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Lecture

Land or sea? Alternative routes to colonialism in Asia and Africa

Add to calendar 2023-04-27 17:00 2023-04-27 19:00 Europe/Rome Land or sea? Alternative routes to colonialism in Asia and Africa Hybrid (Villa Salviati, Sala del Consiglio, and via Zoom) YYYY-MM-DD
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When

27 April 2023

17:00 - 19:00 CEST

Where

Hybrid (Villa Salviati, Sala del Consiglio, and via Zoom)

Organised by

Opening lecture of CAPASIA – The Asian Origins of Global Capitalism project

The talk confronts an anomaly in the history of European colonialism in Asia and Africa, namely that prior to the eighteenth century, European power was negligible compared to interior states. Typically, historians of colonialism stress either the pursuit of political opportunism or the combatting of political threats to explain how European seaborne power became terrestrial. Drawing on examples from South and Southeast Asia, this talk instead asks whether the control of the sea sustained campaigns inland. Evidence suggests three locational advantages were prerequisites: a stable supply of food and water, relatively easy transportation access into the interior, and agglomeration prospects.

Please register to get a seat or the Zoom link. For those participating in person, a small reception will follow the lecture.

This project receives funding from the European Union's Horizon Europe Research and Innovation programme under the ERC grant agreement No 101054345.

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