A Hundred Horizons : The Indian Ocean in the Age of Global Empire

On December 26, 2004, giant tsunami waves destroyed communities around the Indian Ocean, from Indonesia to Kenya. Beyond the horrific death toll, this wall of water brought a telling reminder of the interconnectedness of the many countries on the ocean rim, and the insignificance of national boundaries. A Hundred Horizons takes us to these shores, in a brilliant reinterpretation of how culture developed and history was made at the height of the British raj. Between 1850 and 1950, the Indian Ocean teemed with people, commodities, and ideas: pilgrims and armies, commerce and labor, the politics of Mahatma Gandhi and the poetry of Rabindranath Tagore were all linked in surprising ways. Sugata Bose finds in these intricate social and economic webs evidence of the interdependence of the peoples of the lands beyond the horizon, from the Middle East to East Africa to Southeast Asia. In following this narrative, we discover that our usual ways of looking at history—through the lens of nationalism or globalization—are not adequate. The national ideal did not simply give way to inevitable globalization in the late twentieth century, as is often supposed; Bose reveals instead the vital importance of an intermediate historical space, where interregional geographic entities like the Indian Ocean rim foster nationalist identities and goals yet simultaneously facilitate interaction among communities. A Hundred Horizons merges statistics and myth, history and poetry, in a remarkable reconstruction of how a region's culture, economy, politics, and imagination are woven together in time and place. Publishers Weekly Bose, a professor of oceanic history and affairs at Harvard, argues that the peoples living along the vast rim of the Indian Ocean share a "common, historical destiny" and an "organic unity." Doing for this ocean what the renowned Harvard historian Bernard Bailyn recently did for "Atlantic history" and, before that, the late Fernand Braudel for the "Mediterranean world," Bose examines the Indian Ocean as "an interregional arena of political, economic and cultural interaction." Lapping at such far-flung and disparate territories as India, southern Africa, the East Indies and even western Australia, the Indian Ocean is more geographically complex and civilizationally diverse than its sisters. Of prime interest to Bose, however, is whether the imposition of European political and economic domination in the early 19th century broke through the walls enclosing the ocean's "arena." Most historians have believed that the Indian Ocean lost its unity, but Bose persuasively argues that the system retained its common identity even while its components nurtured nationalist goals. Bose lacks the lucidity of his colleague Bailyn, and this book, despite its promising subject, suffers from incomprehensible phrases ("votaries of multiple modernities in diasporic public spheres") and unfortunate sentence structure. 22 b&w illus., 1 map. (Apr.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information. On December 26, 2004, giant tsunami waves destroyed communities around the Indian Ocean, from Indonesia to Kenya. Beyond the horrific death toll, this wall of water brought a telling reminder of the interconnectedness of the many countries on the ocean rim, and the insignificance of national boundaries. A Hundred Horizons takes us to these shores, in a brilliant reinterpretation of how culture developed and history was made at the height of the British raj. Between 1850 and 1950, the Indian Ocean teemed with people, commodities, and pilgrims and armies, commerce and labor, the politics of Mahatma Gandhi and the poetry of Rabindranath Tagore were all linked in surprising ways. Sugata Bose finds in these intricate social and economic webs evidence of the interdependence of the peoples of the lands beyond the horizon, from the Middle East to East Africa to Southeast Asia. In following this narrative, we discover that our usual ways of looking at history--through the lens of nationalism or globalization--are not adequate. The national ideal did not simply give way to inevitable globalization in the late twentieth century, as is often supposed; Bose reveals instead the vital importance of an intermediate historical space, where interregional geographic entities like the Indian Ocean rim foster nationalist identities and goals yet simultaneously facilitate interaction among communities. A Hundred Horizons merges statistics and myth, history and poetry, in a remarkable reconstruction of how a region's culture, economy, politics, and imagination are woven together in time and place. Between 1850 And 1950, The Indian Ocean Teemed With People, Commodities And Ideas ... Sugata Bose Finds In These Intricate Social And Economic Webs Evidence Of The Interdependence Of The Peoples Of The Lands Beyond The Horizon, From The Middle East To East Africa To Southeast Asia--dust Jacket. 1. Space And Time On The Indian Ocean Rim -- 2. The Gulf Between Precolonial And Colonial Empires -- 3. Flows Of Capitalists, Laborers, And Commodities -- 4. Waging War For King And Country -- 5. Expatriate Patriots : Anticolonial Imagination And Action -- 6. Pilgrims' Progress Under Colonial Rule -- 7. A Different Univeralism? Oceanic Voyages Of A Poet As Pilgrim -- Conclusion : The Indian Ocean Arena In The History Of Globalization. Sugata Bose. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [285]-313) And Index. Frontmatter Preface (page ix) I Space and Time on the Indian Ocean Rim (page 1) 2 The Gulf between Precolonial and Colonial Empires (page 36) 3 Flows of Capitalists, Laborers, and Commodities (page 72) 4 Waging War for King and Country (page 122) 5 Expatriate Patriots: Anticolonial Imagination and Action (page 148) 6 Pilgrims' Progress under Colonial Rules (page 193) 7 A Different Universalism? Oceanic Voyages of a Poet as Pilgrim (page 233) Conclusion: The Indian Ocean Arena in the History of Globalization (page 272) Notes (page 285) Index (page 315) This book takes us to the shores of the Indian Ocean, in a brilliant reinterpretation of how culture developed and history was made at the height of the British raj. Bose explores the social and economic webs of these shores from 1850-1950, finding evidence of the interdependence of the peoples from the Middle East to East Africa to Southeast Asia.