Valerie Hansen
Stanley Woodward Professor of History, Yale University
October 13, 2022
12:00 - 2:00p.m. Phelps Hall Room 401
The seminar will be held in person only with lunch provided.
To register, please email: keith.geriak@yale.edu
“The dynastic histories of China document the trade of Tang-dynasty and Song-dynasty China (618-1275) with various countries in Southeast Asia. Listing the various commodities that were traded, they don’t provide many specifics about the scale of the trade. A series of shipwreck excavations in the Java Sea (which is not very deep with an average depth of 46m/151feet, always warm, and frequented by leisure divers) has provided historians with a trove of new evidence about connectivity in the region. One of the enduring puzzles is whether any countries dominated the sea trade in a given period—and what evidence might support such a conclusion.”