Southeast Asian Historical Writing

This chapter emphasizes that in Southeast Asia from 1800 to 1945, the past was written in a range of ways that questioned the main definition of history. Accounts of past events were not only composed for radically contrasting purpose, but there was also a sharp variation in assumptions about the nature of time and truth, and in the themes treated. This chapter further points out that during the three centuries before 1800, Europeans trading and establishing bases in Southeast Asia had written extensively about its kingdoms, customs, and products. The creation of large colonial states after 1800 intensified the need for such data, and the histories produced, despite their practical objectives, were influenced by contemporary intellectual concerns.