The Indian Ocean was named after the huge, fabulously rich country of India, whose shores it washes. And India itself got its name from the Indus River, flowing “the country of the Indies.
Here are some curious facts:
- The volume of water in the ocean is the third largest in the world after the Pacific and Atlantic.
- In ancient times, the ocean was called the “Eastern Ocean,” later European discoverers and explorers renamed it.
- The first swims were made before our era.
- Covillan, Vasco da Gama, and Cook made significant contributions to the study of the sea region.
- In the depths of the ocean there are almost 2 billion tons of black gold and 2.3 trillion tons of gas.
- Sometimes shining circles appear on the surface of the ocean. This is believed to be plankton in large quantities.
- It is in the Indian Ocean that the sea with the highest salt content on Earth – the Red Sea contains 42%.
- The ocean contains a huge variety of coral reefs of great length.