Long before Greece needed grain from the Black Sea and Rome sent ships to the Malabar coast, the Indian Ocean was already the world's engine of exchange. Nick Collins begins his history of maritime trade before the Ice Age ended — in a pre-5600 BC world of ancient connectivity stretching from Africa to Asia and into the Americas — and traces the slow accumulation of routes, cargo, culture, and language that made India the cradle from which civilisations drew their sustaining currents.
The argument is not that India invented everything, but that Indian culture — its literature, its philosophical traditions, its merchant enclaves established in distant ports — set patterns that spread east and west. Collins examines the Trojan War as a consequence of Greece's grain dependency, the rise of Phoenician and Roman trade with India through Egypt, and the cultural legacies that travelled alongside the cargo. When the Roman Empire collapsed, European maritime trade came to a near standstill; in Asia, volumes continued to grow.
Praised by Emiritus Professor Malcolm Falkus as "both remarkable and, more importantly, enjoyable," this first volume in the series draws on rare sources and the author's lifelong experience in international shipping to make the case that maritime trade is not a specialist subject — it is the connective tissue of human history itself.
-:ABOUT THE BOOK:- The book deserves to be read widely and I am sure it will be [Collins brings] out clearly the centrality of India...the revisions that have to be made to 'conventional' histories once the Aryan invasion myth is exploded. The links [Collins makes] between these and the movement of goods (trade), diffusion of cultures, religion, and language and so on are fascinating and convincing. [The book is] written with skill and enthusiasm and manage to make rather complex topics both interesting and coherent.... Both remarkable and more importantly, enjoyable.' Emiritus Prof Malcolm Falkus, review of earlier draft The book 'bespeaks extremely wide reading, careful research and a lot of thought...well written, comprehensive and informative, While I can single out many other issues and topics ... handled very well, the thing that impressed me the most was [Collins'] attempt to put India on the map of world history.' Alfons van der Kraan, review of earlier draft Maritime trade has been the key driver of wealth-creation, economic progress, human long-distance interaction and information exchange. The story begins in the Indian Ocean with ancient connectivity from Africa to Asia and to the Americas and India to the Persian Gulf, Mediterranean and Europe. Much predates the end of the Ice Age and the world wide Flood around 5600 BC. Indian culture, the largest, most ancient body of literature influenced east and west, culturally, linguistically and philosophically, stimulating other civilisations. It was the cradle of civilisation. In the ancient world merchants were unique in travelling long distances, living far from home in merchant enclaves, absorbing cultural influences. The main pulses are described including Greece's need for food imports leading to the Trojan War, the rise of Mediterranean civilisations, Phoenician, Greek and Roman trade with India via Egypt and its cultural legacy. When it collapsed European maritime trade was at a virtual standstill, a dark age, while Asian volumes increased Shipping and trade studies can be technical, legalistic and dull for non-specialists. But this history is broadly based, an excellent account of human interaction at multiple levels, for general readers, specialists and practitioners. It is based on huge reading and rare sources and with an attractive writing style, and full of fascinating sidelights, illuminating the historical narrative- and from an author with life-long experience in international shipping.
