21 Facts About The Indian Ocean

1.

Along its core, the Indian Ocean has some large marginal or regional seas such as the Arabian Sea, Laccadive Sea, Somali Sea, Bay of Bengal, and Andaman Sea.

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2.

Indian Ocean has been known by its present name since at least 1515 when the Latin form Oceanus Orientalis Indicus is attested, named for India, which projects into it.

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3.

Meridionally, the Indian Ocean is delimited from the Atlantic Ocean by the 20° east meridian, running south from Cape Agulhas, and from the Pacific Ocean by the meridian of 146°49'E, running south from the southernmost point of Tasmania.

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4.

The northernmost extent of the Indian Ocean is approximately 30° north in the Persian Gulf.

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5.

All of the Indian Ocean is in the Eastern Hemisphere and the centre of the Eastern Hemisphere, the 90th meridian east, passes through the Ninety East Ridge.

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6.

In contrast to the Atlantic and Pacific, the Indian Ocean is enclosed by major landmasses and an archipelago on three sides and does not stretch from pole to pole, and can be likened to an embayed ocean.

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7.

The rivers of the Indian Ocean are shorter on average than those of the other major oceans.

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8.

The Indian Ocean is artificially connected to the Mediterranean Sea without ship lock through the Suez Canal, which is accessible via the Red Sea.

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9.

Indian Ocean contains the largest submarine fans of the world, the Bengal Fan and Indus Fan, and the largest areas of slope terraces and rift valleys.

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10.

Water circulation in the Indian Ocean is dominated by the Subtropical Anticyclonic Gyre, the eastern extension of which is blocked by the Southeast Indian Ridge and the 90°E Ridge.

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11.

Several species on the islands of the Indian Ocean are textbook cases of evolutionary processes; the dung beetles, day geckos, and lemurs are all examples of adaptive radiation.

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12.

The written history of the Indian Ocean has been Eurocentric and largely dependent on the availability of written sources from the colonial era.

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13.

Diverse history of the Indian Ocean is a unique mix of cultures, ethnic groups, natural resources, and shipping routes.

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14.

The contemporaneous settlement of Madagascar by Austronesian sailors shows that the littoral margins of the Indian Ocean were being both well-populated and regularly traversed at least by this time.

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15.

European slave trade in the Indian Ocean began when Portugal established Estado da India in the early 16th century.

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16.

Maps that included the Indian Ocean had been produced by Muslim geographers centuries before the Ottoman conquests; Muslim scholars, such as Ibn Battuta in the 14th Century, had visited most parts of the known world; contemporarily with Vasco da Gama, Arab navigator Ahmad ibn Majid had compiled a guide to navigation in the Indian Ocean; the Ottomans, nevertheless, began their own parallel era of discovery which rivalled the European expansion.

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17.

Slave trade in the Indian Ocean was, nevertheless, very limited compared to c slaves exported across the Atlantic.

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18.

On 26 December 2004 fourteen countries around the Indian Ocean were hit by a wave of tsunamis caused by the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake.

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19.

Sovereignty of the Chagos Archipelago in the Indian Ocean is disputed between the United Kingdom and Mauritius.

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20.

Sea lanes in the Indian Ocean are considered among the most strategically important in the world with more than 80 percent of the world's seaborne trade in oil transits through the Indian Ocean and its vital chokepoints, with 40 percent passing through the Strait of Hormuz, 35 percent through the Strait of Malacca and 8 percent through the Bab el-Mandab Strait.

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21.

Indian Ocean provides major sea routes connecting the Middle East, Africa, and East Asia with Europe and the Americas.

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