The Indian Ocean is geographically located with reference to India. The Indian subcontinent seemingly forms a keystone in the arch of the coasts that border it. The landlocked nature of the ocean in the north has given India a commanding position. From the eastern coast of Africa and the shores of the Persian Gulf to the Strait of Malacca no other country rivals India’s dominant location in the Indian Ocean.
For over 1800 years India has used the Indian Ocean for trade, defense, colonization and diffusion of its culture particularly in South-East Asia. As early as the 4th century B.C. the Mauryan kings had established ports on the coast of the Bay of Bengal. Kautilya mentioned in his Arthasastra a separate administrative division of the overseas maritime activities.
The large naval kingdoms of the Cholas and Chalukyas were set up in South India. Sri Vijaya Empire set up by the Indian rulers in South East Asia from 8th to 11th centuries maintained strong cultural and commercial ties with south India through the Indian Ocean. From the middle of the 13th to the beginning of the 16th century, the Arabs increased their commercial activities on the sea, but none of the Arab countries controlled the ocean at large.
The European thrust into the area started in the 16th century after Vasco da Gama’s landing on the west coast of India in 1498. Major European powers were eventually drawn into a long and bloody struggle for power in the Indian Ocean. Eventually, the British gained supremacy over the Indian Ocean and the Indian subcontinent.
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During the 18th and 19th centuries, large coastal urban centers such as Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai were developed to boost up the sea trade and maritime activities. The British became a superpower because of their naval superiority and with the acquisition of strategic naval bases throughout the world.
The commanding position of the British over the region made the Indian Ocean as the ‘British Lake’. According to K. M. Panikkar, the history of British control in India illustrates the basic geopolitical principle that the power which rules the sea eventually rules the adjoining land.
It is significant to note that although a large portion of north India was conquered many times by foreigners, India was never ruled by a monarch who did not have his capital in India except when it was under the naval power of the British (Panikkar, 1951, p. 71). Japanese adventure of occupying Singapore and Andaman islands during World War II also corroborated the above statement.
After World War II, a wave of movements for independence started among the littoral colonies and the British power started declining. It practically lost its all colonies by mid-1960s. During the early 1960s, Great Britain experienced serious strains on its economy and consequently it started military reduction in the Indian Ocean region. On January 16, 1968 Prime Minister Harold Wilson announced the withdrawal of its forces from the East of the Suez to be completed by the end of 1971.
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British withdrawal from the Indian Ocean created ‘power vacuum’ in the area and made room for super power rivalry in the region. The United States stepped in to fill up this power vacuum and use the opportunity to contain Soviet Union and to safeguard its economic and political interests in the region.
The United States purchased Diego Garcia Island from Great Britain to build a military base. The island is about 730 km South of Maldives, about 2,225 km south of India and about 2,300 km north of Mauritius. It is a shallow, horseshoe shaped atoll with a 64 km perimeter (21 x 8.8 km.).
The base is fully equipped with nuclear weapons and provides decisive advantage to the United States to command the areas of Middle East, South Asia, Central Asia, Russia and China. Besides Asmara (Ethiopia), Woomera and Harsld E. Holt (Australia), Bahrein and Mahe (Seychelles) are other important US bases in the region. Similarly Vacaaos (Mauritius), Gan Island, Masirah Island, Simonstown (South Africa) and Port Lous (Seychelles) military bases are jointly owned by USA and UK; and Djibouti, Reunion Island, Diego Suareg bases developed by France.
The increase of the United States’ naval presence in the Indian Ocean led to the counter presence of the Russian fleet in March, 1968 just 2 months after the British announcement to withdraw its forces east of the Suez. It sent a naval squadron of 4 warships and 2 auxiliaries from the Pacific fleet at Vladivostok. Since then it is maintaining a few
surface warships and support ships in the region.
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Recent reports say that there are about 31 Russian warships in the region. Russia has made diplomatic moves and has entered into bilateral treaties with several countries of the region, e.g., Mauritius, Somalia, Seychelles, Sri Lanka, India, Bangladesh, Iraq and Egypt. It maintains military bases at Berbera, Masira, Umakas, Dahalak and Socotra islands.
Recently China has also started taking interest in this region and a naval base has been built in Cocos Island (Myanmar). With the loss of super power status by the former Soviet Union, China is trying hard to fill in the vacuum and assume the leadership of the Afro-Asian World.