Tansen Sen (NYU Shanghai)

Live animals were common forms of gifts exchanged between premodern polities as part of diplomatic overtures or with the intention of establishing/expanding trading relations. Some animals, such as lions, giraffes, and elephants, were considered “exotic” and prestige items; others, including horses, cattle and sheep, served more “useful” purposes in warfare, agriculture, and rituals. Gifting of live animals has continued during the contemporary period, with Chinese pandas as the most prominent object of international diplomacy. This presentation focuses on the circulation of giraffes in the fifteenth century and that of elephants in the twentieth in order to examine the longue durée phenomenon of transporting live animals through maritime routes and the ensuing reception of exotic animals in host societies.