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The Coastal History Blog 21: “The ‘Cosmopolitan Port Town’—Is There Any Other Kind?”

Michael Pearson, in his book The Indian Ocean, emphasizes that littoral societies have markedly different attitudes from their more parochial neighbors inland.  He quotes Ross Dunn on the “cosmopolitan frame of mind” of Muslims in East Africa, southern India, and Malaysia and adds: “This was reinforced by the coastal location and the fact that most […]

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July 2014 348

The Coastal History Blog 20: Contemplating Time and Tide in the Sailor’s Magazine

When nineteenth-century Britons stood facing the ocean, what did they think about? Did they rejoice in the healthy sea breezes? Fret about a French invasion? Did they daydream about travel, worry about stock market crashes, plot the conversion of unbelievers in far-flung colonies?  Or, watching the waves themselves, did they marvel at the scientific achievement […]

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