The Gulf in World HistoryArabia at the Global Crossroads
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About this book
The Gulf sits at an ancient crossroads of cultures and faiths, and at the heart of modern trade stretching back to the origins of civilization. As a site of both conflict and peaceful encounter, it can be studied in the context of world history, as a place of cultural and historical encounter. From medieval astrology to museum architecture, from the trade of glass and pearls to the role of Indians, Africans, Christian monks, Mandaeans and merchants, this book spans historical periods and disciplinary approaches. It is united by one overarching theme: the Gulf as a cosmopolitan nexus and space of encounter. The chapters describe a Gulf simultaneously perched on the edge of empires and at the centre of world events. Presenting new evidence, new theoretical approaches, and new arguments, this volume aims to change understandings of the Gulf in the world.
Key Features- The first interdisciplinary study of the Gulf incorporates scholarship on cosmopolitan and global connections in archaeology, history and heritage studies
- Includes contributions from leading scholars from many disciplines who link the Gulf to the history of the Mediterranean and of the Indian Ocean
- Presents new ideas, new evidence and new approaches to the archaeology, theory and history of the Gulf
- Focuses on diversity within the Gulf given its location on the edge of empires
- Allen Fromherz, Georgia State University
- Richard McGregor, Vanderbilt University
- Valeria Piacentini Fiorani, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan
- Charles Häberl, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey
- Ghulam A. Nadri, Georgia State University
- Abdulrahman al Salimi is an Omani Researcher, Sultanate of Oman
- Johan Mathew, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey
- Matthew S. Hopper, California Polytechnic State University
- Mark Horton, University of Bristol
- Michael A. Ryan, University of New Mexico
- Eric Staples, Zayed University
- Timothy Power, Zayed University
- Robert Carter, University College London (UCL) Qatar
- Carolyn M. Swan, University College London (UCL) Qatar
- William G. Zimmerle, Farleigh Dickinson University
- Karen Exell, University College London (UCL) Qatar
- Lamya Harub is an Omani Diplomat
Table of contents
Map of the Gulf
Acknowledgements
Author Biographies
Chapter 1: World History in the Gulf as a Gulf in World History, Allen Fromherz
Part 1 - Gulf Cosmopolitanism
Chapter 2: The Cosmopolitan Figure as Ethical Exemplar: Notes from a Tenth-Century Gulf Encyclopedia, Richard McGregor
Chapter 3: The Gulf - A Cosmopolitan Mobile Society: Hormuz 1475-1515 CE, Valeria Piacentini Fiorani
Chapter 4: From Jerusalem to the Karûn: What can Mandæan Geographies Tell Us?, Charles Häberl.
Part II - The Gulf and the Indian Ocean
Chapter 5: Merchant Communities and Cross-Cultural Trade between Gujarat and the Gulf: Late Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries, Ghulam A. Nadri.
Chapter 6: Banians of Muscat: A South Asian Merchant Community in Oman and the Gulf, c. 1500-1700, Abdulrahman al Salimi
Chapter 7: Khaliji Hindustan: Towards a Diasporic History of Khalijis in South Asia 1780’s-1960’s, Johan Mathew
Part III - East Africa in the Khalij and the Khalij in East Africa
Chapter 8: Africans and the Gulf: Between Diaspora and Cosmopolitanism, Matthew S. Hopper
Chapter 9: East Africa, the Global Gulf and the New Thalassology, Mark Horton
Part IV - Diversity and Change: Sky, Sea and Land
Chapter 10: Astrology as a Node of Connectivity between the Premodern Mediterranean and Gulf, Michael A. Ryan
Chapter 11: Ships of the Gulf - Shifting Names and Networks, Eric Staples
Chapter 12: The Role of Indian Ocean Trade Inland: The Buraimi Oasis, Timothy Power
Part V: Recent Gulf Archaeology
Chapter 13: Pearl Fishing and Globalization: From the Neolithic to the 20th Century CE, Robert Carter
Chapter 14: An Archaeology of Glass and International Trade in the Gulf, Carolyn M. Swan
Part VI: Heritage and Memory in the Gulf
Chapter 15: From History to Heritage: The Arabian Incense Burner, William G. Zimmerle
Chapter 16: Doha’s Msheireb Heritage House Museums: A Discussion of Memory, History and the Heritage of the Indian Ocean World, Karen Exell
Chapter 17: Omani Identity Amid the Oil Crisis, Lamya Harub