While scholars have long appreciated that trade and commerce are central to understanding the connectivity and mobility that underpin complex human experience in the Indian Ocean region, studies of merchant and commercial activities have paid little attention to the role that numerous and diverse cargoes have played in connecting the disparate parts of this vast oceanic world. Drawing from the work of anthropologists, geographers, and historians, Cargoes in Motion tells the story of how material objects have informed and continue to shape processes of exchange across the Indian Ocean.

By following selected cargoes through both space and time from a multidisciplinary perspective, this book makes an important and innovative contribution to Indian Ocean studies. It deepens our understanding of the nature and dynamics of the Indian Ocean world by showing how transoceanic connectivity has been driven not only by economic, social, cultural, and political factors but also by the materiality of the objects themselves.