In the Name of the Battle Against Piracy: Ideas and Practices in State Monopoly of Maritime Violence in Europe and Asia in the Period of Transition by Ota Atsushi (review)

Abstract

In this age of eBooks and digital resources, it is perhaps not surprising to discover that Sutherland’s book has an associated website. This site, portrayed by Sutherland as ‘a digital appendix’, displays maps, drawings and photographs accessed from institutions around the globe. Originally created as part of the contemporary documentary record of archipelagic Southeast Asia, these primacysource visual materials are a genuine complement to Sutherland’s text, giving readers an additional insight to the diversity of the region. In her introduction to the website, Sutherland surveys the many sources used to bring it into being. As well as providing information on where to access historical images and maps, she also outlines the growing number of online sources that provide free access to digital versions of historic texts, including newspapers, articles. and books. This is of great use to the student and researcher, but it should be stressed that the website is an additional resource and not an essential adjunct to the book, which carries forty-seven images of its own and twenty-three maps, the latter created or adapted specially to enhance the text. For such a large book, there are few obvious spelling errors. There is some confusion, however, about modern and historical place names and terminology with, for example, Melaka and Malacca, Sulawesi Sea and Celebes Sea, and turtle shell and tortoiseshell, all used apparently at random. Meanwhile, considering the complexity of the narrative, it appears internally consistent to an astonishing degree, although we are told that Kupang became the Portuguese base on Timor in 1657, and on the next page we learn that the VOC was established there in the same year. Several pages further on, the correct information is given that Kupang was occupied by the Dutch in 1653 (pp. 172–73, 207). The errors here are due to incorrect information contained in secondary sources. Elsewhere, however, in a list of Bima’s trading partners, the Australian-born Sutherland surprisingly identifies Port Jackson as Melbourne (p. 329). Don’t tell that to the people in Sydney. These are all minor quibbles, however. This is an attractive and well-laid-out book. Sutherland’s scholarship has created a masterful work that will be appreciated by all interested in maritime Southeast Asia’s colonial and pre-colonial past. It is to be hoped that Sutherland’s example will encourage others to do more research in this field, but it is beyond doubt that the present work will remain the preeminent study of the subject for many years to come.