Coastal Shrines and Transnational Maritime Networks across India and Southeast Asia

In this quote Sunil Amrith highlights changes brought about as a result of European colonization, which began in the 16th and 17th centuries through commercial imperialism. From about 1750 to 1825, territorial European Empires had already been established in large parts of South and Southeast Asia. These new empires ruled over much larger areas than had ever come under one kingdom in the past and led to the imposition of not only new administrative structures but also the development of disciplines such as oceanography and archaeology. While the former was based on mapping coastal zones and finding navigable maritime routes to maximize profits from trade, the latter introduced different ways of understanding the past. This book is about a period prior to these radical interventions when mobility and connectivity across large parts of South and Southeast Asia were not restricted and when trade and maximizing profits were not the sole leitmotif of sea travel. Is it possible in the 21st century to revive some of the cultural connectivity that underwrote maritime exchanges?