Italian explorations in Southeast Asia

Abstract

The territory of Southeast Asia (Indochina and the Dutch East Indies) was the subject of numerous explorations conducted by Italians who tried to establish commercial outposts in the Pacific Islands. Based on reports compiled by some Italian adventurers, such as Giovanni Branchi who explored the Fiji Islands in 1874 (a few months before the British occupation) and the missionary Paolo Abbona, active in Burma in the second half of the nineteenth century, this chapter will examine the role played by Italian explorers in spreading knowledge about Southeast Asia in Italy at the end of the nineteenth century. Its aim is to analyze, on the one hand, the interactions between the Italians and the populations of Southeast Asia, including the reciprocal artistic and architectural influences, the attribution to Italians of political offices by local sovereigns and the opening of bilateral diplomatic relations; on the other hand, the image of Italy and of the Italians spread in Southeast Asia in the last decades of the nineteenth century will be examined.