Multi-cultural communities and global trade from 1500-1900

ARTICLE

Honeycombers Editorial, 3 Feb 2017

Centuries before the proliferation of social media, networks of people, cultures, and information flowed freely between port cities such as Batavia (Jakarta) in Indonesia, Goa in India, Canton (now Guangzhou) in China, and, of course, Singapore. Spawned by advances in ship technology and knowledge of sea routes, these cities were thriving, cosmopolitan hubs of trade. They’re great examples of early globalisation and the hodgepodge – or “rojak” – of ethnicities, language, culture, lifestyles, and fashion.


For short films about the Port Cities exhibition at the Asian Civilisations Museum in Singapore click here for a presentation on the life of Cornelia van Nijenroode, and here for another on the Indian Chettiars of Saigon.

How to Live in the City

SHORT FILM

Hugo Macdonald, Monocle, 2016

Choosing to live in a city is chooosing to enter into a relationship with it. And like any human relationship, the relationship you have with your city is one that requites nurturing, constant practice and work.


For Hugo Macdonald’s School of Life book of the same name click here.