Bordering on Danger: An Introduction

Abstract

The diverse societies and cultures of the Indian Ocean World share a common historical experience of hazard and risk. This chapter examines the role of natural hazards as a unifying element in Indian Ocean World history by reviewing the dangers that confront those who reside around the borders of the Ocean and, in reviewing the case studies that make up this book, explores patterns of adaptation that emerge as a consequence of exposure to different forms of risk on a daily basis. The collection, we suggest, responds to the growing need for transnational environmental histories of a region that is of growing economic and geopolitical significance, yet which remains highly susceptible to climatic variability, extreme weather events and periodic seismic activity.