Trans-Pacific Crossroads: Commercial and Scientific Interactions & Knowledge Transfer between China, Asia, and the Spanish American World

Professor Angela Schottenhammer comes to Wesley W. Posvar Hall on Tuesday, October 27, for a lecture, workshop, and roundtable that looks at the trade and knowledge transfer between China, Asia, and the Spanish American world. The session is titled Trans-Pacific Crossroads: Commercial and Scientific Interactions & Knowledge Transfer between China, Asia, and the Spanish American World.

Schottenhammer is from KU Leuven in Belgium, and the day is built around her ERC project, The Structure and Impact of Trans-Pacific Trade, 16th to 18th Centuries: The Manila Galleon Trade Beyond Silver and Silks. The Manila Galleons were the Spanish ships that ran between Manila and Acapulco for over two centuries, and while silver and silk get most of the attention, her work looks at what else moved across that water—the scientific ideas, the cultural exchanges, and the commercial networks that connected East Asia to the Americas.

The session is part of the Yu Fund Early China Series, and it's co-sponsored by Early Modern Worlds, the Medieval & Renaissance Studies Program, the Asian Studies Center, and the World History Center. It's not just a single talk; the lecture is paired with a workshop and a roundtable, so there's a good bit of discussion and interaction on top of the presentation.

If you've never spent much time in Wesley W. Posvar Hall, it's the largest academic-use-only building on campus, named after Pitt's 15th chancellor. It stands on the former site of Forbes Field, where the Pittsburgh Pirates played from 1909 to 1970—Babe Ruth hit his last two home runs there, and the home plate is still preserved under glass on the ground floor. Hanging from the ceiling is Aerodrome No. 6, one of two surviving Langley Aerodromes from 1886, designed by former Pitt astronomer Samuel Langley. The session runs from 11 AM to 12:30 PM at 230 S Bouquet St.