Makran, Oman and Zanzibar

This book was the result of lifetime research studies both on the field and through archival and literature sources, conducted in Europe, Pakistan, Sultanate of Oman, and Zanzibar-Tanzania. In this study, I tried to focus on more than one littoral and on more than one region inside the Indian Ocean, with the object of analysing different perspectives both methodological and chronological. Since the first edition of this study published by Brill Academic Publishers in 2004, and throughout the years, I came across numerous new theories and interpretations, and the importance of the Indian Ocean is worldwide recognized, while when I started I was the only Italian scholar attending many international conferences where this area remained for a long time a neglected one. The fluid space of the Indian Ocean was influenced by different forces of capital and by knowledge-power nexus during and after the colonial period. The history of the Indian Ocean has gained a renewed interest as it reminds us of the greatest mobility and traversal with such an impact that it forces us to rethink how the processes of such encounters operate and what the areas stand for. Many stories still remain untold inside this cosmopolitan interregional arena. The challenge is therefore great to try to reshape our understanding of Africa and Asia.