Dr. Zoltán Biedermann is senior lecturer in Luso Brazilian Studies and Head of Department of Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies at the University College London School of European Languages, Culture and Society. He is the author of a number of works, including The Portuguese in Sri Lanka and South India (2014) and The Historical Atlas of the Persian Gulf (2006). He is also currently completing “Connected Empires: Sri Lanka, Portugal and the Making of Habsburg Imperialism in Asia, 1500-1600“, for which he received an AHRC grant.
He has been involved in several collaborative research projects, including “Letras de Frailes: escritas franciscanas en el imperio portugués” at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, “O Governo dos Outros” at the University of Lisbon, “Comentarios de Don García de Silva y Figueroa” at the New University of Lisbon and “MEDIAN” at the French National Research Agency in Paris. He was the recipient of the Ronald Tress Prize for Research Excellence (2012) and has been recently elected a corresponding member of the Academy of the Portuguese Marine. He is a co-editor of the “Maritime Asia” book series at the German publisher Harrassowitz.
In episode eight of History Hub’s podcast series – ‘Kingdom, Empire and Plus Ultra: conversations on the history of Portugal and Spain, 1415-1898‘ – Dr. Zoltán Biedermann is in conversation with series host Dr Edward Collins. In the episode, which is available to podcast on iTunes and Soundcloud, they discuss the importance of diplomacy in the Portuguese Empire, particularly in Asia.
‘A Negotiating Empire: Portuguese Diplomacy in Asia and the Global Renaissance’ with Dr. Zoltán Biedermann (UCL).
Kingdom, Empire and Plus Ultra
This History Hub podcast series features interviews with experts in the areas of Portuguese and Spanish history, from the beginning of the Portuguese discoveries in 1415 to the end of Spanish dominion in America in 1898. The interviews, conducted by historian Dr. Edward Collins, cover a range of topics on the domestic and overseas histories of both nations, which include, among others: the Portuguese explorations of Africa and Asia, Spanish navigation and settlement in America, the church in Portugal and Spain, monarchy and intermarriage in the Iberian kingdoms, natural science and mapping in America, the role of nautical science, Irish historical relations with Portugal and Spain, and imperial competition in Europe and overseas. The interviewees comprise a number of established and renowned academics, as well as up-and-coming researchers from universities and institutions worldwide.
This History Hub series is funded by UCD Seed Funding and supported by UCD School of History. Series editor is Mike Liffey (Real Smart Media). Download series episodes on iTunes or listen via Soundcloud. historyhub.ie/kingdom-empire-and-plus-ultra
Kingdom, Empire and Plus Ultra Episodes
- Series introduction by Edward Collins
- Episode 1: Portugal and Spain in the 15th and early-16th centuries: a brief overview by Edward Collins
- Episode 2: Ellen Dooley on the Spanish Inquisition and the religious image in Spain & America, 1478–1700
- Episode 3: Ricardo Padrón on America, the Pacific, and Asia in the Imperial Imagination, 1513-1609
- Episode 4: Allison Bigelow on the Science of Colonial Silver: Rethinking the History of Mining and Metallurgy in the Early Americas
- Episode 5: Early Colonial Brazil, English Piracy, and the Adventures of Anthony Knivet (1591-1599) by Vivien Kogut Lessa de Sá
- Episode 6: Onésimo T. Almeida on Portugal and the Dawn of Modernity, 1419-1620
- Episode 7: Jorge Cañizares-Esguerra on Old Testament Culture in the Spanish Monarchy in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth centuries
- Episode 8: Zoltan Biedermann on ‘A Negotiating Empire: Portuguese Diplomacy in Asia and the Global Renaissance’
Image: detail from Jesuits at Akbar’s court, c. 1605. [Wikimedia: Public domain]. Description: Mughal Emperor Akbar (r. 1556-1605) holds a religious assembly in the Ibadat Khana (House of Worship) in Fatehpur Sikri; the two men dressed in black are the Jesuit missionaries Rodolfo Acquaviva and Francisco Henriques.
