Chola Navy Dominates Indian Ocean Trade Routes

1050

The Chola empire's formidable navy - the largest in the Indian Ocean - continued to enforce Tamil commercial supremacy from Sri Lanka to the Strait of Malacca. Merchant guilds like the Ayyavole and Manigramam operated under Chola naval protection, trading pepper, textiles, and gems at ports across Southeast Asia. No medieval state matched the Chola capacity to project maritime power across such vast distances, making the Bay of Bengal effectively a Tamil lake.