www. cosmopolis .ch No. 12, December 2000 Art Film Music History ... Travel Columbia Chronologies of Asian History and Culture Indonesian history/a history of Indonesia as an example Hardcover, 751 p., Columbia University Press, August 2000, ed. John S. Bowman. Get it from Amazon.com Amazon.co.uk Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.de The Columbia Chronologies of Asian History And Culture , edited by John S. Bowman offers an overview of political history, arts, culture, thought and religion, science and technology, economics and everyday life of all Asian countries from the Paleolithic era through 1998. The more than 30 Asian countries are individually analyzed on 580 pages. According to its political, military, economic and demographic weight, a state gets more or less space. China is treated on 115, Japan on 75 and India on 120 pages. The almost 100 pages of appendices contain information on National and Independence days, scientific-technological achievements in Asia and a chronological comparative overview of what happened in Asia and Europe at a given time. The detailed index takes another 70 pages. To make a long story short, this is the most comprehensive Asian history available. The only, but crucial thing missing in this reference work is a bibliography which would allow a reader to dig further on a specific issue. Let's take the entry on Indonesia as an example. Its story is summarized on 15 pages. The description begins with the Pleistocene epoch (approximately 1,8 million to 8 thousand B.C.). Early evidence (2000 B.C.- A.D. 500), early Kingdoms (500-1377) and the rise of the Islamic kingdoms (1290-1682) are the subsequent parts of the entry. The European presence in Indonesia takes a bit more than four pages. In 1511, Portuguese explorers captured the port of Malacca, erected a fort there and settled in, but Portuguese corruption and disorganization soon led to the loss of the sea-trade control of Malacca and to the rise of Sumatran maritime trade centers. In 1595-98, the first expeditions to the East Indies by competing Dutch trade companies took place. In 1602, the Dutch East India Company was formed with a merger of the competing companies. England also entered the spice trade. In 1605, the Dutch East India Company occupied Ambon and established its headquarters. | |
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