What is your syllabus like?

You can find spanishh accounts of South East Asia translated into English open domain, like project Guetenburg. Translations of Antinio de Morga, and collections of the Spanish hostory and accounts of Asia with focus on their Base in Philippones. Some of these I read account of wars and skirmishes the Spanish were involved in Cambodia and Malaya and all over South East Asia for colonies and trade and whatnot. Then when the Manila Galleon comes to play you can read about that trade. Remember the North Atlantic trade of slaves and sugar and rum? Manila Galleon took silver from the Americas, put it on a ship in Mexico with final destination of silver to China. I would like to know a good recommendation for Manila galleon.

Here are some possibilities from the academic side of things:

• Ben Elman, On Their Own Terms: Science in China 1550-1900
• Matthew Mosca, From Frontier Policy to Foreign Policy (on Qing relations with British India)
• Trent Pomplun, Jesuit on the Roof of the World (fascinating story about a Jesuit in 18th-c. Tibet)
• Maya Jasanoff, Edge of Empire (readable semipopular account of the variety of fringe/hybrid characters thrown up by European imperialism in India)
• Miles Ogborn, Indian Ink

There are a million more, but that's just what comes to mind off the top of my head.

First thing to do is to ask the instructor for some more sources - they will have a much better idea than any of us about what will fit in with the rest of the course. Second, your course will likely be focusing on the rapid paced exploration and colonization of Asia by European powers during these centuries; so while it may be listed as a "world history" course, it's more likely going to be a class about colonial history.

Now, for some suggestions.

1. Giancarlo Casale. The Ottoman Age of Exploration (Oxford, 2010).

2. Ray Huang. 1587: A Year of No Significance (Yale, 1981).

3. Bernard Lewis. Cultures in conflict : Christians, Muslims, and Jews in the age of discovery (Oxford, 1995).

4. Patrick Manning. Navigating world history : historians create a local past (Palgrave, 2003).

5. Ann Laura Stoler. Carnal knowledge and imperial power : race and the intimate in colonial rule (Univ. of CA, 2002) -- especially this one if your class is going to be what I think it is.

6. Homi Bhabha. The Location of Culture (Routledge, 1994) -- major theorist of postcolonial studies.

7. Edward Said. Orientalism (1978) -- older, but basic reading for anything postcolonial.

8. Benedict Anderson. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism (1983) -- another basic text.

9. Robert Young. White Mythologies: Writing History and the West (1990) -- addresses directly your comment below.

10. Anthony Reid. Southeast Asia in the Age of Commerce, 1450-1680 2 volumes (Yale, 1993).

Hope this helps a little. Happy reading!