Medieval Seafarers of India
I was given (thank you, Chris) a copy of Medieval Seafarers of India, by Lakshmi Subramanian, and since it's a subject I'm interested in it made its way quickly to the top of the pile.
This is a 152-page exploration of a vast subject, very much a secondary source, and the title is misleading. I would guess that more than half the pages actually deal with post-medieval, colonial times. It's in Indian English, with many grammatical and typesetting errors. It's also written in academic style.
Because of those issues it can be easy to overlook the considerable usefulness of this volume. I have not found anything equivalent from American or British publishers. There is extensive discussion of studies of the impact of the arrival of the Portuguese on the spice trade, which has shown that though the European incursion redirected much of the wealth away from the Ottomans and toward the Western Europeans, the imposition of order in the region actually increased trade. Much of that trade avoided the Portuguese radar (anachronistic metaphor), so that the local trade networks often flourished.
Also discussed, in detail, is how landwardly focused the governments along the Indian Ocean littoral were, and how the sea trade had always been largely disconnected from the state. What navies there were existed to patrol harbors and rivers, not to impose order on the sea. Thus, when the Europeans interfered with the sea trade the governments largely adapted, rather than resisting.
This book also introduced me to a variety of cultures, and a number of potentially interesting characters to use in fiction. The book is well footnoted, and that means it is invaluable as a guidepost to further research.
CBsIP: The Wallet of Kai Lung, Ernest Bramah
Claims for Poetry, Donald Hall, ed.
Catherine the Great, Robert K. Massie
My Àntonia, Willa Cather
Dragon Soup, Marge Simon & Mary Turzillo
Once There Was a War, John Steinbeck
This is a 152-page exploration of a vast subject, very much a secondary source, and the title is misleading. I would guess that more than half the pages actually deal with post-medieval, colonial times. It's in Indian English, with many grammatical and typesetting errors. It's also written in academic style.
Because of those issues it can be easy to overlook the considerable usefulness of this volume. I have not found anything equivalent from American or British publishers. There is extensive discussion of studies of the impact of the arrival of the Portuguese on the spice trade, which has shown that though the European incursion redirected much of the wealth away from the Ottomans and toward the Western Europeans, the imposition of order in the region actually increased trade. Much of that trade avoided the Portuguese radar (anachronistic metaphor), so that the local trade networks often flourished.
Also discussed, in detail, is how landwardly focused the governments along the Indian Ocean littoral were, and how the sea trade had always been largely disconnected from the state. What navies there were existed to patrol harbors and rivers, not to impose order on the sea. Thus, when the Europeans interfered with the sea trade the governments largely adapted, rather than resisting.
This book also introduced me to a variety of cultures, and a number of potentially interesting characters to use in fiction. The book is well footnoted, and that means it is invaluable as a guidepost to further research.
CBsIP: The Wallet of Kai Lung, Ernest Bramah
Claims for Poetry, Donald Hall, ed.
Catherine the Great, Robert K. Massie
My Àntonia, Willa Cather
Dragon Soup, Marge Simon & Mary Turzillo
Once There Was a War, John Steinbeck