Breeds of Empire The Invention of the Horse in Southeast Asia and Southern Africa 1500-1950

About this book

This book explores the 'invention' of specific breeds of horse in the context of imperial design and colonial trade routes. Ships of empire carried not just merchandise, soldiers and administrators but also equine genes from as far a field as Europe, Arabia, the Americas, China and Japan. In the process, they introduced horses into parts of the world not native to that animal in historical times. The book deals respectively with the introduction, invention and use of the horse in the Philippines, Thailand and Southern Africa as well as examining its roots and evolution within Indonesia.

Contents

1. Breeds of Empire and the 'Invention' of the Horse (Greg Bankoff and Sandra Swart); 2. Southeast Asia and Southern Africa in the Maritime Horse Trade of the Indian Ocean, c. 1800-1914 (William Gervase Clarence-Smith); 3. Horse Breeding, Long-distance Horse Trading and Royal Courts in Indonesian History, 1500-1900 (Peter Boomgaard); 4. The 'Arab' of the Indonesian Archipelago: Famed Horse Breeds of Sumbawa (Bernice de Jong Boers); 5. Javanese Horses for the Court of Ayutthaya (Dhiravat na Pombejra); 6. Colonising New Lands: Horses in the Philippines (Greg Bankoff); 7. Adapting to a New Environment: The Philippine Horse (Greg Bankoff); 8. Riding High - Horses, Power and Settler Society in Southern Africa, c. 1654-1840 (Sandra Swart); 9. The 'Ox That Deceives': The Meanings of the 'Basotho Pony' in Southern Africa (Sandra Swart); 10. 'Together yet Apart': Towards a Horse-story (Greg Bankoff and Sandra Swart); Notes); Bibliography); Index

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Biography

Greg Bankoff is Professor of Modern History at the University of Hull. Sandra Swart lectures in history at Stellenbosch University.