Ancient Arab Sea Trade

  Before Jesus and Muhammad the peoples of what are now often called the Emirates had a long and illustrious history. An important part of that history was sea trade. There is abundant evidence that they traded by sea with the Romans of the Roman Empire and with the Hellenistic Greeks. Earlier still the traded with Mesopotamians and peoples of the Indian sub-continent. They traded with Sri Lanka a a very early date. 
They developed a regular trade with Malaya. They knew the Egyptians and the Phoenicians. They had some contact with China. They had interaction with Iran before 5500 BC.