This article explores the dynamics behind global diplomacy and knowledge in Asian maritime empires in the late eighteenth century. The short-lived diplomatic exchange between the Kingdom of Mysore and the Spanish Philippines in 1776–7 provides a rich resource for an analysis of how global diplomatic agents coproduced material objects, images, and written records which in turn impacted politics and trade relations. The article makes at least four important interventions in the burgeoning field of new diplomatic history. First, it sheds light on certain aspects of growing research on Asian diplomatic encounters connecting the Indian Ocean and Southeast Asia; second, it offers insights into the manifold actors involved in creating and negotiating knowledge; third, it highlights the epistemological importance of the visual and material archives for the study of global diplomacy in the early modern period; and fourth, it challenges narratives of cross-cultural foreign relations which tend to overemphasise asymmetrical and confessional explanations.

本文探讨了 18 世纪末亚洲海洋帝国的全球外交和知识背后的动态。迈索尔王国和西班牙菲律宾之间 1776-7 年短暂的外交交流为分析全球外交代表如何共同制作实物、图像和书面记录进而影响政治和贸易关系提供了丰富的资源。这篇文章对新外交史这一新兴领域至少做出了四项重要的干预。首先，它揭示了有关连接印度洋和东南亚的亚洲外交接触日益增长的研究的某些方面；其次，它提供了对参与知识创造和谈判的多种参与者的见解；第三，它强调了视觉和物质档案对于现代早期全球外交研究的认识论重要性；第四，它挑战了跨文化外交关系的叙述，这些叙述往往过分强调不对称和自白的解释。