Markus Vink (Professor of History) will do a presentation at the聽University of Buffalo entitled 'Mission to Madurai: Dutch Embassies to聽the Nayaka Court of Madurai in the Seventeenth Century' on聽Friday, March 11, at 3 p.m. in 532 Park Hall. His talk is聽sponsored by the UB Department of History and the Asian Studies聽Program.
Dr. Vink will examine聽the encounter between the Dutch East India聽Company (VOC), one of the great chartered companies of the age of聽mercantilism, and the state of Madurai, one of the 'great southern聽Nayakas' and successor-states of the Vijayanagara Empire, in southeast聽India in the second half of the seventeenth century in general. He will focus聽on three embassies, arguably the most聽spectacular form of cross-cultural interaction, sent by the VOC from聽Tuticorin (Toothukudi), seat of the Dutch chiefs of Madurai, to聽Tiruchirappalli (Trichinopoli), the capital of the Nayakas of Madurai,
in 1668, 1677, and 1689.
Dr. Vink is book review聽editor for the Journal of the Economic and Social History of the聽Orient (JESHO), and associate of the Indian Ocean World Centre (IOWC)聽at McGill University.聽
