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

by Sugata Bose

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.

Genres: History, India, Nonfiction, World History

352 pages, Hardcover

First published April 15, 2006

About the author

Sugata Bose is the Gardiner Professor of Oceanic History and Affairs at Harvard University.
He was born in Calcutta, India. He studied at the Presidency College, Kolkata. He earned his Ph.D. at the University of Cambridge under Eric Stokes. He is the grandnephew of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and grandson of Nationalist leader Sarat Chandra Bose.
He is the author of several books on the economic, social and political history of modern South Asia, and has pioneered work in historical studies emphasizing the centrality of the Indian Ocean. He is heading the mentors' group for revival of Presidency College.
He is married to Ayesha Jalal, a prominent Pakistani historian.

Reviews

[Rhiannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Hundred Horizons is an excellent and very readable history of the Indian Ocean rim during the period of high imperialism. Bose takes India as a centre of human mobility and explores patterns of pilgrimage, trade, colonialism and sovereignty throughout the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal, particularly in the first half of the twentieth century. Bose's project is to disprove the thesis that these patterns were irretrievably disrupted around 1800 by the incursion of the steamship and the shift to territorial imperialism. In light of this, I could have hoped for more discussion of the events of the 1800s. The centring of India meant that the southern Indian Ocean (the southeast African coast and western Australia) were neglected, while discussion of events in northeast Africa and southeast Asia tended to be brief.

Highly recommended.

[Reid · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book. Theoretical beginning and some heavy lifting there but the connections and strands between the stories are super cool. Top history writing with lots of nuances and levels about famous figures that helps to demonstrate the pivotal nature of the Indian ocean in this era.