Travelogue Writers in the Age of Inquiry: Law, Orientalism, and Enlightenment Ideology in Southeast Asia

Abstract

During what I shall call the Age of Inquiry, 1690-1870, European and American explorers were conducting detailed observations of Southeast Asia and documenting them in travelogues. These travelogues attempted to record, describe, and define the manners, customs, and people of Southeast Asia for a Euro-American audience. Among their areas of inquiry were Southeast Asian legal and penal systems. When portraying the nature of these judicial systems, European and American travelogue writers frequently characterized them as arbitrary, barbaric, or lawless. However, this paper shall show that the negative portrayals of Southeast Asian legal and penal systems during the Age of Inquiry were underscored by inherent ideological biases that sought to objectifY Southeast Asia in contrast to "the •West," and depict it as ripe for Occidental exploitation. The core of this essay is derived from extensive examination of European and American travelogues written between 1690 and 1870. Beginning at the height of the English Enlightenment, this period ends at the dawn of the Second Industrial Revolution, as the dramatic industrialization of the late nineteenth century would significantly alter the course of imperialism toward a more direct rule and reshaping of Southeast Asian societies. Thus,