Colonial Ruins in Padang
Colonial godown next to railways By Freek Colombijn The American anthropologist Ann Stoler argues that the ‘ruins of empire’, or ‘imperial debris’, …
An Armenian Source on Medieval Sumatra/Srivijaya
There aren’t many Eastern Christian sources on ancient Indo-Malaysia/Nusantara, but there’s no reason to neglect them nor to believe that they’re …
An Armenian Source on Medieval Sumatra/Srivijaya
There aren't many Eastern Christian sources on ancient Indo-Malaysia/Nusantara, but there's no reason to neglect them nor to believe that they're …
An Armenian Source on Medieval Sumatra/Srivijaya
There aren’t many Eastern Christian sources on ancient Indo-Malaysia/Nusantara, but there’s no reason to neglect them nor to believe that they’re …
‘Lamori’ & ‘Lamuri’
A short while ago, I wrote that Odoric of Pordenone’s name for the north of Sumatra, Lamori, came from the Arabic …
‘Lamori’ & ‘Lamuri’
A short while ago, I wrote that Odoric of Pordenone's name for the north of Sumatra, Lamori, came from the Arabic …
‘Lamori’ & ‘Lamuri’
A short while ago, I wrote that Odoric of Pordenone’s name for the north of Sumatra, Lamori, came from the Arabic …
Polo & Odoric on the Pole Star
One of the many marvels noted by both Odoric of Pordenone and Marco Polo is the disappearance of the north star, …
Polo & Odoric on the Pole Star
One of the many marvels noted by both Odoric of Pordenone and Marco Polo is the disappearance of the north star, …
Polo & Odoric on the Pole Star
One of the many marvels noted by both Odoric of Pordenone and Marco Polo is the disappearance of the north star, …
Chinese Sources on Indonesia – Romanisation!
Perhaps the most important language for working out a narrative history of ancient Indonesia and Malaysia, besides Malay and Javanese, is …
Marco Polo on Sago (Metroxylon sagu)
There is no single authoritative edition or manuscript detailing Marco Polo's travels. The consensus is that the first editions of what …
Niccolo de’ Conti (and others) on the Lontar Palm
Yesterday I put up a post about Niccolo de' Conti, one of the more interesting Europeans to visit Indonesia …
Niccolò de’ Conti on Malays
Niccolò de' Conti was a fifteenth-century Italian traveller who visited parts of what is now Indonesia, including, apparently, Badan, probably meaning …
Island Southeast Asian Geology & Volcanic Explosions
I've been trying to read as much as I can about the geological history of Southeast Asia for the book I'm working …