Singapore. Singapore and the Silk Road of the Sea, 1300–1800 By John N. Miksic Singapore: NUS Press, 2013. Pp. xi + 491. Maps, Illustrations, Images, Bibliography, Index.

Abstract

Singapore and the Silk Road of the Sea, 1300-1800 By JOHN N. MIKSIC Singapore: NUS Press, 2013. Pp. xi + 491. Maps, Illustrations, Images, Bibliography, Index. doi: 10.1017/S0022463414000769 The precolonial history of Singapore is an area of wilful ignorance and self-denial among many residents and scholars of the nation-state. To acknowledge that the island has a history prior to the landing of Thomas Stamford Raffles and the English East India Company in 1819 would open the door to numerous contestations that do not fit neatly into the dominant state narrative of a small, insignificant fishing village that British guidance and the modern developmental state has willed into modernity, and has been largely ignored in official accounts and textbooks in the nation-state until recently. With this work, John N. Miksic--an archaeologist who has worked throughout Southeast Asia from a base in Singapore for over thirty years--has meticulously presented a history of Singapore prior to 1819 that places it within larger networks of trade as well as given it a prominence that will influence Singaporean and Southeast Asian historiography for decades to come. Following an introduction that outlines archaeological research in Singapore since 1819, Miksic divides the book into three sections. The first section consists of four chapters that summarise much of the research on coastal Southeast Asian trade ports prior to 1300 and then focuses on what is known about Singapore through ancient historical texts. This section makes up the first half of the book, and provides much needed context, as early Singapore was part of this network of trade ports that linked East and South Asia with Southeast Asia. In this section, Miksic argues that these early maritime trade routes were vastly more important than the more reknown 'Silk Road' as it allowed for an exchange of more trade goods at much higher volumes. Despite its importance, little is known about this trade route, however, as the water and humidity of island Southeast Asia has left few traces of the vast network that was built of easily destroyed wood and fragile trade products. Miksic also provides a valuable survey of sites--with a particular emphasis on summarising the finds of recent marine archaeological sites--as well as a general history of what can be understood from the available record about trade and urbanisation of early Southeast Asia that explains why there are various tales about Singapore and how they fit into the larger economic and cultural history of precolonial Southeast Asia. The following section of the book--consisting of three chapters--focuses on archaeological evidence from Singapore. Archaeological digs, often under the supervision of the author, have taken place in Singapore since 1984. In the first of these chapters Miksic discusses each major excavation, and provides details of the sites and what was discovered. …