Denys Lombard (1938 â January 8, 1998) was a French historian. He was an expert of Asia with contributions to Southeast Asian studies, Sinology, and the history of maritime Asia. He was famous for efforts to compare insular Southeast Asia and the Asian Seas to the Mediterranean area.
Lombard was born in Marseille, France. His father was Maurice Lombard, Director of Studies at the ÃÂcole Pratique des Hautes ÃÂtudes (EPHE) in Paris and colleague of Fernand Braudel.
Lombard possessed at least six academic degrees, including a graduate degree in history and four degrees in languages (Chinese, Malay-Indonesian, Cambodian and Thai). He spoke over a dozen languages.
Lombard was the head of the Division des Aires Culturelles in the ÃÂcole des Hautes ÃÂtudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) and the director of the ÃÂcole Français d'Extrême-Orient (EFEO) from 1993 to 1998.
His major work on Indonesia was the three volume work Le carrefour javanais.
Lombard was married to another scholar of Asia, Claudine Salmon.
He died in 1998 in Paris. A Festschrift in honour was produced a year later.