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Topic · Anthropology

Global Maritime and Colonial Histories

Global Maritime and Colonial Histories is a research topic within Anthropology. Science Explorer counts 22k research works in it since 1950. 16.0% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the prehistoric movement of plants and animals, maritime trade, and cultural exchange across the Indian Ocean, with a focus on the Swahili society, Austronesian expansion, and archaeological evidence. It delves into the history of East Africa, global trade patterns, and island subsistence strategies in the Indian Ocean region.

  • Indian Ocean
  • prehistoric movement
  • cultural exchange
  • maritime trade
  • Swahili society
  • Austronesian expansion
  • archaeological evidence
  • island subsistence
  • East African history
  • global trade
Research works
22k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
3.5k
per year above
Top-10% rate
16.0%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2013–17 → 2018–22
+28%
the tick is no change

Which countries lead Global Maritime and Colonial Histories research?

By volume, the United States and the United Kingdom publish the most (824 and 408 works in 2022–2025).

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 United States 824 works
  2. 2 United Kingdom 408 works
  3. 3 India 266 works
  4. 4 France 243 works
  5. 5 Germany 179 works
  6. 6 Canada 116 works
  7. 7 Brazil 113 works
  8. 8 Indonesia 107 works
  9. 9 China 104 works
  10. 10 Kenya 94 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

United States: 33.6%United Kingdom: 16.6%India: 10.9%France: 9.9%6 others listed: 29.1%34%largest
United States824 · 33.6%United Kingdom408 · 16.6%India266 · 10.9%France243 · 9.9%6 others listed713 · 29.1%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Global Maritime and Colonial Histories research?

By volume in 2022–2025, University of Dar es Salaam publishes the most Global Maritime and Colonial Histories research, followed by University of Oxford and University of Cambridge.

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 University of Dar es SalaamTanzania 34 works
  2. 2 University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 33 works
  3. 3 University of CambridgeUnited Kingdom 31 works
  4. 4 Leiden UniversityNetherlands 23 works
  5. 5 Film IndependentUnited States 23 works
  6. 6 University of EdinburghUnited Kingdom 18 works
  7. 7 King's College LondonUnited Kingdom 17 works
  8. 8 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 16 works
  9. 9 National University of SingaporeSingapore 16 works
  10. 10 University of LisbonPortugal 16 works

Who are the leading researchers in Global Maritime and Colonial Histories?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Global Maritime and Colonial Histories include Charles Tilly.

  1. 1 Charles Tilly United States 3.7k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

Where is Global Maritime and Colonial Histories research done?

The largest centres of Global Maritime and Colonial Histories research in 2022–2025 are Paris (France), London (United Kingdom), New York (United States) and Dar es Salaam (Tanzania). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Dar es Salaam.

Largest cities, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Paris France 106 works
  2. 2 London United Kingdom 102 works
  3. 3 New York United States 58 works
  4. 4 Dar es Salaam Tanzania 51 works
  5. 5 Los Angeles United States 41 works
  6. 6 Lisbon Portugal 40 works
  7. 7 New Delhi India 39 works
  8. 8 Oxford United Kingdom 38 works
  9. 9 Nairobi Kenya 37 works
  10. 10 Washington D.C. United States 35 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. Dar es SalaamTZ · 51.0 works35×
← less than its size predictsmore →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Global Maritime and Colonial Histories than the world average.

See Global Maritime and Colonial Histories on the map

Where is the best place to study Global Maritime and Colonial Histories?

Among universities, judged by research, University of Dar es Salaam, Leiden University and University of Cambridge score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%20%40%mean 20.8%fractional works in this node (log) →share in the world top 10% →University of Dar es Salaam: 34, 31.1%Leiden University: 23, 16.9%University of Cambridge: 31, 16.6%The University of Dodoma: 11, 25.9%University of Bayreuth: 8, 26.0%University of the Witwatersrand: 13, 26.9%University of Lisbon: 16, 18.4%University of Hyderabad: 10, 24.1%Kenyatta University: 16, 10.5%University of Oxford: 33, 11.6%University of Dar es…The University of Do…Leiden UniversityUniversity of Cambri…
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the table below. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1 University of Dar es SalaamTanzania 93.431.1%67.2×34 +194.3%
2 Leiden UniversityNetherlands 68.016.9%17.1×23 +36.7%
3 University of CambridgeUnited Kingdom 64.516.6%7.2×31 +52.3%
4 The University of DodomaTanzania 62.925.9%32.0×11
5 University of BayreuthGermany 61.026.0%11.9×8 +50.0%
6 University of the WitwatersrandSouth Africa 60.626.9%7.8×13 +13.3%
7 University of LisbonPortugal 57.318.4%6.3×16 +116.3%
8 University of HyderabadIndia 56.224.1%16.4×10 +4.3%
9 Kenyatta UniversityKenya 56.110.5%27.6×16 +117.9%
10 University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 55.911.6%6.4×33 +15.9%

Universities only. Score blends excellence (30%), specialisation (25%), size (20%), growth (15%) and international reach (10%), 2015–2022; growth compares 2010–14 with 2015–19.

Is Global Maritime and Colonial Histories research growing?

Output in 2018–2022 was 28% higher than in 2013–2017, peaking in 2024. The fastest-growing topics are Global Maritime and Colonial Histories.

19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon — one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.