Abstract
Over world history, Southeast Asia’s contribution to the global economy prior to the AD 1500s, and especially in the early millennia of the current era (first century AD), has been much neglected by historians. To recalibrate the interactions of Southeast Asia with other parts of the world economy beyond the historical studies/scholarship written to date that are mostly of Eurocentric, Sinocentric or Indocentric in nature, we need to locate these historical relations within a world history of an evolving world economy (economy of the world). From recent archaeological findings and historical literary accounts, a world system of trade goods was being exchanged through a series of land and sea trading routes between the Mediterranean and South Asia and eastwards to Southeast Asia and China. Global trade exchanges via land and sea and movement of peoples defined this system.
This chapter has two objectives. First, it will map out a world system of trading connections that were in operation at least at the dawn (if not earlier) of the first century of the current era (i.e., first century AD) that extended across seven regions: Europe/Mediterranean, East Africa, Arabian Peninsula and the Gulf, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Central Asia and China/East Asia. Given this set of trade connections extending over seven regions of the world excluding the Americas that were not connected at this point in time; this economic linkage can be viewed as the ‘first Eurasian world economy’. Secondly, this exercise will highlight Southeast Asia’s participation in this world trading system, the importance of its trading goods as commodities for consumption in the first global economy, and that Southeast Asia was a socioeconomic and politically developed area with established polities and not a region of just peripheral trade entrepôts as some have deemed it as such.
Southeast Asian populations during the Neolithic and early metal periods also contributed much to human achievements in agriculture, art, metallurgy, boat construction and ocean navigation. Glover and Bellwood, Southeast Asia: From Prehistory to History.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Some of the sources used in this paper have only indicated dates in the form of BC or AD without any clarifications of whether these dates are carbon dated. I have used BC and AD datings for whole of this paper so that they reflect the original sources from which the citations were taken.
- 2.
Chapter 8 in The Theory and Methodology of World Development: The Writings of Andre Gunder Frank, Sing C. Chew and Pat Lauderdale (eds) has a summary of the unpublished book manuscript, ReOrient the Nineteenth Century. The unfinished manuscript has been edited by Robert Denemark and published: ReOrienting the Nineteenth Century: Global Economy in the Continuing Asian Age (2015).
- 3.
For a periodisation of long-term economic downturn, see Chew (2007).
- 4.
For example, the discovery of the Dong Son drums in the eastern part of the Malayan peninsula similar to those of the earlier Dong Son culture located in the Red River Delta of Vietnam is indicative of how much distance these drums have travelled (Jacq-Hergoualc’h, 2002).
- 5.
Roman coins and products have been discovered among the ruins of Fu-nan.
- 6.
1 kati is equivalent to 1.1 lbs.
References
Abu-Lughod, J. (1989). Before European hegemony. New York: Oxford University Press.
Abu-Lughod, J. (1993). Restructuring the premodern world-system. Review, 13, 273–286.
Algaze, G. (1989). The Uruk expansion: Cross-cultural exchange in early Mesopotamia. Current Anthropology, 30(5), 571–608.
Algaze, G. (1993a). The Uruk world system. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Algaze, G. (1993b). Expansionary dynamics of some early pristine states. American Anthropologist, 95(2), 304–333.
Amin, S. (1974). Accumulation on the world scale. New York: Monthly Review Press.
Arrighi, G. (1994). The long twentieth century money, power and the origins of our times. London: Verso.
Arrighi, G. (2007). Adam Smith in Beijing. London: Verso.
Beaujard, P. (2005). The Indian Ocean in Eurasian and African world-systems before the sixteenth century. Journal of World History, 16(4), 411–465.
Beaujard, P. (2010). From three possible iron-age world-systems to a single Afro-Eurasian world-system. Journal of World History, 21(1), 1–43.
Blench, R. (2010). Evidence for the Austronesian voyages in the Indian Ocean. In A. Atholl et al. (Eds.), The global origins and development of seafaring (pp. 239–249). Cambridge: McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research.
Braudel, F. (1972). The mediterranean and the mediterranean world in the age of philip II (Vol. 1). London: Fontana.
Braudel, F. (1981). The structure of everyday life (Vol. 1). New York: Harper and Row.
Braudel, F. (1982). The wheels of commerce (Vol. 2). New York: Harper and Row.
Braudel, F. (1984). The perspective of the world (Vol. 3). New York: Harper and Row.
Braudel, F. (2001). Memory and the Mediterranean. New York: Alfred Knopf.
Casson, L. (Trans.). (1989). The Periplus Maris Erythraei. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Chia, S., & Andaya, B. (2011). Bujang valley and early civilizations in Southeast Asia. Kuala Lumpur: Department of National Heritage.
Chase-Dunn, C., & Hall, T. D. (1997). Rise and demise: Comparing world-systems. Boulder: Westview.
Chew, S. C. (2000). World ecological degradation: Accumulation, urbanization, and deforestation. Lanham, MD: AltaMira Press/Rowman and Littlefield Publishers.
Chew, S. C. (2001). World ecological degradation: Accumulation, urbanization, and deforestation. Lanham, MD: AltaMira.
Chew, S. C. (2007). The recurring dark ages: Ecological stress, climate changes and system transformation. Lanham, MD: AltaMira.
Chew, S. C. (2008). Ecological futures: What history can teach us. Lanham, MD: AltaMira.
Christie, J. W. (1990). Trade and state formation in the Malay Peninsula and Sumatra 300 BC–AD 700. In J. Kathirithamby-Wells & J. Viliers (Eds.), The Southeast Asian port and polity. Singapore: Singapore University Press.
Denemark, R., et al. (Eds.). (2000). World system history: The social science of long-term change. London: Routledge.
Ekholm, K., & Friedman, J. (1982). Capital, imperialism and exploitation in the ancient world systems. Review, 6, 87–110.
Frank, A. G. (1991). Transitional ideological modes: Feudalism, capitalism, and socialism. Critique of Anthropology, 11(2), 171–188.
Frank, A. G. (1992). World system cycles, crises, and hegemonial shifts. Review, 15(4), 621–688.
Frank, A. G. (1993). Bronze age world system cycles current. Anthropology, 34(4), 383–429.
Frank, A. G. (1998). ReOrient: Global economy in the Asian age. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Frank, A. G., & Gills, B. K. (1992). World system cycles. Crises, and Hegemonial Shifts Review, 15(4), 621–688.
Frank, A. G., & Gills, B. K. (1993). Bronze Age world system cycles. Current Anthropology, 34(4 October), 383–429.
Gills, B. K., & Frank, A. G. (1990). The cumulation of accumulation: Theses and research agenda for five thousand years of world system history. Dialectical Anthropology, 15, 19–42.
Gills, B. K., & Frank, A. G. (1991). Five thousand years of world system history: The cumulation of accumulation. In C. Chase-Dunn & T. Hall (Eds.), Core-periphery relations in the pre-capitalist world. Boulder: Westview.
Glover, I. (1979). The late prehistoric period in Indonesia. In R. B. Smith & W. Watson (Eds.), Early Southeast Asia. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Glover, I. C. (1996). Recent archaeological evidence for early maritime contacts between India and Southeast Asia. In H. P. Ray & J. F. Salles (Eds.), Tradition and archaeology early maritime contacts in the Indian Ocean (pp. 129–158). New Delhi: Manohar.
Hall, K. (1985). Maritime trade and state development in Early Southeast Asia. Honolulu, HI: University of Hawaii Press.
Higham, C. (1989). The archaeology of mainland Southeast Asia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Higham, C. (1996). The Bronze Age of Southeast Asia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Higham, C., & Lu, T. (1998). The origins and dispersal of rice cultivation. Antiquity, 72, 867–877.
Hudson, R. (2004). The origins of Bagan: The archaeological landscape of Upper Burma. Sydney: University of Sydney.
Jacq-Hergoualc’h, M. (2002). The Malay Peninsula: Crossroads of the maritime silk road (100 BC–AD 1300). Leiden: Brill.
Kennedy, J. (1898). Early commerce of Babylon with India. Journal of Asiatic Society of Bengal, 30(2), 241–288.
Kohl, P. (1987). The ancient economy, transferable technologies, and the Bronze Age world system: A view from the Northeastern frontiers of the ancient near east. In M. Rowlands, M. Larsen, & K. Kristiansen (Eds.), Centre and periphery in the ancient world. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Kristiansen, K. (1998). Europe before history. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Kristiansen, K., & Larsson, T. (2005). The rise of Bronze Age society travels, transmission, and transformation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Lamberg-Karlovsky, C. C. (1975). Third millennium exchange and production. In J. Sabloff & C. C. Lamberg-Karlovsky (Eds.), Ancient civilization and trade. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.
Larson, M. T. (1987). Commercial network in the ancient near east. In M. Rowlands et al. (Eds.), Centre and periphery in the ancient world (pp. 47–56). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Leong, S. H. (1990). Collecting centres, feeder points and entrepots in the Malay Peninsula 1000 BC–AD 1400. In J. Kathirithamby-Wells & J. Viliers (Eds.), The Southeast Asian port and polity. Singapore: Singapore University Press.
Malleret, L. (1962). L’Archéologie du Delta du Mekong: La Culture du Fou-nan. École Française d’ Extreme Orient XL III(3).
Manguin, P.-Y. (2004). The archaeology of early maritime polities of Southeast Asia. In I. Glover & P. Bellwood (Eds.), Southeast Asia from prehistory to history (pp. 282–313). London: Routledge.
Marshall, W. (1980). Indonesia in Indian Ocean culture history. Indonesian Circle, 21, 15–23.
Modelski, G., & Thompson, W. (1999). The evolutionary pulse of the world system: Hinterland incursion and migrations 4000 BC to AD 1500. In N. Kardulias (Ed.), World system theory in practice (pp. 241–274). Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield.
Parker, G. (2002). Ex Oriente Luxuna: Indian commodities and roman experience. Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, 45(1), 39–95.
Possehl, G. (1982). The Harappan civilization: A Contemporary perspective. In G. Possehl (Ed.), Harappan civilization. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.
Ratnagar, S. (1981). Encounters: The westerly trade of the Harappan civilization. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.
Robinson, W. (2004). The theory of global capitalism. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Saidin, M., et al. (2011). Issues and problems of previous studies in the Bujang valley and the discovery of Sungai Batu. In S. Chia & B. Andaya (Eds.), Bujang valley and early civilizations in Southeast Asia (pp. 15–36). Kuala Lumpur: Department of National Heritage.
Sarabia, D. (2004). Dark age phases as periods of ecological crisis: An analysis of the interplay between economy, nature and culture. Ph.D. Thesis, Oklahoma State University.
Sheratt, A. (1997). Economy and society in prehistoric Europe: Changing perspectives. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Thompson, W. (2006). Trade pulsations, collapse, and reorientation in the ancient world. Paper presented at the International Studies Association Annual Meetings, Chicago, March 24–27.
Tibbetts, G. R. (1956). PreIslamic Arabia and Southeast Asia. Journal of the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 29(3), 182–208.
Wallerstein, I. (1974). 1980 The modern world-system Vols 1–3. New York: Academic Press.
Wallerstein, I. (1980). The modern world-system (Vol. 2). New York: Academic Press.
Wallerstein, I. (1988). The modern world-system (Vol. 3). New York: Academic Press.
Wallerstein, I. (1991). World system vs World-systems: A critique. Critique of Anthropology., 11(2), 189–194.
Wallerstein, I. (1992). The West, Capitalism, and the Modern World-System. Review, 15(4), 561–619.
Wang, G. W. (1958). The Nanhai trade: A study of the early history of Chinese trade in Southeast Asia. Journal of the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 31(2), 1–135.
Warmington, E. H. (1928). The commerce between the Roman Empire and India. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Wheatley, P. (1983). Negara and commandery: Origins of Southeast Asian urban traditions (pp. 207–208). Chicago: University of Chicago Department of Geography Research Paper.
Whitmore, J. K. (1977). The opening of Southeast Asia: Trading patterns thorough the centuries. In K. L. Hutterer (Ed.), Economic exchange and social interaction in Southeast Asia. Perspectives from prehistory and ethnography (pp. 139–153). Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Papers on South and Southeast Asia.
Wilkinson, D. (2000). Civilizations, world systems and hegemonies. In R. Denemark et al. (Eds.), World system history: The social science of long-term change (pp. 54–84). London: Routledge.
Wolters, O. W. (1999). History, culture, and region in Southeast Asian perspective. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
Yamagata, M. (1998). Formation of Linyi: Internal and external factors. Journal of Southeast Asian Archaeology, 18, 51–89.
Acknowledgement
Earlier versions of this chapter were presented to the Annual Conference of the Social Science History Association, Boston, November 17–20, 2011, and to The Dimensions of the Indian Ocean World Past Ninth to Nineteenth Centuries Conference, Fremantle, Western Australia, 12–14 November 2012. The comments from Philippe Beaujard, Thomas D. Hall, Alvin So, and William Thompson, and Wang Gungwu on earlier drafts are much appreciated.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Chew, S.C. (2018). The Southeast Asian Connection in the First Eurasian World Economy 200 BC AD 500. In: Hall, T. (eds) Comparing Globalizations. World-Systems Evolution and Global Futures. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-68219-8_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-68219-8_5
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-68218-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-68219-8
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)