INSULAR SOUTHWEST ASIA By S.J.T.M. Evers As editor Insular Southwest Asia I have the pleasure of introducing this new section of our Newsletter. The islands that constitute Insular Southwest Asia are situated in the Western Indian Ocean. They represent the most westerly part of the Asian cultures and languages complex. The population of this region, that stretches from the Maldives in the north to Madagascar in the south, brings to life its history of foreign subjugation. In the ninth century the Western Indian Ocean was already a central trading point for Indonesian, Indian, and Arab traders. These trading relations were followed by eastern, Indian and Indonesian, and western, South African and Arab, migrants. Between the 16th and the 19th centuries the area was the theatre of European expansionist ventures. The Asiatic, African, Arab, and European migration assimilated to form the "melting-pot"-societies we now find in Insular Southwest Asia. In this article I will define Insular Southwest Asia, give in a bird's eye view the history of the archipelago, and discuss its current position in the internationalization of Asian Studies. DEFINITION OF INSULAR SOUTHWEST ASIA. All the islands situated south-west of India are part of the region Insular Southwest Asia. The area is seen as integral part of Asia because it is dominated by Asian linguistic, social, and cultural elements. These influences will be discussed in the following brief introduction to the archipelago that forms Insular Southwest Asia. MALDIVES Just south-west of India we find the Republic of the Maldives. It consists of 1200 islands, of which 200 are inhabited. Most of the population is of mixed Sinhalese, Dravidian, and Arab origin. Around 500 AD Buddhist colonists from Ceylon were the first to settle on the islands. In the 12th century these migrants were converted to Islam by Arab traders, who from the seventh century onwards had tended increasingly to settle permanently in the Maldives. Today, Islam is the state religion. The official language of the Maldives is Maldives or Dhivedi, an Indo-European language that is akin to Old Sinhalese. CHAGOS ARCHIPELAGO, THE ALDABRA ISLANDS, THE FARQUHAR GROUP, AND THE ILES DESROCHES. To the south of the Maldives, the Indian Ocean traveller comes across the Chagos Archipelago, the Aldabra Islands, the Farquhar Group, and the Iles Desroches. The last three island groups were part of the British Indian Ocean Territory. The British wanted to use the archipelago to build a strategic-base in the Indian Ocean but in 1976 they gave the islands to the Seychelles. The Chagos Archipelago, situated halfway between Mauritius and Sri Lanka, is still a British dependency. The numerous islands are coral atolls of which five are inhabited by almost 1000 souls. SEYCHELLES The Seychelles are situated to the north of Madagascar. Until the 17th century the Seychelles were uninhabited. The islands were first populated by Arab, Indian, and European sailors. In the 17th century British and Portuguese traders used the archipelago mainly as spot for replenishing supplies and energy. The first batch of French and their slaves arrived in 1770. This arrival of the French was followed by a steady flow of French settlers who began to cultivate cassava, sugar-cane, and coffee using slaves from Madagascar and Africa. At the end of the 18th century, the British started taking interest in the Seychelles. In 1903, this was formalized when the 92 islands of the Seychelles became a crown colony administered from London. After 73 years of British rule in 1976 the Seychelles became an independent republic in the British Commonwealth. The history of the European expansion and of slavery is still evident in the population of the Seychelles, which is said to be the most integrated society of the world. Most inhabitants are Creoles, descended from African slaves, slaves freed by the British (i.a. Arabic Dhows), and European colonists. There are also Indian and Chinese communities, who have to some extent mixed with the other ethnicities. Since 1981 French Crole has been the official language, although English and French are also widely used. MASCARENES: MAURITIUS, RUNION, AND RODRIGUES East of Madagascar three island groups of volcanic origin rise out of the Indian Ocean: Mauritius, Runion, and Rodrigues. These islands were, like the Seychelles, uninhabited until the Europeans discovered them in 1512. The archipelago was already known to Arab traders but they never took much interest in the islands. The first European to set foot on the islands was the Portuguese navigator Pedro de Mascarenhas. He christened the archipelago the Mascarenes. The Portuguese never tried to colonize the islands. MAURITIUS In the seventeenth century the Dutch attempted to establish themselves on Mauritius. Vice-Admiral Wybrandt van Warwyck landed on the south-east coast of the island in 1598 and named it Mauritius after Maurice of Nassau. The Dutch used Mauritius mainly as baiting place and a supplier of ebony. When they had firmly established themselves in the Cape and Batavia, they lost interest in Mauritius. The Dutch departed in 1710, leaving their mark behind. They are blamed for the extinction of the dodo and the deterioration of the natural environment. After the Dutch had left, the French immediately claimed the island to prevent a British hegemony in the area. The French stimulated the cultivation of sugar-cane by importing slaves from Madagascar and Africa. The economic expansion of the French was considerably hampered by the British who challenged the French colonization of Mauritius. After years of conflict, the British imposed their domination on the French. The hostilities between England and France were ended by the Treaty of Paris (1814). In this treaty the French gave up their claim to Mauritius and the island became an English colony. In 1835 the British abolished the slave-trade and replaced the slaves by Indian and, to a lesser extent, Chinese coolies. By the time Mauritius was granted Independence (12 March 1968) many Indian indentured labourers had migrated from their motherland to Mauritius. In the current composition of the population, 67% is of Indian origin, 3% is Chinese. The remaining 30% is made up by Africans, Malagasy, Creoles, and Europeans. The religious orientation of the Mauritian population is as diverse as their descent. There are Christians, Muslims, and Buddhists, but the majority is Hindu. The inhabitants of Mauritius are mostly bilingual; they speak English, which is the official language, and their mother tongues which vary from Hindi and Creole to Chinese. RUNION The island of Runion has a similar history to that of Mauritius. After the Portuguese discovery of the island at the beginning of the sixteenth century, the French took the initiative of settling it. Under French rule coffee became the island's main cash crop, with sugar-cane in second place. Commensurate with the growth of the acreage of land used for coffee and sugar-cane cultivation, grew the numbers of slaves imported from Madagascar and Africa. With this extra workers-input the island became an important supplier of coffee and sugar-cane for both the surrounding islands and for the European market. The abolition of slavery crippled the flourishing plantation-production, just as it did in Mauritius. To cope with the shortage of labour, the French followed the same strategy as the British; they imported coolies from India who were mostly Hindus. But even this new influx of workers could not keep up with the production of coffee and sugar-cane of the past. Despite the dwindling profits, the French never wanted to relinquish their claim to the island. Nowadays Runion is still under the jurisdiction of France. The French domination of Runion has had a great influence on the composition of the island's population. Almost half of the inhabitants is of African origin. The other half is made up by Creoles, Indians, Malagasy, and French. French is the official language, but Crole is also widely spoken. RODRIGUES Rodrigues is the smallest of the Mascarenes; the island is eighteen km long by eight km wide. The history of Rodrigues is dominated by the French - English competition to establish their sovereignty on the island. In 1809 the British won the competition for Rodrigues and proclaimed it their colony. The British used Rodrigues mainly as a provisional base from which they tried to break the French hegemony on Mauritius. This strategy was successful; after Rodrigues had become British in 1809, Mauritius fell into British hands in 1814. Both islands gained their Independence in 1968. Rodrigues' freedom was followed by Mauritian claims to their territory which resulted in the annexation of Rodrigues. There is now a Ministry of Rodrigues in the Mauritian government which appoints an Island Secretary to look after the island's affairs. The population (40,000) of Rodrigues consists of people of European, Mauritian, and African origin. English and French are both spoken by the population. MADAGASCAR Madagascar, the largest island in the Western Indian Ocean, represents the watershed between Africa and Asia. The Comoro Archipelago in the Mozambique Channel is not considered to be part of Insular Southwest Asia because it is situated outside the Indian Ocean, and also because Asian influences are virtually absent from this "African island". The origin of the 12 million Malagasy is a subject of much discussion among Madagascar specialists. The Malagasy seem to be the outcome of juxtapositions and syntheses of Asian and African elements. How and when Africans and Asians left their birthplaces has provided food for thought for many historians, as well as anthropologists and linguists who have contributed to this debate. So far, no satisfactory answer to the question of the Asian and African migration has been formulated. In the 16th century when the Europeans started trading with Madagascar, they found a flourishing trade run by Indian, Indonesian, and Arab seafarers. The Portuguese and Dutch, who traded mainly in slaves, proved to be the most important competitors of the Asian and Arab traders. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the English and French virtually totally wiped out the Portuguese and Dutch commerce in their blind competition to take over control from the Malagasy king and queen respectively. In 1890 Britain and France signed a treaty exchanging French recognition of British control over Zanzibar for British acceptance of the French claim to Madagascar. Years later, in 1896, the French abolished the monarchy; the queen was exiled. A formal law of annexation made Madagascar part of the French colonial territory. Under the motto: "libert, galit, fraternit" the French put an end to the exportation of Malagasy slaves by European traders. After sixty-four years of colonial rule Madagascar, was granted its Independence in 1960. The French domination was most effective in the highlands, where nowadays French is still spoken alongside Malagasy, the national language. The population of the highlands has mostly been converted to Christianity. In the other parts of Madagascar in general people speak only Malagasy and observe traditional religions in which the ancestors are the focal points. COMMON THREADS IN HISTORY The European entry into the Indian Ocean had far-reaching consequences for the archipelago in the Western Indian Ocean. Before their arrival, the intercontinental trade was dominated by Arab, Indian, and Indonesian seafarers. The Indian and Indonesian traders had already crossed the Indian Ocean before the ninth century in their outrigger canoes. They settled on the African coast, and in Madagascar and the Maldives. The Asian trade seems to have been sorely crippled by Arab piracy and the advent of the Europeans in the Indian Ocean. In 1497 Vasco Da Gama was the first European to sail around the Cape and on to India. During the decade following this voyage of Vasco Da Gama, the Portuguese established a monopoly in the trade in the Indian Ocean. The Portuguese claimed sovereignty over the Ocean which justified their confiscation of the goods of those who traded in the area without their permission. The Portuguese imperial power in the Indian Ocean lasted for about one century. In the 16th century other Europeans challenged the domination of the Portuguese and started claiming the islands in the Indian Ocean, something the Portuguese had never done because the main object of their presence in the Indian Ocean was trade not colonization. The Dutch, English, and French settled on the islands that were to become Runion, Mauritius, Rodrigues, and the Seychelles, an archipelago which is said to have been uninhabited before the Europeans came. The Europeans were the creators of the inter-racial "melting-pot" societies that we find nowadays on the islands. In the heyday of the slave-trade in the 18th century, they shipped slaves from Africa and Madagascar to the newly founded plantation on the virgin islands. After the abolition of slavery, the African slaves were replaced by Indian and Chinese coolies. Today the Runion and Rodrigues islanders, the Mauritians and the Seychellois have ancestors from all over the world, from Africa, India, China, Europe, and Madagascar. Each migrant brought his specific crafts and culture with him, which in centuries of gradual assimilation has turned these islands in a crossroad of civilizations. The Indian Ocean in the context of the internationalization of Asian Studies Insular Southwest Asia is integrated in the Newsletter of the International Institute for Asian Studies to bring the Western Indian Ocean to the attention of Asian specialists. This area is a relatively new field of study because it has long been neglected by both Asia and Africa experts. Most work on Insular Southwest Asia is done by French and local scholars. Despite their individual efforts the Western Indian Ocean research remains undersubscribed and partitioned between other areas of studies. There is an urgent need for expanded and better co-ordinated research programmes, not only because the region deserves to be studied in its own right but also because such research will give a new perspective on the bordering areas: Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Arabo-Persian world, and East and Central Africa. Research on Insular Southwest Asia can integrate Asian and African Studies and shed a light on the maritime history of the adjacent continents and the African and Indian diaspora in the region. Insular Southwest Asia would provide a paradise for research workers interested in how one culture effects another. In the coming Newsletters the focus will be on the contributions from local correspondents. Through their articles they can make an important contribution to the internationalization of Asian Studies. In the past they operated in relative isolation, but they nevertheless produced important works on Asia in general and Insular Southwest Asia in particular. In the future each number of the Newsletter will be dedicated to the scientific work of scholars in a particular country of Insular Southwest Asia. SEMINAR ON MAURITIAN STUDIES In the next issue of the Newsletter the spotlight will be on Mauritian Studies. From 26 to 31 August 1994 an international seminar was held at the Mahatma Gandhi Institute in Moka, Mauritius. At the seminar sixty scholars attempted to define the concept and boundaries of Mauritian Studies and to establish it as an area of research and teaching. The objectives of the seminar were: to contribute to the development of a framework for Mauritian Studies by delineating the areas to be covered; to help prepare a state of the art report on Mauritian Studies; to define the place of Mauritian Studies in the wider context of Indian Ocean Studies and to draw up medium and long-term research programmes in Mauritian Studies. The conclusions of this seminar will be presented and discussed in the following Newsletter.