News

Tatiana Denisova, the invited specialist of the Giorgi Tsereteli Institute of Oriental Studies, will deliver a lecture on “Seafaring and Navigation in Malay Historiography of the XVI-XIX Centuries” within the permanent seminar of the Institute in the 201/202 meeting hall of the Building S of Ilia State University on February 23, at 16:00.

Lecture annotation

The geographical position of the Malay Archipelago – on the convergence of two major sea routes – was fundamental in its development. The archipelago was connected to the great markets of India and China.

The involvement of the Malays in the global trading system would be impossible without the existence of a well-developed tradition of navigation, seafaring and boat-building.

The spread of Islam in the Malay-Indonesian archipelago brought fundamental changes into Malay society, which affected not only the religious tradition, but also radically changed the economy and political life. One of the new aspects is the shifting of the main vector of cultural and economic activity from indigenous paradigms to the new international centers of Islamic civilization, development of free trade, urbanization, intensification of seafaring and shipbuilding.

A significant amount of information regarding seafaring, ships and navigation may be found in Malay Islamic historical texts. The information regarding seafaring and navigation includes: toponyms, the descriptions of geographical objects, weather and natural phenomena (winds, monsoons, underwater currents, storms, typhoons, etc.), references to the routes and time of travel, reports regarding ships, travelers and navigators, references to the special fields of knowledge related to the seafaring and navigation, stories about episodes, incidences and other events that occurred during the travel.

The analysis of this wealth of information from the ancient Malay texts shows how the development of seafaring and navigation have been reflected in Malay historiography from the 13th to the 19th centuries and also confirms that seafaring and shipping were a very important part of the Malay tradition from very early times until now. This may also indicate that sailing and navigation to the Malay world was an extremely important practice for any of the world’s great civilizations.

About the speaker

Dr. Tatiana Denisova is a professor at the Center for Islam, Science and Civilization of the University of Technology Malaysia and a visiting specialist at the Giorgi Tsereteli Institute of Oriental Studies. Her research interests are: Oriental historiography, the study of primary sources, the history of the Malay world, the history of Islam in Russia and the Caucasus. She is the author of many publications on these issues. Among them can be named: Reflection of Malay Islamic Historiography (2017); Collection of Lingga Shari'a Court's documents (beginning XX c.): the structure of the collection and research methodology (2018); Orientation, Navigation and Seafaring in Malay Islamic Historiography from 14th to 19th centuries (2020). In 2023, the work “Elena Davidovitch, Numismatica Transoxiana. From 9th to 13th century” was published under her editorship and foreword.

Format: Hybrid

Employees and students of Bar-Ilan University of Israel will join via the platform Zoom.

Zoom link: https://bit.ly/3Z6Tb1v

Working language: English

Time: February 23, 16:00

Location: Ilia State University, 201/202 meeting hall of Building S, G. Tsereteli Street N1

Attendance is free.

2023