title: Crossing the Bay of Bengal: The Furies of Nature and the Fortunes of Migrants
author:  Sunil S. Amrith 
description: Fascinating Although several books have been written about the strategic and geopolitical significance of the Indian Oceanthere is little awareness of the cultural and historical ties that bind diverse nations bordering the bay. <b>Amrith</b>'s signal achievement is to bring these ties to light. In doing so, he gives voiceand an identityto one of the most complex and culturally interesting regions of the world Amrith's excavation of this culture is painstaking and meticulous. He digs deep into the archives, drawing on journals, letters and official colonial records to assemble an account that dates back to the first millennium The result of all this research is a textured biography of a region This is a formidable work of scholarship It is the sheer accumulation of information, and the multiple, interwoven strands in this profoundly interdisciplinary work, that yield such an impressive, multifaceted portrait [A] remarkable book. (Akash Kapur <i>New York Times Book Review</i> 2013-09-29)<br /><br /><b>Sunil Amrith</b> consolidates his reputation for intellectual sophistication, a good historians sensitivity to detail and a flair for large-scale tale-telling that produces work as page-turning as a novel. We are reminded that the Bay of Bengal, the worlds largest, long stood at the heart of global trade and imperial historiesthe watery counterpart to the overland silk route that connected the Indian Ocean with Asia, Mediterranean societies and even South America via the flow of goods such as silver and pepper Read this book for information, for convincing analytic nuance, as a humbling shake-up of ones worldview, and as a series of heart-stopping tales. (Caroline Osella <i>Times Higher Education</i> 2013-11-07)<br /><br />The highlight of thisbook is the way <b>Amrith</b> introduces the bays early trade routes and encourages further reading into its ancient civilizations--from the medieval Hindu-Buddhist Srivijaya empire of Sumatra, who ruled much of Southeast Asia, to the powerful Chola (southern India) dynastys thriving China trade. Such accounts reveal vibrant East-meets-West business communities where Arab, Indian and, later, European ships moored alongside Chinese junks for cloth, spices, opium and Mexican silver. Amrith brings these images to life with clear maps and thoughtful research, such as the observations of Portuguese apothecary Tom Pires, who noted 84 languages from the Middle East to China in early 16th-century Melaka. Equally engaging is the way Amrith portrays traders study of the bays monsoons, and how they intermarried with locals from across the bay to create hybrid cultures and architecture that embraced multiple beliefs and traditions. (William Wadsworth <i>South China Morning Post</i> 2013-10-20)<br /><br /><b>Amrith</b> covers the historical background, the political and social world of the migrants, and the human suffering: the inhumanity of plantation life, disease and high mortality rates, and the aftermath of the crumbling of the European empires.<br /> (Ravi Shenoy <i>Library Journal</i> 2013-09-15)<br /><br />Admirably ambitious yet eminently readable, <i>Crossing the Bay of Bengal</i> is one of the most engaging works of history to come my way in a long time. (Amitav Ghosh <i>amitavghosh.com/blog</i> 2012-11-20)<br /><br /><b>Amrith</b> uncovers new horizons in oceanic history as he sets sail with Tamil migrants across the turbulent waters of the Bay of Bengal. This exquisitely crafted book deftly traces the migratory patterns and cultural flows that connect South and Southeast Asia while demonstrating the power and limits of human agency in shaping the environmental destiny of the sea. (Sugata Bose, author of <i>His Majestys Opponent</i>)<br /><br />Exquisitely crafted and exhaustively researched, this book will become a classic in global and oceanic history. Few studies of world history can rival the breathtaking interdisciplinary reach and sheer narrative splendor of this book. (Isabel Hofmeyr, author of <i>Gandhis Printing Press</i>)<br /><br />Reading this book is pure joy. Beautifully written, with lyrical tenderness and subtle concern for the voices of migrants, <i>Crossing the Bay of Bengal</i> portrays the history of the Bay transformed over epochs, from medieval times to the present, in all its environmental, economic, social, and political complexity. (David Ludden, author of <i>India and South Asia: A Short History</i>)<br /><br />In refocusing on the Bay and restoring a Braudelian sweep to its history, this nicely written and meticulously researched study could prove as timely as it is instructive. (John Keay <i>Literary Review</i> 2013-12-01)<br /><br /><b>Sunil Amrith</b>s astonishingly researched and lyrically written book evokes and showcases the toils, trials and fortunes of millions of Indians who have made the turbulent expanse of water from Trincomalee, Chennai and Vishakhapatnam to Calcutta, Chittagong, Rangoon, Penang, Malacca and Singapore their karm-bhoomi over the last several centuries. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Crossing the Bay of Bengal</i> is, in a very real sense, a life of that Bay itself, as it was buffeted and regulated by the monsoon winds during the long Age of Sail, then harnessed by steamships from the 1870s. (Shahid Amin <i>Indian Express</i> 2014-02-22)
zlib_text:  
  Crossing the Bay of Bengal
  
   
  Crossing the Bay of Bengal
  The Furies of Nature and the Fortunes of Migrants
  Sunil S. Amrith
  HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS
  Cambridge, Massachusetts
  London, England
  2013
  
   
  Copyright © 2013 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College
  All rights reserved
  Jacket art: Madras, or Fort St. George, in the Bay of Bengal: A Squall Passing off, 1833 (oil on canvas), by William Daniell (1769-1837) / The
  Bridgeman Art Library
  Jacket design: Graciela Galup
  The Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows:
  Amrith, Sunil S., 1979–
  Crossing the Bay of Bengal : the furies of nature and the fortunes of migrants / Sunil S. Amrith.
       pages cm
  Includes bibliographical references and index.
  ISBN 978-0-674-72483-9 (hardcover : alk. paper)
  1.  Asians—Migrations—Bengal, Bay of, Region—History—19th century.   2.  Immigrants—Bengal, Bay of, Region—History—19th century.  
  3.  Bengal, Bay of, Region.—Commerce—History—19th century.   I.  Title.
  JV8490.A728 2013
  