In het land van de koppensnellers* : De representatie van Borneo in de reisliteratuur van de 19de eeuw

Abstract

Borneo was regarded as a terra incognita for the European travelers in the 19th century. Only few of them could reach the island covered with jungle and even fewer of them wrote about their experiences. In the following study, I am trying to find an answer in travelogues written by 19th -century travelers to the question how Bornean natives were seen and presented by Europeans who ended up on the island. In other words, how the Other was represented in these works. I will compare this image of the Other with the representation of the Bornean natives as shown in the diary of a lesser-known Hungarian traveler, Xavér Ferenc Witti.