Secret trades, porous borders : smuggling and states along a Southeast Asian frontier, 1865-1915 / Eric Tagliacozzo.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Tagliacozzo, Eric.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Smuggling--Southeast Asia--History.

Smuggling.

Drug traffic--Southeast Asia--History.

Drug traffic.

Counterfeits and counterfeiting--Southeast Asia--History.

Counterfeits and counterfeiting.

Illegal arms transfers--Southeast Asia--History.

Illegal arms transfers.

Colonies.

History.

Boundaries.

Commerce.

Southeast Asia--Commerce--History.

Southeast Asia.

Southeast Asia--Boundaries--History.

Great Britain--Colonies--Asia--History.

Great Britain.

Netherlands--Colonies--Asia--History--19th century.

Netherlands.

Asia.

Physical Description:

xvi, 437 pages : illustrations, maps ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

New Haven : Yale University Press, [2005]

Summary:

Over the course of the half century from 1865 to 1915, the British and Dutch delineated colonial spheres, in the process creating new frontiers. This book analyzes the development of these frontiers in Insular Southeast Asia as well as the accompanying smuggling activities of the opium traders, currency runners, and human traffickers who pierced such newly drawn borders with growing success. The book presents a history of the evolution of this 3000-km frontier, and then inquires into the smuggling of contraband: who smuggled and why, what routes were favored, and how effectively the British and Dutch were able to enforce their economic, moral, and political will. Examining the history of states and smugglers playing off one another within a hidden but powerful economy of forbidden cargoes, the book also offers new insights into the modern political economies of Southeast Asia.

Contents:

Building the frontier : drawing lines in physical space

Mapping the frontier

Enforcing the frontier

Strengthening the frontier

The specter of violence

"foreign Asians" on the frontier

The indigenous threat

The smuggling of narcotics

Counterfeiters across the frontier

Illicit human cargoes

Munitions and borders : arms in context

Praxis and evasion : arms in motion

Contraband and the junk Kim Ban An

Worlds of illegality, 1873-99.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 377-415) and index.

ISBN:

0300089686

OCLC:

57068536