Coastal India

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Coastal India Coastal India.jpg
Coastal India
Satellite Picture of Coastal India. Coastal India Satellite picture.jpg
Satellite Picture of Coastal India.
Map of Coastal India with major landmarks. Coastal India topographical.jpg
Map of Coastal India with major landmarks.
Roman trade with ancient Coastal India according to the Periplus Maris Erythraei 1st century CE. Indo-Roman trade.jpg
Roman trade with ancient Coastal India according to the Periplus Maris Erythraei 1st century CE.

Coastal India is a geo-cultural region in the Indian subcontinent that spans the entire coastline of India. [1]

Contents

In 2024, the Indian total coastline was estimated to be 11,098.81 km. [2] Earlier in 1970, the National Hydrographic Office and Survey of India had calculated the coastline to be 7,516 km; as per the then existing techniques and technologies of measurement. As per 2024 data, Gujarat has the longest coastline with 2,340 km. The 2nd longest coastline belongs to Tamil Nadu with 1,068 km; followed by Andhra Pradesh with 1,053 km and West Bengal with 721 km. [2]

Geography

Coastal India, lies with in Coastal South Asia and which in turn lies within Indo-Pacific.

Coastal India is the coastal area of South India (also known as Peninsular India), and non-coastal area of South India is known as the Deccan Plateau. Coastal India's eastern coast is bound by the Eastern Ghats to its west and Bay of Bengal in the east. Coastal India's southern coast is bound by Laccadive Sea to the south and Deccan plateau to its north. Coastal India's western coast is bound by Arabian Sea to its west and the Western Ghats to its east.

Coastal states of India are on the eastern side are West Bengal, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Puducherry union territories, Tamil Nadu, and Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Coastal state of India on the south side are southern Tamil Nadu and southern Kerala. Coastal state of India on the west side are Kerala, Karnataka, Goa, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu union territories, and Lakshadweep.

History

A thriving trade existed between the Mediterranean world and Coastal Indian regions [3] [4] [5] [6] This led to significant intermingling between the people of Coastal India and the west asian world, particularly along the South West Indian Coastline along the Arabian Sea. Several west Asian communities have also settled and become part of the diversity of coastal south west India. These include the Parsis, [7] Bohras [8] and Baghdadi Jews [9] in the westernmost region, The descendants of west Asian and mediterranean traders like The Bearys of Kanara region and the Mappilas [10] along Malabar region, and the cochin jews [3] [4] [5] [10] [11] [12] [13] and Syriac Nasranis [3] [4] [5] [10] [11] [12] [13] along the southernmost region of South India. The Chola Empire established vast Tamil influence across South East Asian region [14] [15] [16] across Indonesia, Java, Bali, Sumatra, Malaysia and Singapore. This brought South Indian Heritage to Cambodia, Indonesia and Bali where the Balinese Hindu traditions still thrives. This also lead to intermingling between coastal India and the south east Asia particularly in the South eastern Cholamandalam coastline along the Bay of Bengal.

Maritime tarde routes from coastal India were responsible for the spread of Indian influence, thus creating the Greater India region which had sanskritised-Indosphere, especially in Southeast Asia, resulting in dissemination of Buddhism and Hinduism and Indianization of Southeast Asia. Today, Indian diaspora is world's largest diaspora.

Culture

The linguistic diversity of Coastal India includes languages of the Dravidian language family including Tamil, Telugu, Tulu, Malayalam, Beary and Kannada; languages belonging to the western zone of Indo Iranian language families including Gujarati, Marathi, Konkani, languages belonging to the central zone of the Indo-Iranian language families including Urdu and Persian and languages belonging to the eastern zone of Indo Iranian language family including Odia and Bengali. The region also has speakers of Semitic languages like Arabic, Hebrew and Aramaic. The common elements of the people of coastal India includes cuisine that consists of agrarian and coastal products and clothing that involves long flowing drapes with bare midriff for both men and women suited for humid and warm climate. [17] Throughout coastal India women wear drapes called saree in various styles. [17] In the western corner of the region the drapes are called as Dhoti for men. [17] and Chaniya choli for women, [17] further southwards the drapes are called as lungi or mundu for men. [17] and veshti for women. [17] Towards the southernmost tip of coastal south western India the social system of inheritance was once matrilineal. [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] There are various festivals celebrated in the coastal states centered on deities. [22]

Economy

Ancient trading routes

Coastal India and its Indian Ocean trade since ancient times has facilitated several trading routes:

Modern shipping routes

Channels

Bay of Bengal channels

See Channels in Bay of Bengal.

Laccadive Sea channels

See Channels in Laccadive Sea.

Arabian Sea channels

The Arabian Sea contains several significant shipping channels and straits that connect the Indian Ocean with the Persian Gulf and Red Sea:

Major channels and straits in the Arabian Sea
Channel/StraitLocationWidth (km)Depth (m)ConnectsNotes
Strait of HormuzBetween Iran and Oman39–96~100Arabian Sea to Persian GulfCritical global oil chokepoint
Eight Degree Channel South of Lakshadweep~150~500Laccadive Sea to Arabian SeaMajor shipping route to Maldives
Nine Degree Channel Through Lakshadweep~200~600Main Arabian Sea to Laccadive SeaPrimary India-Middle East route
Socotra GapBetween Somalia and Socotra~3003000+Arabian Sea to Somali BasinDeepwater passage
Indus Canyon Off Pakistan coast~100 (length)~1800Indus Delta to deep seaMajor submarine canyon
Oman Basin Central Arabian SeaN/A~3690Connects regional basinsDeepest part (~5800m in Owen Basin)

Museum

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Coastal States of India". iomenvis.nic.in. Retrieved 13 January 2021.
  2. 1 2 "MHA: India's recalculated coastline up 48% in 53 years". timesofindia.indiatimes.com.
  3. 1 2 3 Bjorn Landstrom (1964) "The Quest for India", Doubleday (publisher) English Edition, Stockholm.
  4. 1 2 3 Miller, J. Innes. (1969). The Spice Trade of The Roman Empire: 29 B.C. to A.D. 641. Oxford University Press. Special edition for Sandpiper Books. 1998. ISBN   0-19-814264-1.
  5. 1 2 3 Thomas Puthiakunnel, (1973) "Jewish colonies of India paved the way for St. Thomas", The Saint Thomas Christian Encyclopedia of India, ed. George Menachery, Vol. II., Trichur.
  6. ↑ Periplus Maris Erythraei "The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea", (trans). Wilfred Schoff (1912), reprinted South Asia Books 1995 ISBN   81-215-0699-9
  7. ↑ Hodivala, S. (1920), Studies in Parsi History, Bombay
  8. ↑ The Dawoodi Bohras: an anthropological perspective, by Shibani Roy. Published by B.R. Publishing, 1984.
  9. ↑ Sargon, J(1987) 'Baghdadi Jews of India and the Sassoons' in Jewish Daily Israel Today, Perspectiv/Opinion; Tuesday 25 August
  10. 1 2 3 Bindu Malieckal (2005) Muslims, Matriliny, and A Midsummer Night's Dream: European Encounters with the Mappilas of Malabar, India; The Muslim World Volume 95 Issue 2
  11. 1 2 Koder S. "History of the Jews of Kerala". The St. Thomas Christian Encyclopaedia of India, Ed. G. Menachery,1973.
  12. 1 2 Leslie Brown, (1956) The Indian Christians of St. Thomas. An Account of the Ancient Syrian Church of Malabar, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1956, 1982 (repr.)
  13. 1 2 Menachery G (1973) The St. Thomas Christian Encyclopedia of India, Ed. George Menachery, B.N.K. Press, vol. 2, ISBN   81-87132-06-X, Lib. Cong. Cat. Card. No. 73-905568; B.N.K. Press
  14. ↑ K.A. Nilakanta Sastri, K.A (1984) [1935]. The CōĻas. Madras: University of Madras.
  15. ↑ Keay, John. India: A History. New Delhi: Harper Collins Publishers. ISBN   0-00-255717-7.
  16. ↑ Hermann, Kulke; Rothermund D (2001) [2000]. A History of India. Routledge. ISBN   0-415-32920-5.
  17. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Boulanger, Chantal; (1997) Saris: An Illustrated Guide to the Indian Art of Draping, Shakti Press International, New York. ISBN   0-9661496-1-0
  18. ↑ Craddock, Norma. 1994. Anthills, Split Mothers, and Sacrifice: Conceptions of Female Power in the Mariyamman Tradition. Dissertation, U. of California, Berkeley.
  19. ↑ Trawick, Margaret. 1990a. Notes on Love in a Tamil Family. Berkeley: U. of California Press.
  20. ↑ Wadley, Susan, ed. 1980. The Powers of Tamil Women. Syracuse: Syracuse U. Press.
  21. ↑ Smith R.T. (2002) Matrifocality, in International encyclopedia of the social and behavioral sciences (eds) Smelser & Baltes, vol 14, pp 9416.
  22. ↑ Dikshitar, V. R. Ramachandra, The Lalita Cult, Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Pvt. Ltd. (Delhi, 1942, 2d ed. 1991, 3d ed. 1999).
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