“Merchants Came to Malabar”: Diasporic Communities in the Indian Ocean

Because of the monsoons, traders easily sailed across the Indian Ocean. The monsoons also meant that traders needed to wait a few months before the winds and currents shifted, so many settled in entrepôts around the Indian Ocean. In a recent post on Melaka, I wrote about the many people who had settled in the town. We can also see a similar process along the Malabar coast in southern India. Sebastian Prager discussed the settlement of Arabs in Monsoon Islam: Trade and Faith on the Medieval Malabar Coast.

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