Assorted References

• formation
  • In ocean basin: Evolution of the ocean basins through plate movements
• Indian government
  • In India: Islands
• monsoon
  • In climate change: Amplification of the Indian Ocean monsoon
• ocean currents
  • In Monsoon Current
• ocean distribution
  • In ocean: Relative distribution of the oceans
• tropical cyclones
  • In tropical cyclone: Ocean basins and peak seasons

explorations

• ancient
  • In European exploration: The exploration of the coastlines of the Indian Ocean and the China Sea
• Portugal
  • In India: The Portuguese
• Zheng He
  • In Zheng He

General works

Oceanographic texts and atlases that include information on the Indian Ocean and its seas include Rhodes W. Fairbridge (ed.), The Encyclopedia of Oceanography (1966, reissued 1979); James P. Kennett, Marine Geology (1982); Lynne D. Talley et al., Descriptive Physical Oceanography: An Introduction, 6th ed. (2011); M. Grant Gross and Elizabeth Gross, Oceanography, 7th ed. (1996); Alastair Couper (ed.), The Times Atlas and Encyclopedia of the Sea, 2nd ed. (1990); Martyn Bramwell (ed.), The Rand McNally Atlas of the Oceans (also published as Mitchell Beazley Atlas of the Oceans and The Macmillan Atlas of the Oceans, 1977, reissued 1987); and Sylvia A. Earle and Linda K. Glover, Ocean: An Illustrated Atlas (2009). Julia J. Gotthold and Donald W. Gotthold (comps.), Indian Ocean (1988), is an annotated bibliography of works on the area’s history, sea power, and ocean science, on the island groups in the region, and on the Indian Ocean’s strategic military importance.

Physical environment

Indian Ocean geology and oceanography are explored in Alan E.M. Nairn and Francis G. Stehli (eds.), The Ocean Basins and Margins, vol. 6, The Indian Ocean (1982, reprinted 2013), which includes treatment of the marginal seas; and United States Defense Mapping Agency Hydrographic Center, Sailing Directions (Planning Guide) for the Indian Ocean, 3rd ed. (1988). There are many useful essays in Bernt Zeitzschel and Sebastian A. Gerlach (eds.), The Biology of the Indian Ocean (1973), including a summary introduction to the area by Klaus Wyrtki, “Physical Oceanography of the Indian Ocean,” pp. 18–36. Ocean physics, chemistry, biology, and geology are examined by B.N. Desai (ed.), Oceanography of the Indian Ocean (1992). Graphic presentations of information include United States Central Intelligence Agency, Indian Ocean Atlas (1976); Klaus Wyrtki, Edward B. Bennett, and David J. Rochford, Oceanographic Atlas of the International Indian Ocean Expedition (1971, reissued 1988); Stefan Hastenrath and Peter J. Lamb, Climatic Atlas of the Indian Ocean, 3 vol. (1979–89); and Privish Nag (ed.), Indian Ocean Atlas (1998).

Economic aspects

The history of commerce in the area is examined by K.N. Chaudhuri, Trade and Civilisation in the Indian Ocean: An Economic History from the Rise of Islam to 1750 (1985, reissued 2005). Present-day economic development is the focus of Ganpat Singh Roonwal, The Indian Ocean: Exploitable Mineral and Petroleum Resources (1986); Kenneth Sherman et al. (eds.), Large Marine Ecosystems of the Indian Ocean: Assessment, Sustainability, and Management (1998); and Mukhtar Alam, Economic Development and Contemporary Politics: The Indian Ocean Rim (2004).

Study and exploration

A.L. Rice (ed.), Deep-sea Challenge: The John Murray/Mabahiss Expedition to the Indian Ocean, 1933–34 (1986), presents the history of the voyage and its influence on oceanographic research in the area. Other works on the area’s history include Ming-yang Su, Seven Epic Voyages of Zheng He in Ming China, 1405–1433: Facts, Fiction, and Fabrication (2005), on the Chinese navigator’s explorations of the region; Satish Chandra (ed.), The Indian Ocean: Explorations in History, Commerce, and Politics (1987); G.A. Ballard, Rulers of the Indian Ocean (1927, reprinted 1984); Auguste Toussaint, History of the Indian Ocean (1961, reissued 1996; originally published in French, 1961); Himanshu Prabha Ray (ed.), Archaeology of Seafaring: The Indian Ocean in the Ancient Period (1999); and Himanshu Prabha Ray and Jean-François Salles (eds.), Tradition and Archaeology: Early Maritime Contacts in the Indian Ocean (2012).