Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Protohistoric and Early Historic Exchange in the Eastern Indian Ocean: A Re-evaluation of Current Paradigms

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Early Global Interconnectivity across the Indian Ocean World, Volume I

Part of the book series: Palgrave Series in Indian Ocean World Studies ((IOWS))

Abstract

Extensive archaeological research on late prehistoric to early historic sites of Southeast Asia has brought about a significant evolution in the models used to describe the relationship between the two shores of the Bay of Bengal during the six or seven centuries preceding the so-called Indianisation of Southeast Asia. As seen from Southeast Asia, the early circulation of local trade goods, the presence of Indian goods in a variety of sites, the prompt appearance of (proto-)urban sites, the development of sophisticated shipbuilding and sailing technologies and the role of local merchants and shipmasters all point towards the complexity of the process shaping this extensive zone of cultural convergence and to a significant measure of entrepreneurship from the Southeast Asian side of the Bay of Bengal. This paper will summarise this newly available data and will try to show how it affects our global comprehension of the history of the Indian Ocean.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 109.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 139.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    Ashin Das Gupta (1986) “Asian Shipping: A Note”, Indian Ocean Newsletter 7.1, 12–13; Sanjay Subrahmanyam (1988) “A Note on Narsapur Peta: A ‘Syncretic’ Shipbuilding Centre, 1570–1700”, Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient 31.3, 305–311; and Pierre-Yves Manguin (2012) “Asian Ship-Building Traditions in the Indian Ocean at the Dawn of European Expansion”, in Om Prakash (ed.), The Trading World of the Indian Ocean, 1500–1800 (Calcutta: Centre for Studies in Civilisations), 597–629.

  2. 2.

    Frederik D. K. Bosch [1887–1967] (1961) “The Problem of Hindu Colonisation of Indonesia”, in Selected Studies in Indonesian Archaeology (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff), 23–46; George Cœdès [1886–1969] (1968) The Indianized States of Southeast Asia, translated by Susan B. Cowing, edited by Walter F. Wella (Kuala Lumpur and Honolulu: University of Malaya Press and University of ‘ --> Hawai’i Press, Original 1964); Paul Mus [1902–1969] (1975) India Seen from the East: Indian and Indigenous Cults in Champa, translated by Ian Mabbett and David P. Chandler (Clayton: Monash University, Reprint of 1933); Ian W. Mabbett (1977) “The ‘Indianization’ of Southeast Asia: Reflections on the Prehistoric Sources”, Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 8.1, 1–14; Ian W. Mabbett (1977) “The ‘Indianization’ of Southeast Asia: Reflections on Historical Sources”, Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 8.2, 143–161; Johannes G. de Casparis [1916–2002] (1983) India and Maritime South East Asia: A Lasting Relationship (Kuala Lumpur: University of Malaya); Oliver W. Wolters [1915–2000] (1999) History, Culture, and Region in Southeast Asian Perspectives (Ithaca and Singapore: Cornell University, Southeast Asia Program Publications and Institute of Southeast Asian Studies); Hermann Kulke (1990) “Indian Colonies, Indianization or Cultural Convergence? Reflections on the Changing Image of India’s Role in South-East Asia”, in Henk Schulte Nordholt (ed.), Onderzoek in Zuidoost-Azie: Agenda’s voor de jaren negentig (Leiden: Rijksuniversiteit te Leiden), 8–32; Sheldon Pollock (2006) The Language of the Gods in the World of Men: Sanskrit, Culture, and Power in Premodern India (Berkeley and London: University of California Press); and see Pierre-Yves Manguin (2011) “Introduction”, in Pierre-Yves Manguin, A. Mani and Geoff Wade (eds.), Early Interactions Between South and Southeast Asia: Reflections on Cross-cultural Exchange (Singapore: Nalanda Sriwijaya Centre, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies), xiii–xxxi for a recent overview of this debate.

  3. 3.

    Sunil Gupta (2005) “The Bay of Bengal Interaction Sphere (1000 BC–AD 500)”, Bulletin of the Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association 25, 21–30.

  4. 4.

    Ian C. Glover (1989) Early Trade Between India and Southeast Asia: A Link in the Development of a World Trading System (Hull: University of Hull, Centre for Southeast Asian Studies); see four recent volumes with an array of articles dealing with developments in proto-historic and early historic archaeology: Peter Bellwood and Ian C. Glover, eds. (2004) Southeast Asia: From Prehistory to History (London: Routledge Curzon); Bérénice Bellina-Pryce et al., eds. (2010) 50 Years of Archaeology in Southeast Asia: Essays in Honour of Ian Glover (Bangkok: River Books); Pierre-Yves Manguin, A. Mani and Geoff Wade, eds. (2011) Early Interactions Between South and Southeast Asia: Reflections on Cross-Cultural Exchange (Singapore and New Delhi: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies and Manohar Publisher & Distributers); and Nicolas Revire and Stephen A. Murphy, eds. (2013) Before Siam: Essays in Art and Archaeology (Bangkok: The Siam Society, River Books).

  5. 5.

    Eric Bourdonneau (2003) “The Ancient Canal System of the Mekong Delta: Preliminary Report”, in Anna Karlström and Anna Källén (eds.), Fishbones and Glittering Emblems: Southeast Asia Archaeology 2002 (Stockholm: Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities), 257–270; Eric Bourdonneau (2007) “Réhabiliter le Funan: Óc Eo ou la première Angkor”, Bulletin de l’École française d’Extrême-Orient 94, 111–157; and Pierre-Yves Mangui (2009) “The Archaeology of Funan in the Mekong River Delta: The Oc Eo Culture of Vietnam”, in Nancy Tingley (ed.), Arts of Ancient Vietnam: From River Plain to Open Sea (New York and Houston: Asia Society, Museum of Fine Arts and Yale University Press), 100–118.

  6. 6.

    Cristina Castillo and Dorian Q. Fuller (2010) “Still Too Fragmentary and Dependent upon Chance? Advances in the Study of Early Southeast Asian Archaeobotany”, in Bérénice Bellina-Pryce et al. (eds.), 50 Years of Archaeology in Southeast Asia: Essays in Honour of Ian Glover (Bangkok: River Books), 93–110; Dorian Q. Fuller et al. (2011) “Across the Indian Ocean: The Prehistoric Movement of Plants and Animals”, Antiquity 85.328, 544–558; Philippe Beaujard (2011) “Les plantes cultivées apportées par les premiers migrants austronésiens à Madagascar”, in Chantal Radimilahy and Narivelo Rajaonarimanana (eds.), Civilisations des mondes insulaires: Mélanges en l’honneur du Professeur Claude Allibert (Paris: Éditions Karthala), 359–385; Philippe Beaujard (2012) Les Mondes de l’océan Indien, Tome 1: De la formation de l’État au premier système-monde afro-eurasien (Paris: Armand Colin); and Philippe Beaujard (2012) Les Mondes de l’océan Indien, Tome 2: L’océan Indien au cœur des globalisations de l’Ancien Monde du 7e au 15e siècle (Paris: Armand Colin).

  7. 7.

    Dorian Q. Fuller (2008) The Spread of Textile Production and Textile Crops in India Beyond the Harappan Zone: An Aspect of the Emergence of Craft Specialization and Systematic Trade (Kyōtō: Indus Project, Research Institute for Humanity and Nature); Rubellite K. Johnson and Brice G. Decker (1983) “Implications of the Distribution of Names for Cotton (Gossypium spp.) in the Indo-Pacific”, Asian Perspectives 23.2, 249–307.

  8. 8.

    Judith Cameron (2007) “New Research Into Dongson Cloth from Waterlogged Sites in Vietnam”, in Elisabeth A. Bacus and Ian C. Glover (eds.), Uncovering Southeast Asia’s Past: Selected Papers from the Tenth Biennial Conference of the European Association of Southeast Asian Archaeologists, The British Museum, London, Fourteenth–Seventeenth September 2004 (Singapore: NUS Press), 196–203; Judith Cameron (2010) “The Archaeological Textiles from Ban Don Ta Phet in Broader Perspective”, in Bérénice Bellina-Pryce et al. (eds.), Fifty Years of Archaeology in Southeast Asia: Essays in Honour of Ian Glover (Bangkok: River Books), 141–152.

  9. 9.

    Jan Wisseman Christie (1993) “Texts and Textiles in ‘Medieval’ Java”, Bulletin de l’Ecole française d’Extrême-Orient 80.1, 181–214.

  10. 10.

    J. Innes Miller (1969) The Spice Trade of the Roman Empire 29 BC–AD 641 (Oxford: Oxford University Press), 82; Grant Parker (2002) “Ex Oriente Luxuria: Indian Commodities and Roman Experience”, Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient 45.1, 40–95; and Stephen E. Sidebotham (2011) Berenike and the Ancient Maritime Spice Route (Berkeley and London: University of California Press), 224–226.

  11. 11.

    Peter Bellwood (1997) Prehistory of the Indo-Malaysian Archipelago (Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press); Hung Hsiao-Chun and Peter Bellwood (2010) “Movement of Raw Materials and Manufactured Goods Across the South China Sea After 500 BCE: From Taiwan to Thailand and Back”, in Bérénice Bellina-Pryce et al. (eds.) (2010), Fifty Years of Archaeology in Southeast Asia: Essays in Honour of Ian Glover (Bangkok: River Books), 235–246; and Ambra Calò (2009) The Distribution of Bronze Drums in Early Southeast Asia: Trade Routes and Cultural Spheres (Oxford: Archaeopress).

  12. 12.

    Preliminary results on the Musi Banyuasin sites have been published by Agustijanto Indradjaya (2012) “The Pre-Srivijaya Period on the Eastern Coast of Sumatra: Preliminary Research at the Air Sugihan Site”, in Mai L. Tjoa-Bonatz, Andreas Reinecke and Dominik Bonatz (eds.), Connecting Empires and States: Selected Papers from the Thirteenth Internationl Conference of the European Association of Southeast Asian Archaeologists (Singapore: NUS Press), vol. 2, 32–42; those on Batujaya by Pierre-Yves Manguin and Agustijanto Indradjaya (2011) “The Batujaya Site: New Evidence of Early Indian Influence in West Java”, in Pierre-Yves Manguin, A. Mani and Geoff Wade (eds.), Early Interactions Between South and Southeast Asia: Reflections on Cross-Cultural Exchange (Singapore and New Delhi: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies and Manohar Publisher & Distributers), 113–136.

  13. 13.

    Bérénice Bellina-Pryce and Praon Silapanth (2006) “Weaving Cultural Identities on Trans-Asiatic Networks: Upper Thai-Malay Peninsula—An Early Socio-Political Landscape”, Bulletin de l’École française d’Extrême-Orient 93, 257–293.

  14. 14.

    Phaedra Bouvet (2011) “Preliminary Study of Indian and Indian Style Wares from Khao Sam Kaeo (Chumphon, Peninsular Thailand): Fourth–Second Centuries BCE”, in Pierre-Yves Manguin, A. Mani and Geoff Wade (eds.), Early Interactions Between South and Southeast Asia: Reflections on Cross-Cultural Exchange (Singapore and New Delhi: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies and Manohar Publisher & Distributers), 47–82.

  15. 15.

    Pierre-Yves Manguin (2006) “Les tuiles de l’ancienne Asie du Sud-Est: Essai de typologie”, in Henri Chambert-Loir and Bruno Dagens (eds.), Anamorphoses: Hommage à Jacques Dumarçay (Paris: Les Indes savantes), 275–310; Eric Bourdonneau (2007) “Réhabiliter”.

  16. 16.

    Sylvain Lévi [1863–1935] (1929) “Les ‘marchands de mer’ et leur rôle dans le bouddhisme primitive”, Bulletin de l’Association française des Amis de l’Orient 7, 19–39; Sylvain Lévi [1863–1935] (1931) “Kouen Louen et Dvîpântara”, Bijdragen van het Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 88, 621–627; and Himanshu P. Ray (1994) The Winds of Change: Buddhism and the Maritime Links of Early South Asia (Delhi: Oxford University Press).

  17. 17.

    Michael Flecker (2000) “A Ninth-Century Arab or Indian Shipwreck in Indonesian Waters”, International Journal of Nautical Archaeology 29.2, 199–217; Michael Flecker (2002) The Archaeological Excavation of the Tenth-Century Intan Shipwreck, Java Sea, Indonesia (Oxford: Archaeopress).

  18. 18.

    Three specimens of clove (Eugenia aromatica) are said to have been found in a jar in a pantry at Terqa, on the Euphrates, at a surprisingly early date of 1300 BCE: Giorgio Buccellati and Marilyn K. Buccellati (1983) “Terqa: The First Eight Seasons”, Les annales archéologiques arabes syriennes: Revue d’Archéologie et d’Histoire, 32.2, 46–67; which would imply that commodities from Eastern Indonesia had by then found their way across the Indian Ocean, through circuits that are presently difficult to explain. The unpublished report by botanist Kathleen F. Galvin (“The Paleo-botany of the First Five Seasons”) was kindly sent to me by Giorgio Buccellati in 2012 and is convincing as far as the botanical evidence is concerned. I also wish to thank Olivier Rouault for confirming that the tablets studied by him in the same building do not contradict the dates provided by G. Buccellati (2014) Personal Communication; Olivier Rouault (2001) “Terqa et sa région (6e -1er millénaires av. J.-C.): Recherches récentes”, Akkadika 122, 8.

  19. 19.

    Paul Wheatley [1921–1999] (1959) “Geographical Notes on Some Commodities Involved in Sung Maritime Trade”, Journal of the Malayan Branch, Royal Asiatic Society 32.2, 45–47; Oliver W. Wolters [1915–2000] (1967) Early Indonesian Commerce: A Study of the Origins of Sri Vijaya (Ithaca: Cornell University Press), 39.

  20. 20.

    K. Rajan (2011) “Emergence of Early Historic Trade in Peninsular India”, in Pierre-Yves Manguin, A. Mani and Geoff Wade (eds.), Early Interactions Between South and Southeast Asia: Reflections on Cross-Cultural Exchange (Singapore and New Delhi: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies and Manohar Publisher & Distributers), 177–196; V. Selvakumar (2011) “Contacts between India and Southeast Asia in Ceramic and Boat Building Traditions”, in Pierre-Yves Manguin, A. Mani and Geoff Wade (eds.), Early Interactions Between South and Southeast Asia: Reflections on Cross-Cultural Exchange (Singapore and New Delhi: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies and Manohar Publisher & Distributers), 197–220.

  21. 21.

    Pierre-Yves Manguin (1996) “Southeast Asian Shipping in the Indian Ocean during the First Millennium AD”, in Himanshu P. Ray and Jean-François Salles (eds.), Tradition and Archaeology: Early Maritime Contacts in the Indian Ocean (Lyon and New Delhi: Manohar, Maison de l’Orient méditerranéen, NISTADS), 181–198; Pierre-Yves Manguin (in press) “‘Sewn’ Boats of Southeast Asia: The ‘Stitched Plank and Lashed-lug’ Tradition”, in Lucy Blue (ed.), Fibre and Wood. Sewn Boat Construction Techniques Through Time (in press); and Seán McGrail (2001) Boats of the World: From the Stone Age to Medieval Times (Oxford: Oxford University Press), 297–298.

  22. 22.

    Paul Pelliot [1878–1945] (1925) “Quelques textes chinois concernant l’Indochine hindouisée”, in École française d’Extrême-Orient (ed.), Études asiatiques publiées à l’occasion du vingt-cinquième anniversaire de lÉcole française d’Extrême-Orient (Paris: G. Van Oest), 243–263; Pierre-Yves Manguin (1980) “The Southeast Asian Ship: An Historical Approach”, Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 11.2, 266–276.

  23. 23.

    Jeremy Green and Rosemary Harper (1987) “The Maritime Archaeology of Shipwrecks and Ceramics in Southeast Asia”, The Australian Institute for Maritime Archaeology: Special Publication,vol. 4 (Albert Park: The Australian Institute for Maritime Archaeology), 1–37; Pierre-Yves Manguin (1989) “The Trading Ships of Insular Southeast Asia: New Evidence from Indonesian Archaeological Sites”, in Pertemuan Ilmiah Arkeologi V, Yogyakarta, 4–7 Juli 1989: Proceedings,vol. 1 (Jakarta: Ikatan Ahli Arkeologi Indonesia), 200–220; Pierre-Yves Manguin (1993) “Trading Ships of the South China Sea: Shipbuilding Techniques and their Role in the Development of Asian Trade Networks”, Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient 36, 253–280; Pierre-Yves Manguin (1996) “Southeast Asian Shipping in the Indian Ocean”; and Pierre-Yves Manguin (2012) “Asian Ship-Building Traditions in the Indian Ocean at the Dawn of European Expansion”, in Om Prakash (ed.), The Trading World of the Indian Ocean, 1500–1800 (Calcutta: Centre for Studies in Civilisations), 597–629.

  24. 24.

    V. Selvakumar (2011) “Contacts Between India and Southeast Asia”.

  25. 25.

    Pierre-Yves Manguin (2000) “Les techniques de construction navale aux Maldives originaires d’Asie du Sud-Est”, Techniques & Culture 35–36, 21–47.

  26. 26.

    There are disagreements among linguists and historians regarding the filiation between wangkang/bangka and qabang forms (through a hypothetical metathesis). Whichever the linguistic arguments, one cannot dismiss the similarities between Dravidian forms and Austronesian ones.

  27. 27.

    Multiple references to these nautical terms will be found in Pierre-Yves Manguin (2012) “Asian Ship-Building Traditions in the Indian Ocean”, n. 50; Dorian Q. Fuller et al. (2011) “Across the Indian Ocean”; and Tom Hoogervorst (2012), “Southeast Asia in the Ancient Indian Ocean World: Combining Historical Linguistic and Archaeological Approaches” (PhD thesis, University of Oxford).

  28. 28.

    Oliver Wolters (1967) Early Indonesian Commerce; Jan Wisseman Christie (1990) “Trade and State Formation in the Malay Peninsula and Sumatra, 300 B.C.–A.D. 700”, in Jaya Kathirithamby-Wells and John Villiers (eds.), The Southeast Asian Port and Polity: Rise and Demise (Singapore: Singapore University Press), 39–60; Jan Wisseman Christie (1995) “State Formation in Early Maritime Southeast Asia: A Consideration of the Theories and the Data”, Bijdragen van het Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 151.2, 235–288; and Pierre-Yves Manguin (2004) “The Archaeology of the Early Maritime Polities of Southeast Asia”, in Peter Bellwood and Ian C. Glover (eds.), Southeast Asia: From Prehistory to History (London: RoutledgeCurzon), 282–313.

  29. 29.

    Bérénice Bellina-Pryce (2003) “Beads, Social Change and Interaction between India and Southeast Asia”, Antiquity, 77, 285–297; Bérénice Bellina-Pryce (2006) Cultural Exchange Between India and Southeast Asia: Production and Distribution of Hard Stone Ornaments (VI c BC–VI c AD) (Paris: Éditions de la Maison des Sciences de l’Homme).

  30. 30.

    Himanshu Ray (1994) The Winds of Change; Nadine Dalsheimer and Pierre-Yves Manguin (1998) “Viṣṇu mitrés et réseaux marchands en Asie du Sud-Est: Nouvelle données archéologiques sur le Ier millénaire apr. J. C.”, Bulletin de l’École française d’Extrême-Orient 85, 87–123.

  31. 31.

    Shelomo D. Goitein and Mordechai A. Friedman (2008) India Traders of the Middle Ages: Documents from the Cairo Geniza: “India Book” (Leiden: E. J. Brill); Ranabir Chakravarti (2000) “Nakhudas and Nauvittakas: Shipowning Merchants in the West Coast of India (c. AD 1000–1500)”, Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient 43.1, 34–64.

  32. 32.

    Geoff Wade (2010) “Early Muslim Expansion in Southeast Asia from Eighth to Fifteenth Centuries”, in David O. Morgan and Anthony Reid (eds.), New Cambridge History of Islam, vol. 3: The Eastern Islamic World Eleventh–Eighteenth Centuries (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), 366–408.

  33. 33.

    Bahadur Chand Chhabra (1935) “Expansion of Indo-Aryan Culture During Pallava Rule, as Evidenced by Inscriptions”, Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal 1, 1–64.

  34. 34.

    Hermann Kulke (1993) “‘Kadatuan Srivijaya’—Empire or Kraton of Srivijaya? A Reassessment of the Epigraphical Evidence”, Bulletin de l’École française d’Extrême-Orient 80.1, 159–180.

  35. 35.

    Pierre-Yves Manguin (1991) “The Merchant and the King: Political Myths of Southeast Asian Coastal Polities”, Indonesia 52, 41–54.

  36. 36.

    I. Wayan Ardika and Peter Bellwood (1991) “Sembiran: The Beginnings of Indian Contact with Bali”, Antiquity 65, 221–232; Henry T. Wright (1998) “Developing Complex Societies in Southeast Asia: Using Archaeological and Historical Evidence”, International Journal of Historical Archaeology 2.4, 343–348; Pierre-Yves Manguin (2004) “The Archaeology of the Early Maritime Polities”; and Bérénice Bellina-Pryce and Praon Silapanth (2006) “Weaving Cultural Identities on Trans-Asiatic Networks”.

  37. 37.

    Sunil Gupta (2005) “The Bay of Bengal Interaction Sphere”.

  38. 38.

    Sheldon Pollock (2006) The Language of the Gods; Pierre-Yves Manguin (2011) “Introduction”.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. École Française d’Extrême-Orient, Paris, France

    Pierre-Yves Manguin

Authors
  1. Pierre-Yves Manguin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Pierre-Yves Manguin .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria

    Angela Schottenhammer

  2. Research Director of the Indian Ocean World Centre (IOWC), McGill University, Montreal, Canada

    Angela Schottenhammer

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2019 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Manguin, PY. (2019). Protohistoric and Early Historic Exchange in the Eastern Indian Ocean: A Re-evaluation of Current Paradigms. In: Schottenhammer, A. (eds) Early Global Interconnectivity across the Indian Ocean World, Volume I. Palgrave Series in Indian Ocean World Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-97667-9_5

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-97667-9_5

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-97666-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-97667-9

  • eBook Packages: HistoryHistory (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation