Book Review: The Southeast Asia connection: Trade and polities in the Eurasian world economy 500 BC-AD 500

Abstract

In this book, Sing C. Chew has selected his emphasis on Southeast Asia as a way to recalibrate the perceived imbalance in global history studies, wherein this region is sandwiched between two of the world's major civilisations, that of China and India, and often regarded as a peripheral zone. Chew shares his long-term investigation of Southeast Asia's role in the context of world history, specifically from 500 BC through to AD 500, a key period during the region's intensive engagement in global maritime trade networks. This book places Southeast Asian civilisations on an equal footing with other known civilisations to be examined in terms of their collective historical characteristics and global significance.