Where Empires Collide: Dockyards and Naval Bases in and around the Indian Ocean
Conference: 4 April 2020
National Maritime Museum, Greenwich
This one-day conference will examine the role of naval bases and other naval support facilities in the Indian Ocean and its inlets, the Red Sea and Persian Gulf. Some suggested themes follow but applications are invited on new research or a new interpretation of any related topic.
Were bases built to defend colonies, to control colonies, or to act as springboards for attacking the enemy? Were they for the suppression of local forces, the engagement of opposing commercial companies in the days of the EIC etc or were they adjusts to the European struggles? How useful were these bases in the 17th–20th centuries? What facilities existed and how were they resourced? What were the main influences on ship construction and the design of naval facilities? How did national bases differ? How developed were they? How were they organised? What was the financial burden to the states that established them? How dependent upon their hinterland were they? To what extent did they develop their own operating practices? How have their heritage opportunities been developed?
In no way is it intended to restrict this to the colonising powers of France, Great Britain, Denmark, Portugal and the Netherlands, although it is expected that several presentations will be given on the facilities that they created, fully recognising the role of the British East India Company, Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie (the Dutch United East India Company), Compagnie française pour le commerce des Indes orientales (the French East India Company) and the Portuguese Estado. However, it is hoped that submissions will also cover naval facilities established by Persia, Oman, the Ottoman Empire, Qawāsim, the independent naval states of India including the Maratha and Mughal Empires.
If your proposal is accepted, the NDS will pay standard UK travel expenses (not international flights), your conference fee and lunch, publish it in our Transactions and give you a complimentary copy. Your talk will be 20-40 minutes. The published paper will be 6–10K words long, required three months after the Conference for editing. Please send your title and 300-word synopsis (and any queries) by 30 October 2019 to: Dr Philip MacDougall, philip.macdougall@btinternet.com
Links:
Website: https://navaldockyards.org/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NavalDockyardsSociety/
Twitter: @dockyardsociety