'Indian traders made British curious about Africa' Panaji, June
25 (IANS) Did Indian traders prove to be catalysts in Britain's
colonisation of Africa? Yes, says the author of a book on sea
trade between India and Africa. Blanche Rocha D'Souza, an
Indian-origin writer born in Kenya, says the thriving link
between traders from western India and eastern Africa may have
made the British curious about what was once called the Dark
Continent. "The British were already in India. It was only when
they saw Indian traders doing thriving business in east Africa,
especially Zanzibar, that they decided to see what Africa was
really about. Slowly, the process of colonising the continent
began," D'Souza told IANS. She was here to read from her book,
"Harnessing the Trade Winds - The Story of the Centuries-Old
Trade with East Africa, Using the Monsoon Winds", published by
Zand Graphics. The book traces the business between India and
Africa, which goes back thousands of years, much before European
colonisers began ruling the