Dispatch
Translated primary sources, historical travelogues, merchant records, and annotated archival documents.
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Prestige Before Price: Diplomacy and Trade in the Indian Ocean
Trade Did Not Begin in the Marketplace It was not merchants who caused the Indian Ocean…
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The Gateway to Gold: Kilwa and the Wealth of the Indian Ocean
Introduction: Gold Reached the World Through the Coast Gold from southern Africa, particularly around the Zimbabwe…
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The Merchant’s Map: Commercial Intelligence in the Medieval Indian Ocean
Introduction: Geography as Commercial Intelligence Information played a major role in making merchant trade across the…
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Beyond the Courtroom: How Merchants Settled Disputes Across the Indian Ocean
Introduction: Commerce and the Problem of Jurisdiction For trading at long distances in the Indian Ocean,…
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The Currency of Reputation: Finance and Trust in Medieval Trade
Introduction: Finance Before Banks The Eurocentric economic perspective has led to the Eurocentric view that the…
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Regulating Commerce: Port Administration and Maritime Trade in the Indian Ocean
Ports as Institutional Interfaces of Trade Medieval Indian Ocean long-distance trade involved more than nautical trade…
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Ownership, Liability, and Commercial Trust in Indian Ocean Maritime Law
When Trade Learned How to Survive Loss The ship transported spices, clothes, horses, silver, and some…
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Maritime Muʿāmalāt: Islamic Maritime Law and Commercial Risk in the Indian Ocean
Introduction: Law Beyond the Shore Long distance water trade in the mediaeval Islamic world was not…
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Sailing the Monsoon: Navigation, Knowledge, and Commerce in the Medieval Indian Ocean
Introduction: The Monsoon Was the Real Architecture of Trade Medieval Indian Ocean commerce is often portrayed…
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Sailing by Story: Knowledge and Commerce in the Indian Ocean
Introduction: Maritime Trade and the Problem of Uncertainty Oceanic commerce in the pre-modern Indian Ocean was…
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From Narrative to Economy: Interpreting the Merchants of ʿAjāʾib al-Hind
Buzurg ibn Shahriyar’s The Book of the Wonders of India (ʿAjāʾib al-Hind) is a valuable source…
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From Battlefield to Bargaining Table: The Legacy of the Treaty of Jaffa(1192)
The Treaty of Jaffa ended the main wars of the Third Crusade, but not as a…