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Book Review: India and the Indian Ocean, 1500–1800

the trade increasingly became a westward flow of raw materials and an eastbound movement of manufactured goods. A pattern of migration across the Ocean of cheap indentured labour and subordinate business communities was established. Bondarevsky explores another a facet of incorporation. The Persian Gulf became the scene first of Anglo-French competition and ended as a "British Lake," under the influence of shipping interests and transport companies. This was followed by the disruption of ties within west Asia and direct linkages with Britain and Western Europe. The paper co-authored by Broeze, McPherson and Reeves examines another consequence of the evolution of the new order: the development of ports and port facilities to accommodate the massive increase of tonnage and the capital ships of the steam era. The old open roadstead ports of the Indian Ocean were of decreasing importance and many required massive capital works, including dredging and the construction of breakwaters, berthing facilities and storage depots. The authors make a case study of Madras, a notoriously dangerous port open to the elements, which was made safe to handle increasing trade by bold and imaginative engineering works. From this brief resume of the individual papers, it should be clear that this is a collection of merit and value for the study of the Indian Ocean. Nonetheless, while some of the papers have overlapping and continuing themes, others stand in isolation as individual contributions and the volume hangs together only loosely as being concerned with the Indian Ocean. As stated at the outset, the focus is primarily on the south Asian area, other regions being seen largely in their relationship to the sub-continent. The Arabian coast, Persian Gulf (except for one paper), Burma, Southern Thailand, Malayan and Sumatra appear only hazily. But this is perhaps necessary to a study of a geographic area as diverse as the Indian Ocean. The observer must locate himself somewhere and the Indian subcontinent is as good a place as any to watch the goings and comings in the Ocean.