Empires of the Indus

Empires of the Indus

Author	Alice Albinia
Language	English
Subject	South Asia
Publisher	John Murray (an imprint of Hodder Headline
Publication date	2008
Publication place	England
Pages	366
ISBN	978-0-7195-6003-3

Empires of the Indus: The Story of a River is a non-fiction book by Alice Albinia published in 2008 by John Murray (publishing house). It is a part-memoir part-essay recount of Albinia’s Journey through Central and Southern Asia, following the course of the Indus River from Karachi to Tibet. Throughout the book, Albinia encounters and describes facets of culture and history, and relates them to the existence of the river. The book gives an insight into the communities as well as the history and political framework of the countries through which the Indus flows. Empires of the Indus was awarded the Jerwood Award by the Royal Society of Literature in 2005.^[1]

The Indus River is a transboundary river more than 3000km long, originating north of the Himalayas, winding its way through Central and Southern Asia, and flowing into the sea in the province of Sindh, Pakistan. The history of human cultures and civilisations living alongside the river extends to at least 2300 BCE. Empires of the Indus is based primarily on Albinia’s own journeys along the Indus River in the early 2000s. Albinia uses the journey along the river to frame the relationships between the river, the populations that live alongside it, and the cultures and societal structures that have formed as a result.

Albinia’s journey begins in Sindh, Pakistan, at the headwater of the Indus, and extends along the river’s course through Pakistan, India and Tibet, with forays into Afghanistan along the way. Due to the fraught political situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan at this time, Albinia pays particular attention to conflict and violence, contemporary and historical, occurring along the Indus.

The content of the book is divided in 12 distinct sections, preceded by a preface. A map of the Indus river is given and several colour photographs. The book also has special sections named glossary, notes, select bibliography and an index. The glossary makes the book more understandable and comprehensible for readers not familiar with certain words and terms used in Pakistan, India and Tibet.