Indian Ocean (Seas in History)

The historical study of a sea or ocean is perhaps one of the most challenging kinds of history to write, involving as it does having to negotiate a vast range of material and the task of pulling out of that material common themes and issues. Pioneered by Fernand Braudel's work on the Mediterranean, the genre has produced works on other seas including the Indian Ocean. The Indian Ocean has seen a particularly steady stream of work beginning notably with KN Chaudhuri's "Trade and Civilisation in the Indian Ocean". Pearson's book represents an important contribution to the genre.The Indian Ocean he notes has "a long history of contact and distant voyages done by people from its coasts" unlike the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans which became joined as a common space only after the Fifteenth Century. Study of the subject therefore benefits from a large body of evidence and materials produced over a long period of time which the historian may access.The first chapter deals with the "deep structure" of the Ocean, based on its geography, topography and climate, including in particular the workings of the monsoon winds that carried ships and trade across the Ocean from Antiquity. The second chapter explores the distribution of peoples around the sea, and in particular looks at why port cities emerged as such to assume an important role in the history of the Ocean and its littoral states. It also looks at the lives of traders and fisherman who made their living off the sea differentiating them from the peasants who tilled the land and comprised most of the population. Access to the sea is generally thought to economically advantage people living in its ports benefiting as they do from the role of ports as magnets for produce from the inland and also from across the seas. Pearson however does not dwell in detail on this aspect of the economy of the Ocean in creating a common space.The third chapter begins the historical narrative with the Sumerians and Vedic Indians and a review of their mythological interpretations of the Sea and well as the early sea faring and maritime commerce of the Mesopotamians and Harappans. This is followed by the arrival of Greek and Roman ships in the Arabian Sea as well as Chinese visitors during Gupta and post-Gupta times. The key process during the Late Antiquity however was the spread of Indian commerce, religious traditions and culture to the Malay World with the establishment of significant "Indianised" states in mainland and maritime South East Asia such as Funan and Sri Vijaya, The joining of the Ocean in Antiquity also brought with it influences from outside, notably Greek and Roman influence seeing the establishment of Christianity in South India and Ethiopia.Following the establishment of Islam as the dominant political and religious force in the Middle East, Islam follows into the Ocean with the establishment of Muslim merchant communities across the entire Ocean from Arabia and East Africa to India and South East Asia to become eventually the dominant religious and cultural force across the Indian Ocean world. Indian Muslims rather than Arabs or Persians play a key role in introducing Islam into the Malay world. Powerful Muslim states are established in Iran, India and eventually South East Asia. The coming of Islam to the Ocean also sees major technical innovation in navigation, notably the introduction of the lateen sail - still seen today around the Ocean. The arrival of Zheng He's treasure fleet in the Ocean in the fifteenth century brings a new element into play. Chinese navigational advances brought to the Ocean include the compass (previously introduced). The Chinese presence however is short lived until the return of China to the Ocean in the Twenty First Century.Europeans arrive in the Ocean in the Sixteenth Century after an absence of about fifteen centuries (since Roman times). The Portuguese (unlike their Roman predecessors) are a disruptive element who attempt forcibly to seize the commerce of the Ocean from Muslim merchants - with mixed results. Basic patterns in Oceanic trade and movement of people and goods do not change despite these events. The Portuguese are joined by the Dutch who succeed in establishing a territorial empire in Indonesia.However, it is the arrival of the British that proves to be the harbinger of more significant change. The British, through their control of India, succeed in dominating the Ocean militarily, politically and economically and for the first time in the history of the Ocean succeed in marginalising the peoples who inhabit the Ocean. Indigenous shipping gives way to modern British (and European) shipping. Insurance, finance and the economy generally are also dominated by Europeans even if Indian bankers still manage to hold onto a reasonable share of the pie. British settlers also arrive in Australia and South Africa, introducing a new people into the Indian Ocean world. The end of colonialism however sees a rapid return to greater control of the Ocean by its peoples with European commercial, political and military power giving way to local States as well as new competitors from outside the Ocean such as China, Japan and the US (not to mention the former USSR).Pearson's sweeping survey deals with India (or South Asia) more than any other region, which he sees as the "fulcrum" of the Ocean, containing about 70% of the population that lives in littoral states and an economy that dwarfs all others combined. He avoids concentrating on material life (unlike say Braudel) and looks to the "unity" of the Ocean through the prism of "global historians" of "migration, commerce and conquest" as well as shared cultural and religious traditions. This represents a fresh new approach into the study of seas.The Indian Ocean is thought by some to be the emerging focal point of world history where old and new powers will compete for resources, allies and influence. Three of those powers indeed are Indian Ocean states themselves, namely India, Indonesia and Iran. Other powers with key interests in the Ocean include China, Japan, Russia and the US. Robert Kaplan's Monsoon sets out his analysis of how these dynamics may work. Andre Frank argues that the Indian Ocean always has been the focal point of world history and that its return to prominence after a period of European and North American dominance represents but a reassertion of "deep structure" in world history. If Kaplan and Frank are right, Pearson's work provides an engaging survey of the historical context for important processes now unfolding before us.

Easy to read and interesting, I was reading chapters ahead of where we were in class and continued reading past the required pages. It really sucks you in and holds your attention. Loved it!

A fine book in a fine series ("Seas in History"). It is grounded in seeing the ocean not as an obstacle but an enabler, a means of connection. Americans like me are oriented to the Atlantic and Pacific, so the Indian Ocean is distant in more ways than one. With India in the north, Africa on the west, Southeast Asia and Australia on the southeast borders of the Ocean, this is a lively and important region. And we can't forget that the Red Sea and Persian Gulf open into it, so the Middle East abuts it as well.The book starts with the deep geophysical features: origin, winds, currents, climates, geography. This overview is the theater for his description of the history that follows, which is quite good. Pearson covers the traditional trade routes, fishing and the impact on and activity by littoral cultures. Islam spread through Muslim traders, and the overall activity predating European intrusion was substantial and long-standing. The author is from Australia, which of course borders the Indian Ocean and may account for the fact the book is not as Eurocentric as books like this often are.The book is good on the age of European empires, in the Indian Ocean of course primarily the British. The earlier Portuguese empire is described as rather small in its impact, denting but not destroying the preexisting trade system. That point is important because it indicates how very large and forceful the existing system was. The portion on the British is good, but overall maybe too much of the book. There are chapters on Muslims on the Ocean, Europeans in the Indian Ocean World, the early modern world and a fine chapter "History on the Ocean."

This is a splendid book that I would love to use as the core text in a new course on the Indian Ocean. To paraphrase Alfred Doolittle, "I'm willing to use it, I'm wanting to use it, I'm waiting to use it." But I will not ask my students to pay $100 for it: in the absence of expensive color plates or other kinds of graphics, I have a hard time seeing why a 300-plus page book costs so much. I have been hoping for a paperback issue but see no indications that such might be forthcoming.