MAP OF THE PERSIAN GULF
AND THE STRAIT OF ORMUZ
PUBLISHED IN 1603
(Germany, 17th c.)
Magos Foundation Collection
THE SPICE ROUTE
& THE STRAIT OF ORMUZ TO INDIA
The trade routes to India in the first century were the spice routes. Ships embarked in the south of Persia in the vanished ancient port of Charax Spasinou (today Naysan, near Basra in Iraq), then crossed the Persian Gulf, passed through the Strait of Hormuz to reach the port of Barbarikon (today Karachi in Pakistan), then Barigaza (Bharuch, Gulf of Cambay), to arrive in Cranganore in Kerala from where Gaspard (Magus) had embarked on his departure.