Arming the Periphery: The Arms Trade in the Indian Ocean During the Age of Global Empire

Arming the Periphery is a major historical study of the global arms trade, revolving around the transfer of small arms from metropolitan Europe to the turbulent frontiers of Indian Ocean societies across the 'long' nineteenth century (c.1780-1914). While industrialization modernized arms production, imperialism globalized arms procurement and proliferation. The new weaponry enabled both the expansion and limitation of European colonial authority, against the changing temper of indigenous state formation and warfare. This new study utilizes core-periphery and cross-cultural approaches in order to draw on sources relating to economic and imperial history; historical and contemporary surveys of weapons technologies and production; and works on the military and cultural usage of firearms, colonial warfare, and the arms transfer system.

Table of Contents:
List of Maps Preface Introduction The Arms Trade and Global Empire in the Indian Ocean The Arms Trade in the Metropolis The Arms Trade in the Western Indian Ocean The Arms Trade in the Eastern Indian Ocean The Arms Trade and War in the Indian Ocean Appendices Bibliography Index

About the Author :
EMRYS CHEW Assistant Professor of History at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. His research focuses on the interconnections between Asian and global history, with particular emphasis on the cross-cultural networks and exchanges that transformed warfare and strategy.

Review :
'It is difficult to imagine a historical subject with a deeper resonance for our present age than the development of the global arms trade. In this book, Emrys Chew presents an essential and deeply researched analysis of the arms industry and the arms trade in Europe and Asia during the nineteenth century.' - C.A. Bayly, University of Cambridge, UK 'Arming the Periphery brilliantly reveals that the trade in small arms and the arms transfer system it engendered between Europe and the Indian Ocean region were fundamental to the development both of empire and, paradoxically, of state formation in the region. To help us fully understand the likely impact of the international small arms trade of the present and future, we need to understand its past patterns and structure. This book provides a uniquely valuable guide to the past, and by extension, to the future too.' - Geoffrey Till, King's College London, UK 'As the Indian Ocean returns to the centre-stage of world politics, Arming the Periphery offers a deep insight into the historic evolution of the region's security order. Emrys Chew's fascinating story on the arms trade between the European centre and the Asian periphery in the long nineteenth century will uniquely enrich the twenty-first century debates on the Indian Ocean amidst the unfolding redistribution of power in the littoral.' - C. Raja Mohan, Senior Fellow, Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi, and Foreign Affairs Columnist for The Indian Express