Peter Borschberg

“Ethnicity, Language and Culture in Malacca during the Transition from Portuguese to Dutch Rule, c. 1641-50” (Draft January 2010)

This paper examines the fall of Melaka against a close reading of VOC materials. Apart from accounting for the destruction of Portuguese cultural heritage, I am interested in the origins of cultural policies, esp. language and religion.

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Drafts & Lecture Downloads

Download  lectures on power point or also drafts of forthcoming articles, chapters and conference papers. You are welcome to comment on any of these, but PLEASE DO NOT quote from the drafts without prior permission.

“The Strait of Melaka Contextualised, c. 13th—21st Century”

This short paper was delivered at the conference “The Baltic Sea and South China Sea Regions” in February 2010 under a different title.

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“Fictitious Strait and Imagined Island: ‘Singapura’ in the Late Sixteenth and Early Seventeenth Century” (Draft, December 2005)

This paper explores toponyms and a range of early modern cartographical phenomena from the late Middle Ages to the middle of the 17th century.

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“Grocio y la Teoría del Contracto Social. Un Estudio sobre  las Inéditas Theses LVI” (Draft article, in Spanish)

This article was written in Spanish for a conference in 1997 and remains in its present form unpublished. It forms the basis of a more comprehensive study prepared and published in English in 2006.

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“Tomé Pires Revisited. The Primacy and Dangers of Tomé Pires as a Source for Colonial and Southeast Asian History” (2009)

This is a powerpoint presentation highlighting critiquing the manuscripts of the Suma Oriental and highlighting the need for more text-critical analysis of this important work.

 

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“Domingo de Soto’s Relectio de Dominio (Relection on Dominium), 1535”

 

This is a draft English translation of this important Salmantino text prepared by Dr. Philip H. Burton and myself in 1995.

 

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The Planned “Mega Merger”: the VOC and the EIC (c.1612-1619) (2009)

This powerpoint lecture takes a look at the discussion for a merger of the two great East India Companies, the Dutch and the English, after 1612.

 

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The Politics of Deception: Spain and Portugal in Southeast Asia (2009)

This is a powerpoint presentation examines the role of 16th century cartography in projecting political and economic claims over India, Southeast Asia and beyond.

 

 

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The Fall of Malacca (1511): New Insights form Unfamiliar Sources (2009)

This powerpoint lecture explores the value of John of Empoli’s Letters for the fall of Malacca and the transition of the city to Portuguese colonial rule.

 

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“’With a Little Help from my Friends’. Elite Collaboration in Portuguese Asia” (2009)

This powerpoint lecture explores the role of different types of collaborators in the early phase of Portuguese expansion in Southeast Asia.

 

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“Raja Bongsu’s ‘Liaisons Dangereuses’”  (2008)

This is a powerpoint lecture was presented in December 2008 before the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society in Kuala Lumpur. On the basis of generally unfamiliar Portuguese and Dutch source materials it reconstructs the immediate backdrop to the origins of the Johor-Dutch alliance (1603-6) and the writing of the Sejarah Melayu (c.1612-15)

 

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The “Academic Debate” over the Freedom of Navigation: Fallacies and Pitfalls  (2009)

This is a powerpoint lectures explores the composition and reception of Hugo Grotius’ Mare Liberum through the centuries. The question just is: What does Grotius actually say? Written and presented on the occasion of the 400th anniversary of the publication of Grotius’ Mare Liberum (1606)

 

 

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