A series of interconnected trade routes linking China, Southeast Asia, South Asia, East Africa and the Arabian Peninsula from the beginning of the Classical Period and remaining in use until the Early Modern Period.

• A. Silk Road
• B. Trans-Saharan Trade
• C. Triangular Trade
• D. Indian Ocean Maritime System

Answer: (D)

The Indian Ocean Maritime System is the long-running sea-based network that connected China, Southeast Asia, South Asia, East Africa, and the Arabian Peninsula. Its reach rested on regular, predictable monsoon winds that let ships travel between distant ports year after year, creating a web of commercial and cultural exchange. Merchants, sailors, and scholars moved goods like spices, textiles, porcelain, and metals, as well as ideas and technologies, across a corridor that stretched from the Chinese coast to the Swahili Coast of East Africa and into the Arabian Peninsula.

This description fits because it emphasizes a maritime system spanning multiple regions around the Indian Ocean and persisting from the classical era into the early modern period. In contrast, the Silk Road is primarily overland trade and doesn’t center on East Africa; the Trans-Saharan routes cross the Sahara within Africa, not across the Indian Ocean; and the Triangular Trade describes Atlantic-era exchanges involving Europe, Africa, and the Americas, not the Indian Ocean basin.