Part of The World in a Life series, this brief, inexpensive text
provides insight into the life of slave soldier Malik Ambar. Malik
Ambar: Power and Slavery across the Indian Ocean offers a rare look at
an individual who began in obscurity in eastern Africa and reached the
highest levels of South Asian political and military affairs in the late
sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. Ambar's rise from slavery in
East Africa to ruler in South Asia sheds light on the diverse mix of
people, products, and practices that shaped the Indian Ocean world
during the early modern period. Originally from Ethiopia--historically
called Abyssinia--Ambar is best known for having defended the Deccan
from being occupied by the Mughals during the first quarter of the
seventeenth century. His ingenuity as a military leader, his diplomatic
skills, and his land-reform policies contributed to his success in
keeping the Deccan free of Mughal imperial rule.
We live in a global age where big concepts like "globalization" often
tempt us to forget the personal side of the past. The titles in The
World in a Life series aim to revive these meaningful lives. Each one
shows us what it was like to live on a world historical stage. Brief,
inexpensive, and thematic, each book can be read in a week, fit within a
wide range of curricula, and shed insight into a particular place or
time. Four to six short primary sources at the end of each volume
sharpen the reader's view of an individual's impact on world history.
