New Delhi, Oct 5 (TIWN) Its an ocean as vast as the sub-continent whose name it bears, encompassing Asia to the north, Australia to the east and Africa to the west. With 20 per cent of the water on the Earths surface, the sea routes of the Indian Ocean carry 80 per cent of the worlds shipping trade in oil, connecting East Asia, the Middle East and Africa to Europe and the Americas -- and without New Delhi intending it so, could be the theatre of a new geopolitical rivalry between India and China.

But then, as internationally acclaimed economist and urban theorist Sanjeev Sanyal puts it, "those who remember history will know that the Indian Ocean has seen the likes of Rajendra Chola and Zheng He before. They will also know to expect the unexpected", Sanyal writes in "The Incredible History Of The Indian Ocean" (Puffin), an adaptation for young readers of his seminal work, "The Ocean of Churn".  "After all, no one who saw Zheng He's magnificent Treasure Fleet" of over 300 ships with almost 28,000 crewmen, "would have believed that, a few decades later, a small country in the Iberian Peninsula" (where Venetian trader Marco Polo had carried tales of Chinese magnificence) "would open the Indian Ocean to centuries of European domination", writes Sanyal, currently the Indian government's Principal Economic Advisor.  The long history of the Indian Ocean, he writes, "is one where the unfolding of events is the result of complex interactions between myriad factors – the monsoon winds, geography, human migrations, technology, religion, culture, the deeds of individuals and, perhaps occasionally the whims of the gods. It followed no predetermined path or grand plan, but is the story of long cycles, dead ends and unintended consequences, of human triumphs and extraordinary bravery but also of treachery and inexplicable human cruelty. There are many shades of gray along the way".