Kenneth McPherson
Published: 1993
Total Pages: 336
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By the sixteenth century Europeans were part of this world as partners in trade with the indigenous peoples, but from the eighteenth century this economic relationship changed as the economies of the Indian Ocean world integrated with the capitalist economies of the West. The change from commercialism to capitalism ended the insularity of the Indian Ocean world and began its integration, as a region, into the global economy and its territorial division amongst various European powers. This transition altered the ancient web of regional relationships and, with the arrival of European settlers and rulers, added yet another layer to the palimpsest of cultures which flourished on the shores of the Ocean. By the twentieth century the Ocean was no longer a major force binding the peoples on its shores in a selfconscious entity, but the legacy of the past is still evident in their common religious, cultural and historical experience.