gems, trade, commerce, early trade, India, China, Southeast Asia

This review article examines two significant volumes: Nagapattinam to Suvarnadwipa: Reflections on the Chola Naval Expeditions to Southeast Asia edited by Hermann Kulke, K. Kesavapany, and Vijay Sakhuja (Singapore, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2009, 337 pages), and Southeast Asia in the Fifteenth Century: The China Factor edited by Geoff Wade and Sun Laichen (Singapore, NUS Press and Hong Kong University Press, 2010, 508 pages). Together, these works highlight the rich potential of research focused on the maritime Silk Route in the eastern Indian Ocean, with particular emphasis on the Bay of Bengal, the Java Sea, and the South China Sea, along with the various polities situated within these regions. The second volume also extends its scope to include overland exchanges across the Bengal–Shan frontier. Importantly, both books delve into two pivotal yet underexplored centuries: the eleventh century, marked by the Chola naval campaigns and a surge in Indian Ocean commerce, and the fifteenth century, characterized by Ming China’s expansive overland and maritime engagements in mainland and insular Southeast Asia—including Yunnan—bringing the Ming sphere into close proximity with India, particularly fifteenth-century Bengal, which is of special interest to me.