Horn of Africa and South Asia

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Indian Ocean ◽  
Material Culture ◽  
South Asia ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
Cultural Beliefs ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Horn Of Africa ◽  
The Indian Ocean ◽  
Object Of Study

The Horn of Africa and South Asia have shared a vibrant, multidimensional relationship since ancient times. A number of factors enabled this relationship, including: the Indian Ocean monsoons; the location of coastal northeast Africa on trade routes between India, Egypt, and the Mediterranean; and a complementarity of resources and economic needs and wants. The Indian Ocean World (IOW) has been described as the first global economy. Trade also played roles in the spread of plants, animals, and religious and other cultural beliefs and practices across the IOW. For these and other reasons, it is surprising that the IOW has only been a frame for research and an object of study in its own right for a few decades. The dual status of the Horn of Africa as a component of both the African and IOW makes it a contact zone par excellence. It also provides fertile opportunities to advance understanding of the historiography of oceans, islands, port towns, and hinterlands. Many important lessons learned from scholarly study of relations between the Horn of Africa and South Asia have wider applicability, such as the need for new ways of thinking to tackle biases apparent in area studies, and ubiquitous Eurocentrism. Recent investigations have begun to address the neglected history and agency of indigenous communities and endogenous historical processes, such as the importance of short trading journeys by multitudes of local entrepreneurs, and the diverse histories of Sidis—Indians of African descent. Sidi studies continues to shed new and valuable insights into many other matters, including slavery, diaspora, and identity. The Portuguese intensified ties between Ethiopia and India. Portuguese colonies in Goa, Daman, and Diu became bases for Portuguese relations with Ethiopia. Although the Portuguese interlude in Ethiopia was relatively short, its legacy included Indian influences on material culture, including religious painting and architecture. Small numbers of Europeans visited the interior of the Horn of Africa over the next two and a half centuries, but Indian traders mostly conducted their business from Red Sea and Indian Ocean ports. Following the opening of Anglo-Ethiopian relations in 1897, Indian merchants ventured into the interior. Indian craftsmen were also to leave their mark. Most Indians left Ethiopia during the Italian Occupation between 1935 to 1941. Postwar, Emperor Haile Selassie focused on reconstruction and reform, which included recruiting large numbers of Indian school teachers. A new generation of Indian entrepreneurs also arrived. Following partition, India–Africa relations initially focused on political solidarities. With the beginning of economic liberalization in India in 1991, economic relations were foregrounded, with India becoming a significant trade and investment partner.

Commercial Networks Connecting Southeast Asia with the Indian Ocean

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom Hoogervorst
Keyword(s):  
Indian Ocean ◽  
Material Culture ◽  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Southeast Asian ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Commercial Networks ◽  
The Indian Ocean

Southeast Asian history has seen remarkable levels of mobility and durable connections with the rest of the Indian Ocean. The archaeological record points to prehistoric circulations of material culture within the region. Through the power of monsoon sailing, these small-scale circuits coalesced into larger networks by the 5th century bce. Commercial relations with Chinese, Indian, and West Asian traders brought great prosperity to a number of Southeast Asian ports, which were described as places of immense wealth. Professional shipping, facilitated by local watercraft and crews, reveals the indigenous agency behind such long-distance maritime contacts. By the second half of the first millennium ce, ships from the Indo-Malayan world could be found as far west as coastal East Africa. Arabic and Persian merchants started to play a larger role in the Indian Ocean trade by the 8th century, importing spices and aromatic tree resins from sea-oriented polities such as Srivijaya and later Majapahit. From the 15th century, many coastal settlements in Southeast Asia embraced Islam, partly motivated by commercial interests. The arrival of Portuguese, Dutch, and British ships increased the scale of Indian Ocean commerce, including in the domains of capitalist production systems, conquest, slavery, indentured labor, and eventually free trade. During the colonial period, the Indian Ocean was incorporated into a truly global economy. While cultural and intellectual links between Southeast Asia and the wider Indian Ocean have persisted in the 21st century, commercial networks have declined in importance.

Spatial and Temporal Continuities of Merchant Networks in South Asia and the Indian Ocean (1500-2000)

2007 ◽  
Vol 50 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 91-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gita Dharampal-Frick ◽  
Bhaswati Bhattacharya ◽  
Jos Gommans
Keyword(s):  
Indian Ocean ◽  
South Asia ◽  
The People ◽  
Merchant Networks ◽  
The Indian Ocean

AbstractWe believe ourselves to be the most astute men that one can encounter, and the people here surpass us in everything. And there are Moorish merchants worth 400,000 to 500,000 ducats. And they can do better calculations by memory than we can do with the pen. And they mock us, and it seems to me that they are superior to us in countless things, save with sword in hand, which they cannot resist.

A Secret People of South Asia. The Origins, Evolution and Role of the Luso-Indian Goan Community from the Sixteenth to Twentieth Centuries

Itinerario ◽  
1987 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 72-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth McPherson
Keyword(s):  
Indian Ocean ◽  
South Asia ◽  
Indian Ocean Region ◽  
Imperial Expansion ◽  
Ocean Region ◽  
The Indian Ocean

Until fairly recently, histories of European imperial expansion in the Indian Ocean region have been written largely in terms of the endeavours of Europeans in creating and controlling empire. Only in the last couple of decades has recognition been given slowly to the role of the indigenous economic and political compradors, both large and small, who were vital to the evolution and sustenance of European colonial empires.

scholarly journals Coffee: An Indian Ocean Perspective

2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 61-81
Author(s):  
Shane J. Barter
Keyword(s):  
Indian Ocean ◽  
South Asia ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Eastern Africa ◽  
Coffee Production ◽  
Production And Consumption ◽  
History Of ◽  
Coffee Farmers ◽  
The Indian Ocean ◽  
Indian Ocean World

Abstract Studies of coffee production and consumption are dominated by emphases on Latin American production and American consumption. This paper challenges the Atlantic perspective, demanding an equal emphasis on the Indian Ocean world of Eastern Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. A geographical approach to historical as well as contemporary patterns of coffee production and consumption provides an opportunity to rethink the nature of coffee as a global commodity. The Indian Ocean world has a much deeper history of coffee, and in recent decades, has witnessed a resurgence in production. The nature of this production is distinct, providing an opportunity to rethink dependency theories. Coffee in the Indian Ocean world is more likely to be produced by smallholders, countries are less likely to be economically dependent on coffee, farmers are more likely to harvest polycultures, and countries represent both consumers and producers. A balanced emphasis of Atlantic and Indian Ocean worlds allows us to better understand coffee production and consumption, together telling a more balanced, global story of this important commodity.

The Decline of Green-Glazed Jars after the Early Abbasid Period

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-43
Author(s):  
Elon Harvey
Keyword(s):  
Indian Ocean ◽  
Near East ◽  
Coastal Areas ◽  
Horn Of Africa ◽  
Date Syrup ◽  
The Indian Ocean ◽  
China And Japan ◽  
Early Islamic ◽  
Southern Iraq

Abstract Green-glazed jars were manufactured in southern Iraq during the Parthian, Sasanian, and early Islamic periods. In the latter period, they were distributed in great numbers in the Near East and in coastal areas along the Indian Ocean from the Horn of Africa to China and Japan. The jars are thought to have been used chiefly for storing “date-syrup.” Around the 4th/10th century their production was significantly reduced and their prevalence greatly declined, a phenomenon that has puzzled archeologists. In this study, I identify these jars with “the green jars” (al-jarr al-akhḍar or ḥantam) mentioned in some classical Islamic texts. According to numerous Ḥadīth, the Prophet prohibited nabīdh (date-wine) in “green jars.” While many Muslim jurists held that the Prophet withdrew this prohibition and that these jars were lawful, many found the use of these jars reprehensible or even forbidden. I suggest that the Ḥadīth in which the Prophet prohibited green jars may have contributed to the decline of green-glazed jars.

EX ORIENTE LUXURIA: INDIAN COMMODITIES AND ROMAN EXPERIENCE

2002 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 40-95 ◽  
Author(s):  
Grant Parker
Keyword(s):  
Indian Ocean ◽  
South Asia ◽  
Roman Culture ◽  
The Indian Ocean ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
Région Méditerranéenne

AbstractThe role of commodities from the Indian Ocean is at the centre of this study of Roman imperial worldviews (c. 1st to 6th century). It begins by surveying the various kinds of objects brought to the Mediterranean from South Asia, e.g. spices and fabrics, and their routes, and then examines the ways in which Romans thought about them, both moralising and more strictly economic. This affords the chance to assess the notion of the exotic in Roman culture. Le rôle des marchandises venant de l'Océan Indien se retrouve au centre de cette étude des visions romaines impériales du monde (1er au 6e siècles). Ce travail commence par une étude générale des objets variés importés à la région méditerranéenne de l'Asie du Sud, par exemple des épices et des tissus, et de leurs itinéraires, et examine par la suite ce que les Romains peuvent en avoir pensé du point de vue moralisant et plus strictement économique. Ceci permet d'évaluer la notion de l'exotisme dans la culture romaine.

The Maritime Adventures of Grand Eunuch Ho

1964 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 25-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Willetts
Keyword(s):  
Indian Ocean ◽  
South Asia ◽  
Naval Power ◽  
The Indian Ocean ◽  
Mandate Of Heaven ◽  
To Receive

In 1368 a native Chinese dynasty, the Ming, received the Mandate of Heaven, and after a century and a half of alien rule a true son of Han ascended the Dragon Throne. A burst of diplomatic activity followed. It took the form of a grandiose series of naval expeditions designed to announce to the more-or-less petty rulers of South Asia the advent of a new native house, and to receive their tribute. Over the next hundred years the Chinese established themselves as the dominant naval power in the Indian Ocean.

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