For people nowadays, the constant exchange of people, goods and ideas and their interaction across wide distances are a part of everyday life. However, such encounters and interregional links are by no means only a recent phenomenon, although the forms they have taken in the course of history have varied. It goes without saying that travel to distant regions was spurred by various interests, first and foremost economic and imperialist policies, which reached an initial climax around 1500 with the European expansion to the Americas and into the Indian Ocean. The motivations of European travellers for venturing to the regions of maritime and mainland Southeast Asia, which are the focus of the studies presented here, were manifold, ranging from the pursuit of power, commercial exploitation, intellectual curiosity and the aspiration to proselytize among indigenous people.This book adds to existing knowledge on travel, travel experiences and travel writing by Europeans in mainland and insular Southeast Asia from the 16th to the 21st century, based on specific case studies. Moreover, it demonstrates how Europeans perceived religion in the region presently known as Southeast Asia. Working on the assumption that many of the European traders, seafarers, explorers and administrators arriving in Southeast Asia came as Christians, convinced of the superiority of their religion, the contributors to this volume analyse their encounters with Muslims, who had been their long-standing enemies in the Mediterranean, and with Hindus, Buddhists, and adherents of local religions. They involve themselves closely with the travelogues and the role of religions therein, and, in doing so, reveal the ways in which religion influenced the travellers’ understanding of societies in maritime and mainland Southeast Asia. The volume explores a number of questions, including: How did European travellers perceive religion in different regions of Southeast Asia in different historical periods? How did the administrators, the missionaries, the natural historians and the explorers position themselves vis-à-vis Islam and Buddhism on Java and in Siam? And what do travel accounts tell us about the way Southeast Asian people perceived the Europeans?
Monika Arnez is Assistant Professor for Austronesian Languages and Cultures at the University of Hamburg. Her research interests are in the areas of cultural productions, gender, Islam and the environment. Her publications include Shifting Notions of Nature and Environmentalism in Indonesian Islam (2014), Repräsentationen von Moral und Sexualität in literarischen Texten der malaiischen Welt (2011) and Empowering Women Through Islam: Fatayat NU between Tradition and Change (2010).Jürgen Sarnowsky teaches medieval history at the University of Hamburg. His publications cover medieval intellectual history, the military orders, England, and the Hanseatic League, and include Amtsbücher des Deutschen Ordens um 1450. Pflegeamt zu Seehesten und Vogtei zu Leipe (2015) and Die Erkundung der Welt. Die großen Entdeckungsreisen von Marco Polo bis Alexander von Humboldt (2015).
