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
This thesis tries to demonstrate the value of reading primary sources within the context of their cultural history instead of interpretting them through a modern day lense. It did so by stuyding...Show moreThis thesis tries to demonstrate the value of reading primary sources within the context of their cultural history instead of interpretting them through a modern day lense. It did so by stuyding the works of Ibn Battuta and Ma Huan two writers of travelogues from distinctly different cultures that both traveled around the Indian Ocean prior to the arrival of Europeans in the region.Show less
This thesis examines the motives behind the Dutch East India Company’s decision to enter a relationship with Buton sultanate, a small sultanate in the eastern Archipelago of Indonesia. The analysis...Show moreThis thesis examines the motives behind the Dutch East India Company’s decision to enter a relationship with Buton sultanate, a small sultanate in the eastern Archipelago of Indonesia. The analysis focuses on the seventeenth-century East Indonesia as this period was considered crucial for the Company’s objectives in reinforcing their power and influence in the spice-producing region. To achieve the objectives, the Company needed more than just a military excellence because at the time they also dealt with strong opponent such as Makassar. As a result, the Company designed a strategy to overcome the challenge in which Buton, together with Ternate and Bone, became a part of it although the VOC’s sources identified Buton as not profitable. To answer the research question, this thesis investigated the Butonese materials and the VOC’s materials those were found in the Netherlands. The effort to bring together these sources is an attempt to understand the Butonese and the Company’s perspectives and to see whether their perspectives aligned or distinct with one another. Regarding this issue, this study shows that the Butonese materials and the VOC materials were never in harmony. As the Butonese considered the Company as their “dear friends” throughout the seventeenth century, the Company did not seem to share the same idea.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
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
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
Philosophers have long noted the striking similarities between the metaphysics in Hume's Treatise of Human Nature and certain aspects of Buddhist doctrine. More recently, Alison Gopnik (2009) has...Show morePhilosophers have long noted the striking similarities between the metaphysics in Hume's Treatise of Human Nature and certain aspects of Buddhist doctrine. More recently, Alison Gopnik (2009) has also claimed to have discovered a possible historical link between Hume and Buddhist thought. This study looks at both the philosophical parallels and the historical evidence, such as Gopnik's claims regarding Hume's interaction with the Jesuits of La Flèche, but also the influence of Pierre Bayle, as well as Hume's familiarity with Sextus Empiricus' Outlines of Pyrrhonism, a book from the 2nd century which may in turn have been influenced by early Buddhist ideas. Despite the significant philosophical parallels and the possibility of Buddhist influence on Hume, the study concludes that the evidence is too sparse, too weak, and too circumstantial to claim that Hume was influenced by Buddhism.Show less
Here I shall analyze Shah Jahan’s imperial narrative on the basis of these two sources: Padshahnama and the Taj Mahal. I have chosen to do so for a number of reasons. Firstly both of these were...Show moreHere I shall analyze Shah Jahan’s imperial narrative on the basis of these two sources: Padshahnama and the Taj Mahal. I have chosen to do so for a number of reasons. Firstly both of these were expressions of the imperial narrative which were closely monitored by Shah Jahan. They were as personal a source we have from the reserved emperor. Secondly the two contrast nicely with each other. As an official chronicle the Padshahnama was expected to be used as a propaganda piece. This meant that the impact of it as an expression of the imperial narrative could be limited. The Taj on the other hand was a tomb, a controversial building in both Islamic and Indian tradition as we shall see below. By making this into an expression of the imperial narrative Shah Jahan showed that nothing was beyond its grasp and by extension his own. Thus the impact of the Taj could be much greater.Show less
Tussen 1811 en 1816 wordt Java bestuurd door Thomas Stamford Raffles, een periode die het Brits tussenbestuur wordt genoemd. Door de tijd heen verwerft Raffles een zeer positieve reputatie als...Show moreTussen 1811 en 1816 wordt Java bestuurd door Thomas Stamford Raffles, een periode die het Brits tussenbestuur wordt genoemd. Door de tijd heen verwerft Raffles een zeer positieve reputatie als wetenschapper-staatsman vanwege zijn vermeende humanitaire hervormingen, zijn bevrijding van het Javaanse volk en zijn wetenschappelijke werk. Maar er zijn ook tegengeluiden van auteurs die vinden dat dit beeld niet terecht is. De onderzoeksvraag is: Waaraan heeft Raffles het te danken dat zijn goede imago, grenzend aan heldendom, de boventoon blijft voeren? Geven Raffles' hervormingen voldoende grond hiervoor of is hij tot een held gemaakt? Als methode wordt de Nederlandse bestuursambtenaar Nicolaus Engelhard, die een negatieve reputatie heeft, als contrapunt naast Raffles gezet. Het eerste deel van de studie geeft de achtergronden in Europa en op Java en een korte biografische schets van Raffles en Engelhard. Hieruit blijkt dat de achtergrond van beide mannen vergelijkbaar is op twee punten na. Ten eerste promoot Raffles zijn eigen reputatie in zijn boek The History of Java. Engelhard schrijft een boek tegen het bestuur van Gouverneur-generaal Daendels waarin hij zichzelf juist als oudgast portretteert. Ten tweede maakt Raffles deel uit van het Britse Rijk dat sterk in opkomst is en trots is op de nieuwe koloniën, terwijl het slecht gaat met Nederland en de VOC failliet is gegaan. In het tweede deel van de studie is een analyse uitgevoerd op de drie hoofdpunten waar Raffles om wordt geroemd. Raffles de hervormer, bevrijder en wetenschapper. Uit deze drie hoofdstukken komt naar voren dat Raffles wel hervormingen heeft doorgevoerd maar dat deze minder groot en humanitair lijken te zijn dan men uit sommige literatuur zou afleiden. Ook is het Raffles niet goed gelukt om de bevolking te bevrijden van hun herendiensten. Raffles' wetenschappelijke werk lijkt vooral gebaseerd op kennis en geschriften van anderen. Engelhard blijkt ook al gepleit te hebben voor soortgelijke hervormingen en de bevrijding van het Javaanse volk. Engelhard was echter niet bij machte om deze veranderingen door te voeren en het bewind in Nederland blokkeerde grote bestuurshervormingen vanwege de oorlogsdreiging. Al met al lijkt het erop dat Raffles' reputatie niet alleen gebaseerd is op zijn bestuur maar dat zijn imago mede is opgebouwd door gebruikmaking van biografische manipulaties. De meeste biografieën gaan terug op Raffles' eigen boek, de Memoir van zijn vrouw Sophia of de eerste biografie van Boulger. Deze werken zijn niet neutraal maar zoeken naar erkenning voor Raffles' bestuur in Engeland. In de biografieën worden een aantal technieken gebruikt die Raffles positieve imago naar voren doen komen. De goede daden van Raffles worden benadrukt en zijn meer dubieuze handelingen en het feit dat hij via patronage in zijn functie wordt geholpen, worden meestal niet of slechts kort genoemd. Vaak wordt dit dan gevolgd door een opmerking die Raffles verdedigd. Ook John Bastin, de expert op het gebied van Raffles en het Britse tussenbestuur, sluit zijn gedegen wetenschappelijke werk vaak af met een positieve opmerking over Raffles bestuur. Door Raffles’ positieve imago steeds te herhalen wordt dit een waarheid op zichzelf. Met de reputatie van Engelhard gebeurt hetzelfde maar dan in negatieve zin. Voor veel schrijvers staat Engelhards corruptie en zelfverrijking vast en iedere positieve actie wordt doorgaans gevolgd door een negatieve uitlating van de auteurs. Klaarblijkelijk hangt het beeld van beide mannen nauw samen met de opkomst dan wel ondergang van de natie waar zij toe behoren. Zo blijkt Raffles een winnaar en Engelhard een verliezer van de geschiedenis te zijn geworden.Show less
