Philippe Beaujard is an Emeritus Director of Research at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Institut des Mondes Africains, Paris.

Part I. The Indian Ocean between Tang China and the Muslim Empire (7th Through 10th Centuries): Introduction; 1. Tang China and the rise of the Silk Roads; 2. Islam. The conquest of lands and oceans; 3. India. A core with four centers; 4. Southeast Asia. The rise of the Sriwijayan thalassocracy and the Javanese kingdoms; 5. East Africa. Dawn of the Swahili culture; 6. Madagascar (7th through 11th centuries). Early cultural Métissages; Part II. Globalization during the Song and Mongol Periods (10th-14th Centuries), and the Downturn of the 14th Century: Introduction; 7. China. The golden age of the song, the Mongol conquest and the Ming revival; 8 India. From the Chola empire to the Delhi Sultanate; 9 Southeast Asia. From the decline of Sriwijaya to the rise of Mojopahit; 10. Central and Western Asia. From the Seljuk Empire to the Ilkhanids; 11. Egypt and Yemen. The Jewish and Karimi Networks; 12. East Africa. The rise of the Swahili culture and the expansion of Islam; 13. Madagascar. The development of trading ports and the interior; Part III. From The Globalization of the Afro-Eurasian Area to the Dawn of European Expansion (15th and Early 16th Centuries): Introduction; 14. Ming China, from expansion to withdrawal into threatened territory; 15. India. The flowering of the Sultanates and the expansion of Vijayanâgara; 16. Southeast Asia. Era of the merchant Sultanates; 17. Western Asia. Revival of the Persian Gulf; 18. Egypt and Yemen. Advances in state trade and the end of the Karimi; 19. East Africa and the Comoros; 20. Madagascar (15th-16th centuries): the rise of trading ports and development of the highlands; 21. The Portuguese in the Indian Ocean; Epilogue.