Page 187 - DILMUN NO 20

Historical Links between lndia and the Gu‫ﺇ‬f

‫ﻡ‬٩٩ ‫ﻡ‬٠٨

v‫ا‬sited lndia and wrote books describing its poliitcal and economic conditions,
its people's traditions and practices, and its ethnic and religious divisions.
Among them were travellers and merchants from the Gulf, like Sulaiman
Altaiir and Buzurg Ibn Shahriyar, who wrote some interesting travelogues.
AItaiir's accounts, dating back to 851 A٠D,, "include a description of trade
routes, some of prevailing social and economic practices, the main products
of lndia, Ceylon, Java, and China as well as certain legends'. 29 Bu2urg's
book, "Kitab Ajaib AIhind" or "0he Book of the Wonders of lndia', reflects its
author's well awareness of maritime world of lndia and the Gulf and presents
fantastic sea stories. 30

While commercial exchange between Arabia and lndia - particularly lndia's
southern parts - continued until the great setback in the 16th centuyr caused
by the emergence of Portugal as a dominant seapower in the Gulf and lndian
Ocean, the wto regions' bilateral intellectual and scientific contact began to
decline from about the 12th centuyr along with the general social and cultural
decline in both. The political fragmentation in the Abbasid Empire from the
9th and 10th centuries added to this decline and assisted the emergence of
Turkish and Persian influence in lndia at the expense of the Arabs.

THE PORTUGUESE ERA

ln order to obtain a large share in the overseas trade, the Portuguese kings
of the 15'h centuyr devoted their efforts to the discovery of a direct sea route
from Portugal to lndia, and to the monopolization of the Orient trade. T‫ا‬e
discovery of the route to the East,round the Cape of Good Hope,and the
arrival of vasco Da Gama and his ships in Calicut, an lndian port dominatde
then by the Arab traders, in 1498 were of a negative impact on the Arabs'
maritime activity in the lndian Ocean and their control over the Orient trade.
Aithough the Hindu ruler welcomed the newcomers as a policy of maintaining
his port's prosperity, "He refused to exclude the Arab merchants in favour of
the Portuguese'31,an attitude which resulted in the use of force against him
as well as against the Arab merchants. The position of these merchants