The Ocean at the Centre of the World

The History of the Indian Ocean

De: Sujit Sivasundaram

This is a major history of the Indian Ocean.

This is a major history of the Indian Ocean structured through twenty human enterprises/interactions that have taken place in this diverse environment – from the discovery of fossils hinting to older ages to diving for pearls, the trade of spices, the effects of pollution, the passage of enslaved people, the charting of maps and much more. Collectively they sketch out a comprehensive overview of this extraordinary human crossroads.

Not only is this body of water at the heart of much human development, it’s also likely to be at the sharp end of our experience of climate change: an environment that has long been stable, an essential crossroads to global activity, is now being radically and rapidly transformed. The Ocean at the Centre of the World approaches this extensive and resonant history by thinking of the Indian Ocean not only as a pathway to the present, but also as a dynamic environment.

©2025 Sujit Sivasundaram (P)2025 HarperCollins Publishers