Reviewed by:

• (Dis)connected Empires: Imperial Portugal, Sri Lankan Diplomacy, and the Making of a Hapsburg Conquest in Asia by Zoltán Biedermann
• Susannah Ferreira

This book examines diplomatic relations between Portugal and Sri Lanka in the sixteenth century. At its heart lies the question: What [End Page 166] led to the conquest of Sri Lanka by the Hapsburg rulers of Portugal in 1597? From the outset, the author asserts that the Portuguese did not set out to colonize Sri Lanka. Instead, allegiance was pursued by successive kings of Kōṭṭe who viewed a tributary relationship with the Portuguese as a way of securing the status of cakravarti—supreme overlords of the island. By the mid-sixteenth century, the rulers of Kōṭṭe had successfully allied themselves with Portugal. But different understandings of empire, and what it means to rule, led them to miscalculate the role of the Portuguese in Sri Lanka. Through this captivating history, Zoltán Biedermann challenges the usefulness of "connectivity" as a framework for studying global history. He argues that, while connections could facilitate the global transmission of ideas, miscommunication and break downs were frequent. (Dis) Connected Empires traces the way in which cultural misunderstanding paved the way for the colonization of Sri Lanka.

Far from a simple story of European conquest and invasion, this book qualifies and complicates the story of the Portuguese in Sri Lanka. At times, a reader unfamiliar with the reigns, rulers and historical development of the two polities might be overwhelmed by the competing and overlapping narratives. But the broad chronology and detailed explanation of events are essential to Biedermann's argument: that the Iberian conquest of Sri Lanka was the outcome of a long historical process with multiple agents. To support his assertions, he draws primarily on European diplomatic correspondence and chronicles, but also makes judicious use of the extant Sri Lankan chronicles. The result is a balanced interpretation of the past.

The book opens with a careful and critical look at "connected history" and the difficulties inherent in writing global history. Although Biedermann concedes that the study of connections can be fruitful, he questions the assumption that inter-cultural communication was always successful. The second chapter describes the initial contact between the agents of the Estado da Índia and the kings of Kōṭṭe, from Lourenço de Almeida's arrival in Sri Lanka in 1506 up to the accession of Bhuvanekabāhu VII in 1521. According to Biedermann, the Portuguese did not show much initial interest in the island but "were pulled into Sri Lanka by local elites" (p. 47) who were eager to foster tributary relations with a foreign power. Chapter 3 unpacks the Lankan concept of Empire which the author likens to a set of wooden matrioshka dolls. Within this system of "nested empires" each ruler governed independently and free from interference. Biedermann outlines the expectations of the rulers of Kōṭṭe in this regard: "Outside the island, John III was expected to patrol the seas and [End Page 167] maintain resources that might be deployed to protect Kōṭṭe … Inside the island, he was expected to let go of his resources and place them under the authority of the ruler of Kōṭṭe" (p. 89). It becomes clear that this concept of nested empires, which prized ties of suzerainty, directly conflicted with the European idea of empire which fixated on sovereignty and was modelled on Imperial Rome.

Over the course of the sixteenth century, both Portugal and Kōṭṭe experienced important religious shifts. Chapter 4 explains how, in the 1540s, conversion emerged as a key diplomatic tool, used by princes and petty rulers of Sri Lanka to challenge the hegemony of Kōṭṭe. Although Bhuvanekabāhu VII (whose authority was predicated on Buddhism), refused conversion, other princes accepted baptism as a means of strengthening ties with the Portuguese. Biedermann presents the infamous looting of the Temple of Buddha's Tooth by the Portuguese in...

审核人：

• （无联系）帝国：葡萄牙帝国，斯里兰卡外交和佐尔坦·比德曼（ZoltánBiedermann）在亚洲进行的哈普斯堡征服
• 苏珊娜·费雷拉（Susannah Ferreira）

这本书探讨了十六世纪葡萄牙和斯里兰卡之间的外交关系。在它的心脏谎言的问题：什么[尾页166]导致了葡萄牙的哈布斯堡统治者征服斯里兰卡的1597年？从一开始，提交人就断言葡萄牙人并没有开始殖民斯里兰卡。取而代之的是，科伊的历届国王都效忠于国王，他们视同葡萄牙的朝贡关系是确保卡克拉瓦蒂地位的一种方式-该岛的最高霸主。到16世纪中叶，寇耶的统治者已成功地与葡萄牙结盟。但是，对帝国的不同理解以及统治的含义使他们错误地估计了葡萄牙人在斯里兰卡的作用。在这段迷人的历史中，佐尔坦·比德曼（ZoltánBiedermann）挑战了“连通性”作为研究全球历史框架的有用性。他认为，尽管联系可以促进思想的全球传播，但经常发生误解和崩溃。（Dis）互联帝国追溯了文化上的误解为斯里兰卡的殖民化铺平了道路。

这本书远非欧洲征服和入侵的简单故事，它使斯里兰卡的葡萄牙人的故事变得更加复杂和复杂。有时，对两个政体的统治，统治者和历史发展不熟悉的读者可能会被竞争和重叠的叙述所淹没。但是事件的广泛年代和详细解释对于Biedermann的论点是至关重要的：伊比利亚人征服斯里兰卡是长期的多方行动的历史结果。为了支持他的主张，他主要借鉴了欧洲外交往来和编年史，但也明智地使用了现存的斯里兰卡编年史。结果是对过去的平衡理解。

这本书以审慎而批判的眼光着眼于“联系的历史”以及撰写全球历史的内在困难。尽管比德曼（Biedermann）承认对联系的研究可以取得丰硕成果，但他对跨文化交流总是成功的假设提出了质疑。第二章描述了Estado daÍndia特工与Kōṭṭe国王之间的最初接触，从1506年卢伦索·德阿尔梅达到达斯里兰卡到1521年布瓦涅卡巴胡七世加入。根据比德曼，葡萄牙语没有显示岛上最初有很多兴趣，但是“渴望被与外国势力建立朝贡关系的当地精英（第47页）吸引到斯里兰卡”。第三章介绍了兰卡帝国的概念，作者将其比作一套木制的套娃。在这个“嵌套帝国”系统中，每个统治者都是独立统治的，不受干扰。Biedermann概述了Kōṭṭe统治者在这方面的期望：“在该岛以外，预计约翰三世将在海上巡逻，[第167页]维护可能用于保护Kōṭṭe的资源……在岛上，人们希望他释放其资源，并将其置于Kōṭṭe统治者的统治之下”（第89页）。很明显，这种嵌套的帝国概念具有宗主地位的纽带，直接与以主权帝国为原型并以罗马帝国为蓝本的欧洲帝国思想相冲突。

在十六世纪的过程中，葡萄牙和考埃都经历了重要的宗教变革。第四章解释了在1540年代，conversion依如何成为关键的外交工具，斯里兰卡的王子和小统治者使用它们来挑战Kōṭṭe的霸权。尽管布瓦涅卡巴胡（BhuvanekabāhuVII）（其权威是建立在佛教基础上的）拒绝conversion依，但其他王子接受了洗礼，以加强与葡萄牙人的联系。Biedermann提出了葡萄牙人在...