The Lit Archipelago: Coast Lighting and the Imperial Optic in Insular Southeast Asia, 1860-1910

Abstract

This article looks at patterns of movement, technology, and colonialism through the lens of the lighthouse. Specifically, it seeks to gauge what the contribution of lighthouses, beacons, and buoys were to British and Dutch programs of colonial state-formation in the latter half of the nineteenth century. The first quarter of the piece asks where these structures fit into the larger scheme of maritime technology and expansion in Southeast Asia during this time. The next segment of the essay delves into the geographic and temporal dispersion of these "tools of empire." The third section of the article interrogates the politics of lighting, as internecine cooperation and competition (both between the British and Dutch, and even internally in both camps) helped dictate deployment on the ground. The essay ends with an examination of shifting technologies of lighting, as new developments in lenses, fueling, and construction made certain structures quickly obsolete.

Segregasi Etnis dalam Perkembangan Kota Manggar, Belitung Timur, pada Abad 19 Hingga Abad 20

“…Pada peta ini juga tergambar signaal di puncak Gunung Burung Mandi yang menjadi panduan bagi lalu lintas pelayaran di sisi utara dan timur Pulau Belitung. Signaal tersebut diduga berupa lampu yang ditempatkan di puncak bukit (Tagliacozzo, 2005).…”

Review of periodical literature published in 2005

“…In a piece with considerable contemporary resonance, they argue that America’s willingness to discipline ‘unstable’ regimes in the Caribbean and central America before the First World War was beneficial, not least for London bond prices. In a rather different vein, Tagliacozzo stresses the symbolic and practical importance of lighthouses to British and Dutch colonialism in South East Asia after 1860. Moving on to the post‐1914 period, Diplomacy and Statecraft had a special issue on the aftermath of the Versailles Treaty.…”

Bombay Lights: Gas Light and the Transition to a Modern City

“…Gas light was among the first major technological and industrial innovations to the landscape of Bombay. With the exception of a few studies, early artificial lighting and specifically gas lighting is overlooked in colonial historical studies (Hasenöhrl, 2019;Melbin, 1987;Mrázek, 2015;Tagliacozza, 2005;Woods, 2015). The relatively short history of gas light as a feature of the city as well as the impact of the new and permanent electric light and electricity may account for this.…”