'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 Until Vasco da Gama discovered the sea-route to the East in 1497-9 almost nothing was known in the West of the exotic cultures and wealth of the Indian Ocean and its peoples. It is this civilisation and its destruction at the hands of the West that Richard Hall recreates in this book. Hall's history of the exploration and exploitation -- by Chinese and Arab travellers, and by the Portuguese, Dutch and British alike -- is one of brutality, betrayal and colonial ambition. It is history told with the true gift of a storyteller and a keen eye for the exotic. It is a compelling and instructive epic.
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Editorial Reviews
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'Empires of the Monsoon is a panoramic study of the history of the Indian Ocean and the destruction of its traditional trade by colonial Europe! Its major achievement is to weave into a coherent whole the histories of a kaleidoscope of civilisations and peoples! Empires of the Monsoon reads like some mediaeval Book of Wonders, rich with exotic improbabilities! . It is all gripping stuff, dizzily ambitious in its scope and full of some of the oddest facts imaginable.' William Dalrymple, Independent 'Empires of the Monsoon is an example of popular history at its best! It is the story of many marvels and many great adventures.' J.D.F. Jones, Financial Times 'A panoramic account of the Indian Ocean and its invaders! combining scholarly zeal with a good journalist's flair for selection and narrative. The book is full of fascinating information.' John Grigg, Sunday Telegraph 'Hall's lively compendium is rich in bloodthirsty sultans, swashbuckling pirates, hypocritical imperialists and serendipitous Sinbads! He is an enthusiastic storyteller who can hold you with his glittering eye.' Felipe Fernandez-Armesto, Sunday Times 'A vast and fascinating history! I found it both absorbing and instructive.' Robert Carver, Scotsman
About the Author
Richard Hall is a distinguished journalist and writer. He was born in 1925 and spent his childhood in Australia and England. During the Second World War he served as a rating in a destroyer before going to Oxford to read English. He spent ten years in Africa as a newspaper editor and foreign correspondent and was the last journalist out of Biafra at the end of the Nigerian Civil War. He is the author of many books including a biography of the explorer Henry Stanley and a history of Zambia. After returning from Africa he became editor of the Observer's colour magazine and a columnist for the Financial Times. He owns and manages a company called Africa Analysis and lives in Oxfordshire.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A panoramic view of history,
By "raina-" (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Empires of the Monsoon (Paperback)
I can't even imagine the prodigious amount of research Mr. Hall has done to recreate this history of the Indian Ocean peoples. For that alone, this book has 5 stars!The book is divided into three parts - first the history of this region before the arrival of the Europeans, the European period, and the last part deals with the consolidation by Britain of the English lake (what the Indian Ocean was referred to as later). The first two parts are excellent in my opinion. The book is filled with the most curious facts imaginable and long since forgotten from our history books. The brutality in the name of religion and empire still amazes me. I highly recommend this book.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Will Sweep You Along,
By
This review is from: Empires of the Monsoon (Paperback)
I was lucky to pick up this book by chance in a wonderful bookshop in Ottawa, Canada. I had never heard of this book or the author and was just browsing. It was a great find! Mr. Hall has done a prodigious amount of research but this book is the opposite of stuffy and pedantic. It is a tribute to Mr. Hall that even after 500 pages you will be sorry that you have finished. He leaves you wanting more and fortunately he gives you a very nice bibliography which will allow you to satisfy your curiousity. This book moves along at a breakneck pace and sweeps you along from place to place all along the coasts of East Africa and the Horn Of Africa up into the Persian Gulf and along the west coast of India. A few early chapters even take you over to China and Indonesia. There are enough interesting characters to populate a novel by Tolstoy and you will learn a lot of interesting and horrible things that they never taught you about in school. What was done in the name of religion by both Christians and Muslims is very sad. An educated person might not be surprised by the fact of man's inhumanity but I think you will be surprised by the quantity and nature of what went on, and by the sheer joie de vivre of some of these folks! To give you only one "small" example, Vasco da Gama (who was held up to me in school as being a "great explorer") once won a small battle off of the coast of India and when he took some of his foes captive he cut off their ears, noses and hands and then put the poor wretches on a ship and set the ship ablaze. When the fire was over not everyone was dead so da Gama took the survivors and had them hoisted up on the masts of one of his own ships and let his archers have some target practice....This book is full of adventure, greed, hypocrisy and self-delusion. In other words, it is a wonderful mirror held up to life. Enjoy!
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great History the way it should be Written,
By
This review is from: Empires of the Monsoon (Paperback)
This books covers a large are of geography that rarely gets into the mainstream omnibus histories. The region covered is roughly the SE Coast of Africa from the horn to the cape. Others actors come in as the rise of India, Muslim traders, Indonesian immigrants and great empires clashing on the worldwide scene entering, sometimes dominating, and then leaving.
Starting with the earliest denisons of the area such as the tribes of Malay Maqmaqs in Madagascar, to the ancient very advanced Kingdom of Zimbabwe. The first whites to make their brutal appearance as the Portugese, and for a colonial power they are right off the scale in terms of brutality. It is harder to concieve on a more stereotypical version of callous brutality that the Portugese immediately exhibited in their quest for the mythical kingdom of Prester John. But the cast includes a long tenure of the Caliphs of the coast here largely independent until the latter day Germans, largely with British approval carved them up and added Zanzibar and Uganda to their respective circles of colonial territories. Here is the history of the slave trade writ large, of those countries such as France and the US unashamedly practising its trade and the practical dilemnas of trying to stamp it out by the British. The narrative ends just prior to WWI when the sailing ships at the mercy of the monsoon trade winds gave way to steam and the last vestiges of local power and non-white power have been eclipsed by colonialism. This is pure narrative history and use of sources is impressive. There is no particular ideological agenda going on here... events are told accurately and with a minimum of moral language... in such a descriptive mode the actions of the actors are judged by you alone. Were that more such histories could be written about other "forgotten" reaches of the world.
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