The Indian Ocean in World History

Title: The Indian Ocean in World History

Author: Milo Kearney

Publisher: Routledge, 2004 (First)

ISBN: 9780415312783

Pages: 188

Indian ocean had traditionally been the hub of world trade over which the destinies of many a nation and civilization ebbed and flowed. Spices dominated trade in the ancient period, whereas oil does it now. The world’s slavish dependence on fossil fuels tie the industrial nations to the disturbances and disruptions in Indian ocean’s commerce. The rise and fall of the leading states and regions of the world through history is linked in an important measure to the extent of their participation in Indian ocean trade. Egyptians, Mesopotamians, Romans, Arabs, Ottomans and all of history’s Who’s Who had taken part in it, right up to the U.S. which came on the scene since the last century. Milo Kearney presents the entire history of Eurasia condensed into a nice little book, with the Indian ocean as the fulcrum around which the action is played out. This volume is one in a series titled ‘Themes in World History’. The author is the Professor of History at the University of Texas at Brownsville and has authored many books.

Trade and civilization are intimate companions throughout the history of the world. Surplus food production and division of labour paved the way for urbanization to sprout in isolated pockets, which transformed gradually into a full blown civilization when traders stepped in and exchanged men and material with other cultures in the neighbourhood. Just as in land-based trade routes, the entrances to sea lanes in an ocean are limited in number and jealously guarded. The Strait of Malacca, the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea and the Cape of Good Hope were the doors that accorded entry into shipping lanes of the Indian ocean. We can see five distinct phases in the growth of trade through this ocean, which are, a) the original monopoly of the trade by lands lying either directly on its shores or on seas immediately leading from it (down to sixth century BCE), b) the first period of intrusion of Mediterranean European and Chinese influences (sixth century BCE to sixth century CE), c) the receding of the European and Chinese impact in the Arab golden age (seventh to eleventh centuries CE), d) a period of resurgence of Chinese and European influence (twelfth to fifteenth centuries CE) and e) dominance of the lands of the North Atlantic (sixteenth to twentieth centuries CE). The book then goes on to explain each stage in some detail.

Historically, the major items traded through Indian ocean were spices, rice and cotton from India, silk, porcelain and steel from China and slaves and ivory from East Africa. It is sobering to realize that the history of the present, with its full panoply of modern appurtenances and enlightened thought, were shaped by the ages-old rush for merchandise and profit in the Indian ocean. The material and spiritual transactions between the world’s religions are more profound than at first meets the eye. Buddhism’s contributions to Christianity is listed as the mitre, the crozier, the five-chained censer, the hand blessing, monasticism, the worship of saints, processions, fasting and holy water.

The book is written in a textbook style, with terse statement of facts and no analysis. A clear American bias is visible in the handling of Asian politics. Kearney lacks a clear understanding of Indian social life, even though he prominently dwells on India in the book. His explanation for India’s wealth being shared and exploited by foreigners borders on naiveté, as ‘Hinduism and Jainism turned the attention of the people from struggling for position in this life toward a spiritual ascent and a final escape from the material world’ and this orientation is assumed to be a reason for the country’s poor show in fighting off its enemies (p.21). This is way off the mark as far as truth is concerned. Except for a few ascetics and philosophers, nobody took these renouncing theses seriously. The Bible exhorts its adherents to turn the other cheek when one is slapped in the face. But do we seriously expect the Western Christian nations to follow this dictum in international politics? The author’s assertion that Tantric Hinduism sapped India’s ability to ward off foreign exploiters (p.58) is not even remotely true! Tantrism was a highly local sect that developed around the tenth century CE in Bengal, which didn’t make much of an impact elsewhere. Factual accuracy of the book is not beyond doubt, as far as regional references are concerned. Sikhism’s holiest shrine – the Golden Temple at Amritsar – is termed as the ‘Golden Mosque’ (p.163). This book sources history from other reference works on ‘as-is-where-is’ basis. A refreshing variation in naming convention is seen in the book in the case of emperors where their indigenous names are used throughout. Thus, Trajan becomes Traianus, Cyrus turns Koresh, Cambyses is Kambujiya, Darius is Daryavaush and Xerxes changes to Khshayarsha.

The book presents some sensational facts which startle the readers. Lord Bentinck was the Governor General of the English East India Company in India. He had become so confident of the stability and unchallenged continuity of the company’s administration that he dared to plan to have the Taj Mahal dismantled and its marble sold in London! Cranes for this purpose were put into position, but the plan was dropped at the last minute when Bentinck realized that his previous shipment of marble stripped from Agra Fort failed to bring in a good profit (p.135). It is outrageous now even to contemplate disfiguring one of the seven wonders of the world, but the veracity of this episode narrated by Kearney must be verified before forming any adverse conclusions about this otherwise benevolent administrator’s colonial mindset.

The book is highly recommended.

Rating: 3 Star