Indo-Mediterranean

{{Main|Indian Ocean#History|History of the Mediterranean region}}{{See also|History of the Middle East}}

From around 3000 BCE to 1000 CE, connectivity within Afro-Eurasia was centered upon the Indo-Mediterranean region;{{Cite journal |last=Burke |first=Edmund |date=2009 |title=Islam at the Center: Technological Complexes and the Roots of Modernity |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40542756 |journal=Journal of World History |volume=20 |issue=2 |pages=186 |issn=1045-6007 |jstor=40542756}} William Dalrymple has argued that connectivity in Eurasia centered on this region along with the West Pacific, which put together he refers to as a "Golden Road", until 1200 CE and the rise of the Silk Road.{{Cite web |last=Ghosh |first=Paramita |date=2024-03-12 |title=Building a new road |url=https://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/kochi/2024/Mar/12/building-a-new-road-3 |access-date=2024-08-29 |website=The New Indian Express |language=en}} Gamal Abdel Nasser, the second president of Egypt (which is at the heart of the Indo-Mediterranean) once described the country as "the crossroads of the world, the thoroughfare of its traders and passageway of its armies."{{Cite news |date=1956-08-27 |title=Foreign News: ROLE IN SEARCH OF A HERO |url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,864099,00.html |access-date=2025-02-16 |work=Time |language=en-US |issn=0040-781X}}

Caravan traffic through the extended arid zone at the heart of much of Afro-Eurasia played a significant role in allowing for Indian Ocean and Mediterranean ports to thrive and trade with each other.{{Cite journal |last=Wink |first=André |date=2002 |title=From the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean: Medieval History in Geographic Perspective |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3879375 |journal=Comparative Studies in Society and History |volume=44 |issue=3 |pages=434 |doi=10.1017/S001041750200021X |issn=0010-4175 |jstor=3879375|url-access=subscription }} However, Southeast Asia was only loosely connected to the Indo-Mediterranean trade, primarily receiving a few Mediterranean objects through the filter of South Asia.{{Cite journal |last1=Hoppál |first1=Krisztina |last2=Bellina |first2=Bérénice |last3=Dussubieux |first3=Laure |date=May 2024 |title=Southeast Asia and the Mediterranean World at the Turn of the First Millennium ce: Networks, Commodities and Cultural Reception |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/cambridge-archaeological-journal/article/southeast-asia-and-the-mediterranean-world-at-the-turn-of-the-first-millennium-ce-networks-commodities-and-cultural-reception/1F34EB90DD00A9F1045137BA977D2531 |journal=Cambridge Archaeological Journal |language=en |volume=34 |issue=2 |pages=291–314 |doi=10.1017/S0959774323000264 |issn=0959-7743 |hdl-access=free |hdl=10831/107793}}

{{See also|Spice trade|Ancient Suez Canal|Indian maritime history}}

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The Achaemenid Empire established dominance over territories throughout the Middle East by the fourth century BCE, creating new possibilities for interaction across Eurasia and its southern maritime spaces.{{Cite journal |last=Mukherjee |first=Rila |date=2017 |title=Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean: one world, two seas, multiple routes? |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/topoi_1764-0733_2017_act_15_1_3016 |journal=Topoi. Orient-Occident |volume=15 |issue=1 |pages=335–387}} It was then overtaken by Alexander the Great's eastward conquests in that century which resulted in an expansion of the Hellenistic world to northwest India; this helped link the Indian Ocean trade to the Eastern Mediterranean.{{Cite journal |last1=Lischi |first1=Silvia |last2=Odelli |first2=Eleonora |last3=Perumal |first3=Jhashree L. |last4=Lucejko |first4=Jeannette J. |last5=Ribechini |first5=Erika |last6=Mariotti Lippi |first6=Marta |last7=Selvaraj |first7=Thirumalini |last8=Colombini |first8=Maria Perla |last9=Raneri |first9=Simona |date=2020-08-04 |title=Indian Ocean trade connections: characterization and commercial routes of torpedo jars |journal=Heritage Science |language=en |volume=8 |issue=1 |pages=1–14 |doi=10.1186/s40494-020-00425-9 |doi-access=free |issn=2050-7445|hdl=11568/1051239 |hdl-access=free }} File:Indo-Roman_trade.jpg 1st century CE]]

In the second half of the first century BCE, the Roman Empire emerged with a unified realm and control over the Mediterranean, allowing for more investment and wealth generation; this Pax Romana allowed Rome to also become involved in the Indian Ocean trade.{{Citation |last=Schörle |first=Katia |title=3 Pearls, Power, and Profit: Mercantile Networks and Economic Considerations of the Pearl Trade in the Roman Empire |date=2015-01-01 |work=Across the Ocean: Nine Essays on Indo-Mediterranean Trade |pages=43–54 |url=https://brill.com/display/book/edcoll/9789004289536/B9789004289536_005.xml |access-date=2024-05-30 |publisher=Brill |language=en |isbn=978-90-04-28953-6}}{{Cite journal |last=Pollard |first=Elizabeth Ann |date=2009 |title=Pliny's Natural History and the Flavian Templum Pacis: Botanical Imperialism in First-Century C. E. Rome |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40542802 |journal=Journal of World History |volume=20 |issue=3 |pages=309–338 |jstor=40542802 |issn=1045-6007}} Their 30 BCE conquest of Egypt better positioned them to be involved in the region, with Indian ambassadors coming to Rome in increasing numbers as the Indo-Roman trade began to greatly expand in volume;{{Cite book |url=https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/37958 |title=Rome and the Worlds beyond its Frontiers |date=2016 |publisher=Brill |editor-last=Slootjes |editor-first=Daniëlle |pages=167 |doi=10.1163/9789004326750 |hdl=20.500.12657/37958 |isbn=978-90-04-32675-0 |language=English |editor-last2=Peachin |editor-first2=Michael}}{{Cite journal |last=Sidebotham |first=Steven E. |date=January 2016 |title=A conference on Indo-Mediterranean commerce - Federico de Romanis and Marco Maiuro (eds.), Across the Ocean: Nine Essays on Indo-Mediterranean Trade (Columbia Studies in the Classical Tradition vol. 41; Brill, Leiden 2015). Pp. ix + 204, figs. 6, maps 7 including colour. ISBN 978-90-04-28919-2. EUR 99/$128. |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-roman-archaeology/article/abs/conference-on-indomediterranean-commerce-de-romanis-federico-and-maiuro-marco-edd-across-the-ocean-nine-essays-on-indomediterranean-trade-columbia-studies-in-the-classical-tradition-vol-41-brill-leiden-2015-pp-ix-204-figs-6-maps-7-including-colour-isbn-9789004289192-eur-99128/50EFC31EA1EAF945AC3B2040F1AD6FEF |journal=Journal of Roman Archaeology |language=en |volume=29 |pages=915–919 |doi=10.1017/S1047759400073001 |issn=1047-7594|url-access=subscription }} Greek merchants settled on the west coast of India to facilitate the trade,{{Cite book |last=Malekandathil |first=Pius |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rN69iFj1PJoC&pg=PR7 |title=Maritime India: Trade, Religion and Polity in the Indian Ocean |date=2010 |publisher=Primus Books |isbn=978-93-80607-01-6 |language=en}} with Romans celebrating the luxury products and wealth thusly acquired.{{Cite book |last=Zarmakoupi |first=Mantha |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Uc-OAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA112 |title=Designing for Luxury on the Bay of Naples: Villas and Landscapes (c. 100 BCE - 79 CE) |date=2014 |publisher=OUP Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-967838-9 |language=en}} This connectivity between Europe and the Indian Ocean reduced the importance of the Black Sea ports that the Greeks had helped establish in earlier centuries.{{Cite book |last=King |first=Charles |url=https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=2uEjZfvTyI0C&oi=fnd&pg=PA73 |title=The Black Sea : A History: A History |date=2004-03-18 |publisher=Oxford University Press, USA |isbn=978-0-19-152916-0 |language=en}}

The Indo-Mediterranean also facilitated interactions between India and the Mesopotamians, Anatolians and Greeks in different time periods;{{Cite journal |last=Dandekar |first=R.N. |date=1970 |title=Some Aspects of the Indo-Mediterranean Contacts |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/039219217001807102 |journal=Diogenes |language=en |volume=18 |issue=71 |pages=18–38 |doi=10.1177/039219217001807102 |issn=0392-1921|url-access=subscription }} many actors were involved in facilitating trade throughout this region, including Egyptians, Nabateans and Palmyrenes.{{Cite journal |last=Simmons |first=Jeremy A. |date=November 2023 |title=Behind gold for pepper: The players and the game of Indo-Mediterranean trade |journal=Journal of Global History |language=en |volume=18 |issue=3 |pages=343–364 |doi=10.1017/S1740022823000165 |issn=1740-0228|doi-access=free }} The Abrahamic religions began to have a more significant presence in India in the early first millennium;{{Cite book |last=Andrade |first=Nathanael J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UrpQDwAAQBAJ&dq=info:o1fQq9a9eM8J:scholar.google.com/&pg=PR7 |title=The Journey of Christianity to India in Late Antiquity: Networks and the Movement of Culture |date=2018-04-19 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-108-41912-3 |language=en}} Christian commercial networks and their potential for enabling religion to spread in the Indian Ocean were to foreshadow, but not successfully parallel the later rise of Islam.{{Cite journal |last=Seland |first=Eivind Heldaas |date=2012 |title=Trade and Christianity in the Indian Ocean during Late Antiquity |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/article/479726/summary |journal=Journal of Late Antiquity |volume=5 |issue=1 |pages=72–86 |doi=10.1353/jla.2012.0002 |issn=1942-1273|url-access=subscription }}

Some evidence is present to suggest that Indo-Mediterranean trade may have also involved a "northern route" through the Caspian Sea and Pontic–Caspian steppe.{{Cite book |last=Schneider |first=Pierre |url=https://hal.science/hal-01376630 |title=From India to the Black Sea : an overlooked trade route? |date=2017}}

{{See also|Greater Middle East|Canal of the Pharaohs#Greek, Roman and Islamic works}}File:Map_of_expansion_of_Caliphate.svg in the Mediterranean region from 622 to 750 AD. {{legend|#a1584e|Expansion under Muhammad, 622–632}} {{legend|#ef9070|Expansion during the Rashidun Caliphate, 632–661}} {{legend|#fad07d|Expansion during the Umayyad Caliphate, 661–750}}]]

The expansion of the first Arab Muslim empires from the 7th century onward, which conquered much of the Mediterranean, played a role in bridging the Indo-Mediterranean together.Subhi Y. Labib (1969), "Capitalism in Medieval Islam", The Journal of Economic History 29 (1), p. 79–96 [80]. The Hajj pilgrimage, a fundamental element of Islam, also encouraged frequent convergence among Muslims who could make the maritime voyage toward Mecca. Islam's success in connecting land and maritime spaces throughout Afro-Eurasia, contrasting with certain anti-maritime attitudes such as kala pani that could be found in the Indian Ocean and Mediterranean from the pre-medieval era,{{Cite journal |last=Wink |first=André |date=2002 |title=From the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean: Medieval History in Geographic Perspective |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3879375 |journal=Comparative Studies in Society and History |volume=44 |issue=3 |pages=435 |doi=10.1017/S001041750200021X |jstor=3879375 |issn=0010-4175|url-access=subscription }} can be seen in the 14th century voyages of the famous traveller Ibn Battuta.{{Citation |last=Battuta |first=Ibn |title=Navigating the Indian Ocean in the 1300s |date=2020-01-17 |work=The Ocean Reader: History, Culture, Politics |pages=155–161 |editor-last=Roorda |editor-first=Eric Paul |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9781478007456-037/html?lang=en&srsltid=AfmBOorfeTdhNaFi24N1UP32rav2NKfJ6Edt-rPwKP00AyAHUQMzr6l0 |access-date=2025-01-25 |publisher=Duke University Press |language=en |doi=10.1515/9781478007456-037 |isbn=978-1-4780-0745-6|url-access=subscription }}

By the 14th century, buoyed by the emergence of overlapping trading networks from the western regions of Africa to the east coast, central sub-Saharan Africa became more involved in Indo-Mediterranean trade, with the Indo-Mediterranean generally going on to become more economically unified by the spread of Islam.[https://www8.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/journals/MqJlBLaw/2006/9.html# The Black Road – Trade and State-Building in Medieval Sub-Saharan Africa] S R Luttrell

{{See also|British foreign policy in the Middle East|East of Suez}}

File:Ottoman-Empire-peak-1590-map.jpg at its territorial peak in 1590]]

The Portuguese created new ties between Europe and the Indian Ocean in the 1490s by discovering a route through the Indo-Atlantic that circumnavigated Africa. The new route gave Europe the opportunity for greater parity with the commercial dominance of Muslims in the Indian Ocean even as they were facing the threat of the expanding Ottoman Empire from the southeast;{{Cite web |last=Ufheil-Somers |first=Amanda |date=1992-09-02 |title=The Europe of Columbus and Bayazid |url=https://merip.org/1992/09/the-europe-of-columbus-and-bayazid/ |access-date=2024-12-28 |website=MERIP |language=en-US}} Ramachandra Byrappa has argued that the Ottomans may have intentionally destroyed an overland trade route between the Indian economic sphere and Europe seeking to make conquest easier around the Middle East, but that this inadvertently led to Western colonialism, as the Europeans grew in influence because of their success in discovering alternative routes into the world. Wang Gungwu has similarly pointed out that it was the medieval "stalemate" between the "Christian West and core Islamic lands" in the Mediterranean that led to Atlantic Europe's integration into the world.{{Citation |last=Gungwu |first=Wang |title=4. A Two-Ocean Mediterranean |date=2012-03-09 |work=Anthony Reid and the Study of the Southeast Asian Past |pages=69–84 |editor-last=Wade |editor-first=Geoff |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1355/9789814311977-006/pdf?licenseType=restricted |access-date=2025-02-15 |publisher=ISEAS Publishing |language=en |doi=10.1355/9789814311977-006/pdf?licensetype=restricted |isbn=978-981-4311-97-7 |editor2-last=Tana |editor2-first=Li}} The resulting shifts in world dynamics saw the Indo-Mediterranean become less central until the 21st century.{{Cite web |title=Rise of revisionism and structural risks in the Eastern Mediterranean |url=https://www.orfonline.org/english/expert-speak/rise-of-revisionism-and-structural-risks-in-the-eastern-mediterranean |access-date=2025-01-16 |website=orfonline.org |language=en}}

For the Ottomans, their conquest of Constantinople in 1453 increased their reach in the Mediterranean, and in the next century, they also gained access to the western Indian Ocean by acquiring Egypt and Baghdad. This set the stage for the Ottoman–Portuguese confrontations.{{Cite journal |last=Özbaran |first=Salih |date=1985-04-20 |title=A Review of Portuguese and Turkish Sources for the Ottomans in Arabia and the Indian Ocean in the 16th Century |url=https://dergipark.org.tr/en/pub/ttkbelleten/issue/65233/1004837 |journal=Belleten |language=en |volume=49 |issue=193 |pages=65–78 |doi=10.37879/ttkbelleten.1004837 |doi-broken-date=24 January 2025 |issn=0041-4255}} As for the Portuguese, their perception and persecution of Muslims as the primary enemy in the region fostered an anti-Portuguese sentiment among Indo-Mediterranean Muslims along with some calls for jihad.{{Citation |last=Kooria |first=Mahmood |title="Killed the Pilgrims and Persecuted Them": Portuguese Estado da India's Encounters with the Hajj in the Sixteenth Century |date=2017 |work=The Hajj and Europe in the Age of Empire |pages=14–46 |editor-last=Ryad |editor-first=Umar |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1163/j.ctt1w8h34p.7 |access-date=2024-12-23 |publisher=Brill |doi=10.1163/j.ctt1w8h34p.7?seq=28|doi-broken-date=24 January 2025 |jstor=10.1163/j.ctt1w8h34p.7 }} This formed part of a broader Ibero-Islamic conflict ranging from Europe to Maritime Southeast Asia, involving major developments such as the Iberian Reconquista.{{cite book |last1=Truxillo |first1=Charles A. |title=By the Sword and the Cross: The Historical Evolution of the Catholic World Monarchy in Spain and the New World, 1492-1825}} King Manuel I of Portugal even sought at the turn of the 16th century to strike at Jerusalem, the target of Crusades from Mediterranean Europe for centuries, from the Red Sea.{{Cite web |last=Portugal |first=RCAAP-Repositórios Científicos de Acesso Aberto de |title=RCAAP - D. Manuel, a Índia e o Brasil |url=https://www.rcaap.pt/detail.jsp?locale=pt&id=oai:revistas.usp.br:article/19117 |access-date=2025-03-12 |website=RCAAP - Repositórios Científicos de Acesso Aberto de Portugal |language=pt}}{{Citation |last=Barros |first=Maria Filomena Lopes de |title=In the Name of the Minorities: Lisbon’s Muslims as Emissaries from the King of Portugal to the Sultan of Egypt |date=2018-12-18 |work=Mamluk Cairo, a Crossroads for Embassies |pages=711–724 |url=https://brill.com/display/book/edcoll/9789004384637/BP000029.xml?language=en |access-date=2025-03-12 |publisher=Brill |language=en |isbn=978-90-04-38463-7}} In general, the Western European presence in the Indian Ocean was based on precedents formed in the Mediterranean by Venice and Genoa, bringing gun-based "trading-post empires" to a previously peaceful region{{Cite web |last1=Lavery |first1=Charne |last2=Hofmeyr |first2=Isabel |date=2020-06-07 |title=Exploring the Indian Ocean as a rich archive of history – above and below the water line |url=https://theconversation.com/exploring-the-indian-ocean-as-a-rich-archive-of-history-above-and-below-the-water-line-133817 |access-date=2025-01-08 |website=The Conversation |language=en-US}} (though contestation and piracy had been features of the region beforehand.){{Cite journal |last=Prange |first=Sebastian R. |date=2013-01-01 |title=The Contested Sea: Regimes of Maritime Violence in the Pre-Modern Indian Ocean |url=https://brill.com/view/journals/jemh/17/1/article-p9_2.xml |journal=Journal of Early Modern History |language=en |volume=17 |issue=1 |pages=9–33 |doi=10.1163/15700658-12342355 |issn=1385-3783|url-access=subscription }} By the 17th and 18th centuries, various Western European forces were contesting the Persian Gulf, which had important, long-standing ties to trade in the Levant.{{Citation |last=Slot |first=Ben |title=At the Backdoor of the Levant: Anglo-Dutch Competition in the Persian Gulf, 1623–1766 |date=2000-01-01 |work=Friends and Rivals in the East |pages=117–133 |url=https://brill.com/display/book/edcoll/9789004476615/B9789004476615_s009.xml |access-date=2025-01-21 |publisher=Brill |language=en |isbn=978-90-04-47661-5}}File:British empire.png was achieved by the mid-20th century in much of the Eastern Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean]]Rising Western dominance and changes in communication technologies in the Indian Ocean and Mediterranean began to reshape local dynamics by the 19th century.{{Cite book |last=Ilbert |first=Robert |editor-first1=Leila |editor-first2=C. A. |editor-first3=Robert |editor-last1=Fawaz |editor-last2=Bayly |editor-last3=Ilbert |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7312/fawa11426 |title=Modernity and Culture from the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean, 1890--1920 |date=2002 |publisher=Columbia University Press |doi=10.7312/fawa11426|jstor=10.7312/fawa11426 |isbn=978-0-231-11427-1 }} After 1837, overland travel from Britain to British India was popularised;{{Cite web |date=2003-11-03 |title=Legacy of the British empire |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/expat/4190628/Legacy-of-the-British-empire.html |access-date=2025-01-08 |website=The Telegraph |language=en}} from 1840, steam ships were used to facilitate this travel on both sides of Egypt, and from the 1850s, railways were constructed along the route. The usefulness of this new route was shown during the Indian Rebellion of 1857, with 5,000 British troops having arrived through Egypt.{{Cite web |last=Parry |first=Jonathan |date=2021-03-31 |title=Suez canal: what the 'ditch' meant to the British empire in the 19th century |url=https://theconversation.com/suez-canal-what-the-ditch-meant-to-the-british-empire-in-the-19th-century-158169 |access-date=2025-01-08 |website=The Conversation |language=en-US}} The 1869 completion of the Suez Canal then helped to greatly expand European colonialism, as it enabled faster passage from Europe to Indian Ocean Afro-Asia.{{Cite web |title=Behind the Enduring Relevance of the Suez Canal Is the Long Shadow of European Colonialism |url=https://thewire.in/history/suez-canal-relevance-europe-colonialism |access-date=2024-10-04 |website=The Wire |language=en}} By the turn of the 20th century, British planners contemplated building an Indo-Mediterranean railway to shore up lines of communication with India in case the Suez Canal was blocked.{{Cite journal |last=Stratton |first=Morton B. |date=1944 |title=British Railways and Motor Roads in the Middle East--1918-1930 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/141053 |journal=Economic Geography |volume=20 |issue=2 |pages=116–129 |doi=10.2307/141053 |jstor=141053|url-access=subscription }}{{Cite book |last=Cameron |first=Verney Lovett |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iG06AQAAMAAJ |title=Our Future Highway to India |date=1880 |publisher=Macmillan and Company |language=en}}

During World War II, British and American forces prevented Axis Italy from obtaining control of the Mediterranean and Middle East.{{Cite journal |last=Razer |first=Michael |date=2024-06-28 |title=Brian E. Walter, Blue Water War: The Maritime Struggle for the Mediterranean and Middle East 1940-1945 by Michael Razer |url=https://doi.org/10.25071/2561-5467.1226 |journal=The Northern Mariner / Le marin du nord |volume=33 |issue=3-4 |pages=583–584 |doi=10.25071/2561-5467.1226 |issn=2561-5467}} (See also: Indian Ocean in World War II)

{{See also|United States foreign policy in the Middle East|Indo-Abrahamic Alliance}}File:Nordostpassage NASA Worldwind-globe.pngBritish dominance in the region was ended with the 1956 Suez Crisis, with the United States then going through a period of Cold War conflict with the Soviet Union before emerging as the new hegemon in the region.{{Cite web |date=2024-10-30 |title=The 1956 Suez Crisis: Israel's geopolitical turning point |url=https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-826811 |access-date=2024-11-21 |website=The Jerusalem Post {{!}} JPost.com |language=en}} In the early 21st century, the U.S. has had to compete with China in the Indian Ocean, and so it has furthered its ties with India.{{Cite web |last=Amin |first=Huma |date=2020-01-14 |title=United States Presence in Indian Ocean: Counter Strategy For China |url=https://moderndiplomacy.eu/2020/01/14/united-states-presence-in-indian-ocean-counter-strategy-for-china/ |access-date=2024-11-21 |website=Modern Diplomacy |language=en-US}}

Italian foreign policy planners have recently been examining Italy's modern role in the "Enlarged Mediterranean", including its ties to the Indo-Mediterranean and the Indo-Pacific.{{Cite journal |last1=Coticchia |first1=Fabrizio |last2=Mazziotti di Celso |first2=Matteo |date=2024-01-10 |title=Still on the same path? Italian foreign and defence policy in the Enlarged Mediterranean |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13629395.2023.2294252 |journal=Mediterranean Politics |language=en |pages=1–10 |doi=10.1080/13629395.2023.2294252 |issn=1362-9395|url-access=subscription }}{{Cite web |last=Shenoy |first=Vas |date=2021-12-30 |title=Exploring Draghi's Italy and its relation with India |url=https://decode39.com/2580/draghi-italy-india-vas-shenoy/ |access-date=2024-05-30 |website=Decode39 |language=en-US}} They see the Red Sea as particularly important due its bridging role in the Indo-Mediterranean.{{Cite web |last=gateway |date=2023-08-17 |title=Connecting Italy's Mediterranean and India's Ocean |url=https://www.gatewayhouse.in/italys-mediterranean-indias-ocean/ |access-date=2024-11-16 |website=Gateway House |language=en}}

The 21st century melting of the Arctic is paving the way for new shipping routes between the Atlantic and the Pacific that are shorter than and may challenge the dominance of the conventional route through the Suez Canal.{{Cite news |title=While the world tore its hair out over the Suez, Russia saw an opportunity |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/russia-suez-touts-arctic-sea-route/2021/03/29/576f6794-9097-11eb-aadc-af78701a30ca_story.html |newspaper=The Washington Post}} Geopolitical events also affect the relevance of the Indo-Mediterranean; for example, from December 2023 to mid-February 2024, Houthi attacks caused a 90% drop in Red Sea container traffic.{{Cite web |last=Rossi |first=Emanuele |date=2024-09-17 |title=Are Russia and China Being Opportunists and Backing the Houthis? {{!}} EBSCOhost |url=https://openurl.ebsco.com/EPDB:gcd:8:27045112/detailv2?sid=ebsco:plink:scholar&id=ebsco:gcd:179762626&crl=c&link_origin=scholar.google.com |access-date=2024-12-22 |website=openurl.ebsco.com |language=en}}

File:IMEC and its connections.pngThe India–Middle East–Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) has been proposed to handle trade in the region. Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar affirmed the initiative in 2024, citing the historical importance and rising trade taking place in the region.{{Cite news |title=At CII Conclave, Jaishankar lays out vision for stronger India-Mediterranean ties |url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/at-cii-conclave-jaishankar-lays-out-vision-for-stronger-india-mediterranean-ties-101725633246222.html |work=Hindustan Times}}

The [https://cnky.in/the-indo-mediterranean-initiative-imi/ Indo-Mediterranean Initiative (IMI)]{{Cite web |date=20 June 2024 |title=How the Indo-Mediterranean Initiative will strengthen India-Italy ties |url=https://www.firstpost.com/world/how-the-indo-mediterranean-initiative-will-strengthen-india-italy-ties-13784459.html}} was launched on the 16th of June 2024 at Ara Pacis under the leadership of Senator Giulio Terzi di Sant'Agata, former foreign Minister of Italy hosted{{Cite web |date=2024-06-17 |title=India and Italy strengthen ties with Indo-Mediterranean initiative |url=https://www.wionews.com/world/india-and-italy-strengthen-ties-with-indo-mediterranean-initiative-732626 |access-date=2024-09-14 |website=WION |language=en-us}} by the Indian Chamber of Commerce's Chief Representative for Italy, Vas Shenoy. The initiative aims to track IMEC, bring together decision makers, thinkers, policy experts in the IMEC countries to discuss the security, future and strategy of the Indo-Mediterranean.

{{Main|List of sovereign states and dependent territories in the Indian Ocean|List of Mediterranean countries}}

This is a list of countries that are part of the Indo-Mediterranean, since they lie along the Indian Ocean or the Mediterranean, or both. It is arranged from north to south, west to east in directional order.

{{col-begin}}

{{col-break|width = 25%}}

• Southern Europe
• {{PRT}}
• {{ESP}}
• {{FRA}}
• {{ITA}}
• {{MLT}}
• {{SLO}}
• {{HRV}}
• {{BIH}}
• {{MNE}}
• {{ALB}}
• {{GRC}}
• {{TUR}}
• {{CYP}}
• North Africa
• {{MAR}}
• {{DZA}}
• {{TUN}}
• {{LBY}}
• {{EGY}}

{{col-break|width = 25%}}

• Sub-Saharan Africa
• {{SDN}}
• {{ERI}}
• {{DJI}}
• {{SOM}}
• {{KEN}}
• {{TAN}}
• {{MOZ}}
• {{ZAF}}
• {{MDG}}
• {{COM}}
• {{MUS}}
• {{SYC}}

{{col-break|width = 25%}}

• West Asia
• {{SYR}}
• {{LBN}}
• {{ISR}}
• {{PAL}}
• {{JOR}}
• {{SAU}}
• {{YEM}}
• {{OMN}}
• {{UAE}}
• {{QAT}}
• {{BHR}}
• {{KWT}}
• {{IRQ}}
• {{IRN}}

{{col-break|width = 25%}}

• South Asia
• {{PAK}}
• {{IND}}
• {{MDV}}
• {{LKA}}
• {{BGD}}

{{col-break|width = 25%}}

• Southeast Asia
• {{MMR}}
• {{THA}}
• {{MYS}}
• {{IDN}}

{{col-break|width = 25%}}

• Oceania
• {{AUS}}

{{col-end}}

• Northeast Africa
• Berenice Troglodytica, a historical Egyptian port serving Indo-Mediterranean trade{{Cite journal |last=Kotarba-Morley |first=Anna M. |date=2015-07-03 |title=The Port of Berenike Troglodytica on the Red Sea: A Landscape-Based Approach to the Study of its Harbour and its Role in Indo-Mediterranean Trade |url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0067270X.2015.1092208 |journal=Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa |language=en |volume=50 |issue=3 |pages=422–423 |doi=10.1080/0067270X.2015.1092208 |issn=0067-270X}}
• Global Southeast
• Southern Sea Route

{{Reflist}}

• [https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/28346 Entre mers—Outre-mer: Spaces, Modes and Agents of Indo-Mediterranean Connectivity]
• [https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0725513601067000005 Porous Connections: The Mediterranean and the Red Sea]

{{Regions of the world}}

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