Sea of Debt - Law and Economic Life in the Western Indian Ocean, 1780-1950

In this innovative legal history of economic life in the Western Indian Ocean, Bishara examines the transformations of Islamic law and Islamicate commercial practices during the emergence of modern capitalism in the region. In this time of expanding commercial activity, a mélange of Arab, Indian, Swahili and Baloch merchants, planters, jurists, judges, soldiers and seamen forged the frontiers of a shared world. The interlinked worlds of trade and politics that these actors created, the shared commercial grammars and institutions that they developed and the spatial and socio-economic mobilities they engaged in endured until at least the middle of the twentieth century. This major study examines the Indian Ocean from Oman to India and East Africa over an extended period of time, drawing together the histories of commerce, law and empire in a sophisticated, original and richly textured history of capitalism in the Islamic world.

List of contents

Prologue; 1. Life and debt; 2. Inscribing obligation; 3. Paper routes; Interlude; 4. Translating transactions; 5. Making Africa Indian; 6. Muslim mortgages; 7. Capital moves; 8. Unravelling obligation; Epilogue.

About the author

Fahad Ahmad Bishara is an Assistant Professor of History at the University of Virginia. He received his Ph.D. in History from Duke University, North Carolina in 2012 and holds an M.A. in Arab Gulf Studies from the University of Exeter. His research, in the fields of legal history and the history of capitalism, has been supported by the Social Science Research Council and the American Council of Learned Societies. He was also previously a Prize Fellow in Economics, History and Politics at the Center for History and Economics at Harvard University, Massachusetts.

Summary

Bishara charts the emergence of a trans-oceanic contractual culture, the actors that assembled it, and the legal institutions that shaped it. Analyzing the Western Indian Ocean over an extended period of time, this exceptional volume draws together the regional histories of commerce, law and empire.

Product details

• Authors: Fahad Ahmad Bishara, Fahad Ahmad (University of Virginia) Bishara, Fahad. Ahmad Bishara
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press ELT
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 23.03.2017
• EAN: 9781316609378
• ISBN: 978-1-316-60937-8
• No. of pages: 292
• Series: Asian Connections; Asian Connections
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History > Regional and national histories; Non-fiction book > History > Miscellaneous; Social sciences, law, business > Business > General, dictionaries; BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Economic History, 20th Century, HISTORY / Asia / General, LAW / Legal History, HISTORY / Maritime History & Piracy, c 1800 to c 1900, 19th century, c 1800 to c 1899, maritime history, 20th century, c 1900 to c 1999, Economic history, 18th century, c 1700 to c 1799, Legal History, Asian History, Indian Ocean, C 1700 To C 1800