Nodes of Capitalism in the Early Modern Indian Ocean
In the period 1500-1800 several cities across the Indian Ocean were cradles of global capitalism. Rather than a single center, numerous nodes of capitalist activity existed in select cities from East Africa to East Asia. These nodes were home to diverse artisanal industries, various forms of free/unfree labour, diasporic merchant networks, and a physical and legal infrastructure facilitating trans-regional economic exchange. They also maintained strong connections with their local hinterlands and with other nodes in the Indian Ocean. The following exhibition zooms in on several of these nodes in detail.
Mozambique
Mozambique is the name of a country on the southeastern coast of the African continent. Mozambique Island is a tiny island in Northern Mozambique, between Mozambique channel and Mozuril Bay. Mozambique Island is situated 4 km from the mainland coast. Today, it is connected to the mainland by a brid…
Renata Cabral Bernabé
Mocha
Al-Mukha is a port situated on the Tihama, a coastal plain of the Red Sea, in what today is the southwest of Yemen. During the early modern period, it was a small but important trading post. Al-Mukha’s urban layout was oriented around trade: the port owed its existence to
Guillemette Crouzet
Hormuz
The Asian Origins of Global Capitalism
Michael O’Sullivan
Goa
Goa is located in the West coast of the Indian subcontinent, between Mumbai and Cochin. It was occupied by the Portuguese in 1510 and in 1530 it became the capital of the Portuguese Estado da Índia. Soon after occupying Goa in May 1510, the Portuguese were driven away from the
Renata Cabral Bernabé
Masulipatam
Masulipatam is a port city nestled on the bank of the Krishna River on India’s Coromandel coast, in what is now Andhra Pradesh state. From the late sixteenth century onwards, Masulipatam rose to prominence as a major Asian centre of global maritime trade. Its urban layout was oriented around
Guillemette Crouzet
Madras
The Asian Origins of Global Capitalism
Michael O’Sullivan
Siam
The Asian Origins of Global Capitalism
Michael O’Sullivan
Batavia
Located in the north-west of the island of Java, Jakarta is the capital and largest city of Indonesia with an estimated population of around 10 million. The population of Jakarta metropolitan area is estimated at 35 million, making it one of the largest metropolitan areas of the world. The Dutch
Maarten Draper
Macao
Macao is located in a peninsula in the Western Pearl River Delta by the Suth China Sea. In 1557, the Portuguese were granted a permanent settlement in Macao by the Chinese court. The status of Macao city in relation to Lisbon or the Estado da Índia was ambiguous. Although officially
Renata Cabral Bernabé
Manila
The Asian Origins of Global Capitalism
Michael O’Sullivan
Nagasaki
Nagasaki is located in south-west Japan, on the west side of Kyushu island. Its deep natural harbour gives access to the East China Sea. Today the population of the city is estimated to be around 400,000. The Korean port of Busan is around 165 nautical miles away (305 km)
Maarten Draper