Page 59 - ie2 August 2019

dia, the Ptolemies had begun to exploit India’s total exports to Africa, region-wise ($ million)
trading opportunities with India prior to
the Roman involvement but, according to Region in Africa 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19
the historian Strabo, the volume of com- Central Africa 1251.3 1251.5 1044.9 1142.8 1342.1
merce between India and Greece was not East Africa 10152.3 7311.9 6728.8 6532.5 7377.5
comparable to that of later Indian-Roman North Africa 5711.7 4595.0 4407.3 4874.3 5888.6
trade. The Periplus Maris Erythraei men- Other South African countries 3214.0 1968.3 1510.9 1593.3 1856.4
tions a time when sea trade between India Southern African Customs Union (SACU) 5532.4 3804.0 3785.7 4042.0 4377.5
and Egypt did not involve direct sailings. West Africa 6980.2 6108.3 5651.7 6719.0 7698.3
In India, the ports of Barbaricum (mod- Grand total 32841.89 25039.02 23129.36 24903.95 28540.33
ern Karachi), Barygaza, Muziris, Korkai,
Kaveripattinam and Arikamedu on the India's total imports from Africa, region-wise ($ million)
southern tip of India were the main cen- Region in Africa 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19
tres of this trade. Central Africa 265.8 530.8 368.7 479.3 554.3
With the establishment of Roman
Egypt, the Romans took over and further East Africa 1442.0 1326.8 1319.1 1403.8 1550.3
developed the already existing trade. Ro- North Africa 4065.8 2892.8 2929.2 4026.5 5728.1
man trade with India played an important Other South African countries 5259.4 3629.5 3947.1 6412.8 5643.2
role in further developing the Red Sea Southern African Customs Union (SACU) 7567.2 6546.8 7255.6 8633.7 7555.0
route. Starting around 100 BCE a route West Africa 20034.6 16740.6 13024.9 16833.2 20083.9
from Roman Egypt to India was estab- Grand total 38634.88 31667.27 28844.71 37789.2 41114.73

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