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Sri Lanka: Jacob Haafner negotiating with Jammedaar Alamparve, c. 1783-1786. Reinier Vinkeles (1804-1806)

Sri Lanka: Jacob Haafner negotiating with Jammedaar Alamparve, c. 1783-1786. Reinier Vinkeles (1804-1806)

Jacob Gottfried Haafner (Halle, May 13, 1754 - Amsterdam, September 4, 1809) lived for nearly twenty years in South Africa, India and Sri Lanka.

Haafner wrote five accounts of his stay in those countries. Haafner abhorred Western colonialism and slavery and upon his return he wrote the first comprehensive treatise against colonialism and missionary work. He had an excellent knowledge of Indian languages, especially Tamil, Hindi and Bengali as well as some Sanskrit.

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