The Arabian Sea is a area of the Indian Ocean bounded on the east by India, on the north by Pakistan and part of the southern Persia coast, on the west by Arabian Peninsula, on the south by a line between Cape Guardafui, the north-east point of Somalia, Socotra and Kanyakumari (Cape Comorin) in India.
It was known as the Sindhu Sagar to Indians in the Vedic period of their history (the period in the history of India when the sacred Vedic Sanskrit texts such as the Vedas were composed).
It has two important branches - the Gulf of Aden in the southwest, connecting with the Red Sea through the strait of Bab-el-Mandeb and the Gulf of Oman to the northwest, connecting with the Persian Gulf. Its islands are few, the chief being Socotra, off the African coast and the Laccadives off the Indian coast.
The maximum width of the Arabian Sea is approximately 2,400 km and its maximum depth is 4,652 metres in the Arabian Basin which is the same latitude as the southernmost tip of India.
The Indus River, also known as the Sindhu river, is the largest river flowing directly into this sea. others include the Netravathi, Sharavathi, Narmada, Tapti, Mahi, and the numerous rivers of Kerala in India. The Arabian Sea coast of central India is known as the Konkan Coast and that of southern India is known as the Malabar Coast.
Ocean trade routes have crossed the Arabian Sea since ancient times, linking the Near East with East Africa, India, Southeast Asia, and China. Historically, sailors in a type of ship called a dhow (a traditional Arab sailing vessel with one or more lateen sails - a triangular sail set on a long yardarm mounted at an angle on the mast, and running in a fore-and-aft direction) used the seasonal monsoon winds to cross the water.
The sea forms part of the chief shipping route between Europe and India via the Suez Canal, which links the Red Sea with the Mediterranean Sea.
The countries with coastlines on the Arabian Sea are Yemen, Oman, Iran, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, and Somalia.
Cities on the coast include Mumbai (Bombay), Surat, Goa, Mangalore, and Kochi (often described as the Queen of the Arabian Sea) in India, Karachi and Gwadar in Pakistan, and Aden in Yemen.
