Richard W. Unger on “Empire and economy in the premodern Indian Ocean, 1400–1800” in the latest issue of the IJMH (November 2024)

Read the introduction to the “Forum: Indian Ocean 1400-1800: Empires and Economy” (in open access at) https://doi.org/10.1177/08438714241272597

The maritime history of the Indian Ocean in the years from 1400 to 1800 is very different from that of the Atlantic. Examining the two uncritically can, and does, lead to a misunderstanding of the practices and institutions – called empires generally, as if they were the same – that dominated in Asia and the Americas in the period. A group of six invited scholars examine different aspects of contact between Europeans and Asians, which stretched from cooperation to conflict.