Ancient Indian Colonization in South-East Asia c7.58

c7.58

The view that the beginnings of Indian Colonization in South-east Asia should be placed not later than the first century A.D. is also supported by the fact that trade relations between India and China, by way of sea, may be traced back to the second century B.C.⁹ As the Chinese vessels did not proceed beyond Northern Annam till after the first century A.D., it may be presumed that the Indian vessels plied at least as far as Annam even in the second century B.C. As the vessels in those days kept close to the coast, we may conclude that even in the second century B.C. Indian mariners and merchants must have been quite familiar with those regions in Indo-China and Malay Archipelago, where we find Indian colonies at a later date. It is therefore quite probable that Indian colonies were set up in the first century A.D. or even earlier.