When the Dutch East India Company (VOC) came to Asia, its presence was contingent on relations with Asian polities. Elephant gift-giving was one of the practices the VOC conducted and experienced...Show moreWhen the Dutch East India Company (VOC) came to Asia, its presence was contingent on relations with Asian polities. Elephant gift-giving was one of the practices the VOC conducted and experienced with Asian rulers alongside trade. The VOC acted as a giver and a receiver; it received gift-elephants from Southeast Asian polities plus Kandy and transferred them westward. This study examines the Dutch-Asian elephant diplomacy and sociocultural foundations behind the diplomatic scene during the seventeenth century. It argues that the existing Dutch acknowledgment of elephant gift-giving traditions and imaginations and perceptions of the emblematic elephant facilitated the elephant diplomacy between the VOC and Asian polities. In other words, these mentalities were integral to the commensurability in the Dutch-Asian elephant gift-giving. Furthermore, the case of the emblematic elephant imagined and perceived by the Dutch shows that the seventeenth-century historical change in worldview from emblematic to empirical was more nuanced and not linear.Show less
The Open Deure, published in 1651 in Leiden, is well-known for its detailed account of the society and religious practices of the Brahmins in Pulicat, near modern Chennai. An important element has...Show moreThe Open Deure, published in 1651 in Leiden, is well-known for its detailed account of the society and religious practices of the Brahmins in Pulicat, near modern Chennai. An important element has however been ignored by scholarship: the extensive annotations written by an unknown antiquarian scholar, identified only as A.W. in the preface to the main text. In the annotations A.W. contextualises and ‘translates’ Rogerius’s account into something relevant for a European scholarly audience; this gave the contemporary reader a framework with which to judge Rogerius's descriptions, lacking from the latter's dry and factual observations. The annotations argue for a monistic Neoplatonic understanding of the Brahmins' religious practices which A.W. readily states to bear the same basic truths that can be found in Christianity. On the other hand, his comparative model elevates the Brahmins' religion to a modern understanding of the term. A.W.’s footnotes showcase the larger discourses in Europe and the seventeenth century’s transformation of the concept of ‘religion’ - as well as the birth of comparative religion which accompanied it. The annotations of the Open Deure thus turn out to be integral to the contemporary understanding of Rogerius’s text and should be considered next to the main narrative.Show less
In the decades before the turn of the 19th to the 20th century Dutch writer Maurits Wagenvoort traveled across both the geographical and intellectual landscapes of Europe. Struggling with being an...Show moreIn the decades before the turn of the 19th to the 20th century Dutch writer Maurits Wagenvoort traveled across both the geographical and intellectual landscapes of Europe. Struggling with being an individual within the masses of an ever expanding (literary) world around 1900, Wagenvoort looks up to the modern intellectuals, artist and dreamers of his time. Three of them in particular act as his guides through this modern quest: Walt Whitman, Friedrich Nietzsche and Lev Tolstoj. Although Wagenvoort and his work is often left out in literary histories, why is a cultural history of his wrestle -- and that of his temporaries -- with living in a modern society still relevant for the 21st century?Show less
In 1746 the Dutch East India Company (VOC) launched an invasion of the Rameshvaram island located between Sri Lanka and the Indian mainland. This thesis combines new VOC archival material with...Show moreIn 1746 the Dutch East India Company (VOC) launched an invasion of the Rameshvaram island located between Sri Lanka and the Indian mainland. This thesis combines new VOC archival material with existing literature on the combatants to answer the question what the military conflict reveals about India's balance of power at the dawn of British Raj as well as to show the interesting relationship between the Company and the Setupatis of Ramnad.Show less
In deze scriptie is er onderzocht of Akbar, de leider van het Mogolrijk van 1556-1605, een spiritueel of wereldlijk leider was. Dit aan de hand van de Ain-i Akbari, een werk geschreven door Abul...Show moreIn deze scriptie is er onderzocht of Akbar, de leider van het Mogolrijk van 1556-1605, een spiritueel of wereldlijk leider was. Dit aan de hand van de Ain-i Akbari, een werk geschreven door Abul Fazl wat gaat over de indeling van het MogolrijkShow less
Japan ging een tijdperk van chaos in tijdens 1853, waarbij de eeuwenoude relatie met Nederland ook veranderde. Wat was de rol van het opperhoofd in Japan - Jan Hendrik Donker Curtius - in dit proces?
In dit onderzoek wordt aan de hand van drie casussen, de Turkse veroveraar Timur Lenk, Babur en de Grootmogols van India, en de Delhi Sultans, het fenomeen van schedelpiramides onderzocht in het...Show moreIn dit onderzoek wordt aan de hand van drie casussen, de Turkse veroveraar Timur Lenk, Babur en de Grootmogols van India, en de Delhi Sultans, het fenomeen van schedelpiramides onderzocht in het licht van het debat over geweld in Zuid-Azië. Het idee dat geweld onder de islamitische vorsten van Zuid-Azië veelal anti-hindoe was wordt door het onderzoek naar schedelpiramides onderuitgehaald. In het geval van Amir Timur, Babur en de Grootmogols van India waren de slachtoffers van schedelpiramides even vaak hindoe als moslim. In het geval van de Delhi Sultans leken de schedelpiramides wel religieus gemotiveerd, alleen waren de slachtoffers hier heidense Mongoolse invallers.Show less
Er bestaat veel discussie over de religieuze identiteit van Mughalkeizer Akbar. In dit werkstuk wordt die identiteit onderzocht aan de hand van een analyse van het begrip moslim en hoe Akbars...Show moreEr bestaat veel discussie over de religieuze identiteit van Mughalkeizer Akbar. In dit werkstuk wordt die identiteit onderzocht aan de hand van een analyse van het begrip moslim en hoe Akbars tijdgenoten hier tegenover stonden.Show less
A study of the robes of honour handed out by Safavid emperors to European guests at the Safavid court. This study seeks to clarify how much of the meaning behind these khil'ats the Europeans really...Show moreA study of the robes of honour handed out by Safavid emperors to European guests at the Safavid court. This study seeks to clarify how much of the meaning behind these khil'ats the Europeans really understood.Show less
Study into the worldview reflected by the genres of emblem books, hieroglyphs and impresa during the Renaissance. After an analysis of current theories, a new view, describing the conversion of the...Show moreStudy into the worldview reflected by the genres of emblem books, hieroglyphs and impresa during the Renaissance. After an analysis of current theories, a new view, describing the conversion of the three genres, is proposed and followed by its illustration consisting of an analysis of different editions of Claude Paradin his 'Devise héroïques'.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
Before Tokugawa Bakufu collapsed in the 1868, the Dutch was the only European officially permitted by both Tokugawa Japan and Qing China to establish a trading post and settlement in their most...Show moreBefore Tokugawa Bakufu collapsed in the 1868, the Dutch was the only European officially permitted by both Tokugawa Japan and Qing China to establish a trading post and settlement in their most important maritime trading centre: Nagasaki and Canton. Under a series of restrictions implemented by the local authority over maritime trade with foreign countries and interactions between the Europeans and local inhabitants, merely a little amount of local civilians had the opportunity to interact with the Dutch. There were both officially permitted and secretly conducted interactions between the Dutch and local inhabitants in the two cities. The aim of this paper is to explore these seemingly minor and unimportant interactions between the two parties, with three groups of local inhabitants in Nagasaki and Canton, namely boatmen, interpreters, and women being the main focus. In doing so, we will see how both the Dutch and local inhabitants in these two East Asian cities managed to fulfil their needs and benefit from each other under restrictions of the authority and the state power.Show less
The Tarikh-i Alfi or “History of One Thousand Years- a Millennium” was commissioned by the Mughal Emperor Akbar in the year 990/1582. The task was to compile a history of the world from the death...Show moreThe Tarikh-i Alfi or “History of One Thousand Years- a Millennium” was commissioned by the Mughal Emperor Akbar in the year 990/1582. The task was to compile a history of the world from the death of Prophet Muhammad in 632 C.E down to Akbar’s reign and it was undertaken by a group of well-known scholars of his court. The book was to commemorate the completion of the first Islamic millennium, which occurred in 1592. It was designed to be superior in scope and contents over all other historical works that had been ever compiled. It was planned to include the history of all Muslim rulers from the day the Prophet passed away, to analyzing reasons of their rise and fall. Nonetheless, it was not limited to Muslim rulers, but also encompassed all other people, who came in contact with them. Hence, this makes the book more than simply a history of Mughals, Muslim rulers, or a certain region, but rather the history of the world for the one thousand years from 632 till 1592.Show less
Aan de hand van de Generale Missiven geeft de scriptie een beeld bij de beweegredenen van de Hoge Regering bij hun militaire ingrijpen in Makassar en Bantam eind zeventiende eeuw. De scriptie...Show moreAan de hand van de Generale Missiven geeft de scriptie een beeld bij de beweegredenen van de Hoge Regering bij hun militaire ingrijpen in Makassar en Bantam eind zeventiende eeuw. De scriptie concludeert dat de interventies geen onderdeel van een vooropgestelde strategie waren, maar ongepland waren. De veroveringen waren reluctant imperialism als gevolg van het beleid uit de jaren 1620.Show less
This thesis at one level examines how and why were the European doctors as ‘outsiders’ able to make an impression on the aristocratic elites in the Mughal court? And at another level, it...Show moreThis thesis at one level examines how and why were the European doctors as ‘outsiders’ able to make an impression on the aristocratic elites in the Mughal court? And at another level, it investigates the direct relationship between cross-cultural medical favors and the advantages doctors gained by offering their services. Did such intercessions by doctors’ yield only the much-desired trade concessions like farmans to the trading companies in which these medical men were employed and represented as ambassadors in the courts or something more especially in terms of monetary gains such as money, an enviable position at the court or other benefits?Show less
