The countries of Southeast Asia and Europe have been linked by trade, war and colonialism since the 16th century. The Portuguese conquest of Malacca in 1511 marked not only the beginning of the era of European colonial rule in Southeast Asia, but also the history of Euro-Asian diplomacy. For centuries, Portuguese, Dutch, French and English delegations visited the courts of the kings and sultans of Siam, Burma, Vietnam, Aceh or Makasar to conclude trade treaties and forge political alliances. By the 1600s, a significant number of diplomatic missions from Southeast Asian countries were travelling to Europe. After about 1830, Europeans increasingly appeared as colonial powers in Asia. This marked the end of the era of Southeast Asian-European diplomacy. Diplomacy was replaced by imperial gunboat politics which, with the exception of Thailand, led to the colonial subjugation of Southeast Asia.

The seminar deals with diplomatic encounters between European expansionist powers and Southeast Asian kingdoms. It will focus on diplomatic rituals and ceremonies, political strategies of intercultural negotiation, the political function of embassies, and the changing forms of diplomacy in the history of international relations from the sixteenth to the twentieth century.