Chapter 4, Part 25 “As soon as I stepped out of the hotel, beggars swarmed around me,” my aunt recalled. “You think the buses in Indonesia are full, you should see the ones in Kolkata!” my cousin added. They were in India’s third largest city […]
All posts tagged: colonialism
Bangkok and the Anglo-French Tug of War
Chapter 4, Part 22 In Mainland Southeast Asia, Ayutthaya was one of the most powerful kingdoms the region had ever seen. Established in the 14th century in what is now Thailand, it lasted for more than four centuries until its rival to the west – […]
Mandalay and the Last Burmese Kingdom
Chapter 4, Part 20 Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, is a land that gave birth to great kings who ruled some of the mightiest empires in the history of Southeast Asia. Anawrahta established the first Burmese empire in the 11th century, a regional power that […]
Nyaung Shwe: A Town on the Edge
Chapter 4, Part 19 On a clear Monday morning in the town of Nyaung Shwe in Central Myanmar, James and I walked to the north along a country road with Tharzi Pond to its right and paddy fields to the left. Just out of town, […]
George Town’s Light and Shadow
Chapter 4, Part 17 The 19th century in South Asia. It was a period of time in history when the British consolidated their colonial possessions in the Indian subcontinent. What started out as mere trade missions in the early 17th century, became a vast colonial […]
Thanjavur and the Doctrine of Lapse
Chapter 4, Part 16 Once South and Southeast Asia were lands where Hindu and Buddhist kingdoms and empires, and later Islamic sultanates, conquered one another not only to exert their dominance, but also to control the lucrative spice trade in the region. Then the Europeans […]
Run for Manhattan
Chapter 4, Part 8 Among the remote islands of the Bandas, Run (Rhun) is situated at the westernmost corner of the chain, some two hours away by a small boat from Banda Neira – the most populated of the Banda Islands. Like its sisters to […]
Islands that Changed the World: Ternate & Tidore
Chapter 4, Part 4 As the Age of Discovery began in the 15th century, Portugal and Castille (Spain) sent a large number of maritime missions to seek direct sea route from Europe to India and the fabled Spice Islands, as well as to discover lands […]
Macau: the World’s Last Portuguese Colony
Chapter 4, Part 3 Two years after the Portuguese conquest of Malacca in 1511, Jorge Álvares sailed to the Far East and became the first Portuguese to ever set foot in China – at the Pearl River Delta to be precise. However, it took another […]
Malacca: The Gateway to East Asia
Chapter 4, Part 2 At the turn of the 16th century, the Portuguese significantly increased their presence around the Indian Ocean by conquering strategic ports in the region. It was Afonso de Albuquerque, by the order of King Manuel I of Portugal, who led naval […]
Divide et Impera: From Borobudur to Vredeburg
When I learned history at school, there was one particular maxim that was repeatedly mentioned in various topics on the histories of nations around the world. Familiarized by Julius Caesar as the strategy used by the Roman Empire to conquer other nations, it was later […]
What an Amazing World! 