Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Figures
- Preface
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 Prehistoric and Ancient Antecedents
- 2 The Expansion of Agriculture and Settled Society
- 3 Geography and the World-Historical Context
- 4 Medieval India and the Rise of Islam
- 5 From the Mongols to the Great Mughals
- 6 The Empire of the Great Mughals and Its Indian Foundations
- 7 The Indian Ocean in the Age of the Estado da India and the East India Companies
- Epilogue
- Glossary
- Notes
- Suggested Reading
- Index
3 - Geography and the World-Historical Context
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 July 2020
Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Figures
- Preface
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 Prehistoric and Ancient Antecedents
- 2 The Expansion of Agriculture and Settled Society
- 3 Geography and the World-Historical Context
- 4 Medieval India and the Rise of Islam
- 5 From the Mongols to the Great Mughals
- 6 The Empire of the Great Mughals and Its Indian Foundations
- 7 The Indian Ocean in the Age of the Estado da India and the East India Companies
- Epilogue
- Glossary
- Notes
- Suggested Reading
- Index
Summary
The historical development of India was not only driven by the long-term expansion of agriculture and settled civilization but as much by the proximity of the vast open spaces of the great Saharasian arid zone and the Indian Ocean – the pastoral nomadic frontier and the maritime frontier. Together, these open and unsettled realms of nomadic and seafaring people represented the frontier of mobile wealth and the major external source of change and dynamism in land-based society. This chapter explores some of the reasons why these open frontier zones became especially important in the medieval and early modern centuries and what their impact was on settled society.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Making of the Indo-Islamic Worldc.700–1800 CE, pp. 52 - 70Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2020