The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering 70,560,000 km2 (27,240,000 sq mi), approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface.
It is bounded by Asia on the north, on the west by Africa, on the east by Australia, and on the south by the Southern Ocean or, depending on definition, by Antarctica.
It is named after the country of India.
The Indian Ocean is known as Ratnākara (Sanskrit: रत्नाकर), "the mine of gems" in ancient Sanskrit literature, and as Hind Mahāsāgar (Hindi: हिन्द महासागर), "the great Indian sea", in Hindi.
