Blanche Rocha D’Souza, Harnessing the Trade Winds: The Story of the Centuries-Old Indian Trade with East Africa, Using the Monsoon Winds
Blanche Rocha D’Souza, Harnessing the Trade Winds: The Story of the Centuries-Old Indian Trade with East Africa, Using the Monsoon Winds, First published in Kenya in 2008 by Zand Graphics Ltd, Reprinted in India 2021 by Pentagon Press LLP. Pp. 204. INR 995.
ISBN (hardcover): 978-93-90095-43-8
Historiography is a fervently debated topic. Researchers differ on the best way to decipher recorded occasions. New proof could modify our impression of the past. Some contend that western students of history are biased towards the west. Others accept that history specialists from non-western nations are one-sided against them. This book is a phenomenal illustration of what is expected to reinvigorate enthusiasm among historians in questioning established knowledge and rewriting history free of ideological constraints.
By countering mainstream history, which is often biased and composed by the leaders of the time, the book aims to recognise and appreciate lesser-known actors who have been overlooked in history. Looking back at history, it appears that Indian traders played a relatively limited role in African civilization. However, some reports, papers, and even stories have taken the position that this Indian population made a significant contribution to the development of Eastern Africa, particularly the islands of South-Eastern Africa. Sadly, these reports, papers, and stories have largely been discounted by western and Asian historians. This book aims to fill that void in history.
First published in Nairobi, Kenya, in 2008, this book is a non-academic essay intended for a broad audience. The hardships suffered by generations of Indians compelled to migrate to East Africa are chronicled in this book. It should be a source of great pride for them to have made significant contributions to the development of the countries where they have settled. The author persuasively establishes the contributions of little-known Indian traders to East Africa’s development.
Unknown to many, people living in the Indus valley civilisation knew about monsoons and how to travel long distances. This was thousands of years ago, long before the Christian era, even before Hippalus, the Greek mariner famous for discovering the monsoon winds. This book brings to light the specifics of a particular period overlooked in history and makes a valuable contribution to the history of Indian traders on Africa’s east coast. The book also fills a significant gap in the study of India’s diaspora, as this period is still understudied.
An endeavour to capture three thousand years of history in 18 chapters, a not mainstreamed history, is a valiant attempt in itself. And taking on the discipline’s hegemons could raise a ruckus among mainstream historians and others. Some may dismiss this as a naive approach to history writing. However, it is only because there is a scarcity of scholarly work in this field that the book’s claims appear to be connecting large dots. On the bright side, the book’s revelations are so many that they should prod a slew of new studies honouring some of history’s forgotten figures.
The author’s most significant issue in countering the narrative was a lack of written evidence. There are several possible explanations for the paucity of documents including those destroyed by colonisers, inadequate record-keeping and illiteracy of the Indian merchants. In the absence of adequate solid proof, written or archaeological, the author draws on a variety of sources, including non-scholarly books and reports, as well as British colonial documents. She cites evidence from ancient Sanskrit literature, the Bible and the Ramayana, and the remarks of several British government officials, like John Kirk and Sir Bartle Frere. The monsoons and marine currents are mentioned in the Rig Veda, and the author cites them. Although some of these sources are unscholarly, they reflect the realities of the time and cannot be overlooked.
The author’s associations between ancient Hindu texts and current realities are astounding. She found out that the Red Sea was called Lohita Sagar in ancient India. She also found out that the Miair in Puranas was present-day Egypt. The Arabic name of Egypt was Misr and Egyptians referred to Egypt as Misr. The author also found out that the mythical place mentioned in Mahabharata was present-day Uganda. The same goes for Lake Victoria being Dev Sarovar and River Nile being Krishna. These connections need more work and more time to develop. Unfortunately, creating an ideal bibliography is difficult due to the type of documents the author had to review. As a result, the bibliography’s structure remains a little weak, as several of the referred materials could not be accurately dated.
The book does have a few shortcomings; however, they are minor. While the author’s treatment of Indian contributions are detailed and well-supported, her account of indigenous efforts to establish institutions fall short. It is irrefutably true that Africans never developed into maritime powers or explored the world as Europeans did. However, the absence of an adventurous spirit among Africans appears to be a little exaggerated. This flaw, most likely, arises since the author was forced to rely only on records from the colonial era as primary source material. Similarly, generalising Arabs as having a lower aptitude for finance is not accurate.
The book has a few captivating subtleties. It’s intriguing to learn about the Indians who connected Zanzibar to Bombay and other western Indian ports and how this contributed to Zanzibar’s emergence as a regional commerce powerhouse. A.M. Jeevanjee, Jairam Shewji, and Tharya Topan are conspicuous Indians who had a critical impact on the region’s development and the fight for Indian rights. The list of plants introduced by Indians throughout history is fascinating to peruse. A similar but different study of how the African agricultural system influenced Indian agriculture would be interesting. The politics played by the British over the abolition of slavery is fascinating.
The depiction of the construction of the Ugandan railway will give any reader shivers. Major Macdonald, Chief engineer of preliminary survey (Indian surveyors) or Lieutenant-colonel J.H.Patterson, The man-eating lions of Uganda, are real-life people who appear surreal and exciting historical trivia. It’s a shame that the hardships Indian labourers had in building the railway line and the financial contributions of Indian merchants are lost to history. Unscrupulously, the British took credit for the entire project.
The contacts between Indian merchants and other merchants are also detailed in the book. There is a graphic description of how British merchants used every trick in the book to capture the trading network that Indians and Arabs had already established. They first came in as another mercantile class. They then seized power from the local rulers at the pretence of giving protection to their Indian colonial subjects. And most of the time, this was accomplished by unethical means. They employed divide and rule to involve Indians and Africans in brutal fights and exploited the situation once they were established. The link between the 1884 Berlin race for Africa and its significant impact on East African commercial networks is well explained.
History is an academic discipline that has always been a contentious field (as it should be) because there can be numerous interpretations of a previous event, depending on a historian’s point of view or ideological position or the school to which they belong. However, these disparate historians agree on the importance of first establishing facts about the past using well-defined, internationally agreed-upon social science research principles rigorously followed. These facts aren’t chosen based on predetermined and desired results.
From that standpoint, this book functions as a eulogy for Indian traders, and it is supposed to instil pride in their descendants. It’s also a fascinating book for historiography students who would like to work inductively rather than deductively. In fact, the book consists of various significant events and individuals, with no room for the development of theories. The book should inspire Indian Diaspora and Indian Ocean Studies scholars to explore further, engage in academic debates, and uncover more interesting and essential details.
*Mr. Samir Bhattacharya is a Research Associate at the Vivekananda International Foundation (VIF), New Delhi.
