Exploring Maritime Heritage Dynamics Conference

18–20 November 2015—In acknowledging that Singapore’s port activities is one of the main sources of her economic success, Para Limes— together with Maritime Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) and NTU School of Art, Design, and Media (ADM)—organised the Exploring Maritime Heritage Dynamics conference as part of its series of heritage science conferences. The main question for the conference was, How does maritime heritage contribute in the development of tools and capabilities to plan, design, and sustain competitive future scenarios that focus on the sea and its peculiarities as a main resource?

Over the course of three days, speakers from academia, government agencies, and heritage organisations spoke on a wide range of topics which include history of various ports and trading routes in Asia, arts projects related to maritime cultures, and maritime infrastructures and facilities.

In conjunction with the conference, a maritime heritage trial was organised for the speakers for them to visit the sites that were key to Singapore’s maritime history. Some of the places include Fort Canning, Clarke Quay, Boat Quay, Raffles Quay, Collyer Quay, Keppel Road, and Tangjong Pagar Terminal.

For more info, visit our main website.

For videos of the presentations, visit our YouTube playlist.

The following is a selection of photos from the conference.

Day One: 18 November 2015

Guests arriving and registering for the event.

L to R: Prof. Alan Chan (Dean of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, NTU), Jan Wouter Vasbinder (Director of Para Limes), Prof. Dorrit Vibeke Sorensen (Chair of School of Art, Design and Media, NTU), and Prof. Bertil Andersson (President, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore)

Assoc. Prof. Dorrit Vibeke Sorensen (Chair of ADM, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore) gives the opening speech of the conference.

Prof. Bertil Andersson (President, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore) giving the opening speech.

Prof. David Abulafia (Professor of Mediterranean History at University of Cambridge) gives his keynote lecture, “Writing the History of the Sea.”

Panel 1: Historical Interdependence among Maritime Cities in Asia

Kwa Chong Guan (Honorary Adjunct Associate Professor and Visiting Fellow at the Archaeological Unit of the Nalanda-Sriwijaya Centre at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore) gives his talk, “The Idea of a Maritime Silk Road, and its Consequences.”

Prof. John Miksic (Southeast Asian Studies Department, National University of Singapore) gives his talk, “Location Isn’t Everything; the Mobility of Southeast Asian Ports.”

Kwa Chong Guan and Prof. John Miksic at a panel Q&A, chaired by Prof. David Abulafia.

Panel 2a: Rise and Fall of Hubs along the Maritime Silk Routes

Assoc. Prof. Asmahan Al-Garoo (Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Oman) gives her talk, “Rise and Fall of Maritime Hubs in Pre-Islamic Arabia.”

Prof. Mei Qing (College of Architecture and Urban Planning, Department of Architecture, Tongji University) gives her talk, “Quanzhou/Zayton (718-1549): Landmarking the Rise and Fall of a City Port through History.”

Assoc. Prof. Moain Sadeq (Department of Humanities, Qatar University) gives his talk, “Islamic Maritime Connections and Trade with China and the Mediterranean during the Abbasid and Mamluk Periods.”

Prof. Mei Qing, Assoc. Prof. Asmahan Al-Garoo, and Assoc. Prof. Moain Sadeq at a panel Q&A, chaired by Prof. John Miksic.

Panel 2b: Rise and Fall of Hubs along Maritime Silk Routes

Assoc. Prof. Federico De Romanis (University of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy) gives his talk, “Rise and Fall of South India Maritime Hubs from Antiquity to the Sixteenth Century (Muziris, Mangalore, Calicut, Cochin).”

Dr Dhiravat Na Prombejra, (Independent scholar and former Associate Professor at Department of History, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand) gives his talk, “Ayutthaya as an International Port (1351-1767).”

Dr Donna Brunero (Senior Lecturer, Department of History, National University of Singapore) gives her talk, “Embracing the Ocean: New Currents for Teaching Maritime History.”

Dr Dhiravat Na Pombejra, Dr Donna Brunero, and Assoc. Prof. Federico De Romanis at a panel Q&A, chaired by Kwa Chong Guan.

Day Two: 19 November 2015

Prof. Roger Kain (Dean and Chief Executive, School of Advanced Study, University of London, UK) gives his keynote lecture, “Marine Charts and Maps in the University of Chicago Press: History of Cartography Project.”

Prof. Alan Chan moderating the Q&A session following Prof. Roger Kain’s keynote lecture.

Panel 3: Maritime Space

Assistant Prof. Cheong Siew Ann (School of Physical & Mathematical Sciences, NTU) and Assoc. Prof. Andrea Nanetti (School of Art, Design and Media, NTU) give their talk, “Interactive Global Histories and the Maritime Space (1205-1533).”

Assoc. Prof. Angel Cattaneo (The Portuguese Centre for Global History, New University of Lisbon, Portugal) gives his talk, “Building a World Unified by Maritime Networks. Fra Mauro’s mappa mundi between Venice and Lisbon, ca. 1450.”

Prof. Evelyn Hu-Dehart (Department of History, Brown University) gives her talk, “The Manila Galleon Trade: The Forgotten Silk Road of the Spanish-American Empire, 1565-1815.”

Assistant Prof. Cheong Siew Ann, Prof. Evelyn Hu-Dehart, Assoc. Prof. Andrea Nanetti, and Assoc. Prof. Angelo Cattaneo at a panel Q&A, chaired by Prof. Roger Kain.

Panel 4: Maritime Heritage and the Arts in International Maritime Centres

Dr Stephen Davies (Founding Director of the Hong Kong Maritime Museum and Lecturer, University of Hong Kong) gives his talk, “Maritime Cultures: What Were They, When Were They, and Where Did They Go?”

Prof. Harold Thwaites (Faculty of Arts, Sunway University, Malaysia) gives his talk, “The Atlas of Maritime Buddhism Project.”

Venka Purushothaman (Vice-President (Academic) and Provost, LASALLE College of the Arts, Singapore) gives his talk, “Reading Maritime Cultures: Visuality and Critique of Ports.”

Venka Purushothaman, Dr Stephen Davies, Prof. Harold Thwaites at a panel Q&A, chaired by Assistant Prof. Kristy Kang (ADM, NTU) (extreme right).

Panel 5: Maritime Infrastructures, Research Facilities, and Heritage Dynamics

Prof. Malcolm Tull (School of Management and Governance, Murdoch University, Australia) gives his talk, “Maritime Infrastructure and Heritage Dynamics.”

Agamemnon Tselikas (Director, Centre of History and Palæography of the National Bank of Greece Cultural Foundation) gives his talk, “The Anticythera Mechanism: Research Facilities and Heritage Dynamics between Humanities and Technologies.”

Auron Tare (Director General, Albanian National Coastline Agency) gives his talk, “Sazani Island (Albania): A Management Project.”

Andrea Bonifacio [Deputy Director, Marco Polo System G.E.I.E (Municipality of Venice)] gives his talk, “Maritime Heritage: Networks of Mediterranean Institutions in Global Context.”

Andrea Bonifacio, Auron Tare, Agamemnon Tselikas, and Prof. Malcolm Tull at a panel Q&A, chaired by Assoc. Prof. Laura Longo (ADM, NTU) (extreme left).

Day Three: 20 November 2015

Highlights of the Singapore Maritime Trails Tour

Panel 6: Maritime Education: Inspiring the New Generations

Khong Shen Ping (Dean, MPA Academy) delivering his opening speech for the panel.

Fang Jiayun (Deputy Manager, Community Engagement, MPA) gives her talk, “Building a Strong Maritime Identity.”

Frederick J. Francis (Senior Lecturer, Singapore Maritime Academy, Singapore Polytechnic) delivers his portion of the talk, “Embracing Maritime Silk Road Heritage from Ground-up with the X-factor.”

Albert Teo (Vice-Commodore, Youth Skipper Flotilla Society) delivers his portion of the talk, “Embracing Maritime Silk Road Heritage form Ground-up with X-factor.”