Early history

Prince Vijaya, the first recorded king of Sri Lanka, traveled from ancient Vanga (Bengal) through the Bay of Bengal to the island of Lanka and colonized it. Ancient Malay chronicles record the sailor Buddha Gupta traveling from Bengal to the Malay Archipelago through the Bay of Bengal.^{[citation needed]} Ptolemy's map refers to the Bay of Bengal as the Gulf of the Ganges.^[6]

Hindu-Buddhist kingdoms in Southeast Asia depended on the Bay of Bengal for trade and cultural exchange. The South Indian Chola dynasty dominated the region in the 11th century, with records describing the Bay of Bengal as Chola's Lake.^[7]

Islam in Southeast Asia also spread through the Bay of Bengal, by serving as a bridge between the Malay Archipelago and Indo-Islamic states in the subcontinent.^[8][9]

In the 14th and 15th centuries, explorers like Ibn Battuta of Morocco, Niccolo De Conti of the Venetian Republic , and Admiral Zheng He of Imperial China ventured through the Bay of Bengal. The Maldives depended on the Bay of Bengal for its huge shell currency trade.^[10]

In the 16th century, the Portuguese empire began traversing the sea routes of the Bay of Bengal. Portuguese maps referred to the bay as the "Gulf of Bengal".^[11] The Burmese Empires and the Kingdom of Mrauk U were major powers in the Bay of Bengal. The Kingdom of Mrauk U engaged in a naval war with the Mughal Empire of India in 1666. In the 18th century, numerous European trading companies established settlements across the region.

In the 19th century, the British government established direct crown rule in the Indian subcontinent; while the Dutch government established supremacy in the Indonesian archipelago. Colonialism disrupted and ended the region's traditional maritime networks.

Modern era

In the early 20th century, shipping between British India and British Burma rapidly increased. Rangoon became one of the world's busiest ports for immigrant arrivals, ranking alongside New York City.^[12] In Rangoon, thousands of Indian migrants arrived to settle in British Burma. The migration fostered strong economic links between India and Burma. British Burma's petroleum industry supplied much of India's petroleum demand. However, commercial links were disrupted during World War II, when Burma came under Japanese occupation. The Japanese took control of the Andaman Islands and used them as a penal colony. After the partition of India in 1947 and Burma's independence in 1948, there was a decline in Indo-Burmese commerce.

During the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 over Bangladesh's independence, the Indian and Pakistani navies engaged in naval combat in the Bay of Bengal. A Pakistani submarine, the PNS Ghazi, sunk in the bay. In December 1971, the United States and Soviet Union mobilized naval strike groups around the Bay of Bengal.^[13]

Bangladesh and Myanmar engaged in a naval standoff over disputed maritime territory in 2008. The two countries settled their maritime boundary dispute in 2012 at the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea.^[14] In 2014, India and Bangladesh resolved their maritime boundary disputes at a UN tribunal.^[15]

The Rohingya refugee crisis, caused by persecution in Myanmar's Rakhine State, has been a major humanitarian and security challenge in the region.

Population

According to Sunil S. Amrith, one in four people on earth live in the countries that border the Bay of Bengal. Its littoral areas — including coastal regions of eastern India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, and Sumatra — are home to over half a billion people.^[16]

Statistical data (2021)

Fishing

Fisheries is an important economic activity in countries with coasts along the Bay of Bengal, particularly in Sri Lanka, India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, and Indonesia. The fishing industry in the Bay of Bengal area provides employment and sustenance to large numbers of people. Based on a recent estimate, the total number employed on a full-time basis in fisheries in the area covered by the Bay of Bengal is 1.85 million. In addition, a large number of people are engaged in fishing as a part-time activity. The total population in the households of those engaged in fishing, full-time or part-time, in this area, is estimated at ten million.^[27]

In recent years, the fishing industry has developed into an important earner of foreign exchange through the export of marine and aquatic products. In Bangladesh, fish exports account for 15 percent of the total export earnings. Though the percentage contribution of the fisheries sector to the total export earnings of the country is yet marginal in the other countries in absolute terms, the export earnings have been increasing very fast. As export items, fish and fish products are very important, as the net earnings from these products are extremely high, a result of their being almost one hundred percent local resource-based.^[27]

The increased production of marine fish has come primarily through the motorization of traditional craft, the introduction of new craft, and the introduction and popularization of new types of synthetic gear, which have replaced traditional gear. It is in Thailand alone that the private/commercial sector has taken the initiative of introducing and extending craft and gear; there has been very little state support or intervention in these activities in this country.^[27] The increasing emphasis accorded to the development of coastal aquaculture is another feature common to almost every country in the region. In countries such as Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and India, a primary reason for the increased emphasis on coastal aquaculture is the increase in foreign exchange earnings generated from shrimp farming.^[27]

Tourism

Thailand's Andaman Coast is the largest hub of tourism in the region. Sri Lanka's tourism industry has seen growth despite decades of civil war in the country's north. Bangladesh and India have significantly developed their domestic tourism industries, such as in Cox's Bazar. South India's renowned temple cities, such as Tanjore, are located near the Bay of Bengal. In Bangladesh, the notable mosque city of Bagerhat is located near the Bay of Bengal. Myanmar has prioritized tourism development, particularly in cultural heritage sites like Mrauk U and Bagan.

Transport

The Port of Colombo in Sri Lanka handles over 5 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU)s of container traffic. The Port of Chittagong in Bangladesh handles over 2 million TEUs of container traffic. The Port of Chennai in India handles around 1.7 million TEUs of container traffic. Ports that handle over 100,000 TEUs of container traffic include the Port of Kolkata, Tuticorin Port Trust, the Port of Yangon, the Port of Mongla , and the Port of Vizag. Colombo is the busiest seaport in BIMSTEC. Chittagong is the busiest seaport on the Bay of Bengal coastline,^[28] followed by Chennai, Kolkata, Tuticorin, Yangon, Visakhapatnam, and Mongla.^{[29][30][31][32][33]} Sittwe Port and Hambantota are other important ports in the region.

Thailand and India signed direct coastal shipping agreements with Bangladesh in 2016.^[34][35]

Oil and gas

The Bay of Bengal has large untapped oil and natural gas reserves.^[42] Geologists believe the region holds many of the largest reserves in the Asia-Pacific.^[43] Currently, there are few offshore platforms operating in the Bay of Bengal. The Shwe offshore platform is operated by Daewoo International for supplies to China through Myanmar.^[44] Bangladesh's Sangu platform, which opened in 1994, was shut down in 2013.^[45] India's Reliance Industries began production in an offshore block near India's coast in 2009.^[46]

Common security space

The BIMSTEC countries view the Bay of Bengal as a common security space. The first conference of national security chiefs in the region was held in 2017.^[47]

Non-traditional security challenges

The Bay of Bengal has non-traditional security challenges of piracy, human trafficking, terrorist networks, and drug smuggling, which has led to greater cooperation between the navies of Bangladesh, India, the United States , and Thailand.

Sino-Indian rivalry

The Bay of Bengal is a prime zone of strategic competition between two of Asia's largest countries- China and India. An example is in the case of Myanmar, where the Sino-Myanmar pipelines and Chinese-funded Kyaukpyu port project were followed by the Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport Project funded by India. China and India have jostled for strategic influence in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal. The Sri Lankan port of Hambantota was built by the Chinese.^[48][49][50]

Japanese initiatives

In 2014, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced an initiative to develop an industrial corridor in Bangladesh to strengthen Japan's economic footprint in the region. The initiative is termed the "Bay of Bengal Industrial Growth Belt" (BIG-B).^[51] Japan is keen to establish a maritime surveillance center for the Indian Ocean region in Sri Lanka.^[52]

Naval competition

Bangladesh, Thailand, and Myanmar depend on China as a source of military equipment. Some analysts have speculated that an arms race emerging between these countries.^[53][54]

Joint exercises

The United States, a major Indo-Pacific naval power, conducts the Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT) involving Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. In 2011, CARAT was held off the coast of southeastern Bangladesh. The Malabar naval exercise is held by the navies of the United States, India, and Japan.

Natural disaster management

The Bay of Bengal region has seen some of modern history's worst natural disasters, such as the 1970 Bhola cyclone and the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. The international community often mobilizes naval forces to assist in relief operations in the aftermath of devastating natural disasters, most recently after Cyclone Sidr and Cyclone Nargis.