From ancient times to the medieval era, the Maritime Silk Road (also known as the Indian Ocean trade routes) has served as a trade superhighway connecting India, China, Southeast Asia, the Arab world, East Africa, and the Mediterranean.

The Maritime Silk Road is an icon of premodern globalization, and we can learn a great deal about the interconnectedness of the ancient and medieval world through examining the unique details of this network. But it was more than just a trade route the Maritime Silk Road was traversed not only by merchants, but also diplomats, adventurers, monks, and others.

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Sources (nonexhaustive!):
The Formation of Chinese Maritime Networks to Southern Asia, 12001450 by Tansen Sen
Sino–Malay Trade and Diplomacy from the Tenth through the Fourteenth Century by Derek Heng
An Early Age of Commerce in Southeast Asia, 9001300 CE by Geoff Wade
"Indianization" from the Indian Point of View: Trade and Cultural Contacts with Southeast Asia in the Early First Millennium C.E. by Monica L. Smith