The Indian Ocean World: Africa in the First Global Economy
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
Abstract
This paper outlines the debate surrounding the emergence of the first ‘global’ economy and discusses the role within it of Africa. First, it outlines the case for arguing that the Indian Ocean World (IOW) rather than Europe should be considered the arena in which the first global economy developed. It subsequently examines the historical role of Africa within the IOW with particular emphasis on Africa’s contribution to the IOW global economy and the possible repercussions such an analysis has for the historiography of Africa and the wider IOW.
Article Details
Section
Articles
Authors submitting a paper to UTSePress publications agree to assign a limited license to UTSePress if and when the manuscript is accepted for publication. This license allows UTSePress to publish a manuscript in a given issue.
Copyright is retained by the authors who assert their moral rights. Authors control translation and reproduction rights to their works published by UTSePress.
Downloads of specific portions of the Transforming Cultures eJournal are permitted for personal use only, not for commercial use or resale.
Requests for permission to reprint or use any materials should be directed to the Author.
References
Abu-Lughod, JL (1989) Before European Hegemony. The World System A.D. 1250-1350, New York & Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Abu-Lughod, JL (1993) 'The World System in the Thirteenth Century: Dead-End or Precursor' in Michael Adas (ed.) Islamic & European Expansion. The Forging of a Global Order, Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
Ali-Dinar, AB (ed.) (1991) 'African Origins of Science & Math [Sadiki]. The African Origins of Science and Mathematics; A New Paradigm for Scientific Thinking; an Annotated Bibliography' University of Pennsylvania – African Studies Center – available online: (Accessed 15/09/06).
Boxer, CR (1968) Four Centuries of Portuguese Expansion, 1415-1825: A Succinct Survey (Johannesburg: Witwatersrand University Press.
Cain, PJ & Hopkins, AG (1992) 'Gentlemanly capitalism and British Expansion overseas, I: the old colonial system 1688-1850' South African Journal of Economic History 7, 1: 150-81. https://doi.org/10.1080/20780389.1992.10417196
Campbell, G. (2005) An Economic History of Imperial Madagascar, 1750-1895: The Rise and Fall of an Island Empire, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Campbell, G. (2006) 'Le Commerce d'esclaves et la question d'une diaspora dans le Monde de l'Océan Indienne' in Shihan de Silva Jayasuriya & Jean-Pierre Angenot (eds.), Anneaux de la Mémoire.
Campbell, G. (2006) 'Slavery and the Trans-Indian Ocean World Slave Trade: A Historical Outline in Edward Alpers & Himanshu Ray (eds.) Narratives of the Sea: Encompassing the Indian Ocean World, New Delhi: Nehru Memorial Museum/ Oxford University Press.
Carney, JA (2001) Black Rice: The African Origins of Rice Cultivation in the Americas, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
Chami, F. (1999) 'Roman Beads from the Rufiji Delta, Tanzania: First Incontrovertible Archaeological Link with the Periplus', Current Anthropology 40(2). https://doi.org/10.1086/200009
Chaudhuri, KN (1985) Trade and Civilisation in the Indian Ocean. An Economic History from the Rise of Islam to 1750, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781107049918
Chaudhuri, KN (1992) Asia Before Europe. Economy and Civilisation of the Indian Ocean from the Rise of Islam to 1750, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Das Gupta, A. (1985) 'Indian Merchants and the Western Indian Ocean: The Early Seventeenth Century', Modern Asian Studies 19(3).
Deutsch, J-G & Reinwald, B. (eds.) (2002) Space on the Move. Transformations of the Indian Ocean Seascape in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Century, Berlin: Klaus Schwarz Verlag, Ehret, C. (1998) An African Classical Age. Eastern and Southern Africa in World History, 1000 B.C. to A.D. 400, Charlottesville & Oxford: University Press of Virginia & James Currey.
Frank, AG (1998) ReORIENT: Global Economy in the Asian Age, Berkeley, Los Angeles, London: Berkeley University Press.
Garí, JA (2001) 'Review of the African millet diversity' – Available online: (Accessed 15/09/06).
Gupta, AD (1985) Indian Merchants and the Western Indian Ocean: The Early Seventeenth Century', Modern Asian Studies 19(3). https://doi.org/10.1017/S0026749X00007691
Heine, B. & Nurse, D. (2000) African Languages. An Introduction, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Kent, RK (1970) Early Kingdoms of Madagascar 1500-1700, New York: Holt, Rinehart, Winston.
Mathew, KS (1990) 'Trade and Commerce in Sixteenth Century Goa' in Teotonio R. de Souza (ed.) Goa Through the Ages. Vol.II. An Economic History, New Delhi: Concept Publishing Company.
Mazrui, AA (2003) 'Africa and Islamic Civilization: The East African Experience', keynote address, International Symposium on 'Islamic Civilization in Eastern Africa', Kampala, Uganda, 15-17 December 2003 – available online: (Accessed 15/09/06).
Middleton, J. (1992) The World of the Swahili. An Africa Mercantile Civilization, New Haven: Yale University Press.
Modelski, G. & Thompson, WR (1996) Leading Sectors and World Powers. The Coevolution of Global Economics and Politics, Columbia: University of South Carolina.
Pearson, M. (2003) The Indian Ocean, London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203414132
Pearson, MN (1988) 'Brokers in Western Indian Port Cities. Their Role in Servicing Foreign Merchants', Modern Asian Studies 22 (3). https://doi.org/10.1017/S0026749X00009628
Prakash, O. (1994) 'Asian Trade and European Impact: A Study of the Trade from Bengal, 1630-1720' in idem, Precious Metals and Commerce. The Dutch East India Company in the Indian Ocean Trade, Aldershot, Hamps & Brookfield, Vermont: Variorum.
Prakash, O. (1994) 'Restrictive Trading Regimes: VOC and the Asian Spice Trade in the Seventeenth Century' in idem, Precious Metals and Commerce. The Dutch East India Company in the Indian Ocean Trade, Aldershot, Hamps & Brookfield, Vermont: Variorum.
Prakash, O. (1994) 'The Dutch East India Company in the Trade of the Indian Ocean' in idem, Precious Metals and Commerce. The Dutch East India Company in the Indian Ocean Trade, Aldershot, Hamps & Brookfield, Vermont: Variorum.
Prakesh, O. (2004) 'The Indian Maritime Merchant, 1500-1800', Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient 47(3). https://doi.org/10.1163/1568520041974738
Sanders, R. (2003) '160,000-year-old fossilized skulls uncovered in Ethiopia are oldest anatomically modern humans' UCBerkeley News (11 June), available online:.
Sutherland, H. (1995) 'Believing is Seeing: Perspectives on Political Power and Economic Activity in the Malay World 1700-1940', Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 26 (1). https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022463400010535
Theodore Celenko, T. (ed.) (1996) Egypt in Africa, Indianapolis: Indianapolis Museum of Art.
Wink, A. (1996, 1997) Al-Hind. The Making of the Indo-Islamic World, 2 Vols., Leiden, New York, Köln.
Abu-Lughod, JL (1993) 'The World System in the Thirteenth Century: Dead-End or Precursor' in Michael Adas (ed.) Islamic & European Expansion. The Forging of a Global Order, Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
Ali-Dinar, AB (ed.) (1991) 'African Origins of Science & Math [Sadiki]. The African Origins of Science and Mathematics; A New Paradigm for Scientific Thinking; an Annotated Bibliography' University of Pennsylvania – African Studies Center – available online:
Boxer, CR (1968) Four Centuries of Portuguese Expansion, 1415-1825: A Succinct Survey (Johannesburg: Witwatersrand University Press.
Cain, PJ & Hopkins, AG (1992) 'Gentlemanly capitalism and British Expansion overseas, I: the old colonial system 1688-1850' South African Journal of Economic History 7, 1: 150-81. https://doi.org/10.1080/20780389.1992.10417196
Campbell, G. (2005) An Economic History of Imperial Madagascar, 1750-1895: The Rise and Fall of an Island Empire, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Campbell, G. (2006) 'Le Commerce d'esclaves et la question d'une diaspora dans le Monde de l'Océan Indienne' in Shihan de Silva Jayasuriya & Jean-Pierre Angenot (eds.), Anneaux de la Mémoire.
Campbell, G. (2006) 'Slavery and the Trans-Indian Ocean World Slave Trade: A Historical Outline in Edward Alpers & Himanshu Ray (eds.) Narratives of the Sea: Encompassing the Indian Ocean World, New Delhi: Nehru Memorial Museum/ Oxford University Press.
Carney, JA (2001) Black Rice: The African Origins of Rice Cultivation in the Americas, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
Chami, F. (1999) 'Roman Beads from the Rufiji Delta, Tanzania: First Incontrovertible Archaeological Link with the Periplus', Current Anthropology 40(2). https://doi.org/10.1086/200009
Chaudhuri, KN (1985) Trade and Civilisation in the Indian Ocean. An Economic History from the Rise of Islam to 1750, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781107049918
Chaudhuri, KN (1992) Asia Before Europe. Economy and Civilisation of the Indian Ocean from the Rise of Islam to 1750, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Das Gupta, A. (1985) 'Indian Merchants and the Western Indian Ocean: The Early Seventeenth Century', Modern Asian Studies 19(3).
Deutsch, J-G & Reinwald, B. (eds.) (2002) Space on the Move. Transformations of the Indian Ocean Seascape in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Century, Berlin: Klaus Schwarz Verlag, Ehret, C. (1998) An African Classical Age. Eastern and Southern Africa in World History, 1000 B.C. to A.D. 400, Charlottesville & Oxford: University Press of Virginia & James Currey.
Frank, AG (1998) ReORIENT: Global Economy in the Asian Age, Berkeley, Los Angeles, London: Berkeley University Press.
Garí, JA (2001) 'Review of the African millet diversity' – Available online:
Gupta, AD (1985) Indian Merchants and the Western Indian Ocean: The Early Seventeenth Century', Modern Asian Studies 19(3). https://doi.org/10.1017/S0026749X00007691
Heine, B. & Nurse, D. (2000) African Languages. An Introduction, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Kent, RK (1970) Early Kingdoms of Madagascar 1500-1700, New York: Holt, Rinehart, Winston.
Mathew, KS (1990) 'Trade and Commerce in Sixteenth Century Goa' in Teotonio R. de Souza (ed.) Goa Through the Ages. Vol.II. An Economic History, New Delhi: Concept Publishing Company.
Mazrui, AA (2003) 'Africa and Islamic Civilization: The East African Experience', keynote address, International Symposium on 'Islamic Civilization in Eastern Africa', Kampala, Uganda, 15-17 December 2003 – available online:
Middleton, J. (1992) The World of the Swahili. An Africa Mercantile Civilization, New Haven: Yale University Press.
Modelski, G. & Thompson, WR (1996) Leading Sectors and World Powers. The Coevolution of Global Economics and Politics, Columbia: University of South Carolina.
Pearson, M. (2003) The Indian Ocean, London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203414132
Pearson, MN (1988) 'Brokers in Western Indian Port Cities. Their Role in Servicing Foreign Merchants', Modern Asian Studies 22 (3). https://doi.org/10.1017/S0026749X00009628
Prakash, O. (1994) 'Asian Trade and European Impact: A Study of the Trade from Bengal, 1630-1720' in idem, Precious Metals and Commerce. The Dutch East India Company in the Indian Ocean Trade, Aldershot, Hamps & Brookfield, Vermont: Variorum.
Prakash, O. (1994) 'Restrictive Trading Regimes: VOC and the Asian Spice Trade in the Seventeenth Century' in idem, Precious Metals and Commerce. The Dutch East India Company in the Indian Ocean Trade, Aldershot, Hamps & Brookfield, Vermont: Variorum.
Prakash, O. (1994) 'The Dutch East India Company in the Trade of the Indian Ocean' in idem, Precious Metals and Commerce. The Dutch East India Company in the Indian Ocean Trade, Aldershot, Hamps & Brookfield, Vermont: Variorum.
Prakesh, O. (2004) 'The Indian Maritime Merchant, 1500-1800', Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient 47(3). https://doi.org/10.1163/1568520041974738
Sanders, R. (2003) '160,000-year-old fossilized skulls uncovered in Ethiopia are oldest anatomically modern humans' UCBerkeley News (11 June), available online:
Sutherland, H. (1995) 'Believing is Seeing: Perspectives on Political Power and Economic Activity in the Malay World 1700-1940', Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 26 (1). https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022463400010535
Theodore Celenko, T. (ed.) (1996) Egypt in Africa, Indianapolis: Indianapolis Museum of Art.
Wink, A. (1996, 1997) Al-Hind. The Making of the Indo-Islamic World, 2 Vols., Leiden, New York, Köln.