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 pre-modern 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 (non-exhaustive!):
The Formation of Chinese Maritime Networks to Southern Asia, 1200-1450 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, 900-1300 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