"For full thirty centuries India stood out as the very heart of the old world and maintained her position as one of the foremost maritime countries. She had colonies in Pegu, in Cambodia, in Java in Sumatra, in Borneo and even in the countries of the farther East as far as Japan. She had trading settlements m Southern . China, in the Malayan Peninsula, in Arabia and in all the chief cities of Persia and all over the East Coast of Africa. She cultivated trade relations not only with the countries of Asia, but With the whole of the then known world, including the countries under the dominion of the Roman Empire, and both the East and West became the theater of Indian commercial activity and gave scope of her naval energy and throbbing international life." "We now know that many ports on both Eastern and Western Coast had navigational and trade links With almost all Continents of the world. There are many natural and technological reasons for this. Apart from Mathematics and Astronomy, India had excellent manufacturing skills in textile, metal works and paints. India had abundant supply of Timber. Indian - built ships were superior as they were built of Teak which resists the effect of salt water and weather for a very long time."