Arabian Sea

The Arabian Sea is a region of the northern Indian Ocean bounded on the north by Pakistan and Iran, on the west by the Gulf of Aden, Guardafui Channel and the Arabian Peninsula, on the southeast by the Laccadive Sea,[1] on the southwest by the Somali Sea,[2] and on the east by India. Its total area is 3,862,000 km2 (1,491,000 sq mi) and its maximum depth is 4,652 meters (15,262 ft). The Gulf of Aden in the west connects the Arabian Sea to the Red Sea through the strait of Bab-el-Mandeb, and the Gulf of Oman is in the northwest, connecting it to the Persian Gulf.

Arabian Sea
Coordinates14°N 65°E
TypeSea
Part ofIndian Ocean
Basin countries India,  Iran,  Maldives,  Oman,  Pakistan,  United Arab Emirates,  Yemen,  Somalia
Max. width2,400 km (1,500 mi)
Surface area3,862,000 km2 (1,491,000 sq mi)
Max. depth4,652 m (15,262 ft)
IslandsAstola island, Basavaraja Durga Island, Lakshadweep, Masirah Island, Piram Island, Pirotan, Socotra
17th century map depicting the locations of the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea.

The Arabian Sea has been crossed by many important marine trade routes since the 3rd or 2nd millennium BCE. Major seaports include Kandla Port, Okha Port, Mumbai Port, Nhava Sheva Port (Navi Mumbai), Mormugão Port (Goa), New Mangalore Port, Vizhinjam International Seaport and Kochi Port in India, the Port of Karachi, Port Qasim, and the Gwadar Port in Pakistan, Chabahar Port in Iran and the Port of Salalah in Salalah, Oman. The largest islands in the Arabian Sea include Socotra (Yemen), Masirah Island (Oman), Lakshadweep (India) and Astola Island (Pakistan).

Geography
Arabian Sea as seen from space.

The Arabian Sea's surface area is about 3,862,000 km2 (1,491,130 sq mi).[3] The maximum width of the sea is approximately 2,400 km (1,490 mi), and its maximum depth is 4,652 metres (15,262 ft). The biggest river flowing into the sea is the Indus River.

The Arabian Sea has two important branches — the Gulf of Aden in the southwest, connecting with the Red Sea through the strait of Bab-el-Mandeb; and the Gulf of Oman to the northwest, connecting with the Persian Gulf. There are also the gulfs of Khambhat and Kutch on the Indian Coast.

The countries with coastlines on the Arabian Sea are Yemen, Oman, Pakistan, Iran, India and the Maldives.[3]

Limits

The International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the Arabian Sea as follows:[4]

Alternative names

The Arabian sea was called Erythraean Sea during the times of the Roman empire.[3]

The Arabian Sea historically and geographically has been referred to with many different names by Arabian and European geographers and travelers, including Sindhu Sagar,[5] Arabbi Samudra,[5] and the Erythraean Sea,[6] there are many official maps showing the different names of the sea.

The sea labeled as Mare Erythraeum in the map from Imperia Persarum et Macedonum, 1903.
Map showing the sea labeled as Persian Sea during the Persian Empire, 1747.

Trade routes
Names, routes and locations of the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea.

The Arabian Sea has been an important marine trade route since the era of the coastal sailing vessels from possibly as early as the 3rd millennium BCE, certainly the late 2nd millennium BCE through the later days known as the Age of Sail. By the time of Julius Caesar, several well-established combined land-sea trade routes depended upon water transport through the sea around the rough inland terrain features to its north.

These routes usually began in the Far East or down river from Madhya Pradesh, India with transshipment via historic Bharuch (Bharakuccha), traversed past the inhospitable coast of modern day Iran, then split around Hadhramaut, Yemen into two streams north into the Gulf of Aden and thence into the Levant, or south into Alexandria via Red Sea ports such as Axum. Each major route involved transhipping to pack animal caravan, travel through desert country and risk of bandits and extortionate tolls by local potentates.

This southern coastal route past the rough country in the southern Arabian Peninsula was significant, and the Egyptian Pharaohs built several shallow canals to service the trade, one more or less along the route of today's Suez canal, and another from the Red Sea to the Nile River, both shallow works that were swallowed up by huge sand storms in antiquity. Later the kingdom of Axum arose in Ethiopia to rule a mercantile empire rooted in the trade with Europe via Alexandria.

Major ports
The Kochi Port located on the south-west coast of India is the nearest Indian port to the international shipping routes, as well as one of the largest and busiest ports serving the Arabian Sea. Seen here is the International Container Transshipment Terminal, the only such facility in India.

The Port of Karachi, Pakistan's largest and busiest seaport lies on the coast of the sea. It is located between the Karachi towns of Kiamari and Saddar.

The Gwadar Port of Pakistan is a warm-water, deep-sea port situated at Gwadar in Balochistan at the apex of the Arabian Sea and at the entrance of the Persian Gulf, about 460 km west of Karachi and approximately 75 km (47 mi) east of Pakistan's border with Iran. The port is located on the eastern bay of a natural hammerhead-shaped peninsula jutting out into the Arabian Sea from the coastline.

Port of Salalah in Salalah, Oman is also a major port in the area. The International Task Force often uses the port as a base. There is a significant number of warships of all nations coming in and out of the port, which makes it a very safe bubble. The port handled just under 3.5m teu in 2009.[7]

Jawaharlal Nehru Port in Mumbai is the largest port in the Arabian Sea, and the largest container port in India. Major Indian ports in the Arabian Sea are Mundra Port, Kandla Port, Nava Sheva,Vizhinjam International Seaport The Vizhinjam International Deepwater Multipurpose Seaport, also known as the Vizhinjam International Seaport and the Port of Trivandrum . Kochi Port, Mumbai Port, and Mormugão.[8][9]

Islands
Landsat view of Socotra, an island of Yemen.

There are several islands in the Arabian Sea, with the most important ones being Lakshadweep Islands (India), Socotra (Yemen), Masirah (Oman) and Astola Island (Pakistan).

The Lakshadweep Islands (formerly known as the Laccadive, Minicoy, and Aminidivi Islands) is a group of islands in the Laccadive Sea region of Arabian Sea, 200 to 440 km (120 to 270 mi) off the southwestern coast of India. The archipelago is a union territory and is governed by the Union Government of India. The islands form the smallest union territory of India with their total surface area being just 32 km2 (12 sq mi). The islands are the northernmost of the Lakshadweep-Maldives-Chagos group of islands.

Astola Island, also known as Jezira Haft Talar in Balochi, or 'Island of the Seven Hills', is a small, uninhabited island in the northern tip of the Arabian Sea in Pakistan's territorial waters.

Socotra, also spelled Soqotra, is the largest island, being part of a small archipelago of four islands. It lies some 240 km (150 mi) east of the Horn of Africa and 380 km (240 mi) south of the Arabian Peninsula.

Masirah is an island off the east coast of Oman.

Dead zone

The dead zone is an area in the Gulf of Oman that is completely depleted of oxygen, as a result of which it does not support marine life. It is the world's largest-known dead zone with an area larger than that of Scotland.[10]

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See also

Notes
  1. Banse, Karl, and Charles R. McClain. "Winter blooms of phytoplankton in the Arabian Sea as observed by the Coastal Zone Color Scanner." Marine Ecology Progress Series (1986): 201-211.
  2. Pham, J. Peter. "Putting Somali piracy in context." Journal of Contemporary African Studies 28.3 (2010): 325-341.
  3. Arabian Sea, Encyclopædia Britannica
  4. "Limits of Oceans and Seas, 3rd edition" (PDF). International Hydrographic Organization. 1953. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 December 2017. Retrieved 7 February 2010.
  5. "Kamat's Potpourri: The Arabian Sea". kamat.com.
  6. "The Voyage around the Erythraean Sea". washington.edu.
  7. Salalah’s versatility beats the slump Archived October 25, 2012, at the Wayback Machine, Port of Salalah
  8. "TRAFFIC HANDLED AT MAJOR PORTS (LAST 7 YEARS)" (PDF). shipping.gov.in.
  9. "WORLD PORT RANKINGS" (PDF). aapa.files.cms-plus.com. 2009.
  10. "World's largest 'dead zone' discovered, and it's not in the Gulf of Mexico". nola.com.

References

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Arabian Sea". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.

Media related to Arabian Sea at Wikimedia Commons

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