Historical Archaeology of Early Modern Colonialism in Asia-pacific ― The Asia-pacific Region

The history of Asia-Pacific since the sixteenth century has traditionally been told with Europe as the main player ushering in a globalized, capitalist world, but the contributors to this volume and its companion volume suggest that Europeans merely appropriated existing systems in the area for their own benefit. The essays help decentralize that global history and assemble a picture of the region before and after European involvement in order to develop a more holistic understanding of colonial processes.

This volume of Historical Archaeology of Early Modern Colonialism in Asia-Pacific looks at colonialism in the Philippines, China, Japan, and Vietnam, emphasizing the robust trans-regional networks that extended from Venice in the Mediterranean to Guangzhou in southern China before European contact. Southeast Asia had long been influenced by Buddhist, Hindu, and Muslim traders in ways that not only helped build the region’s ethnic and political divisions but continue to shape them in the present day. Essays show the complexity and significance of maritime trade during European colonization by investigating galleon wrecks in Manila full of goods from around the globe, Japan’s far-reaching porcelain exports, and the hundreds of Spanish coins discovered off China’s coast.

Packed with archaeological and historical evidence from both land and underwater sites, impressive in geographical scope, and featuring perspectives of scholars from many different countries and traditions, this volume and its companion illuminate the often misunderstood nature of early colonialism in Asia-Pacific.