Abstract
Recent initiatives recognise maritime history as a broad, interdisciplinary theme in global history, the multidimensional study of human interactions with the world’s water-covered regions. A maritime historian may approach the field from a range of vantage points, including science and technology, industry, economics, trade and business, art, literature, military and naval affairs, international relations, comparative studies in imperial and colonial affairs, communications and transportation, intercultural relations and exchange, law, institutional and organisational development, the exploitation and conservation of natural maritime resources, social relations and labour, and sports and recreation. In all of these areas, associations at sea as well as sea–land relationships may be subject to scrutiny. Uniting such disparate specialties is their shared engagement with complementary and comparative experiences, social relations, and related themes of science and technology.
Each subspecialty of maritime history links to a range of academic themes and approaches. The maritime economic historian has ties to the fields of economic and business history; the naval historian to diplomatic, military and international history; the historian of navigation to the history of science and technology; the student of maritime art or literature to the wider fields of art history and literature; and the historian of exploration to the history of imperial expansion and global interaction. Each subspecialty’s connection to an established discipline or distinct field helps to define it, while the traits it shares with other maritime matters interrelate and extend back to events on shore.
The present volume under review is a collection of papers from the conference, ‘Oceans Connect: New Directions in Maritime Studies’, held from 31 January–3 February 2010 in Hyderabad. The collection is not limited to a particular subject, in the sense that the articles include subjects that are even distantly connected to make an integrated study of the subject of Maritime and Oceans Studies. The editor has made a very good attempt to explain the difference between ‘marine worlds’ and ‘maritime worlds’ in the Introduction which provides the readers an overall idea about the research articles of the volume at the beginning. She also presents a summary of the articles of the book.
The book contains articles by different authors grouped together under four distinct parts which are, Part-I: The Marine Worlds, which includes three articles by Paul D’Archy, Rila Mukherjee and Arvind S. Susarla from which we get an idea of the marine life of different regional cultures. In Part-II: Maritime Worlds, five articles are included by R.T. Jones, A.C. Solana, J.B. Owens, Amelia Polonia and A.J.M Barros mainly dealing with different aspects of the Luso-maritime culture. In Part III: Maritime World as Space, Europe And Indian Ocean, includes two articles by A.P. Muntaner and Rila Mukherjee dealing with the cross-cultural impact on the Indian Ocean. Part IV: Formal and Informal Networks in Maritime Worlds: The Indian Ocean, includes four essays focusing on the different forces working on the Maritimes and littorals of Indian Subcontinent by Lipi Ghose, Radhika Seshan, Ruby Maloni and Om Prakash.
Among the various subjects the chapter dealing with the maritime world as space, the article by Picazo Muntaner is a departure from the usual treatment of the subject. ‘The late middle ages that saw the mappae mundi and discoveries, showed an emerging desire, the need to gain access to those centres and networks, reducing costs and increasing profits derived from the trade,’ says the editor. In a paper ‘Jumping Frontiers, Crossing Barriers’, Amelia Polonia talks about the First Global Age. ‘The Portuguese “revolution” in nautical science was in actual fact an evolution and showed a very successful process of an ongoing empirical adaptation to new needs and technical demands,’ says the author. At that time Portuguese vessels were far superior to any other nations and very large in size as well. So the maritime economics came into vogue during this time, replacing mere adventure.
The author explains the positioning of the central rudder on the sternpost of the keel in the caravel which was already known in the Baltic Sea for many centuries and the Potolan Chart with compass or wind roses was used by Italian seamen by the early 1300s. In the portion explaining the cross-cultural flows some very valid points are made out. According to the author the well known fact that the Europeans tried to replicate, as much as possible, their way of life in the new territories, suggests an intense projection of European influence in the territories where they settled by consent or by force and makes an important point. However in Asia, Africa and the Americas the survival of settlers depended upon the efficacy of their adaptation to new environment and cultures. This paper assumes importance in its analysis of cultural transfers and religious conversions, from a fresh point of view.
The chapter by J.B. Owens suggests how historians can promote more effectively interest in Portuguese contribution to the creation and maintenance of the First Global Age, 1400–1800 through the narration and selected stories of new forms of political, social and entrepreneurial connections. A new study on rumours of piracy in Surat by Radhika Seshan throws light on a new aspect of maritime history. This paper shows how these rumours were made use of by the merchant community. The paper on Indian textiles and trade by Om Prakash traces the history of this trade through the period in detail.
The attractive title and a nice packaging of the volume by Primus are really commendable. However, some of the articles are unable to satisfy the expectation of the readers as a whole.