The Ocean of Churn: How the Indian Ocean Shaped Human History

by Sanjeev Sanyal

Manigramam, was from Tamil country and is mentioned in Nandi Varman’s ins...

‘banaju-dharma’ governed such or...

Nissanka Malla,

Odiya prince,

Thus, it was an insecure Indian prince who cemented the link between Buddhism and the Sri Lankan throne!

Cholas

Magha of K...

Culav...

temples acted as banks and their destruction meant that Indian merchant networks suddenly lost their financial muscle.

we see a distinct decline in the importance of seafaring Indian merchants in the Indian Ocean rim from this point.

The Indian merchant class became much more shore-based while the space they vacated was steadily taken ...

caste rules

The Travels,

The book is mostly remembered for its descriptions of the Silk Route through Central Asia and of Kublai Khan’s empire in China,

He set sail in 1290 from the port Zaiton (Quanzhou) as part of a delegation accompanying a Mongol princess being sent to get married to the Mongol ruler of Persia.

Columbus’s flagship, Santa Maria, was only 85 feet long (i.e. 26

Zheng He

Treasure Fleet.

Domingo Paes

Fernao Nuniz

Vijayanagar under Krishna...

Chowtha dynasty

Abbakka

‘The Company of Merchants of London trading into

the East Indies’;

United East India Company (also known by its Dutch initials VOC).

merchant families

Setts and Basaks

Tranquebar (or Tharangambadi) is south of Pondicherry and very close to the old Chola port of Nagapattinam.

Fort Dansborg

This is how Elihu Yale, the Governor of Madras, amassed a large personal fortune before being removed from his post on suspicions of corruption. Part of this ill-gotten wealth was used to fund the university that bears his name. Thus, one of North America’s leading universities is built on money garnered through dodgy deals in the Indian Ocean.

Captain John

Henry Every)

Yemeni port of Mocha

Ganj-i-Sawai

Kanhoji Angre was appointed the Surkhail or Grand Admiral of the Maratha navy.

Joseph Francois Dupleix,

‘chintz’,

Hongs.

1839,

First Opium War.

Nemesis,

Treaty of Nanjing

several ports were forced open for foreign trade and the British gained control of Hong Kong.

Treaty

of Chushul

The Second Opium War started as a series of skirmishes. A large expeditionary force was finally dispatched in 1860.

With the active support of the French and the Americans, the British repeatedly defeated the Chinese imperial army and marched into Beijing.

Qing

return four decades later to help the British put down the Boxer Revolt in 1900–