Medieval Seafarers attempts to explore the dimensions of Indian seafaring from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries, a period of strikig change and growth for the trade and traders of the Indian Ocean. The vitality and resilience of Indian seafaring, attested by both tradition and historical experience, is set against the growing colonial domination that changed the contours of the traditional maritime world. The interplay of colonial dimanation and indigenous enterprise found echoes in literature and popular traditions, examples of which are woven into the narrative tapestry of the book.