HOOGHLY Hardcover

"Hooghly: The Global History of a River" by Robert Ivermee is a lyrical and deeply researched account that restores the Hooghly River, a distributary of the Ganges, to its rightful place in global history. For centuries, this seemingly lesser-known waterway was a nexus of international trade, attracting a diverse array of merchants, missionaries, mercenaries, and statesmen from Europe, Asia, and beyond. Ivermee meticulously chronicles the competition among various powers—including the Portuguese, Mughals, Dutch, French, and finally the British, who built Calcutta on its banks—for control of the river. The book explores how the Hooghly became integrated into global networks of encounter and commerce, examining themes of modern capitalism, migration, human trafficking, technological revolution, and humanity's impact on the natural world, ultimately offering lessons for India's emerging role as a world superpower.