Copies of ‘East Indies’ have arrived and there is nothing more exciting than holding the final result of five years work in your hands. The books should be going out to the bookshops in the next few weeks and there are number of events lined up from mid-September for those who are in Sydney.

Sydney MSA, 280 Pitt Street, Ian Burnet: East Indies

Tuesday, 17 September, 6:00pm – 7:00pm

Ian Burnet reveals the 200 year struggle between the Portuguese Crown, the Dutch East India Company and the English East India Company for supremacy in the Eastern Seas.
In 1497 Vasco da Gama’s fleet rounded the Cape of Good Hope, and became the first Europeans to sail the Eastern Seas. Over the next 100 years the Portuguese spread their trading network in search of spices, sandalwood, silks, gold, silver, porcelains and other oriental goods from Goa in India as far east as the Moluccas and Timor in Indonesia, and as far north as China and Japan.
In 1595 and 1601 respectively, the first Dutch and English trading expeditions rounded the Cape of Good Hope and challenging the Portuguese the trading monopoly. The stakes were high.
For the next 200 years the struggle for trade supremacy between the Portuguese, the Dutch, and the English ranged across the Eastern Seas and in the settlements of Goa, Malacca, Ambon, Macao, Canton, Nagasaki, Batavia, Macassar, Johor and Singapore.
For the winners, the pay off was huge. By the end of the 19th century the Portuguese had almost vanished from the Eastern Seas, and the Dutch and the English East Indies Companies had been transformed from trading companies into colonial powers, ruling vast territories in Indonesia, India and Malaya.
FREE & OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

The State Library of New South Wales —— Ian Burnet on ‘East Indies’
Thursday 19 September Time: 12.30 pm to 1.30 pm
Metcalfe Auditorium, ground floor, Macquarie Wing Cost: Free, bookings essential

Author Ian Burnet talks about his latest book, East Indies. This book follows the trade winds and begins in the port city of Malacca, telling the story of the 200-year struggle between the Portuguese Crown, the Dutch East India Company and the English East India Company for trade supremacy in the Eastern Seas. It follows the rise of the world’s first joint stock and multinational trading companies and their conversion to huge colonial states ruling over millions of people in Indonesia, India and Malaya.

Gleebooks – East Indies Book Launch

Saturday 21 September Time: 3.30 pm for 4 pm , upstairs at 49 Glebe Point Road

Book Launch by Adrian Vickers, Professor of Southeast Asian Studies at Sydney University
Free, bookings essential

Australian National Maritime Museum
East Indies book launch and talk by Ian Burnet
Sunday 29 September 2 pm — 4 pm

A fascinating talk about the spice trade and its little known associated collateral. It documents the 200 year struggle between the Portuguese Crown, the Dutch East India Company and the English East India Company for trade supremacy in the Eastern Seas. It documents the rise of the world’s first joint stock and multinational trading companies and their conversion to huge colonial states ruling over millions of people in Indonesia, India and Malaya.

Cost: Members $20 Guests $25. A light sandwich lunch and wine will be served after.
Bookings essential: Book online
Enquiries: Phone +61 2 9298 3644

More details and a review of the book are available on the author website listed below.
http://www.ianburnetbooks.com