Understanding the World: Encounters in Southeast Asia, 1500-1900

This event brings together historians Zhiyù Chén, Mika Hyman, Daniel Margocsy and Alexander van Dijk from the Department of History and Philosophy at the University of Cambridge to discuss how Chinese, European, Filipino and Indonesian communities pictured, preserved, mapped and discussed the landscapes of Southeast Asia during the period of rapid colonisation and globalisation between 1500-1900.

A region of immense fascination ever since Antiquity, this area witnessed many violent encounters during the early modern and modern eras, as Europeans vied with other communities to establish a monopoly trade in spices, staples and natural resources. These four centuries saw a massive transformation of Southeast Asia. American plants, such as the pineapple, became a well-established presence across the islands and the mainland. Teak forests quickly disappeared and then were replanted because of the shipbuilding industry's immense and even increasing demand for timber. Absent from the region in 1500, Europeans became the dominant colonial power by 1900 later through violent encounters and wars.

In four quick snapshots, the speakers offer insights into the development of science, technology and medicine in the region during these four hundred years. How did European and Chinese cartographers attempt to map Southeast Asia? How was the biodiversity of the Philippines documented across the centuries? How was this region perceived as a sacred space by different communities? And what maritime technologies were needed to travel across this region? During the span of just one hour, we will discuss all of these topics, and much more.