Europe's place in history is re-assessed in this first comprehensive history of the ancient world, centering on the Indian Ocean and its role in pre-modern globalization. Philippe Beaujard presents an ambitious and comprehensive global history of the Indian Ocean world, from the earliest state formations to 1500 CE. Supported by a wealth of empirical data, full color maps, plates, and figures, he shows how Asia and Africa dominated the economic and cultural landscape and the flow of ideas in the pre-modern world. This led to a trans-regional division of labor and an Afro-Eurasian world economy. Beaujard questions the origins of capitalism and hints at how this world-system may evolve in the future. The result is a reorienting of world history, taking the Indian Ocean, rather than Europe, as the point of departure. Volume II provides in-depth coverage of the period from the seventh century CE to the fifteenth century CE.

Table of Contents:
Part I. The Indian Ocean between Tang China and the Muslim Empire (7th Through 10th Centuries): Introduction; 1. Tang China and the rise of the Silk Roads; 2. Islam. The conquest of lands and oceans; 3. India. A core with four centers; 4. Southeast Asia. The rise of the Sriwijayan thalassocracy and the Javanese kingdoms; 5. East Africa. Dawn of the Swahili culture; 6. Madagascar (7th through 11th centuries). Early cultural Métissages; Part II. Globalization during the Song and Mongol Periods (10th–14th Centuries), and the Downturn of the 14th Century: Introduction; 7. China. The golden age of the song, the Mongol conquest and the Ming revival; 8 India. From the Chola empire to the Delhi Sultanate; 9 Southeast Asia. From the decline of Sriwijaya to the rise of Mojopahit; 10. Central and Western Asia. From the Seljuk Empire to the Ilkhanids; 11. Egypt and Yemen. The Jewish and Karimi Networks; 12. East Africa. The rise of the Swahili culture and the expansion of Islam; 13. Madagascar. The development of trading ports and the interior; Part III. From The Globalization of the Afro-Eurasian Area to the Dawn of European Expansion (15th and Early 16th Centuries): Introduction; 14. Ming China, from expansion to withdrawal into threatened territory; 15. India. The flowering of the Sultanates and the expansion of Vijayanâgara; 16. Southeast Asia. Era of the merchant Sultanates; 17. Western Asia. Revival of the Persian Gulf; 18. Egypt and Yemen. Advances in state trade and the end of the Karimi; 19. East Africa and the Comoros; 20. Madagascar (15th–16th centuries): the rise of trading ports and development of the highlands; 21. The Portuguese in the Indian Ocean; Epilogue.