Historical Archive
Ancient Tamil Maritime Trade
Classical · 300 BCE – 300 CE Poompuhar & Korkai
Ask AI about thisTamil ports like Poompuhar traded with Rome, Egypt and Southeast Asia, mastering monsoon-wind navigation long before European seafaring.
Greco-Roman records (the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea) and Tamil epics describe a thriving export trade in pepper, pearls, textiles and gems. Tamil mariners exploited the predictable monsoon wind reversal to make timed open-ocean crossings — a sophisticated applied meteorology embedded in commercial practice.
Source: Periplus of the Erythraean Sea; Silappatikaram