Travel for trade seems to be a long-standing Indian tradition; we can still find Indian traders in Singapore, Thailand, Hong Kong and... well... pretty much everywhere. For some reason, probably having to do with the primitive nature of early travel, and with strictures in early texts on law and ethics (Manu and others) regarding loss of caste due to travel “overseas,” we assume this is a more recent trend. Guess it isn’t!
Thanks JH.