Barbara Watson Andaya is Professor of Asian Studies in the Asian Studies Program at the University of Hawai'i, and was President of the American Association for Asian Studies (2005-6). Together with Leonard Y. Andaya, she has taught and researched Southeast Asian history for nearly forty years, working in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Australia and the United States. She has collaborated with Leonard Y. Andaya on numerous projects, notably A History of Malaysia (1982, 2001), and they have published several books dealing with early modern Southeast Asian history. Her most recent publication is The Flaming Womb: Repositioning Women in Early Modern Southeast Asia (2006). Leonard Y. Andaya is Professor of Southeast Asian history in the History Department at the University of Hawai'i. He has taught and researched Southeast Asian history for nearly forty years and has worked around the world. His most recent publication is Leaves of the Same Tree: Trade and Ethnicity in the Straits of Melaka (2008).

Acknowledgements; Note on spelling and measurements; Abbreviations; Introduction: conceptualizing an early modern history of Southeast Asia; 1. Southeast Asia and the geographic environment; 2. Antecedents of early modern societies, ca. 900-1400; 3. Beginning of the early modern era, 1400-1511; 4. Acceleration of change, 1511-1600; 5. Expanding global links and their impact on Southeast Asia, 1600-1690s; 6. New boundaries and changing regimes, 1690s-1780s; 7. Early modern Southeast Asia, the last phase, 1780s-1830s; Conclusion: Southeast Asia and the early modern period; Glossary; Further readings; Index.