On December 26, 2004, giant tsunami waves destroyed communities
around the Indian Ocean, from Indonesia to Kenya. Beyond the
horrific death toll, this wall of water brought a telling
reminder of the interconnectedness of the many countries on the
ocean rim, and the insignificance of national boundaries. A
Hundred Horizons takes us to these shores, in a brilliant
reinterpretation of how culture developed and history was made
at the height of the British raj. Between 1850 and 1950, the
Indian Ocean teemed with people, commodities, and ideas:
pilgrims and armies, commerce and labor, the politics of Mahatma
Gandhi and the poetry of Rabindranath Tagore were all linked in
surprising ways. Sugata Bose finds in these intricate social and
economic webs evidence of the interdependence of the peoples of
the lands beyond the horizon, from the Middle East to East
Africa to Southeast Asia. In following this narrative, we
discover that our usual ways of looking at history—through the
lens of nationalism or globalization—are