Reviewed by: Seaways and Gatekeepers: Trade and State in the Eastern Archipelagos of Southeast Asia, c.1600–c.1906 by Heather Sutherland Steven Farram Seaways and Gatekeepers: Trade and State in the Eastern Archipelagos of Southeast Asia, c.1600–c.1906, By Heather Sutherland, Singapore, NUS Press, 2021, 537 pp. ISBN 9789813251229 In this epic work, Heather Sutherland brings decades of scholarship to bear on her examination of three centuries of trade on the periphery of Asia. Many of the communities involved were virtually unknown to the rest of the world, yet the sea and forest products, and other goods they provided were prized commodities. The eastern archipelagos of Sutherland's title are the island chains spreading from Sulu and Mindanao in the north, Bali in the southwest, New Guinea in the southeast, and the islands in between. Most of these places lie to the east of the 'Indianised' states of Southeast Asia but were linked to them by trade from an early date. In turn, this connected the eastern archipelagos to the trade routes between the South China Sea and the Bay of Bengal, two of the most important 'seaways' of the title. 'Gatekeepers' feature less prominently in the narrative, although it is stated that the term refers to those who skimmed benefits from trade through provision of safe exchange sites, which was important in the early period (p. 441). That definition, however, would appear applicable also to various entrepots that operated throughout the period of Sutherland's study, from the Melaka sultanate to British Singapore. Seaways and Gatekeepers builds on the pioneering work on early Southeast Asian trade by authors such as O. W. Wolters1 and Anthony Reid.2 Sutherland also references more recent regional histories, such as Hans Hägerdal's major study of early colonial Timor.3 These examples are, however, the tip of the iceberg, as the seventy-five-page bibliography testifies. In this respect, I applaud the use of footnotes rather than endnotes or some other device, as this provides maximum ease for identifying sources used for any passage. The scholarship required to assemble this array of sources is formidable, but it is the seeming ease with which Sutherland utilises them to afford the reader a better understanding of the often-complex eastern archipelagos trading networks that is truly impressive. Many of the peoples and places Sutherland refers to have not found their way into most [End Page 230] histories of the region. She acknowledges that many stories are incomplete, so she hesitates to make conclusions that could be misleading (p. 32). Nevertheless, Sutherland humbly recognises her book as a beginning in the endeavour to learn more about early societies and to interpret what occurred (p. 441). To further this project, she calls on others to embark on more detailed local histories. The importance of this work cannot be overestimated, as we will never gain a convincing understanding of the region without reliable portrayals of the peoples and events that helped build the whole. In the period covered, only a handful of places existed in the study area that could be considered states including Makassar, the kingdoms of Bali, and the sultanates of the southern Philippines and eastern Borneo. Typical polities otherwise were loose federations or village alliances. Tidore and Ternate, which became foci of European activity because of the spice trade, were among the few states that could mobilise coercive power. Meanwhile, piracy and slave raiding activities were tolerated or even encouraged by some coastal rulers for protection, profit and the ridding of rivals. Traders and pirates could also alternate professions, as happened with the Suluese. Malays, Bugis and Makassarese were also involved in slave trading and in establishing new settlements on the peripheries of other people's domains. However, Sutherland criticises categorisation of these groups as 'predatory' because they were agricultural communities whose sea-going activities were central to exchange systems of others, especially non-seafarers, such as the Balinese and Timorese (pp. 115, 122–23). The main external traders of the eastern archipelagos were Chinese, Arabs and Europeans. Even after the arrival of the latter, the first two remained important, especially the Chinese, who were often the main or only...
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Jul 1, 2022
Ben Raffield 
Open Access
