Voyagers from India sailed to Southeast Asia on monsoon winds 2,000 years ago, a scientist says, challenging the view Greeks discovered the winds much later.
A researcher at the National Institute of Oceanography in Goa has combined archaeological, meteorological and literary data to suggest Indian mariners were sailing to Southeast Asia riding monsoon winds as far back as 100 B.C., the Calcutta Telegraph reported Monday.
A first century A.D. Greek text and a contemporary Roman geographer named Pliny had claimed a Greek navigator named Hippalus discovered the monsoon winds and the route across the Arabian Sea to India around A.D. 45.
Researcher Sila Tripati has used multiple lines of evidence -- including inscriptions on ancient Indian coins and bronze pottery found at an archaeological site in western Thailand -- to question that claim and argue that mariners of India's east coast knew about the monsoon winds 200 years before Hippalus.
"This work provides fresh insights into the maritime history of India," said Ruby Maloni, professor of ancient Indian history at the University of Mumbai, who was not connected with the research but is an expert on ancient trade contacts.
Source: UPI [April 18, 2011]
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| Indian vessel as shown in the Fra Mauro map, AD 1460 [Credit: Wikipedia] |
A first century A.D. Greek text and a contemporary Roman geographer named Pliny had claimed a Greek navigator named Hippalus discovered the monsoon winds and the route across the Arabian Sea to India around A.D. 45.
Researcher Sila Tripati has used multiple lines of evidence -- including inscriptions on ancient Indian coins and bronze pottery found at an archaeological site in western Thailand -- to question that claim and argue that mariners of India's east coast knew about the monsoon winds 200 years before Hippalus.
"This work provides fresh insights into the maritime history of India," said Ruby Maloni, professor of ancient Indian history at the University of Mumbai, who was not connected with the research but is an expert on ancient trade contacts.
Source: UPI [April 18, 2011]