Scholars and the Sea: A Historiography of the Indian Ocean
Abstract
This essay won the 2007 History Compass Graduate Essay Prize, World Section.
This article surveys the historiography of the Indian Ocean to examine the problems and opportunities of using maritime spaces as frameworks for world history studies. It first considers the problem of demarcating maritime space according to different material and mental definitions. Its second part assesses different periodizations that reflect the main themes of scholarly engagement with the Indian Ocean. The final section looks at the emerging field of network studies as a new approach to the study of interconnections across the Indian Ocean world.
Bibliography
- Abraham, M., Two Medieval Merchant Guilds of South India (New Delhi: Manohar, 1988).
- Abu-Lughod, J. L., Before European Hegemony: The World System A.D. 1250–1350 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989).
- Arasaratnam, S., ‘Recent Trends in the Historiography of the Indian Ocean, 1500 to 1800’, Journal of World History, 1/2 (1990): 225–48.
- Bailyn, B., Atlantic History: Concept and Contours (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2005).
- Beaujard, P., ‘The Indian Ocean in Eurasian and African World-Systems before the Sixteenth Century’, Journal of World History, 16/4 (2005): 411–65.
- Bentley, J. H., ‘Cross-Cultural Interaction and Periodization in World History’, American Historical Review, 101/3 (1996): 749–70.
- Bentley, J. H., ‘Sea and Ocean Basins as Frameworks of Historical Analysis’, Geographical Review, 89/2 (1999): 215–24.
- J. H. Bentley, R. Bridenthal, and K. Wigen (eds.), Seascapes: Maritime Histories, Littoral Cultures, and Transoceanic Exchanges (Honolulu, HI: University of Hawai’i Press, 2007).
10.1515/9780824864248 Google Scholar
- Biedermann, Z., Soqotra: Geschichte einer christlichen Insel im Indischen Ozean vom Altertum bis zur frühen Neuzeit (Wiesbaden: Harrasowitz, 2006).
- Bose, S., A Hundred Horizons: The Indian Ocean in the Age of Global Empire (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2006).
10.4159/9780674028579 Google Scholar
- Bouchon, G., ‘Trade in the Indian Ocean at the Dawn of the Sixteenth Century’, in S. Chaudhury and M. Morineau (eds.), Merchants, Companies and Trade: Europe and Asia in the Early Modern Era (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999).
- M.-F. Boussac, and J.-F. Salles (eds.), A Gateway from the Eastern Mediterranean to India: The Read Sea in Antiquity (New Delhi: Manohar, 2005).
- Boxer, C. R., The Dutch Seaborne Empire, 1600–1800 (London: Hutchinsons, 1965).
- Boxer, C. R., The Portuguese Seaborne Empire, 1415–1825 (London: Hutchinsons, 1969).
- Braudel, F., The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II (1966), 2 vols., trans. S. Reynolds from rev. French ed. (London: Collins, 197273).
- F. Broeze (ed.), Brides of the Sea: Port Cities of Asia from the 16th to 20th Centuries (Kensington, N.S.W.: New South Wales University Press, 1989), 21.
- Buschmann, R. F., ‘Oceans of World History: Delineating Aquacentric Notions in the Global Past’, History Compass, 2/1 (2004): doi: 10.1111/j.1478-0542.00068.
10.1111/j.1478-0542.00068 Google Scholar
- Chakravarti, R., ‘An Enchanting Seascape: Through Epigraphic Lens’, Studies in History, 20/2 (2004): 305–15.
10.1177/025764300402000206 Google Scholar
- Chaudhuri, K. N., Asia before Europe: Economy and Civilisation of the Indian Ocean from the Rise of Islam to 1750 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990).
- Chaudhuri, K. N., Trade and Civilisation in the Indian Ocean: An Economic History from the Rise of Islam to 1750 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985).
10.1017/CBO9781107049918 Google Scholar
- Christian, D., Maps of Time: An Introduction to Big History (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2004).
10.1525/9780520931923 Google Scholar
- Clark, H. R., ‘Maritime Diasporas in Asia before Da Gama: An Introductory Commentary’, Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, 49/4 (2006): 385–94.
10.1163/156852006779048381 Google Scholar
- Danvers, Report on the Portuguese Records Relating to the East Indies (London, 1892).
- D’Arcy, P., The People of the Sea: Environment, Identity, and History in Oceania (Honolulu, HI: University of Hawai’i Press, 2006).
- Das Gupta, A., ‘Introduction II: The Story’, in A. Das Gupta and M. N. Pearson (eds.), India and the Indian Ocean, 1500–1800 (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1999 [1987]).
- Das Gupta, A., The World of the Indian Ocean Merchant, 1500–1800: Collected Essays of Ashin Das Gupta (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2001).
- Deng, G., Maritime Sector, Institutions, and Sea Power of Premodern China (Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1999).
- Dirlik, A., ‘Performing the World: Reality and Representation in the Making of World Histor(ies)’, Journal of World History, 16/4 (2005): 391–410.
- Fernández-Armesto, F., ‘Maritime History and World History’, in D. Finamore (ed.), Maritime History as World History (Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 2004), 7–34.
- Fernández-Armesto, F., Pathfinders: A Global History of Exploration (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006).
- Floor, W., The Persian Gulf: A Political and Economic History of Five Port Cities, 1500–1730 (Washington, DC: Mage, 2006).
- Flynn, D. O., and Giraldez, A., ‘Born with a “Silver Spoon”: World Trade's Origin in 1571’, Journal of World History, 6/2 (1995): 201–21.
- Frank, A. G., ReOrient: Global Economy in the Asian Age (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1998).
10.1525/9780520921313 Google Scholar
- Freitag, U., ‘Islamische Netzwerke im Indischen Ozean’, in D. Rothermund and S. Weigelin-Schwiedrzik (eds.), Der Indische Ozean: Das afro-asiatische Mittelmeer als Kultur-und Wirtschaftsraum (Wien: Promedia, 2004), 61–81.
- Helms, M. W., Ulysses’ Sail: An Ethnographic Odyssey of Power, Knowledge, and Geographical Distance (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1988).
10.1515/9781400859542 Google Scholar
- Ho, E., The Graves of Tarim: Geneaology and Mobility across the Indian Ocean (Berkeley, Los Angeles, CA and London: University of California Press, 2006).
- Hobson, J. M., The Corrupting Sea: A Study of Mediterranean History (Oxford: Blackwell, 2000).
- Hobson, J. M., The Eastern Origins of Western Civilisation (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004).
10.1017/CBO9780511489013 Google Scholar
- Hodgson, M. G. S., The Venture of Islam, vol. 2: The Expansion of Islam in the Middle Periods (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1974).
10.7208/chicago/9780226346861.001.0001 Google Scholar
- Horden, P., and Purcell, N., ‘AHR Forum: The Mediterranean and “the New Thalassology”’, American Historical Review, 111/3 (2006): 722–40.
- Kearney, M., The Indian Ocean in World History (New York, NY: Routledge, 2004).
10.4324/9780203493274 Google Scholar
- King, C., The Black Sea: A History (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004).
10.1093/0199241619.001.0001 Google Scholar
- Klein, B., and Mackenthun, G., ‘Introduction: The Sea is History’, in B. Klein and G. Mackenthun (eds.), Sea Changes: Historicizing the Ocean (New York, NY: Routledge, 2004), 1–12.
- Lewis, M. W., ‘Dividing the Ocean Sea’, Geographical Review, 89/2 (1999): 188–214.
- J. McGuire, P. Bertola, and P. Reeves (eds.), Evolution of the World Economy, Precious Metals and India (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2001).
- McPherson, K., The Indian Ocean: A History of People and the Sea (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1993).
- Mancke, E., ‘Oceanic Space and the Creation of a Global International System, 1450–1800’, in D. Finamore (ed.), Maritime History as World History (Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 2004), 149–66.
- Manning, P., Navigating World History: Historians Create a Global Past (New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003).
- Margariti, R. E., Aden & the Indian Ocean Trade: 150 Years in the Life of a Medieval Arabian Port (Chapel Hill, IL: University of North Carolina Press, 2007).
- Northrup, D., ‘Globalization and the Great Convergence: Rethinking World History in the Long Term’, Journal of World History, 16/3 (2006): 249–67.
- O’Brien, P., ‘Historiographical Traditions and Modern Imperatives for the Restoration of Global History’, Journal of Global History, 1/1 (2006): 3–39.
- Palat, R. V., and Wallerstein, I. M., ‘Of What World-System was Pre-1500 “India” a Part?’, in S. Chaudhury and M. Morineau (eds.), Merchants, Companies and Trade: Europe and Asia in the Early Modern Era (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999), 21–41.
10.1017/CBO9780511599620.003 Google Scholar
- Palmer, A. W., Northern Shores: A History of the Baltic Sea and its Peoples (London: John Murray, 2005).
- Panikkar, K. M., Asia and Western Dominance: A Survey of the Vasco Da Gama Epoch of Asian History, 1498–1945 (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1953).
- Panikkar, K. M., India and the Indian Ocean: An Essay on the Influence of Sea Power on Indian History (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1945).
- Parry, J. H., The Discovery of the Sea (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1974).
- Pearson, M. N., The Portuguese in India (The New Cambridge History of India, 1.1) (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987).
- Pearson, M. N., The Indian Ocean (New York, NY: Routledge, 2003).
10.4324/9780203414132 Google Scholar
- Pearson, M. N., Port Cities and Intruders: The Swahili Coast, India, and Portugal in the Early Modern Era (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998).
- Pearson, M. N., ‘Littoral Society: The Concept and the Problems’, Journal of World History, 17/4 (2006): 353–73.
- Pearson, M. N., ‘Studying the Indian Ocean World: Problems and Opportunities’, in H. P. Ray and E. A. Alpers (eds.), Cross Currents and Community Networks: The History of the Indian Ocean World (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2007), 15–33.
- Pollock, S. I., The Language of the Gods in the World of Men: Sanskrit, Culture and Power in Premodern India (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2006).
10.1525/9780520932029 Google Scholar
- Pomeranz, K., The Great Divergence: China, Europe, and the Making of the Modern World Economy (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2000).
10.1515/9781400823499 Google Scholar
- Prakash, O., Bullion for Goods: European and Indian merchants in the Indian Ocean trade, 1500–1800 (New Delhi: Manohar, 2004).
- Ray, H. P., ‘Preamble’, in H. P. Ray (ed.), Archaeology of Seafaring: The Indian Ocean in the Ancient Period (Delhi: Pragati Publications, 1999), 1–21.
- Ray, H. P., The Winds of Change: Buddhism and the Maritime Links of Early South Asia (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1994).
- Reid, A., Southeast Asia in the Age of Commerce, 1450–1680, vol. 2: Expansion and Crisis (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1993).
- Risso, P., Merchants and Faith: Muslim Commerce and Culture in the Indian Ocean (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1995).
- Rothermund, D., ‘Zur Historiographie des Indischen Ozeans’, in D. Rothermund and S. Weigelin-Schwiedrzik (eds.), Der Indische Ozean: Das afro-asiatische Mittelmeer als Kultur-und Wirtschaftsraum (Wien: Promedia, 2004).
- A. Schottenhammer (ed.), The Emporium of the World: Maritime Quanzhou, 1000–1400 (Leiden and Boston, MA: Brill, 2001).
- Sen, T., Buddhism, Diplomacy, and Trade: The Realignment of Sino-Indian Relations, 600–1400 (Honolulu, HI: University of Hawai’i Press, 2003).
- Shaffer, L. N., Maritime Southeast Asia to 1500 (Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, 1996).
- Steinberg, P. E., The Social Construction of the Ocean (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001).
- Subrahmanyam, S., The Career and Legend of Vasco da Gama (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1997), 145–54.
- Toussaint, A., History of the Indian Ocean (1961), trans. J. Guicharnaud from French ed. (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul 1966).
- Villiers, A., The Indian Ocean (London: Museum Press, 1952).
- Vink, M. P. M., ‘Indian Ocean Studies and the “New Thalassology”’, Journal of Global History, 2/1 (2007): 41–62.
- Wallerstein, I. M., The Modern World-System, 3 vols. (New York, NY and London: Academic Press, 197489).
- Wink, A., ‘From the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean: Medieval History in Geographic Perspective’, Comparative Studies of Society and History, 44 (2002): 416–45.
- Wong, R. B., China Transformed: Historical Change and the Limits of European Experience (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1997).