This thesis is primarily a study of George Baldwin (1743/4-1824), a British merchant and diplomat, and his efforts in developing an overland route through Egypt in the last decades of the...Show moreThis thesis is primarily a study of George Baldwin (1743/4-1824), a British merchant and diplomat, and his efforts in developing an overland route through Egypt in the last decades of the eighteenth century. The significance of the Egyptian overland route in this period has often been overlooked when compared to the later overland mail established by Thomas Waghorn in the 1830s and the Suez Canal. This thesis will provide a reassessment of the overland route’s commercial and geopolitical significance to the British Empire during the period of George Baldwin’s two residencies in Egypt; first as a merchant (1775-1779) and then as the first British Consul-General to Egypt (1786-1798). The growing realisation of the route’s strategic significance by British policymakers, like Henry Dundas, predates the Napoleonic Expedition and will be examined in relation to Baldwin’s consular appointment in 1786. The commercial value of the route will be assessed by looking at the private trade of Baldwin and his associates during both residencies and is something that casts doubt on the traditional view that the Middle East experienced commercial decline in this period. Most significantly, this thesis will focus on the strategic importance of the route to the British position in India. The significance of Egypt increased as the East India Company transitioned into a territorial power in 1770s and 1780s. This meant that Baldwin’s role was a strategic necessity; something shown by a series of case studies on the sieges of Pondicherry in 1778 and 1793 as well as the transfer of Ceylon to the British in 1796.Show less
In this interdisciplinary thesis, I use history and anthropology to research the influence of migration history on the identity construct of Hindostani people in the Netherlands. The work is...Show moreIn this interdisciplinary thesis, I use history and anthropology to research the influence of migration history on the identity construct of Hindostani people in the Netherlands. The work is anthropological because I created data by interviewing 23 participants about their lives and experiences, and historical because I used a framework of scholars who have researched the complex fields of identity, colonialism, migration, and transnational history or have specifically researched Hindostani people and their history. Combining these datasets, I present a case study that goes in depth to find out what the influence of colonial migration is on Hindostani people in a ‘postcolonial’ society such as the Netherlands. The conclusion is a careful but meaningful one, as it offers insights into both the people I interviewed and the society in which they live. This study shows that identity is so complex and personal that migration history has divergent meaning and effect on the lives of individual Hindostanis, so that even pointers such as age and gender cannot indicate the importance of that history to a Hindostani person. The only exception to this was religion, as religious participants ascribed more meaning to their migration history. Their history played a large part in the constructing of their identity and in the raising of their children. Lastly, I argue that both interdisciplinary and microhistory, even though small-scale, are key to historical research, especially of colonial history, by creating data and writing with the people who are the embodiment of that history.Show less
Deze scriptie onderzoekt de opvolgingspraktijk in Mughal-India tussen 1500 en 1630 en vergelijkt deze praktijk met de opvolgingspraktijk in vier verwante rijken: dat van de Mongolen, de Timuriden,...Show moreDeze scriptie onderzoekt de opvolgingspraktijk in Mughal-India tussen 1500 en 1630 en vergelijkt deze praktijk met de opvolgingspraktijk in vier verwante rijken: dat van de Mongolen, de Timuriden, de Safawiden en de Osmanen. Er wordt betoogd dat de meeste van de rijken een ontwikkelend opvolgingssysteem kenden, doordat de nadruk op de doorslaggevende factoren voor het praktisch verloop van een opvolging veranderde. Naar voren komt dat in alle rijken de factoren afstamming, aanwijzing, verkiezing en strijd van belang waren voor de invulling van het opvolgingssysteem. Voor de bestudeerde rijken geld ook dat de (op elkaar inwerkende) invloed van de islam en Turks-Mongoolse traditie, belangrijk waren voor de vorm die de opvolging kreeg. De analyse stoelt vooral op primaire bronnen voor het onderzoek naar Mughal-India en op secundaire bronnen met betrekking tot de verwante rijken. Hierbij biedt Jack Goody's opvolgingstheorie een kader aan de hand waarvan de ontwikkeling van de opvolgingssystemen wordt beschreven. Daarnaast is er specifieke aandacht voor de rol die de vrouwen van de dynastieën hadden met betrekking tot de vorming en verandering van de opvolgingssystemen. Uit het onderzoek blijkt dat de vrouwelijke invloed soms van doorslaggevend belang kon zijn voor de verandering van een opvolgingssysteem.Show less
The cholera epidemic of 1902-1904 in Manila shares striking similarities with the outbreak of plague in Bombay in 1896, particularly in the colonial responses of the American and British...Show moreThe cholera epidemic of 1902-1904 in Manila shares striking similarities with the outbreak of plague in Bombay in 1896, particularly in the colonial responses of the American and British governments respectively. The heavily interventionist and militarist sanitary methods used by each power were masked by the façade of scientific neutrality and colonial efficiency, but each regime encountered resistance to their policies from the Filipino and Indian populations. This thesis explores and compares the plague and cholera epidemics, with an emphasis on what made each outbreak unique within its own context, and on their similarities despite the perceived difference between each colonial power. At the core of this thesis is the question of how colonial governance and indigenous responses to it were conceptualised in the context of the disease epidemics. An analysis of official government accounts of each epidemic demonstrates that, despite their claims to the contrary, colonial thinking and discrimination always undermined the scientific values that the British and American regimes so often espoused.Show less
This thesis focuses on the acculturation of European mercenaries in the armies of Post-Mughal successor states at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th century. The thesis takes William...Show moreThis thesis focuses on the acculturation of European mercenaries in the armies of Post-Mughal successor states at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th century. The thesis takes William Dalrymple's "White Mughals" as a departure point and uses sources left behind by the mercenaries to test his hypothesis that these mercenaries generally acculturated into the societies of the post-Mughal successor states. However, through the analysis of these sources, this thesis argues that there was no acculturation to the degree Dalrymple argued present. Moreover, this thesis argues that there was an active segregation from Indians by most of the mercenaries, with an economic motive.Show less
In de 17e en 18e eeuw voerde de Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie handel op de Malabarkust. De belangrijkste reden waarom ze in dit gebied handel dreven was de grote hoeveelheid peper van...Show moreIn de 17e en 18e eeuw voerde de Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie handel op de Malabarkust. De belangrijkste reden waarom ze in dit gebied handel dreven was de grote hoeveelheid peper van hoogwaardige kwaliteit waar deze organisatie een monopoliepositie over probeerde te verkrijgen. Om dit streven te bewerkstelligen was het voor de Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie noodzakelijk om goede relaties te onderhouden met de vier grote rijken in dit gebied (en met name het rijk Cochin) en de grote hoeveelheid kleinere rijken in dit gebied. De heersers van deze rijken hadden echter vaak een ander idee over hun relatie met de Compagnie waardoor er vaak onderlinge verschillen waren tussen de verschillende partijen. Op de problematiek in dit gebied worden theorieen zoals de theatre state, segmented state en de patrimonial state op los gelaten waardoor er een beter beeld naar voren komt van de verschillen in optiek van de verschillende partijen.Show less
This thesis studies a seventeenth-century Dutch travel account titled Vervarelyke schip-breuk van‘T Oost-Indisch Jacht Ter Schelling written by Frans Jansz. van der Heiden. The book was first...Show moreThis thesis studies a seventeenth-century Dutch travel account titled Vervarelyke schip-breuk van‘T Oost-Indisch Jacht Ter Schelling written by Frans Jansz. van der Heiden. The book was first published in 1675 and had numerous editions between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries. Van der Heiden was a Dutch East India Company sailor made his journey to India in 1661. His journey was an unlucky one: within few days of his departture from Batavia, the former principle trading settlement of the Dutch east India Company, their ship Ter Schelling encountered a terrible hurricane and subsequently the author and his shipmates got shipwrecked on the coast of Bay of Bengal. After endured so many plights they managed to reach an island of Bengal. But Van der Heiden and his shipmate’s bad luck did not end there. In the course of the journey they had to join the Mughal army as conscripted soldiers and served the army for fifteen months. However, this fateful journey enabled Van der Heiden to visit some parts of eastern and north eastern India that is, Bengal, Assam and it’s neighbouring regions. During his journey he experienced the local culture, religion and society. He also made a close observation of the Mughal army and warfare. Upon his return home Van der Heiden published his book based on his travel experience. The book was written in a popular style of the period which offers sensational description of his journey and practical and real information of the areas he visited. The book has so far been largely neglected by scholars. Some scholars discard the importance of the book terming it as fictitious and unreal. They argue that the book does not provide real, interiesing and new information on Asia. The thesis demonstrates that apart from its sensational description,Vervarelyke schip-breuk van‘T Oost-Indisch Jacht Ter Schelling provides real, important and new information on Asia, particularly India, which can be used by the historians writing on these regions. The thesis shows that the book provides information on the Mughal army and Mughal warfare which very few European and even Asian sources could supply. Apart from army and warfare the book gives valuable information on the rural economy and life of ‘subaltern’ people of these regions which may offer a new perspective in studying the early modern history of India.Show less
