Austronesian Shipping in the Indian Ocean: From Outrigger Boats to Trading Ships

The peopling of Madagascar by Austronesian-speaking communities is one foremost—and indisputable—witness to their long-distance ventures across the Indian Ocean.2 Linguistic, anthropological, and various other types of evidence regarding Austronesian expansion west of Southeast Asia have been thoroughly studied during the past century. In this chapter, I will concentrate only on the maritime orientations of those people of Insular Southeast Asia who are known to have played a role in long-distance ventures in the Indian Ocean in proto-historic and historic times. I will therefore necessarily favour a view of Indian Ocean history that is taken from the shores of the western façade of Insular Southeast Asia.