Europe's place in history is re-assessed in this first comprehensive history of the ancient world, centering on the Indian Ocean and its role in pre-modern globalization. Philippe Beaujard presents an ambitious and comprehensive global history of the Indian Ocean world, from the earliest state formations to 1500 CE. Supported by a wealth of empirical data, full color maps, plates, and figures, he shows how Asia and Africa dominated the economic and cultural landscape and the flow of ideas in the pre-modern world. This led to a trans-regional division of labor and an Afro-Eurasian world economy. Beaujard questions the origins of capitalism and hints at how this world-system may evolve in the future. The result is a reorienting of world history, taking the Indian Ocean, rather than Europe, as the point of departure. Volume I provides in-depth coverage of the period from the fourth millennium BCE to the sixth century CE.

The Indian Ocean in World History explores the cultural exchanges that took place in this region from ancient to modern times.

On the world maps common in America, the Western Hemisphere lies front and center, while the Indian Ocean region all but disappears. This convention reveals the geopolitical focus of the now-departed twentieth century, but in the twenty-first century that focus will fundamentally change. In this pivotal examination of the countries known as “Monsoon Asia”—which include India, Pakistan, China, Indonesia, Burma, Oman, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Tanzania—bestselling author Robert D. Kaplan shows how crucial this dynamic area has become to American power. It is here that the fight for democracy, energy independence, and religious freedom will be lost or won, and it is here that American foreign policy must concentrate if the United States is to remain relevant in an ever-changing world. From the Horn of Africa to the Indonesian archipelago and beyond, Kaplan exposes the effects of population growth, climate change, and extremist politics on this unstable region, demonstrating why Americans can no longer afford to ignore this important area of the world.

Contributed articles.

Harnessing the Trade Winds is the outcome of a generation of research undertaken in Nairobi, Mombassa and Zanzibar in East Africa, and Mumbai and Goa in India. Of her work the author says: "In all my research I found that Arab and particularly European, sources of information downplayed the importance of Indian trade in the Indian Ocean which goes back at least three thousand years BC. [The book] attempts to rekindle in the Indian diaspora a justifiable pride in the achievements of its forebears in East Africa, and indeed other parts of the world. In East Africa they promoted the development of agriculture and industry and the globalization of trade stemming from their trading activities." "Blanche D'Souza's book is a most direct statement on 'brown man's' transcripts over thousands of years trade, labour and migrations for settlements against a pervading backdrop of Arab, British and Portugese rivalries in the Indian Ocean. In this wake Harnessing the Trade Winds adds to plural historical perspectives, in that the text upholds the value of diversity that shapes the identities and self-knowledge of the peoples of Asia and Africa. It challenges those who hold the political reigns and direct policy, on education as well as race relations." - Sultan Somjee, Former head of Ethnography at the National Museums of Kenya, founder of the Community Peace Museums Programme and Foundation, and the Asian African Heritage Trust in Kenya.

Until Vasco da Gama discovered the sea-route to the East in 1497-9 almost nothing was known in the West of the exotic cultures and wealth of the Indian Ocean and its peoples. It is this civilization and its destruction at the hands of the West that Richard Hall recreates in this book. Hall's history of the exploration and exploitation by Chinese and Arab travellers, and by the Portuguese, Dutch and British alike is one of brutality, betrayal and colonial ambition.

In this stimulating and authoritative overview, Michael Pearson reverses the traditional angle of maritime history and looks from the sea to its shores - its impact on the land through trade, naval power, travel and scientific exploration. This vast ocean, both connecting and separating nations, has shaped many countries' cultures and ideologies through the movement of goods, people, ideas and religions across the sea. The Indian Ocean moves from a discussion of physical elements, its shape, winds, currents and boundaries, to a history from pre-Islamic times to the modern period of European dominance. Going far beyond pure maritime history, this compelling survey is an invaluable addition to political, cultural and economic world history.