Across The Green Sea: Histories from the Western Indian Ocean, 1440–1640

Sanjay Subrahmanyam's Across the Green Sea explores the history of the western Indian Ocean from the mid-fifteenth century, highlighting the growth of the Ottoman Empire and the spread of Islam into East Africa. It reveals the complexity of a dynamic and polycentric system through connected histories.

Format: Hardback
Length: 244 pages
Publication date: 02 July 2024
Publisher: Saqi Books

The regions bordering the western Indian Ocean, known as the "green sea" in Arabic, experienced significant transformation in the mid-fifteenth century. This era witnessed a flourishing era of commercial and cultural exchange between the Red Sea and Mecca, the Persian Gulf, East Africa, Kerala, and western India. In his book Across the Green Sea, Sanjay Subrahmanyam delves into the history of this ocean from various perspectives, tracing its development and the impact of various factors. He highlights the withdrawal of China's Ming Dynasty and the rise of the Ottoman Empire as pivotal events that shaped the western Indian Ocean. Subrahmanyam also explores how cities like Mecca and Surat, as well as other regions, grew and changed over centuries as different powers interacted. However, the seventeenth century brought famines and other disruptions to the region. Instead of proposing a rigid model of a dominant center and its subordinate peripheries, Across the Green Sea presents a nuanced view of a truly dynamic and polycentric system through the use of interconnected histories, a method pioneered by Subrahmanyam.

Weight: 700g
Dimension: 241 x 160 x 26 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780863569517