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List of Illustrations

Land’s End, Cornwall (Heritage-Images / CM Dixon / AKG)

Kirov Statue, Baku (AKG / Sputnik)

Share certificate, Baku Consolidated Oilfields Ltd.

Camels in front of Dubai (Buena Vista Images / Getty)

India Gate, New Delhi (Wikimedia Commons)

Petronas Towers, Kuala Lumpur (Jeffrey)

Satellite image of Singapore (Planet Observer / UIG / Bridgeman)

T&O map from Isidorus, Etymologiae (1472) (Isidore of Seville)

Le Morne Brabant, Mauritius (AKG / Erich Meyer Luftaufnahmen)

Willem Blaeu, India quae Orientalis dicitur (1635)

Mount Field, Tasmania (Julian Peters / Alamy)

Mount Cook, New Zealand (B. Muirhead)

Cooks Bay, Tahiti (iPics Photography / Alamy)

The Austronesian Language Group

Interstate 45, southwest of Houston (RosaBetancourt / Alamy)

North American Native Languages

Manhattan (Tom Zuk / Alamy)

Sundial, Caius College, Cambridge (De Agostini Picture Library / C. Novara / Bridgeman)

Destinations board (Marshall Ikonography / Alamy)

Anonymous American cartoon of John Bull, 1882 (Granger Archive / Alamy)

PLATES

1. Goethe in the Roman Campagna, by Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein (1787) (Martin Kraft / Städelsche Kunstinstitut / Wikimedia Commons).

2. Miniature of Dante and Virgil meeting Ulysses, from a fourteenth-century Venetian illuminated manuscript (De Agostini / A. Dagli Orti / Bridgeman).

3. King Mark depicted in a thirteenth-century German miniature (Bayerische Staatsbibliothek / De Agostini / Bridgeman).

4. Tristan Stone, Menabilly (Kevin Britland / Alamy).

5. Cornish chough (F. O. Morris / Wikimedia Commons).

6. Bishop Sir Jonathan Trelawny (c. 1688), by Sir Godfrey Kneller (Royal Cornwall Museum / Bridgeman).

7. Daphne du Maurier (AKG / Ullstein).

8. ‘Dolly’ Pentreath (c. 1775), the last speaker of Cornish (Wellcome Library).

9. Baccu (1683), by Engelbert Kaempfer (Johann Baptist Homann / Wikimedia Commons).

10. Flame Towers, Baku (Steven Liveoak / Alamy).

11. President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan (AKG / Universal / Tass).

12. The Execution of the Twenty-Six Commissars (1925) by Isaac Brodsky (AKG).

13. The Dunsterforce in Baku, 1918 (© Imperial War Museum).

14. Wilfred Thesiger (Pitt Rivers Museum / Bridgeman).

15. Abu Dhabi, 1948 (Pitt Rivers Museum / Bridgeman).

16. Abu Dhabi Corniche, 2012 (Norman Davies).

17. Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, Abu Dhabi (Norman Davies).

18. Dubai (Maggie Steber / National Geographic / Bridgeman).

19. Gold bullion machine, Dubai (LOOK Die Bildagentur der Fotografen GmbH / Alamy).

20. Laxminarayan Temple, Delhi (David Henley / Bridgeman).

21. Jama Masjid, Delhi (Gerard Degeorge / AKG).

22. Lotus Temple, Delhi (Arian Zwegers / Wikimedia Commons).

23. King George V and Queen Mary at the Red Fort, Delhi, 1913 (IAM / AKG).

24. Group of untouchables, c. 1890 (J. T. Vintage / Bridgeman).

25. B. R. Ambedkar (Wikimedia Commons).

26. Chamba State, 3 pies grey, 1911 (Norman Davies).

27. Durbar at Kuala Kangsar, 1897 (Pictures from History / AKG).

28. Frank Swettenham (1904), by John Singer Sargent (NPG 4837, National Portrait Gallery / Stefano Baldini / Bridgeman).

29. Straits Settlements, 32 cents purple (1867) (Norman Davies).

30. ‘Running Amok’, from de Molins, ‘Voyage à Java 1858–61’, Le Tour du Monde, 10 (1864) (Sammlung Archiv für Kunst und Geschichte / AKG).

31. Malayan Emergency, 1949 (Pictures from History / AKG).

32. Abdul Rahman, 1965 (AGIP / Bridgeman).

33. Tugu Negara (Uwe Aranas / Wiki Commons).

34. Singapore Harbour, 1900 (PVDE / Bridgeman).

35. Singapore skyline (Merlion444 / Wikimedia Commons).

36. Sir Thomas Stamford Bingley Raffles by George Francis Joseph (1817) (NPG 84, National Portrait Gallery).

37. Raffles Hotel, Singapore (Elisa.rolle / Wikimedia Commons).

38. Surrender of Singapore, 1942 (Ullstein Bild / AKG).

39. Map of Europe, woodcut from Sebastian Münster, Cosmographia (Basel, 1628) (AKG).

40. Sixteenth-century Ottoman map of the Maghreb (De Agostini / G. Dagli Orti / AKG).

41. Kleeblat Map, from Heinrich Bünting, Itinerarium Sacrae Scripturae (1581) (Wikimedia Commons).

42. Hasekura Tsunenaga (1615) (Pictures from History / AKG).

43. Alexander Blok (1921) (AKG).

44. Burke and Wills expedition (Universal History Archive / UIG / Bridgeman).

45. The Dutch in Mauritius (1598), from Johann Theodor de Bry, Variorum Navigationis (1601) (Bibliotheque National / Archives Charmet / Bridgeman).

46. Saftleven dodo (Boijmans Museum / Wikimedia Commons).

47. Slaves carrying a palanquin, by Choubardin de Freycinet, Voyage Autour du Monde sur les Corvettes de L’Uranie 1817–20 (1825) (Bridgeman).

48. Bertrand-François Mahé (Musee des Arts d’Afrique et d’Oceanie / Bridgeman).

49. Hindus at prayer, Mauritius (AKG).

50. Stamps from the Bordeaux Cover (J. O. Barnard / Wikimedia Commons).

51. Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam (Keystone Pictures / Alamy).

52. Cradle Mountain, Tasmania (Bjørn Christian Tørrissen / Wikimedia Commons).

53. Governor Davey’s Proclamation (1830), Van Diemen’s Land (Pictures from History / Bridgeman).

54. Port Arthur, Tasmania (Andrew Braithwaite / Wikimedia Commons).

55. Abel Janszoon Tasman (Bridgeman).

56. Native of Van Diemen’s Land (1777), by John Webber (De Agostini / Bridgeman).

57. Maori war canoe (1770), by Sidney Parkinson (De Agostini / AKG).

58. Maori man (1769), by Parkinson (World History Archive /AKG).

59. Tawhiao I (World History Archive /AKG).

60. The Emigrants (1844), by William Allsworth (Museum of New Zealand / Bridgeman).

61. The New Zealand Wars, by Orlando Norie (Erich Lessing / AKG).

62. Charles de Brosses (Wikimedia Commons).

63. Tahitian breadfruit, from James Cook, Account of a Voyage Round the World in the Years 1768–71 (1773) (Granger / Bridgeman).

64. Louis de Bougainville lands at Tahiti (Granger / Bridgeman).

65. Oaitepeha Bay (c. 1775), Tahiti, by William Hodges (Pictures from History / AKG).

66. Tahitian Dance (c. 1775), after Webber (Sammlung Archiv für Kunst und Geschichte / AKG).

67. Pömare IV, by Paul-Emile Mio (Alamy).

68. Établissements de l’Océanie, 1 cent grey (1934) (Norman Davies).

69. Comanche Feats of Horsemanship (1834–5), by George Caitlin (Smithsonian / Bridgeman).

70. Texas broadside, 1836 (Granger / Bridgeman).

71. Quanah Parker (Peter Newark Western Americana / Bridgeman).

72. Antonio López de Santa Anna, c. 1849 (Granger / Bridgeman).

73. Samuel Houston (Ken Welsh / Bridgeman).

74. Oil gusher at Port Arthur, Texas, 1901 (World History Archive / Bridgeman).

75. The Landing in 1608 at Ver Planck Point (1842), by Robert Walter Weir (Christie’s / Bridgeman).

76. Fort of New Amsterdam, 1614 (AKG).

77. The Toppling of King George III’s Gilded Statue, by John C. McRae (Granger / Bridgeman).

78. Lappawinsoe, lithograph after painting by Gustavus Hesselius, 1838 (J. T. Vintage / Bridgeman).

79. Israel Zangwill (Ken Welsh / Bridgeman).

80. Porto do Cruz, Madeira (Franck Guiziou / Hemispicture / Getty).

81. Combination Room, Peterhouse College, Cambridge (Look and Learn / Bridgeman).

82. Diogo Cão (Prisma / AKG).

83. Winston Churchill, Camara do Lobos, Madeira, 1953 (Ullstein Bild / Getty).

84. Senhora do Monte, Madeira (Barry Caruth / Wikimedia Commons).

85. Charles I and Zita, Madeira, 1921 (SZ Photo / Bridgeman).

86. ‘The Flying Dutchman’, KLM poster, 1938 (DaTo Images / Bridgeman).

87. Flight MH 370 (Aero Icarus / Wikimedia Commons).

88. Unterschweinstiege (Peng / Wikimedia Commons).

Illustrations

1. ‘A School of Seeing’: Goethe’s explanation of the value of travel is expounded in his Italian Journey (1816–17). Portrait by Tischbein, 1787.

2. Dante and Virgil meet the shade of Ulysses, Inferno Canto 26. Dante’s sublime Divine Comedy describes a spiritual journey from Hell to Heaven.

3. Marcus Quonimorus Rex: a post-Roman, Celtic ruler of Cornwall and possibly of Brittany.

4. The Tristan Stone, Menabilly: a sixth-century tombstone marking the putative grave of Marcus Quonimorus and his son, Tristan.

5. Cornish chough, Pyrrochorax pyrrochorax: emblematic Cornish bird, once thought extinct but now resurgent.

6. ‘And shall Trelawny die?’ Bishop Sir Jonathan Trelawny (1650–1721), hero of the ‘Song of the Western Men’.

7. Daphne du Maurier (1907–89), novelist of Cornish and Breton ancestry, long-term resident of Menabilly.

8. ‘Dolly’ Pentraeth, fishwife of Mousehole, reputedly the last native speaker of Cornish, c. 1775.

9. Panorama of Baccu, 1683: an engraving of the Caspian port from the period of Safavid Persian rule.

10. Baku’s iconic Flame Towers, completed 2012: the architectural fantasy of an oil-rich nation.

11. The Aliyevs, father and son, c. 2010: post-Communist dictators of Azerbaijan.

12. The Execution of the Twenty-Six Commissars, September 1918: a prime example of Bolshevik propaganda.

13. The British Dunsterforce, one of several contenders for control of the Caspian oilfields, marches into Baku, August 1918.

14. Wilfred Thesiger, 1948: old-style explorer, author of Arabian Sands.

15. The beach at Abu Dhabi, 1948: a few pearl fishers, the occasional dhow, and no modern amenities.

16. Abu Dhabi Corniche, 2012. Arab boys on the waterfront with the Emirate’s sensational skyline beyond.

17. Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, Abu Dhabi, 2012: ‘exudes mystery and spirituality’.

18. Dubai: Manhattan in half the time, an explosion of construction in the desert.

19. Gold to Go: a gold bullion dispenser at the Emirates Hotel, Abu Dhabi.

20. Hindu Temple, Delhi: dedicated to Lord Vishnu and the goddess Lakshmi.

21. Jama Masjid, the ‘World-Reflecting Mosque’ (1658), Delhi, built by the Mogul Emperor Shah Jahan.

22. Lotus Temple (1986), Delhi, constructed from twenty-four free-standing ‘petals’, and reputedly the world’s most visited shrine.

23. Delhi Durbar, 1913: King-Emperor, Queen-Empress and little Maharajas, British India’s ruling elite.

24. Untouchables, 1890: the lowest of the low in the Indian caste system and a running sore that has not gone away.

25. B. R. Ambedkar, the ‘Honourable Master’, India’s most popular figure, and the first untouchable to reach high office.

26. Chamba State, 3 pies grey (1911). The Raja of Chamba, 63rd in the princely ranking, was entitled to an eleven-gun salute.

27. Malayan Durbar, 1897: sultans from the federated and unfederated states of Britain’s Straits Settlement colony.

28. Sir Frank Swettenham, Governor of the Straits Settlements, linguist and prolific author.

29. Straits Settlements 32 cents rose (1867), surcharged THREE CENTS and posted in Malacca in 1885.

30. Running Amok (1864): an alleged feature of the pathology of Malayans.

31. Malayan Emergency, 1949: Chinese suspect, British officer, Malay soldier, a campaign for ‘winning hearts and minds’.

32. ‘The Tunku’, Sir Tunku Abdul Rahman, son of the 24th Sultan of Kedah and Malaysia’s founding father.

33. Tugu Negara, Malaysia’s Iwo Jima-style National Monument (1966).

34. Singapore Harbour, 1900: ‘the appendage to an underdeveloped colony’.

35. Singapore skyline today: ‘the third richest country in the world’.

36. Sir Stamford Raffles, 1817: botanist, linguist, historian, servant of the East India Company, Governor of Java and Singapore’s founder.

37. Raffles Hotel: home of the ‘Singapore Sling’, scene of imperial splendour and of Japanese hara-kiri.

38. Lt.-Gen Arthur Percival and his staff march to surrender, 15 February 1942: ‘Britain’s most humiliating wartime defeat’.

39. Regina Europa, ‘Queen Europe’ (1628), woodcut by Sebastian Münster, Basel.

40. The Arab Maghreb or ‘West’: a sixteenth-century Ottoman miniature.

41. The Kleeblat Map: Europe, Africa and Asia. Woodcut from the Itinerarium Sacrae Scripturae by Heinrich Bünting, Magdeburg, 1581.

42. Hasekura Tsunenaga (1571–1622), Japanese diplomat, eastbound circumnavigator and Roman nobleman.

43. Alexander Blok (1880–1921), Russian poet of ‘We are the Scythians’.

44. Burke and Wills, would-be explorers of Australia who lost their way.

45. The Dutch in Mauritius, 1598: a scene following the landing of sailors who called the island Prins Maurits van Nassaueiland.

46. A dodo (1638): a picture painted from the life in the first year of permanent settlement on Mauritius.

47. Transport by a slave-carried palanquin on the Île de France (as Mauritius was renamed in 1715). French settlement was accompanied by the introduction of slavery.

48. Bertrand-François Mahé, Comte de la Bourbonnais, Governor of the Île de France, 1735–46.

49. Hindus at prayer, 1858. Indentured Indian labourers imported by the British came to form the largest ethnic community on Mauritius.

50. Mauritius No. 1 and No. 2: a one penny orange-red and a two pence blue (1847). Postage stamps from the Bordeaux Cover, the ‘pièce de résistance’ of all philately.

51. Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam (1900–1985), the first Prime Minister of independent Mauritius.

52. Heart of Tasmania: Cradle Mountain National Park.

53. Van Diemen’s Land: illustrated proclamation, showing that all people – regardless of race – would face the same retributive justice, by Governor George Arthur, 1830. It didn’t quite work out that way.

54. A hell-hole inspired by utopian ideals: the notorious penitentiary at Port Arthur in southern Tasmania.

55. Captain Abel Tasman (1603–59): circumnavigator of Australia, discoverer of Tasmania and New Zealand.

56. A native of Van Diemen’s Land (1777). Sketch by John Webber, artist of James Cook’s Third Voyage.

57. Maori war canoe (1770), a sketch by Sidney Parkinson, artist on Cook’s First Voyage.

58. Maori man (1769), also by Parkinson. Unlike Tasmania’s Aborigines, the Maoris were relatively recent Polynesian migrants.

59. King Tukaroto Matutaera Tawhiao (r. 1860–94), leader of the Waikato tribes.

60. William Allsworth, The Emigrants (1844), painted soon after the Treaty of Waitangi and the start of British settlement in New Zealand.

61. The New Zealand Wars, 1845–72, by Orlando Norie. The British attack a Maori stockade.

62. Charles de Brosses, Comte de Tournai (1709–77): philosophe extraordinaire, pioneer of Pacific Studies.

63. Breadfruit, harvest of Tahiti and the Royal Navy’s answer to scurvy. Engraving, 1773.

64. Captain de Bougainville lands at Otaheite, April 1767. His Voyage autour du monde (1771) popularized the European concept of the ‘noble savage’.

65. Oaitepeha Bay, Tahiti; palms and volcanoes, by William Hodges, c. 1775.

66. Tahitian Dance, copper engraving (1784) after J. Webber.

67. Queen Pömare IV (r. 1828–77), aka Aimata, ‘the Eyeball-eater’.

68. Établissements de l’Océanie, 1 cent grey (1934).

69. Comanche horsemen, 1834–5. The Comanches’ phenomenal horsemanship was unusual among Native Americans.

70. Texas broadside: an advertisement for recruiting American settlers, 1836.

71. Quanah Parker (1845–1911), Comanche chief and son of the kidnapped American woman Cynthia Ann Parker.

72. Antonio López de Santa Anna (1794–1876), ‘Man of Destiny’, Mexican general and eleven times president.

73. Sam Houston (1793–1863), frontiersman, US Senator, Tennessee Governor and President of the Texian Republic.

74. Texas gusher, Port Arthur, east of Galveston, 1901. The wealth of Texas was built on oil and cattle.

75. The Landing in 1608 at Ver Planck Point, by Robert Walter Weir (1842): the Lenape greet Henry Hudson’s expedition.

76. The fort of New Amsterdam, 1614: an early view of the city prior to permanent settlement.

77. The Toppling of King George III’s Gilded Statue at Bowling Green, New York, July 1776. The black slaves who actually pulled the statue down are absent.