On the Eighteenth Century As a Category of Asian History: Van Leur in Retrospect

In 1942 J.C. Van Leur launched an attack on the then current views on the character and significance of the 18th century as a category in Asian history. His denial of European pre-eminence in Asian waters represented a direct attack on colonial historiography. These essays derive from an international conference held 50 years later, to assess the impact of Van Leur's work. This collection aims to delimit the boundaries of European-Asia interaction, and to provide case studies of what this period actually meant for the history of South and East Asia.