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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.

 

Talk by Zhǐyù Chén, Mika Hyman, Daniel Margocsy and Alexander van Dijk.

Booking is not required. Free - drop in.

Date: 
Thursday, 27 March, 2025 - 13:00
Event location: 
Whipple Museum of the History of Science, Free School Lane, CB2 3RH

Opening Times

We are regularly open five days a week, 12.30 - 16:30.

And now open the third Saturday of every month!

Monday 12.30 - 16:30

Tuesday 12.30 - 16:30

Wednesday 12.30 - 16:30

Thursday 12.30 - 16:30

Friday 12.30 - 16:30

Selected Saturdays 10.00 - 16.00

 

Early May and Spring Bank Holidays 2025
Please note that we will be closed on Monday 5 May and Monday 26 May for the Bank Holidays.