What effects did the indian ocean trade have on the societies who took part in it? is it possible to argue that an indian ocean “community” existed?

Indian Ocean Trade has been a key factor in East–West exchanges throughout history. Long distance trade in dhows and sailboats made it a dynamic zone of interaction between peoples, cultures, and civilizations stretching from Java in the East to Zanzibarand Mombasa in the West. Cities and states on the Indian Ocean rim were Janus-faced. They looked outward to the sea as much as they looked inward to the hinterland.

Upon the fall of rome, europe ceased being influenced by the cultures of the mediterranean coast and was more influenced by germanic tribal confederations that had already taken over vast swathes of roman territory, although the influence of rome on the former empire was very strong in legal