Traders of the'Medieval Orient'

[Diane Monaco]

At 08:00 AM 10/15/2002 +0530, Ulhas Joglekar posted:
>Economic and Political Weekly
>
>Book Review
>
>October 5, 2002
>
>Traders of the 'Medieval Orient'
>
>Asian Merchants and Businessmen in the Indian Ocean and the China Sea edited
>by Denys Lombard and Jean Aubin; Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2000;
>pp xiii+375, Rs 575.
>
>G Niranjan Rao
>
>Literature on trade in Indian Ocean and Asia during the early modern period
>has so far remained 'Euro-centric', highlighting as it does, mostly the role
>of the chartered European companies, especially those of the 17th century.
>As a counter point of view, a number of scholars like Michael Pearson, Ashin
>Das Gupta, Wang Gangwu writing in the 1960s and 1970s sought to focus on the
>non-European trading networks in the region. However, as Sanjay Subrhmanyam
>said in an insightful foreword to the volume under review, "the empirical
>basis for a reconsideration of the non-European trading networks in the sea
>of Asia in the medieval and early modern centuries remained astonishingly
>thin" (p v). Philip Curtin's study on cross cultural trade in world history
>could not throw much light on the Asian scenarios either. It is in this
>context that the study under review is a welcome addition to the literature
>on the history of Asian trade.
>
>http://www.epw.org.in/showFileCurrent.php#BOOK

Ulhas, I missed this post of yours -- I guess it was buried in my inbox 
during some busier days :).  Anyway, I just found the review and definitely 
need to get the book.  My well-worn copy of Philip Curtin's valuable book 
has been useful to me but so much more is really needed.  I've been trying 
to expand a paper on the topic that focuses on the African side of 
precolonialist Indian Ocean trade -- it's been quite a challenge.

Many thanks,
Diane