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ASEAN’s maritime culture
By Kang Hee-jung (Director of the Institute for East Asian Studies at Sogang University)

Map of the Malacca Strait, a narrow stretch of water between Malaysia and Indonesia that was once a major hub of East-West trade

The Maritime Silk Road, one of the world’s three major routes of sea trade that connected the East with the West, was made up of the East China and South China Sea Routes. The Maritime Silk Road connected vastly different civilizations with one another, starting from Egypt and Rome to India and the ASEAN region and extending as far as Korea and Japan. It was the primary method by which these areas of the world obtained commodities like silk, tea, textiles, spices, and porcelain. So large was the trade volume that it is also commonly referred to by the type of commodity that was traded, e.g. the spice route or porcelain route. The Maritime Silk Road began as a means of transport between Ancient Egypt, the birthplace of civilization, and the Mediterranean region, and gradually grew in both size and significance into a global transportation route by the modern period. Because East-West exchange required passing through Southeast Asia—a key source of spices—ASEAN countries played a decisive role in the Maritime Silk Road’s development. In a sense, the sociocultural “openness” that today characterizes ASEAN’s 10 member states originated from the accommodation of Eastern and Western civilizations through the Maritime Silk Road.

Article may not reflect the opinion of the editional board of the ASEAN Culture House Monthly.