Early Modern Colonialism in the Asia-Pacific Region
Part of: Society for Historical Archaeology 2014
The study of early modern colonialism in the Asia-Pacific region is highly significant for re-thinking Global History, as historians are highlighting the region’s relevance in the transformation of global economy through its role in far-reaching trade networks. Thus, the important role of non-Angloamerican colonial agents (such as the Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch and others before 1800 C.E.) in the shaping of early modern colonialism is also being pointed out. Archaeology can and needs to make a contribution to this topic. This may be through, amongst others, the study of consumption patterns, environmental effects, demographic impacts, transformation of gender systems brought about by contact, role of material culture in these first colonial endeavours, and specifically, the important evidence that historical and maritime archaeology can provide. A history-archaeology joint collaboration is required in order to find new lines of evidence and and argumentation that enrich this topic.
Resources Inside This Collection (Viewing 1-10 of 10)
- Documents (10)
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Chinese Trade Networks and Material Culture’s Role in Cultural Change and Continuity around the Pacific Rim in the Nineteenth Century (2014)
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The Chinese Diaspora around the Pacific Rim in the Nineteenth and early Twentieth Century created an interconnection between Chinese Communities around the Pacific in the late 1800’s. This interaction is particularly obvious in the material cultural remains evident in Nineteenth Century Chinese Sites. The material culture left by Chinese immigrants that settled in Fiji, New Zealand, Tahiti, Chile, Panama, Wyoming on the surface appears remarkably similar. The cultural change that occurred is...
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Colonialism in Southeast Asia in the late pre-modern period (2014)
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Colonialism takes two overlapping forms: settler colonialism where large, or small scale, migration of people creates colonies in places with a pre-existing population and exploitation colonialism where small groups of people established trading posts which controlled economic, cultural and political, power. Colonialism can be established either by aggressive means ‘ by warfare, invasion and conquest ‘ or by passive means through gaining control of the economic, ideological or political power...
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Domestic Trade Networks of Medieval Japan’s Seto Inland Sea (2014)
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This paper will discuss ongoing research into the flow of both goods and people in medieval (14th ‘ 16th centuries) Japan’s Seto Inland Sea area. Prior to colonialism and contact with the West, there was already a complex, well-developed maritime network in place within Japan that has received little attention. Understanding the extent of the domestic trade network reveals the thriving trade between communities within the Inland Sea, in conjunction with the better-known court-centric tribute and...
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Fresh Light on Drake and Company’s Sojourn on the West Coast of America in 1579 (2014)
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The Drake Anchorage Research Collaboration (DARC) is revisiting the question of where on the west coast of North America Drake and Company careened the Golden Hinde and camped for five weeks during the summer of 1579. Though Drake’s logs and charts are lost, we have several contemporary accounts and documents that provide a picture of conditions at the landing. Drake and company built an enclosed camp on the shore and spent 37 days repairing their ship and preparing for the voyage across the...
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The Impact of the First Spanish Conquest on the Indigenous population in the Philippines (16th-18th centuries) (2014)
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Every discovery, conquest and colonization, involves a transformation in societies which are the mark of these processes. Philippines, in that sense, was no exception. Its discovery by Iberian nautas occurred during the first voyage of circumnavigation around the globe (1519-1522). But his conquest was initiated until many decades later.If the study of this phenomenon may provide numerous possibilities for reflection, not least provides the detailed analysis of the impact on this first...
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Jesuits at the Margins: Missions and Missionaries in the Mariana Islands (1668-1769) (2014)
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In the past decades historians have interpreted early modern Christian missions not simply as an adjunct to Western imperialism, but a privileged field for cross-cultural encounters. Placing the Jesuit missions into a global phenomenon that emphasizes economic and cultural relations between Europe and the East, I want to analyze the possibilities and limitations of the religious conversion in the Micronesian islands of Guam and the Marianas. With the establishment of these missions Guam and the...
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Local, regional and global connections of San Salvador de Kelang, a Castilian enclave in northern Taiwan (2014)
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Restoration of a complex way of making history about the Spanish presence in Taiwan, using both archaeological and documentary evidence, entails establishing a dialogue between this evidence and different interpretive scenarios. The particular singularity of a colonial location is meaningful as far as it is projected against the background of potential different narratives, in which it can play a more or less central role. A first fundamental analysis must examine the local sphere, the...
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San Salvador de Kelang, Heping Dao, Taiwan (1626-1642): archaeology of Spanish early colonialism (2014)
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Archaeological interventions in the location of the former Spanish colony in Taiwan have been carried out since 2011. We aim to contrast and enlarge the information provided by existing documents, and to understand not only the colony and its multiethnic microcosmos, but also the general historical context of 17th century Asia-Pacific.
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A ‘Stepping Stone’ of Spanish Colonialism in the Western Pacific: The Mariana Islands (2014)
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The role of the Manila Galleon in linking the economies and cultures of Asia, the Americas, and Europe has long been studied through the historical analysis of documentary records. Although documentary sources are vital to such studies, archaeology is necessary to fully understand the material consequences of early modern colonialism. This presentation examines an emerging body of archaeological evidence on the nature and consequences of Spanish colonialism in the Mariana Islands, an...
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When ‘early’ modern colonialism comes late: Historical archaeology in Vanuatu (2014)
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Early Modern world history is often framed in terms of a span of years, typically 1400-1800 CE. During this time, major transformations occurred in world environments, economies, religions, and societies. Yet from a regional perspective, these broad trends are often countered by evidence for local dynamics that are divergent from the grander sweep of history. This was certainly true in Remote Oceania, where colonial encounters were mostly few and far between prior to the later part of the 18th...