bay of bengal and arabian seabay of bengal and arabian sea

European slave trade in the Indian Ocean began when Portugal established Estado da ndia in the early 16th century. WebCoordinates: 15N 88E The Bay of Bengal is the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean. Geological evidences suggest the tsunamis caused by these impacts reached 205m (673ft) above sea level and 45km (28mi) inland. It developed independently from the European global trade in the Mediterranean and Atlantic and remained largely independent from them until European 19th-century colonial dominance. The Marginal Seas Of The Indian Ocean The Arabian Sea also previously experienced fewer severe cyclones than the Bay of Bengal off India's eastern coast. It is also the worlds largest river delta and comprises several river systems, including the Ganges River and Brahmaputra River. Bay of Bengal Most important are the Ganges-Brahmaputra, Andhra, Mahadevan, Krishna, and Godavari canyons. The Andaman and Nicobar Islands archipelago separates this marginal sea from the Bay of Bengal. Sea level also increases in the Indian Ocean, except in the south tropical Indian Ocean where it decreases, a pattern most likely caused by rising levels of greenhouse gases. The majority of the people died from the flooding of most of the Ganges Delta islands. from the Indian mainland. Cyclonesintense tropical storms of high winds and torrential rainsoccur in spring (AprilMay) and fall (OctoberNovember); these are the weeks preceeding the onset of monsoon rains and the weeks following their retreat. [76] 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 Mjid 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. The gulf is rich in fish, pearl oysters, and extensive reef which are threatened by pollution from spills and industrial waste. Story first published: Monday, July 24, 2023, 18:08 [IST] [97], The 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.[98]. Although the risk for future tsunamis is high, a major megathrust such as the one in 2004 is likely to be followed by a long dormant period. [96] In February 2019, the International Court of Justice in The Hague issued an advisory opinion stating that the UK must transfer the Chagos Archipelago to Mauritius. By 2013, attacks off the Horn region's coast had steadily declined due to active private security and international navy patrols, especially by the Indian Navy. The channel covers a length of approximately 1,000 miles with an average depth of 1,800 feet. Annually, the Arabian Sea looses fresh water through intense evaporation (1 m yr 1) while the Bay of Bengal receives immense quantities of fresh water by way of heavy precipitation (2 m yr 1) [Prasad, 1997] as well as by run off from peninsular rivers (1.625 10 12 m 3 yr 1) [Subramanian, 1993]. Some species have been successfully recovered since then the population of white rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum simum) increased from less than 20 individuals in 1895 to more than 17,000 as of 2013. The main submarine features include the beginning of the long, seismically active Java Trench near the Nicobar-Sumatra mainland and of the aseismic Ninetyeast Ridge. In the southern hemisphere, the winds are generally milder, but summer storms near Mauritius can be severe. Only a handful of storms in the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal - about one every 10 years - achieve the level of super cyclone. [73], The history of the Indian Ocean is marked by maritime trade; cultural and commercial exchange probably date back at least seven thousand years. The sea extends south till the Breueh Island. Near the three major mid-ocean ridges the ocean floor is relatively young and therefore bare of sediment, except for the Southwest Indian Ridge due to its ultra-slow spreading rate. The sea extends south till the Breueh Island. Guido Santevecchi: Di Maio e la Via della Seta: Faremo i conti nel 2020, siglato accordo su Trieste in Corriere della Sera, 5 November 2019. spread Islam along the western shores of the Indian Ocean, List of ports and harbours of the Indian Ocean, List of sovereign states and dependent territories in the Indian Ocean, "World Map / World Atlas / Atlas of the World Including Geography Facts and Flags - WorldAtlas.com", Shankar, Vinayachandran & Unnikrishnan 2002, "Recent changes in the summer monsoon circulation and their impact on dynamics and thermodynamics of the Arabian Sea", "Plane Search Shows World's Oceans Are Full of Trash", "New marine life found in deep sea vents", "Anthropology: The sad truth about uncontacted tribes", "Chagos Islands dispute: UK 'threatened' Mauritius", "Foreign Office quietly rejects International Court ruling to hand back Chagos Islands", "Ending the history of silence: reconstructing European slave trading in the Indian Ocean", "West Africa Pirates Seen Threatening Oil and Shipping", "The Indian Ocean in Eurasian and African world-systems before the sixteenth century", "Indian Ocean food globalisation and Africa", "Local endemism within the Western Ghats-Sri Lanka biodiversity hotspot", "Beyond the String of Pearls: Is there really a Security Dilemma in the Indian Ocean? All maps, graphics, flags, photos and original descriptions 2023 worldatlas.com, 11 Most Beautiful Lakes In South Carolina. Chennai Meteorological Department has warned fishermen not to go fishing in the sea due to the high speed of cyclone winds in the Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea. The sea has a maximum depth of 15,262 feet. According to the definition of the International Hydrographic Bureau, the southern boundary extends from Dondra Head at the southern end of Sri Lanka in the west to the northern tip of the Indonesian island of Sumatra in the east. The Arabian Sea is to the northwest, and the Andaman Sea to the northeast. In the Persian Gulf, the Gulf of Bahrain separates Qatar from the Arabic Peninsula. The Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait separates Sri Lanka from India, while the Adam's Bridge separates the two. Endemic and threatened mammals include the dibatag (Ammodorcas clarkei) and Speke's gazelle (Gazella spekei); the Somali wild ass (Equus africanus somaliensis) and hamadryas baboon (Papio hamadryas). The damages are estimated to cost over $13 billion, surpassing the 2008 Nargis Cyclone. Claimed. The Bay of Bengal is the Indian Oceans second-largest subdivision after the Arabian Sea. Monsoon winds are prevalent across the ocean and affect the climate of the neighboring coastal lands. [74] 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. The unknown author of the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea describes this route, as well as the commodities that were traded along various commercial ports on the coasts of the Horn of Africa and India circa 1CE. Bay of Bengal The northern end of the Red Sea terminates in the Gulf of Aqaba and Gulf of Suez. [26], In 1999, the Indian Ocean Experiment showed that fossil fuel and biomass burning in South and Southeast Asia caused air pollution (also known as the Asian brown cloud) that reach as far as the Intertropical Convergence Zone. The missing factor", "Cultures del mn: El desafiament de la diversitat", "Africa, the Indian Ocean World, and the 'Early Modern': Historiographical Conventions and Problems", "A simple ocean data assimilation analysis of the global upper ocean 195095. Effect of mesoscale eddies on the transport of low-salinity water [38], Icebergs drift as far north as 55 south latitude, similar to the Pacific but less than in the Atlantic where icebergs reach up to 45S. [56] Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal exchange of salt and tracers [citation needed] To the south it is bounded by the Southern Ocean or Antarctica depending on the definition in use. Also called Lakshadweep Sea, the waterbody is generally warm with constant temperatures that hostover 3,600 species of marine flora and fauna making it a very rich marine biological resource. The climate of the Bay of Bengal is dominated by the monsoons. Something went wrong. [4] It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. From November through April a continental high-pressure system north of the bay produces northeast winds (the northeast monsoon) characteristic of the winter season. During this period, independent, short-distance oversea communications along its littoral margins evolved into an all-embracing network. The 1970 Bhola Cyclone formed on November 8, 1970, on the Bay of Bengals central parts and intensified as it traveled northwards. There are uninhabited islands in the sea as well as major hydrocarbon reserves beneath the sea. [51], This biodiversity hotspot (and namesake ecoregion and "Endemic Bird Area") is a patchwork of small forested areas, often with a unique assemblage of species within each, located within 200km (120mi) from the coast and covering a total area of c. 6,200km2 (2,400sqmi). 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. [8], In Ancient Greek geography, the Indian Ocean region known to the Greeks was called the Erythraean Sea. [12], The active margins of the Indian Ocean have an average width (horizontal distance from land to shelf break[13]) of 190.61km (11.810.38mi) with a maximum width of 175km (109mi). [80] During the 1st and 2nd centuries AD intensive trade relations developed between Roman Egypt and the Tamil kingdoms of the Cheras, Cholas and Pandyas in Southern India. [16], Marginal seas, gulfs, bays and straits of the Indian Ocean include:[11]. [45], Mangroves covers 80,984km2 (31,268sqmi) in the Indian Ocean region, or almost half of the world's mangrove habitat, of which 42,500km2 (16,400sqmi) is located in Indonesia, or 50% of mangroves in the Indian Ocean. Indian wood have been found in Sumerian cities, there is evidence of Akkad coastal trade in the region, and contacts between India and the Red Sea dates back to 2300 B.C. Save. Two large gyres, one in the northern hemisphere flowing clockwise and one south of the equator moving anticlockwise (including the Agulhas Current and Agulhas Return Current), constitute the dominant flow pattern. Other major rivers emptying into the Bay of Bengal include the Padma, Barak, Irrawaddy, Baitarani, Godavari, Brahmani, Krishna, Mahanadi, and Kaveri. This hypothesis is supported by mtDNA research which reveals a rapid dispersal event during the Late Pleistocene (11,000years ago). [64] These hotspot tracks have been broken by the still active spreading ridges mentioned above. WebWhy Arabian sea is called 'Sea' and Bay of Bengal is Called 'Bay'? At 20 S the temperature is about 72 to 75 F (22 to 24 C); at the 40th parallel, 57 to 61 F (14 to 16 C); and at 60 S, 30 to 32 F (1 to 0 C). Indian Ocean - Upwelling - Quora. The Bay of Bengal is bordered to the north by a wide continental shelf that narrows to the south and by slopes of varying gradient on the northwest, north, and northeast, all cut by canyons from the rivers. Bernhard Simon: Can The New Silk Road Compete With The Maritime Silk Road? [82], Arabic missionaries and merchants began to spread Islam along the western shores of the Indian Ocean from the 8th century, if not earlier. 17 June 2021 Arabian Sea emerging as a cyclone hotspot Faster warming in recent years increases Indias west coast's vulnerability to devastating storms, scientists say. ", "The long-time adaptation of coelacanths to moderate deep water: reviewing the evidences", "Creating Larger and Better Connected Protected Areas Enhances the Persistence of Big Game Species in the Maputaland-Pondoland-Albany Biodiversity Hotspot", "Abrupt changes in Indian summer monsoon strength during 33,800 to 5500 years BP", "Volumes of the World's Oceans from ETOPO1", "The greatest emporium in the inhabited world", "Seafaring simulations and the origin of prehistoric settlers to Madagascar", "Southern Arabia and the Islamicisation of the Central Indian Ocean Archipelagoes", "Patterns of Indian Ocean sea-level change in a warming climate", "The complicating sea: the Indian Ocean as method", Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East, "Mangrove ecosystems of the Indian Ocean region", "Coastal biodiversity in the Indian Ocean: The known, the unknown", "Swahili cosmopolitanism in Africa and the Indian Ocean world, AD 6001500", "Beijing-bound flight from Malaysia missing", "The Indian Ocean experiment: widespread air pollution from South and Southeast Asia", "Antarctic icebergs: A significant natural ocean sound source in the Southern Hemisphere", "Cultural Exchange in the Indian Ocean Region", "Global biodiversity conservation: the critical role of hotspots", "Revised plate motions relative to the hotspots from combined Atlantic and Indian Ocean hotspot tracks", 10.1130/0091-7613(1993)021<0275:rpmrtt>2.3.co;2, "The Indian Ocean in the long eighteenth century", "India at the cross-roads of human evolution", "Scholars and the sea: a historiography of the Indian Ocean", "Mid-Holocene vertebrate bone Concentration-Lagersttte on oceanic island Mauritius provides a window into the ecosystem of the dodo (Raphus cucullatus)", 11370/bf8f6218-1f85-4100-8a90-02e5e70a89b6, "Rules for Maldivian Trading Ships Travelling Abroad (1925) and a Sojourn in Southern Ceylon", "A reduction in marine primary productivity driven by rapid warming over the tropical Indian Ocean", "The Curious Case of Indian Ocean Warming", "Highly variable recurrence of tsunamis in the 7,400 years before the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami", "Plants that perform for you? Arabian Sea, northwestern part of the Indian Ocean, covering a total area of about 1,491,000 square miles (3,862,000 square km) and forming part of the principal sea route between Europe and India. [47], The West Indian Ocean coelacanth was discovered in the Indian Ocean off South Africa in the 1930s and in the late 1990s another species, the Indonesian coelacanth, was discovered off Sulawesi Island, Indonesia. Share. The Greeks began to explore the Indian Ocean following the conquests of Alexander the Great, who ordered a circumnavigation of the Arabian Peninsula in 323BCE. The common catch includes sardine, scad, snapper, tuna, and shrimp. Review. During the winter monsoon (NovemberFebruary), however, circulation is reversed north of 30S and winds are weakened during winter and the transitional periods between the monsoons. [9], Unlike the Pacific Ocean where the civilization of the Polynesians reached most of the far-flung islands and atolls and populated them, almost all the islands, archipelagos and atolls of the Indian Ocean were uninhabited until colonial times. Arabian Sea Although they form in different ways, the worlds largest bays like the Gulf of Guinea, Bay of Bengal, and the Gulf of Mexico formed through plate tectonics. In the Southeast Arabian Sea salinity drops to less than 34 PSU. India intervened in Mauritius to prevent a coup d'tat, backed up by the United States who feared the Soviet Union could gain access to Port Louis and threaten the U.S. base on Diego Garcia. The Ganges Delta is the largest river delta draining into the Bay of Bengal. Only a handful of storms in the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal - about one every 10 years - achieve the level of super cyclone. The written history of the Indian Ocean, however, has been Eurocentric and largely dependent on the availability of written sources from the European colonial era. Slave trade in the Indian Ocean was, nevertheless, very limited compared to c.12,000,000 slaves exported across the Atlantic. Please select which sections you would like to print: Associate Professor of Geography, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu. Bay of Bengal . The Sumerians traded grain, pottery, and bitumen (used for reed boats) for copper, stone, timber, tin, dates, onions, and pearls. 19. Despite an extensive search, the whereabouts of the remains of the aircraft is unknown. [52], This area, one of the only two hotspots that are entirely arid, includes the Ethiopian Highlands, the East African Rift valley, the Socotra islands, as well as some small islands in the Red Sea and areas on the southern Arabic Peninsula. A number of large riversthe Mahanadi, Godavari, Krishna, and Kaveri (Cauvery) on the west and the Ganges (Ganga) and Brahmaputra on the northflow into the Bay of Bengal. Sea surface salinity is highest (more than 36PSU) in the Arabian Sea because evaporation exceeds precipitation there. The region has experienced some of the most intense, devastating, and costliest cyclones and storms in history. WebNewark Bay is a tidal bay at the confluence of the Passaic and Hackensack Rivers in northeastern New Jersey.It is home to the Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal, the largest container shipping facility in Port of New York and New Jersey, the second busiest in the United States.An estuary, it is periodically dredged to accommodate seafaring ships. [14] [21], The climate north of the equator is affected by a monsoon climate. [36] St. Saviours Road 8 Burlington Parade, JE2 4LA +44 1534 631633 + Add website. Because of the Indian Ocean Walker circulation there are no continuous equatorial easterlies. During the northern summer (JuneSeptember) the rain-bearing southwest monsoon prevails, as intense heat produces a low-pressure system over the continent and a subsequent air flow from the ocean. [42], Endangered and vulnerable marine mammals and turtles:[43], 80% of the Indian Ocean is open ocean and includes nine large marine ecosystems: the Agulhas Current, Somali Coastal Current, Red Sea, Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal, Gulf of Thailand, West Central Australian Shelf, Northwest Australian Shelf and Southwest Australian Shelf. The Gulf, also known as the Sea of Oman, is in the real sense a strait that links the Arabian Sea to the Strait of Hormuz. Slave trade also occurred in the eastern Indian Ocean before the Dutch settled there around 1600 but the volume of this trade is unknown. Endangered mammals include the Bornean and Sumatran orangutans, the proboscis monkey, and the Javan and Sumatran rhinoceroses. dynamics between the Arabian Sea Besides India, the storm impacted Bangladesh, Myanmar, and Thailand. [39], Since the 1960s, anthropogenic warming of the global ocean combined with contributions of freshwater from retreating land ice causes a global rise in sea level. Madagascar and the Southwest Indian Ridge separate three cells south of Madagascar and off South Africa. Andaman Sea The Andaman Sea is part of the eastern Indian Ocean. [84], The Ottoman Empire began its expansion into the Indian Ocean in 1517 with the conquest of Egypt under Sultan Selim I. According to the Toba catastrophe theory, a supereruption c. 74,000 years ago at Lake Toba, Sumatra, covered India with volcanic ashes and wiped out one or more lineages of such archaic humans in India and Southeast Asia. The Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal. Harry G. Broadman "Afrika's Silk Road" (2007), pp 59. Sherds of Ubaid (2500500BCE) pottery have been found in the western Gulf at Dilmun, present-day Bahrain; traces of exchange between this trading centre and Mesopotamia. It has a surface area of 2,600,000km2 and stretches over a maximum length of 2,090 km and a maximum width of 1,610 km. India possesses most of the Andaman Islands, except the Preparis and Cocos Islands. The cyclone reached its peak on May 18, attaining a wind of 160 mph. [66], The diverse history of the Indian Ocean is a unique mix of cultures, ethnic groups, natural resources, and shipping routes. It also encompasses coastal islands, including Zanzibar and Pemba, and Mafia. .. , A storm of comparable magnitude in April 1991 devastated the eastern shore of Bangladesh, and another powerful cyclone devastated the coastal Indian state of Orissa in October 1999. WebThe Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal. The Arabian Sea is deeper, so the waves are not as high as in the Bay of Bengal. WebThe distribution of sea surface salinity (SSS) in the Arabian Sea (AS) and Bay of Bengal (BoB) is in contrast due to differences in air-sea freshwater fluxes and river runoff inputs.The monsoon-induced inter-basin water exchange plays an important role in regional salinity balance and atmosphere-ocean feedback in the North Indian Ocean. The sea has a maximum depth of 15,262 feet. A unique feature of the bay is the extreme variability of its physical properties. To the west is the Arabian Peninsula, Guardafui Channel, and the Gulf of Aden while the Indian continent is on the eastern side. Warsangli linnet (Carduelis johannis) is an endemic bird found only in northern Somalia. Geographically, it is positioned between the Indian subcontinent and the Indochinese peninsula, located below the Bengal region (based on which the bay was named during the British Raj ). Broomcorn millet found its way from Central Asia to Africa, together with chicken and zebu cattle, although the exact timing is disputed. [22], The Bay of Bengal contributes more than half (2,950km3 or 710cumi) of the runoff water to the Indian Ocean. Matteo Bressan: Opportunities and challenges for BRI in Europe in Global Time, 2 April 2019. [46], In 2016, six new animal species were identified at hydrothermal vents in the Southwest Indian Ridge: a "Hoff" crab, a "giant peltospirid" snail, a whelk-like snail, a limpet, a scaleworm and a polychaete worm. Colombo, Sri Lankan commercial capital, is another populous settlement along the bay. At 20 S the temperature is about 72 to 75 F (22 to 24 C); at the 40th parallel, 57 to 61 F (14 to 16 C); and at 60 S, 30 to 32 F (1 to 0 C). [18][19][20], Several features make the Indian Ocean unique. WebAlong its core, the Indian Ocean has some large marginal or regional seas such as the Arabian Sea, Laccadive Sea, Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea . During the two centuries that followed the reports of the explorers of Ptolemaic Egypt resulted in the best maps of the region until the Portuguese era many centuries later. Schnepel, Burkhard and Edward A. Alpers, eds. The Laccadive Sea is famous for pearl fishery as well as the Mannar marine park. The Arabian Sea is much narrower than the Bay of Bengal, which means that cyclones have a harder time forming. Coeditor of, Former Acting Director, National Geophysical Research Institute, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Hyderbd, India. Something went wrong. The bays southern limit is between Sangaman Kanda in Sri Lanka and Sumatra, Indonesia. Andaman Sea The Andaman Sea is part of the eastern Indian Ocean. For centuries, humans have settled and derived their livelihood from the bay, with the first settlement dating back to the Old Stone Age period. The Bay of Bengal is the northeasternmost part India Ocean. The Andaman Sea washes the shores of Thailand, Myanmar, and the Malay Peninsula. Several littorals and landlocked countriesaround the Bay of Bengal have formed an international organization known as the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation to facilitate free trade within the bay. [94], The Sentinelese people of North Sentinel Island, which lies near South Andaman Island in the Bay of Bengal, have been called by experts the most isolated people in the world. - Quora. The Andaman Sea is located between the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Islands. Share. The Andaman and Nicobar Islands archipelago separates this marginal sea from the Bay of Bengal. The amount of organic matter present in the continental-shelf sediment of the northern part of the east coast is poor compared with the worlds average for nearshore sediments. There is an abundance of marine creatures which are exploited by Burma, Thailand, Nicobar Islands, and India. [28], The ocean's currents are mainly controlled by the monsoon. WebWhy is the Bay of Bengal called a bay and not the Bengal sea? The Andaman and Nicobar groups, which are the only islands, separate the bay from the Andaman Sea. Water Mass Exchanges between the Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea from Multiyear Sampling with Autonomous Gliders Luc Rainville , Craig M. Lee , K. Arulananthan , S. U. P. Jinadasa , Harindra J. S. Fernando , W. N. C. Priyadarshani , and Hemantha Wijesekera Online Publication: 22 Sep 2022 Print Publication: 01 Oct 2022 Collections: They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. Bay of Bengal [24] Long-term ocean temperature records show a rapid, continuous warming in the Indian Ocean, at about 1.2C (34.2F) (compared to 0.7C (33.3F) for the warm pool region) during 19012012. A marginal sea is a section of an ocean partially enclosed by an island, a peninsula, or an archipelago. The bay has over 40 fish species, including scad, anchovy, grouper mackerel, shrimp, tuna, emperor, and shark. [84], In all, European traders exported 567,900733,200 slaves within the Indian Ocean between 1500 and 1850 and almost that same amount were exported from the Indian Ocean to the Americas during the same period. India - Rivers, Ganges, Brahmaputra | Britannica WebDrainage into the Bay of Bengal The Ganges-Brahmaputra river system. Covering 169,100 miles, the sea has a maximum depth of 9,970 feet. Trade across the Indian Ocean gradually introduced Arabic script and rice as a staple in Eastern Africa. Five African crops sorghum, pearl millet, finger millet, cowpea and hyacinth bean somehow found their way to Gujarat in India during the Late Harappan (20001700 BCE). [70], Food globalisation began on the Indian Ocean littoral c. 4.000years ago. The Arabian Sea also previously experienced fewer severe cyclones than the Bay of Bengal off India's eastern coast. Wait a moment and try again. The Indonesian Throughflow and precipitation results in lower salinity (34PSU) along the Sumatran west coast. Upwelling occurs near the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula in the Northern Hemisphere and north of the trade winds in the Southern Hemisphere. It originated from a conviction area in the Sulu Sea on October 21 and moved in a west-northwesterly direction, strengthening into a cyclonic storm by the next day. The Arabian Sea is located in the northern side of Indian Ocean. A number of islands are found in the ocean with Madagascar being the largest. This bay has an average depth of 2,600 m and a maximum depth of 4,694 m. The Bay of Bengal is the worlds largest water body referred to as a bay. Marcus Hernig: Die Renaissance der Seidenstrae (2018), pp 112. [79], In the 2nd or 1st century BCE, Eudoxus of Cyzicus was the first Greek to cross the Indian Ocean. The archipelagoes of the central Indian Ocean, the Laccadive and Maldive islands, were probably populated during the 2nd century B.C.