ARTICLES
Southernization, p. 1
Lynda Shaffer
A process called southernization first began in Southern Asia. By the fifth century C.E., developments associated with southernization were present in India, whence they spread to China and then to the Middle East and the Mediterranean basin. After 1200 they began to have an impact on southern Europe. These developments included the discovery of bullion sources, the emergence of a new mathematics, the pioneering of trade routes, the trade in tropical spices, the cultivation of southern crops such as sugar and cotton, and the invention of various technologies.
Anglo-Indian Vested Interests and Civil Service Education, 1800-1858: Indications of an East India Company Line, p. 23
Jacob Thiessen
Debates over the education of the English East India Company’s civil servants show that the Company’s servants shared certain opinions that separated them from British society as a whole. These opinions amounted to an East India Company “line.” The separation between those who followed this line and those who did not was so profound that the Company’s servants and their families in effect constituted a separate, Anglo-Indian society. The East India Company line was intended to preserve the special position of Anglo-Indian society for future generations of Anglo-Indians. To this end, the Company opposed virtually all changes to the position of the Company in India or in Britain. This opposition could be fierce, as the Anglo-Indian response to proposed changes in civil service education shows.
Epidemiology and Indian Labor Migration at Home and Abroad, p. 47
Ralph Shlomowitz and Lance Brennan
Quantitative evidence is presented on the mortality suffered by Indian migrant workers in Assam, Malaya, Fiji, Natal, Guyana, Surinam, Jamaica, and Trinidad between 1868 and 1920. Various hypotheses are considered to explain the resulting mortality patterns, with emphasis placed upon the nature and variety of new disease environments encountered by Indian migrants.
Ottoman Politics through British Eyes: Paul Rycaut’s The Present State of the Ottoman Empire, p. 71
Linda T. Darling
Like other travel books of its period, Paul Rycaut’s The Present State of the Ottoman Empire (published in 1665) is often employed by historians as an easy point of entry into an exotic land. But taking it literally gives a false picture of the Ottoman Empire. Rycaut actually distorted the image of the Ottomans to criticize his own society, Restoration England. A careful reading of Rycaut’s book can offer a truer picture of the Ottoman Empire. Comparison of the two societies suggests that the Ottoman Empire and Restoration England were not quite as different as is usually thought.
Osman Effendi: A Scottish Convert to Islam in Early Nineteenth-Century Egypt, p. 99
Jason Thompson
Osman Effendi was a Scottish youth named William Taylor when he was captured in Egypt in 1807. Sold into slavery and compelled to profess Islam, he readily adjusted to his new way of life, gained his freedom, and became a successful member of the elite Turkish community in Cairo. He also served as an intermediary between Egyptian society and many British travelers, scholars, businessmen, and government officials who went to Egypt in the early nineteenth century. Exploration of Osman’s mediating function permits a comparison of the choices available in Egyptian and British society, and helps document a crucial phase in the history of Western presence in the Middle East.
World History and World Forecasting, p. 125
E. L. Jones
This article reviews two recent books dealing with contemporary world affairs: Zbiegniew Brzezinski’s Out of Control: Global Turmoil on the Eve of the Twenty First Century and Paul Kennedy’s Preparing for the Twenty-First Century. The article discusses problems of forecasting and the potential contribution of world historians. The negative views of world prospects expressed by Brzezinski and Kennedy, their overriding concern with fashionable topics, and their weak handling of sources and statistics are noted. Their claims of uncontrollable international conflicts and transnational demographic and environmental problems are criticized. Particular attention is drawn to their underemphasis on potential technological change, relative flexibility of democratic systems, and the possibility of self-correcting solutions within decentralized societies.
BOOK REVIEWS, p. 139
