing trade and shipping links that India enjoyed with the entire Indian Ocean littoral. The Spice Route encompassed ancient sea routes and well known caravan routes. It is our counter to the Silk Route. Spices and other goods such as Indian textiles were shipped to ports on the Arabian Peninsula and then transported over land by caravans to ports on the Mediterranean. They were also transported by well-known caravan routes from India to Central Asia and China. Thus was created an elaborate network of trade routes, across land and sea, with India serving as a major trade and transportation node. The Spice Route Initiative is particularly relevant in our increasingly globalized world, with India seeking to emerge as a major centre for international trade and transport and a maritime power.
3. As a country intersected by major maritime and caravan routes, India developed an inclusive culture with a substantial Indian Diaspora spread across the ancient world. The Spice Route Initiative reportedly seeks to highlight these ancient ties and India’s growing soft power. It will underscore the historic cultural and civilizational linkages with the 22 countries participating in the Initiative. It would hopefully emerge as India’s alternative to China’s ‘One Belt, One Road’, in a project where India’s dominance and historical linkages cannot be questioned by China.
4. The Spice Route Initiative is also aimed at sharing the heritage among the 31 countries along the ancient route. The initiative is expected to bring in a substantial number of foreign tourists to India to trace this historic journey. The centre-piece of the project is the Kochi-Kodungallur belt in central Kerala, where the ancient spice port Muziris was located and where merchants from West Asia and Mediterranean region came by sea and land. Archaeological evidence from excavations in Muziris has supported this theory. The evidence points to the spice trade between Muziris — a port that flourished two millennia ago — and the West, before it mysteriously disappeared in the 14th century following natural calamities. Thus, the Spice Route which interlinked the world’s earliest civilisation including India and Egypt in a complex web of relationship with Europe also seeks to revive and strengthen these ancient ties through trade, tourism and an intercultural dialogue. Since it was trade that underpinned many of these cross cultural relationships which later helped to exchange culture and civilisation through the Indian Ocean to its littoral States, it is hoped that it will also lead to increased business and trade links with countries on the route along with tourism and the development of cultural linkages including the heritage associated with the route and rediscovery of India’s maritime trade relations with the world.
(The author is a former Indian Ambassador and headed the Europe desk at the Indian Foreign Office)