The Sulu Zone : 1768-1898

First published in 1981, 'The Sulu Zone' has become a classic in the field of Southeast Asian History. The book deals with a fascinating geographical, cultural and historical 'border zone' centered on the Sulu and Celebes Seas between 1768 and 1898, and its complex interactions with China and the West. The author examines the social and cultural forces generated within the Sulu Sultanate by the China trade, namely the advent of organized, long distance maritime slave raiding and the assimilation of captives on a hitherto unprecedented scale into a traditional Malayo-Muslim social system.