Philippe Beaujard is the Emeritus Research Director of CNRS and a member of the World History Association and of the team Institu des Mondes Africains (Imaf) at Paris 1. His research since 1997 focuses on a history of the Indian Ocean before the 16th century, repositioned in the context of the Old World. He seeks to grasp the processes of old globalization, studying the history of plants cultivated in the Indian Ocean before the arrival of Europeans, linguistic research on the Malagasy language, and research on the Arabic-Malagasy manuscripts Southeast of Madagascar. This research led to the publication of a book in two volumes in 2012 The Indian Ocean worlds Flight. 1: From the formation of the state in the first Afro-Eurasian world system (4th millennium BC J.-C.-6th century AD..) and Flight. 2: The Indian Ocean of globs of the Old World.