Nearchus Discovers a Sea Route from India to the Arabian Peninsula
Overview
In 325 B.C. the Greek military commander Nearchus undertook a naval expedition from the mouth of the Indus River in what is now Pakistan to that of the Euphrates River in Mesopotamia, or modern Iraq. His voyage served a number of purposes, not least of which was to ferry a large portion of Alexander the Great's fighting force from India back to Greece; but his principal mission was to find a sea route between the Indian sub-continent and the Near East. This he did, in the process making possible much greater trade and exchange between India and lands to the west.
Background
The career of Nearchus (360-312 B.C.), who came from Crete, is inexorably tied with that of his friend and leader, Alexander the Great (356-323 B.C.) Alexander's father, Philip II of Macedon (r. 359-336 B.C.), conquered the Greek city-states with the aim of uniting all of Greece and going on to subdue the dying empire of the Persians. But he was assassinated before he could undertake his mission, so it fell to his son to become the greatest military leader the world has ever known.
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