Let me provide a visual example from the Galela people of Halmahera, in eastern Indonesia. It might be illuminating to ask whether directions such as north and south are related to “up” and “down” among sea-going communities in other areas of coastal Asia as they are in the huge Austronesian linguistic family that covers most of the Pacific and island Southeast Asia. For instance, the concept of compass coordinates is not necessarily congruent with the indigenous knowledge of non-Western societies the spatial orientation of peoples who spend most of their time at sea has therefore been a topic of considerable interest for specialists in Indonesia and the Pacific. Though now rarely attempted, the possibility of cross-cultural comparisons among such sea-oriented cultures opens up interesting potentials for research. Orang Laut woman preparing food, Riau Archipelago 1991. Orang Laut houseboat, Riau Archipelago 1991. In coastal China and Vietnam their relegation to the lower ranks of the social system may be very old, but one could argue that it can ultimately be traced to the advent of land-based kingdoms with their land-based orientation (Andaya 1975, p. The respect once accorded them (evident, for instance, in the titles bestowed by Malay kings) shows that what one scholar of modern China sees as a typically inferior status for boat people has not always applied. Orang laut knowledge of local conditions was especially critical in places where navigation was difficult, and in the Straits of Melaka and other offshore areas they traditionally helped to guard the sea lanes, often compelling passing ships to stop and trade in certain ports.

29-52, 256 Chou 2003 Ivanoff 1997 Sather 1997 Sopher 1965 Zacot 2002) Individuals whose experience had been shaped by the land were amazed at the degree to which water was the natural environment of these peoples as a twelfth-century Chinese account puts it, “they can dive in water without closing their eyes” (Hirth and Rockhill 1911, p. Today the groups Malays called orang laut or sea people are marginalized in the nation-states that claim jurisdiction over them, yet in the past they were essential as suppliers of the marine products so critical to Asian trade, especially between Southeast Asia and China (Andaya 1975, pp. In modern times, when long-distance ocean travel is normally envisaged in terms of a holiday cruise, it is difficult to imagine daily existence among the communities of boat dwellers who once occupied an important economic niche in Asia ’s maritime environment. 1), most Asianists have reached adulthood located within a nation-state with identifiable territorial borders and carry inherent intellectual biases that privilege a land-based perspective. Although in simple terms, “maritime history” is the history of human interaction with the sea in all its facets (Finamore 2004, p.

It may not be difficult to locate the reasons.

A number of studies have tracked trading diasporas and economic linkages, but the place of the oceans in the cultures of Asia ’s littoral societies has received much less attention. Nonetheless, envisaging an interconnected maritime Asia that is not subservient to the boundaries of area studies and modern nations, and yet does not descent to the simplistic and overly general, is a formidable challenge.

Recent endorsements of maritime history as an integral part of world history should be central in any attempt to transverse the academic divides separating the study of “South”, “East” and “Southeast” Asia (AHA Forum. Oceans Unbounded: Transversing Asia across “Area Studies”

Galela kingdom of the dead