Empires of the Indus

Finished this book recently.

Alice Albania

Author Alice Albania is a gutsy woman who at the age of 29 travels
the full course of the Indus river upstream. During the journey, she
traveled legally and illegally to Pakistan, Afghanistan, India, China
and Tibet.

Empires of the Indus - Book Cover

The book is a unique kind of travelogue though. As she traverses the
river upstream, she also travels its history backwards in time. During the
journey she covers the Indo Pak partition, River saints of Sindh,
Mercantile histories on the Silk route, Spread of Buddhism, Sikhism,
Alexander, Mahmud of Ghazni and much more.



Indus does indeed has a history richer than any other river, at least in
the Indian subcontinent, if not the entire world. On its banks, many
religions flourished and disappeared. Many kings tried their luck.
One of the oldest civilizations came up on its shores. 

This book is as much about Indus, as it is about some of the lost
chapters in Indian history. I mean Sindh. Not much has been written
about Sindh in Indian history books, despite its rich history.
It's only in the foreign books like Empires of the Indus and
The Global World Of Indian Merchants, 1750 1947: Traders Of Sind From Bukhara To Panama
that some of the damage is being repaired.

Reading this book also reminded me of a post I had made earlier.

Here is an interview of the Alice Albania.
This book also won Dolman Travel book of the year award, 2009.