Der Indische Ozean in historischer Perspektive.

• Author: PTAK, RODERICH
• Position: Review

Der Indische Ozean in historischer Perspektive. Edited by STEPHAN CONERMANN. Asien und Afrika, Beitrage des Zentrums fur asiatische und afrikanische Studien (ZAAS) der Christian-Albrechts-Universitat zu Kiel, vol. I. Hamburg: E. B.-VERLAG, 1998. Pp. ix + 295.

This book contains eleven studies related to the history of the Indian Ocean and its adjacent areas. There is no elaborate preface but a little note tells us that these studies are based on a series of lectures presented to the University of Kiel during the winter term of 1994-95. All articles are in German with the exception of one in English.

The first article, by Hermann Kulke, is a kind of general introduction to major determinants of Indian Ocean trade history. This concerns the segmentation of maritime space through natural conditions (monsoon winds, etc.), the idea of emporia, certain basic Braudelian concepts, the impact on medieval trade brought about by the Chinese (Song and later), and the emergence of the Portuguese trading network with the foundation of Macao (founded in c. 1557; not 1547) as its terminal point. The article is a very basic one, hence it does not deal with anything that goes much beyond the simple concepts used already by K. N. Chaudhuri.

The other articles are case studies of different length and quality on a variety of highly diverse topics, which are only linked to each other by the simple fact that all deal with or are at least related to the same geographic area. The collection begins at the "western end" of the Indian Ocean with a very elegantly written piece by Josef Wiesehofer on the Greek and Roman periods (up to the sixth century). One important issue concerns the question of the Roman trading diaspora which touches the well-known views by Himanshu P. Ray.

The next paper, by Martin Gollwitzer, surveys Sri Lanka's connections with the outside world. The article makes ample use of archaeological research, but says comparatively little about Sri Lanka's relations with Southeast Asia and China. Especially the Song and Yuan periods might have been considered more carefully because, as Kulke had suggested in his introductory paper, China's maritime trade began to flourish under the Song.

The fourth contribution, again by Kulke, deals with Srivijaya. It tries to explain Srivijaya's "structure" in terms of the Bronson "model" and other simple images. China's role is also highlighted. This is a general article, by and large following a chronological...