Early Global Interconnectivity across the Indian Ocean World, Volume II

This volume investigates the emergence and spread of maritime commerce and interconnectivity across the Indian Ocean World-the world's first "global economy"-from a longue durée perspective. Spanning from antiquity to the nineteenth century, these essays move beyond the usual focus on geographical sub-regions or thematic aspects to foreground inter- and trans-regional connections. Focusing on the role of religion in the expansion of commerce and exchange across the region, as well as on technology and knowledge transfer, volume II covers shipbuilding and navigation technologies, porcelain production, medicinal knowledge, and mules as a commodity and means of transportation.

Angela Schottenhammer is Professor of Non-European History at the University of Salzburg, Austria, and Research Director and Adjunct Professor at the Indian Ocean World Centre, McGill University, Canada.

1. Introduction.- I. Religions in the Indian Ocean World.- 2. Buddhism and Maritime Crossings.- 3. The Transmission of Vai--avism across the Bay of Bengal: Trade Networks and State Formation in Early Historic Southeast Asia.- 4. Religion and Early Trade in the Western Indian Ocean: Ideology and Knowledge Exchanges across the Indian Ocean World.- 5. Islam across the Indian Ocean to 1500 CE.- II. Shipbuilding Technologies and Transportation.- 6. Shipping of the Indian Ocean World.- 7. Cross-regional and Chronological Perspectives on East Asian Seafaring and Shipbuilding.- 8. Towards a Hybrid Seagoing Ship: The Transfer and Exchange of Maritime Knowhow and Shipbuilding Technology between Holland and Japan before the Opening of Japan (1853).- III. Transfer of Knowledge and Technologies.- 9. Mongol Empire and Its Impact on Chinese Porcelains.- 10. Eurasia, Medicine and Trade: Arabic Medicine in East Asia: How it came to Be There and how it was Supported, Including Possible Indian Ocean Connections for the Supply of Medicinals.- 11. Mules in the Indian Ocean World: Breeding and Trade in the Long Nineteenth Century, 1780s to 1918.