"Li Tana presents a powerful new reading of Vietnamese history: that key political changes resulted from the impact, economic and otherwise, of the sea. This finely layered account covering the two millennia before colonisation radically restructures how we understand the shaping of the country we now know as Vietnam"--

Li Tana is Honorary Senior Fellow, School of Culture, History and Language, College of Asia and Pacific Studies, ANU.

Introduction; 1. Maritime formations; 2. Aromatics, Buddhism and the making of a south seas emporium; 3. Aromatic forests, sea trade, and the rise of Linyi, 200-700 CE; 4. Maritime resurgence and the rise of Dai Viet; 5. Winds of trade from the Middle East: 6. Muslim trade and the conquest of the coast: the mystery of the Topkapi vase; 7. Silks and society: Tongking in the age of commerce; 8. Seventeenth century Dang Trong: a maritime entity; 9. The rise and fall of the water frontier; 10. Ships and the problem of political integration: the cost of Tao Van and shipbuilding; Conclusion: some reflections on a maritime Vietnam.