Book Review: Southeast Asian Interconnections: Geography,Networks and Trade by Derek Heng

This new addition to the Cambridge series Elements in the Global Middle Ages provides a ‘precis’ of South East Asia's important role in Maritime Asia during the so-called Global Middle Ages. It does so by focusing on themes of ‘connectedness’, ‘integration’ and ‘exchange’ to demonstrate how the region was a key nexus of contact between different ‘civilizational cultures’, while assessing how its unique resources and geography impacted global circuits of exchange. As an introductory text aimed at researchers and instructors, it provides a macro-historical overview, drawing from the existing historiography to underscore Maritime South East Asia as an ‘interconnected zone’ from the mid-first to mid-second millennium ce. The book does, however, propose somewhat of an artificial rupture between the medieval and modern period to underscore the ‘uniqueness’ of the Middle Ages. Heng states, for example, that the region's economic vibrancy came to an abrupt end after the ‘introduction of European economic mercantilism’ from the sixteenth century onwards – a process he oddly attributes to the Spanish (and not Portuguese) entry in the region (3). Indeed, notwithstanding the impact of these developments, the European entry did not in fact spell the end to the region's ‘vibrancy’ or its commercial importance, which persisted into the early modern period.

The book is divided into seven chapters (including the introduction and conclusion) to explore the ‘vibrant economic and social interactions that characterized this period of Southeast Asia history’, focusing primarily on the region's contact with South Asia, China, and the Middle East (3). As the chapter titles indicate, this history is told primarily from an economic perspective. Chapter 2, entitled ‘Southeast Asia's Geography and Environment’, reaffirms the book's premise regarding the region's ‘economic integration in transregional networks’. As a gateway between the Bay of Bengal, Java Sea and South China Sea, it was a crucial nodal point, which became the ‘heart of communications in Maritime Asia’ – one shaped by the rhythm of the monsoon and trade winds (9). Chapter 3, entitled ‘Southeast Asia's Shipping Networks during the Global Middle Ages’, continues this focus on connectivity, charting the development of maritime technology and infrastructure, and the evolution of trade connections, which gained greater traction from the third century ce onwards. These developments, with the emergence of several ‘states’ and port cities, helped spur the movement of people, goods and religious ideas. For South East Asia, the region's tightly interconnected network of archipelagic landforms acted as a natural ‘conduit of exchange and interaction’ (16). Chapter 4, entitled ‘Merchant Networks across Southeast Asia’, focuses once again on the drivers of trans- and intra-regional connectivity, looking in turn at how merchant networks from South Asia, the Middle East, and China facilitated and sustained exchanges. It concludes by shifting the focus to South East Asia, demarcating the region into three zones – ‘upstream’, ‘downstream’ and ‘port cities’ – all of which formed a ‘complete economic network at the subregional level’ that helped underpin the broader networks of Maritime Asia (45). The latter was also divided into ‘maritime subregions’, and contact between these zones was mediated by coastal societies such as the Bugis and Orang Laut tribes, and ‘states’ such as Srivijaya and Java, whose economic resources, maritime technology and navigational knowledge enabled greater connectivity.

Unlike the previous chapters, Chapters 5 and 6 focus first and foremost on South East Asia itself – rather than departing from the perspective of South Asia, the Middle East and China – to reveal how the region's ecology and resources, production methods, and consumption patterns spurred greater economic integration within and across Maritime Asia. It argues that, on the one hand, exchange was marked by competition, as South and South East Asia, for example, sought to gain ‘a slice of the commercial pie’ by exporting similar commodities, such as spices (65). On the other, it was also complimentary due to product substitution – for example, the use of hornbill tusks from South East Asia alongside ivory in China – and as regions integrated new manufacturing technologies into local techniques. The book concludes with a brief reinforcement of its main premise: that South East Asia was a ‘key area of commercial operations’ that facilitated the dissemination of goods, technology, cultures, and people between and across Maritime Asia (29).

Historians of the region may take issue with the book's structure, which largely explores these themes from the perspective of the impacts of regional processes emanating from South Asia, the Middle East and China on South East Asia, rather than the other way round. In turn, this approach may also warrant valid questions regarding the extent to which this element provides a truly global perspective. Nevertheless, while Heng concedes that the phrase ‘Global Middle Ages’ may indeed be ‘anachronistic’, Southeast Asian Interconnections succeeds in introducing readers to the region's connectivity and importance within Maritime Asia. Indeed, given the chronological limitations of much of the existing literature concerned with situating South East Asia in a global frame, this book offers a fresh perspective on an equally important and vibrant period in the region's history.