‘A triumph: a first class comprehensive narrative of the impact upon the people of the Indian Ocean of those who penetrated it. It is hard to believe that this account of a European epic has any rival.’ J.M. ROBERTS, author of the Penguin History of the World

The bestselling author of 1421: THE YEAR THE CHINESE DISCOVERED THE WORLD uncovers the truth behind the mystery of Atlantis. After a chance conversation in Egypt in 2008, bestselling historian Gavin Menzies launched himself on a quest that would reveal the truth behind the mystery of Atlantis and her destruction. Through an examination of documentary and academic research, metallurgy, ancient shipbuilding and navigation techniques, artefacts and DNA evidence, Menzies slowly and painstakingly reveals a trading empire that spanned from the Great Lakes in North America to Kerala in India. And in doing so finally explains the incredible reality behind the legendary civilisation described by Plato and its disappearance. Reading like a real-life Indiana Jones story as ex-Royal Navy submarine captain Menzies travels round the world in pursuit of his goal, this is epic, iconoclastic popular history.

Much of human history has played itself out along the rim of the Indian Ocean. In a first-of-its-kind attempt, bestselling author Sanjeev Sanyal tells the history of this significant region, which stretches across East Africa, the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent to South East Asia and Australia. He narrates a fascinating tale about the earliest human migrations out of Africa and the great cities of Angkor and Vijayanagar; medieval Arab empires and Chinese ‘treasure fleets’; the rivalries of European colonial powers and a new dawn. Sanjeev explores remote archaeological sites, ancient inscriptions, maritime trading networks and half-forgotten oral histories, to make exciting revelations. In his inimitable style, he draws upon existing and new evidence to challenge well-established claims about famous historical characters and the flow of history. Adventurers, merchants, explorers, monks, swashbuckling pirates, revolutionaries and warrior princesses populate this colourful and multifaceted narrative. The Ocean of Churn takes the reader on an amazing journey through medieval geopolitics and eyewitness accounts of long-lost cities to the latest genetic discoveries about human origins, bringing alive a region that has defined civilization from the very beginning.

"According to the author a geographic region must satisfy the following conditions: however striking the diversity of the physical setting and the languages, religions and general appearance of the people, there must be some aspect of culture (for example, the social outlook or the organization of the economy) which pervades the area in such a way as to justify the recognition and study of that area as one entity and there must be substantial cultural differences between it and adjacent areas. Monsoon Asia, from Pakistan to Japan is more than a land area and an assemblage of countries: it is a distinctive geographical region. Its population--which includes nearly half the people in the world--is mainly rural, its economy mainly agricultural, and its peoples share a heritage of material poverty. But change is apparent everywhere in the area. This book is a compact and lucid introduction to the dynamic as well as the unchanging characteristics of the region. After an introductory section, which defines the limits of Monsoon Asia, there follow chapters on structure and relief, climate, vegetation, and soils. A discussion of the historical geography of the region leads into studies of its agriculture and industry. The concluding two-thirds of the book survey the characteristics of the constituent countries--India, Pakistan, Ceylon, China, Japan, Korea, and South-East Asia proper (Burma, Malaya, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, etc.). Special attention is paid throughout to the political and social setting of current political problems. The book contains 17 plates, 48 maps and diagrams, a selected bibliography, and an index."--Provided by publisher.

This reader, composed of original essays by leading authors, expands the category of the Atlantic chronologically, spatially, and methodologically. It firmly places the Atlantic within global history and the coverage expands into the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The essays present events that formed the nations and cultures of the Atlantic region and show their global roots and how they intertwine with non-Atlantic communities of the world.

In our age of globalization and multiculturalism, it has never been more important for Americans to understand and appreciate foreign cultures and how people live, love, and learn in areas of the world unfamiliar to most U.S. students and the general public. The four volumes in our cultural sociology reference encyclopedia take a step forward in this endeavor by presenting concise information on those regions likely to be most "foreign" to U.S. students: the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. The intent is to convey what daily life is like for people in these selected regions. It is hoped entries within these volumes will aid readers in efforts to understand the importance of cultural sociology, to appreciate the effects of cultural forces around the world, and to learn the history of countries and cultures within these important regions.

Between 1500 and 1750, European expansion and global interaction produced vast wealth. As goods traveled by ship along new global trade routes, piracy also flourished on the world’s seas. Pillaging the Empire tells the fascinating story of maritime predation in this period, including the perspectives of both pirates and their victims. Brushing aside the romantic legends of piracy, Kris Lane pays careful attention to the varied circumstances and motives that led to the rise of this bloodthirsty pursuit of riches, and places the history of piracy in the context of early modern empire building. This second edition of Pillaging the Empire has been revised and expanded to incorporate the latest scholarship on piracy, maritime law, and early modern state formation. With a new chapter on piracy in East and Southeast Asia, Lane considers piracy as a global phenomenon. Filled with colorful details and stories of individual pirates from Francis Drake to the women pirates Ann Bonny and Mary Read, this engaging narrative will be of interest to all those studying the history of Latin America, the Atlantic world, and the global empires of the early modern era.