Vasco da Gama Quincentennial-Lectures

The discovery of the direct sea-route to India by Vasco da Gama in 1498 was hardly less important than the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus six years before. Contacts between the Indian subcontinent and Europe are going back to the time of Alexander the Great, but the last decade of the 15th century turned out to be crucial for Europe's mapping the orient. Vascos nautical enterprise couldn't have been possible without the imperial zeal of the Portuguese, and the subsequent encounters between India and the West could from then on never overcome the imperialistic context, into which they remain to be embedded even today, in a postcolonial phase. The West had a lot to discover in India besides profiting from economic and military exploitation: the Sanskrit language, an age-old history, highly developed literatures and cultures, a sublime religious philosophy and practice, a multicultural setup of society unknown to Europe. On the other side, the West has left its lasting imprint on the Indian subcontinent: The confrontation with Portuguese, French, Danish and British rule and - perhaps more than that - with ways of western thinking has been moulding outh Asia for 500 years. In a post-colonial age of globalisation, the question of identity is becoming more and more imminent for the people in the different states of South Asia, be it Pakistan, India, Nepal or others.

1998 is not a jubilee-year, but a year of reflection on this encounter and its history. It is fortunate that a number of specialists from different fields of research spontaneously agreed to contribute to this interdisciplinary series of lectures, which should be interesting for students and teaching staff of a the whole faculty. Adequate advertisement granted, it could also attract the open public at this time of the day (16.00), even if most of the papers will be presented in English. This series will contribute to the programmes in connection with the 70- years-jubilee of Aarhus Universitet. A publication at a later date.is under consideration.