Organiser: Historisches Seminar, Chair for Early Modern History, Roberto Zaugg; Susanna Burghartz (convenor, Universität Basel)
Location: Universität Zürich Rämistrasse 71 8006 Zürich Room KOL-G-212
Funded by: Schweizerischer Nationalfonds. Universität Zürich.
Postcode: 8006
City: Zurich
Country: Switzerland
Takes place: In attendance
Dates: 11.05.2026 - 12.05.2026
Website: https://www.hist.uzh.ch/de/fachbereiche/neuzeit/lehrstuehle/zaugg/aktuell/20260409_Archipelagos.html
An international workshop on the global history of insular Southeast Asia during the early modern age – with a special focus on conflict, trade, migration and diplomacy – will be held at the University of Zurich on 11 and 12 May 2026.
This workshop is organized within the framework of the research project Digitale Edition und globale Mikrogeschichte: ein Basler Kolonialsöldner in der südostasiatischen Inselwelt des 17. Jahrhunderts (https://www.hist.uzh.ch/de/fachbereiche/neuzeit/lehrstuehle/zaugg/forschung/projects/Johann-Heinrich-Sulger.html#Deutsch). The project is funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (running 2024-2028).
Programme
Monday 11 May
10:00 Morning Coffee and Reception
10:30 Roberto Zaugg (Universität Zürich): Welcome address
Session 1
Chair: Monique Ligtenberg (ETH Zürich)
10:50 Susanna Burghartz (Universität Basel): Localizing Globality in Early Capitalist Basel
11:20 Myriam Schmidt (Universität Zürich): For Cloves and Company: Editing the Travelogue of a Basel Colonial Mercenary Entangled in Maluku (Johann Heinrich Sulger Edition)
11:50 Discussion
12:30 Lunch
Session 2
Chair: Debjani Bhattacharyya (Universität Zürich)
14:30 Manjusha Kuruppath (Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, Amsterdam): GLOBALISE and Writing Histories of Archipelagic Southeast Asia
15:00 Bondan Kanumoyoso (Universitas Indonesia, Jakarta): The Formation of Depok Society: Slavery, Emancipation, and Colonial Social Experiment in the 18th Century Ommelanden Batavia
15:30 Discussion
16:10 Coffee break
Session 3
Chair: Myriam Schmidt (Universität Zürich)
16:40 Ni Ketut Putri Minangsari (Balinese Legong dance performer and teacher, Jakarta): The Origins of Legong Dance in the Context of Balinese Court Culture
17:40 Discussion
18:00 End of day one
Tuesday 12 May
Session 4
Chair: Philipp Krauer (ETH Zürich)
10:20 José Miguel Escribano Páez (Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Sevilla): Spice Diplomacy: Global Interactions between Maluku and the Wider World in the 16th Century
10:50 Birgit Tremml-Werner (Stockholms Universitet): Patterns of Early Modern Philippine Diplomacy
11:20 Discussion
12:00 Lunch
Session 5
Chair: Stephanie Willi (ETH Zürich)
14:00 Hans Hägerdal (Linnaeus University, Växjö-Kalmar): Concurrent Representations of Maluku: Studying Early Modern History through Archives, Oral Traditions, and Social Sciences
14:30 Hendrik E. Niemeijer (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam): Diplomatic Rituals in the Power Relations between the VOC and the Sultanates of Banten (West-Java) and Ternate (Maluku) during the Reigns of Sultan Banten Zain Al-Abidin (r. 1690-1734) and Sultan Ternate Safiudin Kaitjil Raja Laut (r. 1713-1750)
15:00 Discussion
15:40 Coffee break
Session 6
Chair: Tim Buser (Universität Basel)
16:10 Philip Hahn (Universität des Saarlandes, Saarbrücken): A Swabian in the Moluccas: Albrecht Schmidlapp as Soldier and Slave Owner, 1618–1628
16:40 Roelof van Gelder (Independent scholar, Amsterdam): Life on Leti: Ernst Christoph Barchewitz's Years on a Remote Island (1714-1720)
17:10 Discussion
17:50 End of day two