Biedermann, Zoltán

(Dis)connected Empires Imperial Portugal, Sri Lankan diplomacy, and the making of a Habsburg conquest in Asia by Zoltán Biedermann. - Second edition. - New Delhi Oxford University Press 2018. - xii, 255 p. illustrations, maps 24 cm

Includes bibliographical references (pages 225-248) and index.

(Dis)connected Empires takes the reader on a global journey to explore the triangle formed during the sixteenth century between the Portuguese empire, the empire of Kotte in Sri Lanka, and the Catholic Monarchy of the Spanish Habsburgs. It explores nine decades of connections, cross-cultural diplomacy, and dialogue, to answer one troubling question: why, in the end, did one side decide to conquer the other? To find the answer, Biedermann explores the imperial ideas that shaped the politics of Renaissance Iberia and sixteenth-century Sri Lanka. (Dis)connected Empires argues that, whilst some of these ideas and the political idioms built around them were perceived as commensurate by the various parties involved, differences also emerged early on. This prepared the ground for a new kind of conquest politics, which changed the inter-imperial game at the end of the sixteenth century. The transition from suzerainty-driven to sovereignty-fixated empire-building changed the face of Lankan and Iberian politics forever, and is of relevance to global historians at large. Through its scrutiny of diplomacy, political letter-writing, translation practices, warfare, cartography, and art, (Dis)connected Empires paints a troubling panorama of connections breeding divergence and leading to communicational collapse. It examines a key chapter in the pre-history of British imperialism in Asia, highlighting how diplomacy and mutual understandings can, under certain conditions, produce conquest.

9780198863939

2018947664

GBB8I8917 bnb

019085954 Uk


1500-1599


Imperialism--History--16th century.
History, Modern.
Imperialism.
Diplomatie
Kolonialismus


Sri Lanka--Foreign relations--Portugal.
Portugal--Foreign relations--Sri Lanka.
Portugal
Spanien
Sri Lanka


History.

DS489.59.P8 / B54 2018

909.08

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