Chronology

CA. 5000 BCE

Earliest evidence of navigation across northern Indian Ocean

CA. 2000 BCE

Food crop exchanges between Africa and

Asia

331 BCE

Alexander the Great establishes Alexandria,

^Egyp^t

CA.

Hippalus “discovers” the monsoons

1st century ce

Periplus of the Erythraen Sea

ca. 100 bce-400 ce

Earliest Austronesian migrations to Madagascar

ca. 411 ce

Buddhist monk Faxian sails through Strait of Melaka

622 ce

Muhammad’s hijra from Mecca to Madina

670-1025

Srivijaya dominant state of insular Southeast Asia

869-883 ce

Zanj Revolt

977 ce

Earthquake destroys Siraf

1330s-1340s

Ibn Battuta visits countries of Indian Ocean

1390s-1515

Melaka dominates maritime Southeast Asia trade

1405-1433

Ming “treasure ship” voyages of Zheng He

1498

Portuguese enter Indian Ocean waters

1511

Portuguese seize Melaka

1589

Portuguese defeat Ottoman fleet at Mombasa

1600

English East India Company established

1602

Dutch East Indies Company created

1605

Armenian merchants forcibly resettled at

New Julfa, Persia

1656

Dutch settle Cape Town

1749

Busaidi dynasty comes to power in Oman

1757

British victory at Battle of Plassy

19th century

Massive Chinese migration to Southeast Asia

1806-10

British capture Cape from Dutch, Ile de

France from French

19th century

British antislavery campaign in Indian

Ocean

1822

British occupy Singapore

1826-40

Omani ruler shifts capital from Masqat to

Zanzibar Town

1820s

First steamships in Indian Ocean

Late 1830s-1910

Indian indentured labor replaces slavery in many British colonies

1843

British establish Hong Kong, open China to free trade

1853

British impose peace treaty on Gulf states

1817-1822, 1835-1837, 1858-1859,

1865-1869

Cholera epidemics sweep across Indian Ocean

1869

Suez Canal opens

1883

Krakatau erupts

1908-1938

Discovery and first production of oil in Gulf region

2004

Asian tsunami

148 Chronology