Red Sea Citizens: Cosmopolitan Society and Cultural Change in Massawa - Softcover

Miran, Jonathan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0253220793 ISBN 13: 9780253220790

Publisher: Indiana University Press, 2009

Synopsis

In the late 19th century, the port of Massawa, in Eritrea on the Red Sea, was a thriving, vibrant, multiethnic commercial hub. Red Sea Citizens tells the story of how Massawa rose to prominence as one of Northeast Africa's most important shipping centers. Jonathan Miran reconstructs the social, material, religious, and cultural history of this mercantile community in a period of sweeping change. He shows how Massawa and its citizens benefited from migrations across the Indian Ocean, the Arabian peninsula, Egypt, and the African interior. Miran also notes the changes that took place in Massawa as traders did business and eventually settled. By revealing the dynamic processes at play, this book provides insight into the development of the Horn of Africa that extends beyond borders and boundaries, nations and nationalism.

About this title

About the Author:

Jonathan Miran is Assistant Professor of Islamic Civilization in the Department of Liberal Studies at Western Washington University.

Review:

[A] mature and competent expression of social history [that will be] extremely important in the context of Northeast African historiography because of its alternative approach. (Jay Spaulding Kean University)

[A]n original and very substantial contribution to the growing literature on the Indian Ocean world in the 19th century. (Lee Cassanelli University of Pennsylvania)

About this edition

• Publisher: Indiana University Press
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0253220793
• ISBN 13: 9780253220790
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 400