Southeast Asia in the Age of Commerce, 1450-1680: Volume One: The Lands Below the Winds

Southeast Asia in the Age of Commerce #1

by Anthony Reid

In The Lands Below the Winds--the first volume of a two-volume set chronicling the rise of Southeast Asian culture during the years from 1450 to 1680--Anthony Reid vividly explored everyday life in the different societies of the region, from diet, housing, commerce, and law to sexual and family relations, patterns of warfare, and popular entertainment. In doing so he enables us to perceive the underlying coherence and splendid variety in the complex mosaic of Southeast Asia.

Genres: History, Asia, Nonfiction, Economics, Indonesian Literature

297 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1988

About the author

Anthony Reid was a New Zealand-born historian of Southeast Asia. His doctoral work at Cambridge University examined the contest for power in northern Sumatra, Indonesia in the late 19th century, and he extended this study into a book The Blood of the People on the national and social revolutions in that region 1945–49. He is most well known for his two volume book "Southeast Asia in the Age of Commerce", developed during his time at the Research School of Pacific (and Asian) Studies, Australian National University in Canberra. His later work includes a return to Sumatra where he explored the historical basis for the separate identity of Aceh; interests in nationalism, Chinese diaspora and economic history, and latterly the relation between geology and deep history.
Professor Reid taught Southeast Asian history at University of Malaya (1965–1970) and Australian National University (1970–1999). He became the founding director of the Southeast Asia Center, University of California, Los Angeles, 1999–2002, and then the founding director of Asia Research Institute (ARI) at the National University of Singapore (NUS), 2002–2007. He retired from NUS in 2009. Thereafter he was based in Canberra as Professor (Emeritus) at the Australian National University.
As a writer of fiction he styled himself Tony Reid. He was the son of John S. Reid, a New Zealand diplomat who held postings in Indonesia, Japan and Canada in the 1950s and 1960s.

Reviews

[Syed Muhammad Danial · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best book for Southeast Asia history (cultural) in my opinion.

[Ardani Subagio · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pembahasan yang lengkap dan menyeluruh tentang cara hidup orang2 Asia Tenggara dari abad 15 sampai 17. Membahas banyak segi mulai dari pakaian, rumah, perang, hingga kehidupan seksual para penduduknya. Ini benar-benar bacaan yang menarik dan penuh informasi bagi mereka yang suka mempelajari tentang sejarah, terlebih lagi buku ini disajikan dengan gaya tulisan yang simple dan mudah dipahami. Jarang sekali kening berkerut sewaktu membacanya.

Hanya saja, buku ini ada banyak sekali typo-nya. Hampir di setiap bab di setiap pembahasan selalu ada typo. Beberapa typo mudah dimengerti, tapi yang lainnya seakan editor/ translator salah baca dari catatan tulisan tangan seseorang. Sayang sekali hal seperti itu bisa ada di buku semenarik ini.

Di buku ini juga ada cukup banyak ilustrasi2 pendukung yang sangat membantu dalam memahami topik yang sedang dibahas. Hanya di beberapa bagian gambar terlihat sedikit kurang jelas, tapi secara keseluruhan tidak banyak mengganggu.

[Patrick · Rating 2 out of 5]

An academic review of Southeast Asian culture at the dawn of European exploration. The author devotes chapters to Physical Well-Being; Material Culture; Social Organization; and Festivals and Amusements. It's a relatively short, quick read with lots of interesting information. At times it's rather academic, with lists and figures, but just when I'd start to get bored, the section would end and the author would start discussing a new aspect of culture. Being an academic work, the author refers a lot to first sources, which is definitely a plus for me.

All that said, no one would mistake this for a casual overview. This is not particularly entertaining reading, and is probably not suitable for someone with just a casual interest. This is what you get when you ask an Asian Culture professor for reading suggestions.

[Pepe · Rating 4 out of 5]

The details are on point, but quite not critical against the colonial sources, while the native scripts and works of literature are questioned notably. Nevertheless, this book is a definitely good start and authoritative one if you'd like to teach Southeast Asian history as a region and cultural matrices. The historical approach is quite dogmatic still.

[Anjar Priandoyo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super interesting although a bit boring. What makes this book perfect is because of its using Southeast Asia perspectives, instead of only Indonesia. So it is interesting to see the comparison. A must read for any Indonesian that wants to learn about history.

[Alia Zhang · Rating 4 out of 5]

tell us an amazing place, so interesting

[Patrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent overview. Could be good textbook material. Nice introduction to the region, too.

[Constantine Ng · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating account of trade and commerce in the last millennium.

It would appear that globalization had already begun more than a thousand years ago.

[Dani · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an easy to read book that's clear on the facts of SE Asia during this time period. However, unless you're really interested in the topic or using this as a school textbook, then there doesn't seem to be a point in reading it.

[Ariefmai Rakhman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Punya jilid 1, covernya bukan yang warna ini, tapi kuning, yang jilid 2 belum kebeli, kalah proritas sama novel (hadeh)....

Saya suka sejarah terutama yang ditulis gak berbelit-belit dan menarik. Ini salah satunya.

Anthony Reid memang layak jadi rujukan kalau bicara soal sejarah Indonesia atau yang leih luas Asia Tenggara.

Satu hal menarik dalam buku ini adalah mengenai cara dan tata cara perang Orang Nusantara di masa lalu yang lebih suka mengadakan perang tanding jagoan/utusan/pimpinan dibandingkan perang terbuka dengan ribuan prajurit kayak di eropa/timur tengah di masa lalu, lha kok sekarang keturunannya senengnya kalau perang (baca tawuran) malah keroyokan

[Missy J · Rating 3 out of 5]

Anthony Reid did a wonderful job giving us an overview of what Southeast Asia was like in the age of commerce (15th-17th c). This era is an important time, in which Europeans and Chinese could still observe the indigenous Southeast Asian cultures before imperialism, Christianity and to a lesser extent Islamization (which occurred earlier). There are some very interesting facts, which makes us wonder whether life back then was simpler or even better than now. However, then we are also reminded about the gruesome details, which makes us thankful to be alive today. But all in all, one cannot deny, that the culture in Southeast Asia prior to European domination was indeed fascinating.

[Laura Faludi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable read for anyone interested in Southeast Asia. Good general overview mainly focusing on the Malay World (Reid's field of study) and the Theravada countries with disappointingly few references to Vietnam.

[Imran Rasid · Rating 4 out of 5]

Might uploaded the full review a bit later as i will attempt to critically review the book for my university assignment. It will be interesting to compare Reid's Age of Commerce thesis with Lieberman's Strange Parallels. The localisation versus the Global approach, it seems.

[Ilhin Harris]

for reseach