The N.E. Monsoon and some Aspects of African History

1962 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 263-267
Author(s):  
William Kirk
Keyword(s):  
Indian Ocean ◽  
Cultural History ◽  
African History ◽  
Cultural Dynamics ◽  
Cultural Patterns ◽  
Ocean Region ◽  
History Of ◽  
Changing Patterns ◽  
The Indian Ocean ◽  
Environmental Element

Of geographical necessity the external culture contacts of Africa have been mainly by sea, and consequently in order to explain the areal differentiations apparent in the cultural history of the continent it would seem necessary to supplement research on the landward traditions of African societies by investigations into the cultural patterns of sea regions embracing the oceanic faces of the continent. In the macro-regional structure of Africa it is possible to recognize entities such as Mediterranean Africa, Atlantic Africa, and Indian Ocean Africa, which possess distinctive personalities that cannot be entirely understood by landward reference but find their true provenance in the cultural dynamics of wider maritime theatres of action. Thus many of the keys to the cultural history and character of the eastern face of Africa must be sought not in Africa itself but in the changing patterns of the Indian Ocean region of which this African zone forms an integral part. As a student of the historical geography of the Indian Ocean, I am concerned here with but one environmental element in the structure of this region and its significance to some aspects of pre-colonial African history.

scholarly journals Geopolitics of the Sea: the Idea of Ocean Control in the Political Discourse of Independent India

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 234-246 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexey Vladimirovich Kupriyanov
Keyword(s):  
Indian Ocean ◽  
Political Discourse ◽  
Effective Control ◽  
Key Points ◽  
Third Stage ◽  
Ocean Region ◽  
History Of ◽  
Regional Community ◽  
The Indian Ocean

The article is devoted to the history of the idea of control over the Indian Ocean in the context of the development of India’s political discourse. This issue relates to the history of the development of the maritime security component of India in colonial and postcolonial times. The author seeks to analyze the genesis of the idea of India’s control over the sea, the main stages of its formation and its specific features. The relevance of the issue is emphasized by the attention paid in present-day India to the problem of effective control over the Indian Ocean, its perception as zone of Indian dominance in the context of the formation of the Indo-Pacific region. The article proves that the concept of ocean control, which is now popular among Indian politicians and experts, was formed as a result of the consistent evolution of discourse, to which theorists, military and politicians contributed. As a result of this evolution, India developed its own concept of control over sea spaces, implying the role of India as the main supplier of security in the region and the leader of the regional community of countries, which includes the states controlling the key points of the Indian Ocean. This evolution can be divided into three stages. During the first one (1947-1965) the doctrine of ‘possession of the sea’ was formulated, and this was done by K.M. Panikkar and K.B. Vaidya. Those plans, however, were not realized due to lack of resources. During the second stage (1965-1991) the idea was removed from the Indian external and internal political discourse. At the same time Navy’s size and equipment were constantly growing, allowing India to defeat Pakistan at sea in 1971 and successfully solve tactical tasks, supporting profitable status quo in the Indian Ocean region. Finally, during the third stage (1991-2019) the idea of control over the ocean was revived. As a result of this evolution, India developed its own concept of control over ocean spaces, implying the role of the country as the main supplier of security in the region and the leader of the regional community of countries, which includes the states controlling the key points of the Indian Ocean.

The Indian Ocean and Africa

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward A. Alpers
Keyword(s):  
Indian Ocean ◽  
African History ◽  
Immigrant Communities ◽  
African Music ◽  
Important Place ◽  
Nation States ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Indian Ocean ◽  
Monsoon Winds ◽  
Indian Ocean World

The Indian Ocean has occupied an important place in the history of Africa for millennia, linking the continental land mass to the peoples, products, and ideas of the wider Indian Ocean world (IOW). Central to this relationship are environmental factors, including the biannual operation of monsoon winds, which determined the maritime movement of people, things, and ideas. The earliest of these connections involve the movement of food crops, domestic animals, and commensals both from and into Africa and its offshore islands. From the beginnings of the Current Era, Africa was an important Indian Ocean source of valuable commodities, such as ivory and gold; in more recent times, hardwood products like mangrove poles, and agricultural products like cloves, coconuts, and copra gained economic prominence. Enslaved African labor also had a long history in the IOW, the sources and destinations for the export trade varying over time. In addition, for centuries many different Indian Ocean immigrant communities played important roles as settlers, merchants, sailors, and soldiers. In the realm of culture and ideas, African music, dance, and spiritual concepts accompanied those Africans who were forcibly removed from the continent to the different Indian Ocean lands where they were enslaved. A further indicator of Indian Ocean connectivity is Islam, the introduction of which marks an important watershed in African history. The human settlement of Madagascar marks another significant Indian Ocean connection for Africa. At different times and in different ways, colonial rule—Portuguese, Dutch, Omani, French, and British—tied eastern African territories to India, Arabia, and Southeast Asia. Since regaining independence, African nation-states have established a variety of new linkages to other Indian Ocean states.

scholarly journals The Indo-Pacific: Indian View

2021 ◽  
Vol 65 (5) ◽  
pp. 49-58
Author(s):  
A. Kupriyanov
Keyword(s):  
Indian Ocean ◽  
Political Influence ◽  
The Political ◽  
Cultural Economic ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Ocean Region ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Indian Ocean ◽  
String Of Pearls ◽  
Indian Foreign Policy

Received 06.02.2021. The article focuses on the Indian version of the Indo-Pacific concept. The author notes that the Russian attitude towards Indo-Pacific is ambiguous, and argues that the reason is the vague and unstructured concept as such. The article analyzes the origin and history of the term Indo-Pacific itself. The author traces its history back 170 years and describes in detail how it was transformed during these years, consistently evolving from an exclusively geographical name to a geopolitical construct, then to an oceanographic term, then to a geopolitical construct again. Further, the author analyzes in detail the preconditions in the political, cultural, economic and security spheres, that had developed by the time of the emergence of the Indo-Pacific concept: India’s desire to form a sphere of political influence within the borders of the Indian Ocean region, confirming its status as a great power; concerns about Chinese expansion and the alleged “String of Pearls” strategy in the Indian Ocean; the desire to restore the cultural and civilizational unity of the Indosphere; an attempt to build a comprehensive economic strategy that would allow India with relying on regional organizations, bilateral ties and trade megablocks to catch up with China economically. Because of these preconditions the idea of the Indo-Pacific, proposed by the experts, was immediately accepted by the political elites of India and turned into one of the pillars of Indian foreign policy. The author identifies two main visions of the Indo-Pacific in Indian discourse: as an anti-Chinese concept and as a broader cultural and civilizational concept, which should serve as a basis for India’s further expansion into the Pacific. However, economic problems may prevent this concept from being further strengthened and turned into a full-fledged initiative. Nevertheless, India is unlikely to abandon the idea of the Indo-Pacific, so Russia should develop its own version of the Indo-Pacific concept, which would be combined with the Indian one and at the same time correspond to the interests of Russia.

scholarly journals Coral Stone Architecture, Chinese Porcelain, and Indian Ocean Artifacts along the Swahili Coast: Cross-Cultural Dynamics in Medieval East Africa

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vera-Simone Schulz
Keyword(s):  
Indian Ocean ◽  
Material Culture ◽  
East Africa ◽  
Cultural Dynamics ◽  
Medieval Period ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Swahili Coast ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Indian Ocean

While the use of Chinese porcelain dishes in the stone towns along the Swahili coast has recently found much attention in art historical scholarship regarding the eighteenth to early twentieth centuries, the pre-history of these dynamics in the medieval period has up to now only been fully considered in other fields such as archaeology and anthropology. This paper sheds new light on the interrelations between the built environment and material culture in coastal East Africa from an art historical perspective, focusing on premodern Indian Ocean trajectories, the role of Chinese porcelain bowls that were immured into Swahili coral stone buildings, and on architecture across boundaries in a medieval world characterized by far-reaching transcultural entanglements and connectivity. It will show how Chinese porcelain bowls in premodern Swahili architecture linked the stone towns along the coast with other sites both inland and across the Indian Ocean and beyond, and how these dynamics were shaped by complex intersections between short-distance and long-distance-relationships and negotiations between the local and the global along the Swahili coast and beyond.

Gujarat and Long-Distance Trade in the Indian Ocean Region before the Sixteenth Century

2019 ◽  
pp. 68-99
Author(s):  
Philippe Beaujard
Keyword(s):  
Indian Ocean ◽  
Persian Gulf ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Regional Powers ◽  
Agricultural Potential ◽  
Ocean Region ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Indian Ocean ◽  
The Persian Gulf ◽  
Southern Arabia

Northwestern India, and particularly Gujarat, played a crucial role in the history of the ancient world by building connections with various Indian Ocean regions. These included the Persian Gulf, southern Arabia, the Red Sea, and the Horn of Africa on one side, and southern India, Sri Lanka, and Southeast Asia on the other. Gujarat benefited from its agricultural potential and acted as a hub for various areas. This explains both its own success and the constant efforts by regional powers to control it. This chapter attempts to demonstrate the ways in which Gujarat proved able to assert its power and gradually become a major actor in exchanges in and around the Indian Ocean: exchanges that have connections to religious networks and places.

scholarly journals The Indian Ocean as a Zone of Peace: an Outdated Concept or Format for the Future?

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 204-219
Author(s):  
A. V. Kupriianov
Keyword(s):  
Indian Ocean ◽  
Great Powers ◽  
Indian Ocean Region ◽  
Regional Powers ◽  
Political Situation ◽  
Ocean Management ◽  
Ocean Region ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Indian Ocean ◽  
The 1960S

The article considers the origins and current perspectives of the concept of the “Indian Ocean as a Zone of Peace” (IOZOP). It was formed within the framework of the Non-Aligned Movement in the 1960s and early 1970s. The concept was supported by the countries of the Indian Ocean Region as the opportunity to avoid the transformation of the Indian Ocean into a zone of conflict between the great powers. Initially formulated very vaguely, in the end the IOZOP concept was reduced mainly to the requirement for non-regional powers to stop testing weapons and deployment of military forces and assets on the islands of the Indian Ocean. Despite the proclamation of the Indian Ocean as a zone of peace by UNGA in 1971, the Western powers ignored this decision, refusing to withdraw its militaryforces and bases from the region. The subsequent disagreements between the regional actors, some of which feared increasing India’s power, and the dramatic change in the political situation in the world led lto a decline in interest in this idea. However, in 2014, India, and Sri Lanka expressed their readiness to put this issue on the agenda again. The author analyzes the history of origin and attempts to realize the concept of the Indian Ocean as a Zone of Peace, the reasons for its failure, highlights the positions of the main countries concerned, key moments that hinder and contribute to the formation of a zone of peace. He concludes that under current conditions, the IOZOP concept can be implemented in an updated form as part of a potential ocean management structure that could be formed on the basis of regional structures such as IORA and IONS.

Myth and History: The Malagasy Andriambahoaka and the Indonesian Legacy

1982 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 221-250 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Ottino
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Indian Ocean ◽  
Cultural History ◽  
Recent Work ◽  
Thirteenth Century ◽  
Ninth Century ◽  
Early Date ◽  
History Of ◽  
Archeological Evidence ◽  
The Indian Ocean

The early cultural history of Madagascar, inseparable from that of the Indian Ocean, remains very poorly known. I agree with other authors that the peopling of the island is recent; so far we do not have any archeological evidence dating prior to the ninth century. While it is beyond doubt that the islands received people, techniques, and ideas from all the areas around the Indian Ocean, recent work confirms the dominance of a double--or rather a triple--component: an Indonesian one, much Indianized before being tinged with a particular brand of Shicite Islam around the thirteenth century; an Arabo-Persian influence; and an African, particularly Bantu, influence. The Bantu influence, is in most cases, inseparable from the preceding. Deschamps believes that the more recent, “Islamized,” arrivals brought with them new political concepts that led, according to Kent, to the emergence of the first Malagasy kingdoms at the beginning of the sixteenth century. I also agree with this point and believe that the concepts of a kingship based on the mystic pre-eminence of a sovereign of which the prototype were the Andriambahoaka were introduced into Madagascar by the first Malagasy dynasty, the ZafiRaminia (lit. “the descendants of Raminia”). These ZafiRaminia, who dominated for a time the entire coast and penetrated at an early date into the interior, largely constitute the origins of other dynasties in the central, southern, and western parts of the island. This does not preclude that these various dynasties were later strongly marked by other influences, especially that of the Antemoro.

Diversity and distribution of avian haematozoan parasites in the western Indian Ocean region: a molecular survey

Parasitology ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 139 (2) ◽  
pp. 221-231 ◽  
Author(s):  
FARAH ISHTIAQ ◽  
JON S. BEADELL ◽  
BEN H.WARREN ◽  
ROBERT C. FLEISCHER
Keyword(s):  
Indian Ocean ◽  
Western Indian Ocean ◽  
Parasite Community ◽  
Indian Ocean Region ◽  
Molecular Survey ◽  
Limited Sampling ◽  
Avian Blood ◽  
Ocean Region ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Indian Ocean

SUMMARYThe genetic diversity of haematozoan parasites in island avifauna has only recently begun to be explored, despite the potential insight that these data can provide into the history of association between hosts and parasites and the possible threat posed to island endemics. We used mitochondrial DNA sequencing to characterize the diversity of 2 genera of vector-mediated parasites (Plasmodium and Haemoproteus) in avian blood samples from the western Indian Ocean region and explored their relationship with parasites from continental Africa. We detected infections in 68 out of 150 (45 3%) individuals and cytochrome b sequences identified 9 genetically distinct lineages of Plasmodium spp. and 7 lineages of Haemoproteus spp. We found considerable heterogeneity in parasite lineage composition across islands, although limited sampling may, in part, be responsible for perceived differences. Two lineages of Plasmodium spp. and 2 lineages of Haemoproteus spp. were shared by hosts in the Indian Ocean and also on mainland Africa, suggesting that these lineages may have arrived relatively recently. Polyphyly of island parasites indicated that these parasites were unlikely to constitute an endemic radiation and instead probably represent multiple colonization events. This study represents the first molecular survey of vector-mediated parasites in the western Indian Ocean, and has uncovered a diversity of parasites. Full understanding of parasite community composition and possible threats to endemic avian hosts will require comprehensive surveys across the avifauna of this region.

Editorial Introduction

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Editors of the JIOWS
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Indian Ocean ◽  
Western Indian Ocean ◽  
Late Nineteenth Century ◽  
Fourth Volume ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Indian Ocean ◽  
Complex Relationships ◽  
Indian Ocean World ◽  
Shed Light

The editors are proud to present the first issue of the fourth volume of the Journal of Indian Ocean World Studies. This issue contains three articles, by James Francis Warren (Murdoch University), Kelsey McFaul (University of California, Santa Cruz), and Marek Pawelczak (University of Warsaw), respectively. Warren’s and McFaul’s articles take different approaches to the growing body of work that discusses pirates in the Indian Ocean World, past and present. Warren’s article is historical, exploring the life and times of Julano Taupan in the nineteenth-century Philippines. He invites us to question the meaning of the word ‘pirate’ and the several ways in which Taupan’s life has been interpreted by different European colonists and by anti-colonial movements from the mid-nineteenth century to the present day. McFaul’s article, meanwhile, takes a literary approach to discuss the much more recent phenomenon of Somali Piracy, which reached its apex in the last decade. Its contribution is to analyse the works of authors based in the region, challenging paradigms that have mostly been developed from analysis of works written in the West. Finally, Pawelczak’s article is a legal history of British jurisdiction in mid-late nineteenth-century Zanzibar. It examines one of the facets that underpinned European influence in the western Indian Ocean World before the establishment of colonial rule. In sum, this issue uses two key threads to shed light on the complex relationships between European and other Western powers and the Indian Ocean World.

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