Too often, history is told from the northern hemisphere. In this captivating, ground-breaking account, Sujit Sivasundaram reassesses the era of revolutions and empire from the perspective of indigenous and seafaring people in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. 

This is a story about indigenous creativity, agency and resistance when confronted with unprecedented globalization and violence. It is a tale of oceans, winds, waves, and islands and beaches, and of the tragic ways in which colonisation reversed immense possibilities for liberty and humanity.

'A breathtaking book. Takes the familiar story of the "age of revolutions" and turns it upside down, putting the voices, the hopes, and the struggles of the seafaring peoples of the Indian and the Pacific Oceans at the heart... Global history at its finest: eloquent, surprising, and deeply moving' ~ Sunil Amrith

'Fascinating... brings to life the surge of indigenous politics that marked this era' ~Financial Times

'An Apollyonic straddling of an entire hemisphere' ~ Guardian

'Confidently surfs a dynamic wave of scholarship... through the eyes of Indigenous peoples, the enslaved, the subjected, and the Global South' ~ TLS

'A magisterial intervention in world history... Deeply researched and richly illustrated' ~ Margot Finn