The worlds of the Indian Ocean : a global history. Volume 1, From the fourth millennium BCE to the sixth century CE /
- A revised and updated translation.
- London Cambridge University Press 2019
- 1 online resource (xxiii, 845 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).
Revised and updated translation of: Les mondes de l'océan Indien, Armand Colin, Paris, 2012 . Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 15 Oct 2019).
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.