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The Origin of the Namban Trade: The Sea of Private Traders

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War and Trade in Maritime East Asia

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Comparative Global History ((PASTCGH))

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Abstract

In this article, I try to trace the process of how the Portuguese obtained their settlements on the Guangzhou coast after having been pushed out of Shuangyu. I write about the activities of merchants and missionaries in East Asian seas at that time as depicted in Peregrinação, in which a Portuguese merchant-missionary man, Fernão Mendes Pinto recorded much information that he collected during his time in the area. Pinto’s Peregrinação obviously has many problems. It is not reliable with regard to dates and contains many unchronological descriptions, exaggeration, and confusions between Pinto’s own experiences and stories heard from others. Despite these problems, many parts can basically be proven to correspond with historical facts. From the analysis of this text, it is possible to depict the early stage of the Portuguese trade in the East Asian seas very clearly, revealing a Portuguese wealthy merchant named Duarte da Gama, who engaged in trade between Japan and China from 1550 to 1555, brought about a major turning point concerning the trading route of Malacca-Chinese coasts-Japan.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    According to the description of Peregrinação, the ship of Jorge Álvares, after leaving Tanegashima, entered the port in Bungo and there encountered the battle of the succession of Ōtomo Family, so called Nikai Kuzure no Hen (lit. Second-Floor Murder Case). But this event occurred actually in 1550, so Okamoto Yoshitomo denies their arrival to Bungo in 1546. Cf. Okamoto (1974: 308).

  2. 2.

    Recent studies widely support a theory that the sources of Book of the Marvels of the World, commonly known as The Travels of Marco Polo, written down by Rustichello from stories told by Marco Polo, were offered by unspecified number of Venetian merchants at that time. Cf. Sugiyama (2002).

  3. 3.

    To give an example of the Islamic tradition, The Travels of Ibn Battuta.

  4. 4.

    May, 1554, Between Goa and Cochin, Letter from Fr. Belchior Nunes Barreto Vice-Provincial in India to Fr. Ignatius de Loyola (Historiographical Institute University of Tokyo [ed.] 1996: 35).

  5. 5.

    Ibid (Historiographical Institute University of Tokyo [ed.] 1996: 36).

  6. 6.

    January, 31, 1552, Cochin, Letter from Fr. Francisco Xavier to D. João III, King of Portugal (Historiographical Institute University of Tokyo [ed.] 1990: 246); December, 5, 1554, Malacca, Letter from Br. Fernão Mendes Pinto to the Fathers & Brothers in Portugal (Historiographical Institute University of Tokyo [ed.] 1996: 71).

  7. 7.

    December, 5, 1554, Malacca, Letter from Br. Mendes Pinto to the Fathers & Brothers in Portugal (Historiographical Institute University of Tokyo [ed.] 1996: 73).

  8. 8.

    December, 23, 1554, Goa, Letter from Br. Aires Brandão to the Jesuits in Portugal (Historiographical Institute University of Tokyo [ed.] 1996: 121).

  9. 9.

    Ibid (Historiographical Institute University of Tokyo [ed.] 1996: 122).

  10. 10.

    May, 1554, Between Goa and Cochin, Letter from Fr. Barreto to Fr. Ignatius de Loyola (Historiographical Institute University of Tokyo [ed.] 1996: 35).

  11. 11.

    Ibid (Historiographical Institute University of Tokyo [ed.] 1996: 36); December, 3, 1554, Malacca, Letter from Fr. Barreto to Fr. Ignatius de Loyola (Historiographical Institute University of Tokyo [ed.] 1996: 51).

  12. 12.

    January, 31, 1552, Cochin, Letter from Fr. Francisco Xavier to D. João III, King of Portugal (Historiographical Institute University of Tokyo [ed.] 1990: 246).

  13. 13.

    December, 1, 1555, Malacca, Letter from Br. Luís Fróis to the Jesuits in Goa (Historiographical Institute University of Tokyo [ed.] 1996: 307–308).

  14. 14.

    December, 23, 1554, Goa, Letter from Br. Brandão to the Jesuits in Portugal (Historiographical Institute University of Tokyo [ed.] 1996: 123).

  15. 15.

    Ibid.

  16. 16.

    Pinto (tr. Catz) (1989: xxi–xxiii), and Catz (1983).

  17. 17.

    See, Oka, The Namban Trade (Brill 2021). According to the studies on Francis Xavier by Schurhammer, it is obvious that Duarte da Gama was engaged in trade in India, around Quilon, Cochin and Goa, from 1544 to 1547, and met with Xavier at Malacca in 1549, and after the death of Xavier, he became a testimony of the beatification at Goa in 1555, then at Malacca in 1557. Schurhammer (1982: 238).

  18. 18.

    December, 1, 1555, Malacca, Letter from Br. Luís Fróis to the Jesuits in Goa (Historiographical Institute University of Tokyo [ed.] 1996: 307–308).

  19. 19.

    June, 20, 1549, Malacca, Letter from Fr. Francisco Xavier to D. João III, King of Portugal (Historiographical Institute University of Tokyo [ed.] 1990: 87).

  20. 20.

    June, 20[-22], 1549, Malacca, Letter from Fr. Francisco Xavier to Frs. Micer Paulo, Antonio Gomez & Balthazar Gago, Goa (Historiographical Institute University of Tokyo [ed.] 1990: 90).

  21. 21.

    September, 20, 1555, Hirado, Letter from Fr. Balthazar Gago to D. João III, King of Portugal (Historiographical Institute University of Tokyo [ed.] 1996: 227).

  22. 22.

    Ibid (Historiographical Institute University of Tokyo [ed.] 1996: 226–227).

  23. 23.

    Ibid (Historiographical Institute University of Tokyo [ed.] 1996: 226).

  24. 24.

    September, 29, 1551, Yamaguchi, Letter from Fr. Cosme de Torres to the Jesuits in India (Historiographical Institute University of Tokyo [ed.] 1990: 165).

  25. 25.

    January, 12, 1556, Malacca, Letter from Br. Luís Fróis to the Jesuits in Goa (Biblioteca da Ajuda, Jesuítas na Ásia, 49-IV-49, fls. 253v–255v.

    January, 7, 1556, Malacca, Letter from Br. Luís Fróis to the Jesuits in Goa (Biblioteca da Ajuda, Jesuítas na Ásia, 49-IV-49, fls. 276v–279r; Historiographical Institute University of Tokyo [ed.] 2011: 11).

  26. 26.

    November, 20, 1555, Macau, Letter from Br. Fernão Mendes Pinto to the Rector of the College in Goa (Historiographical Institute University of Tokyo [ed.] 1996: 258–275); November, 23, 1555, Macau (Lampacau), Letter from Fr. Belchior Nunes Barreto to the Jesuits in India, Portugal & Europe (Historiographical Institute University of Tokyo [ed.] 1996: 276–291). The activities of Almeida in 1555 are well summarized in Okamoto (1974: 350–352).

  27. 27.

    November, 23, 1555, Macau (Lampacau), Letter from Fr. Belchior Nunes Barreto to the Jesuits in India, Portugal & Europe (BPADE, Cartas da Índia, fl. 36). This part is omitted in Historiographical Institute University of Tokyo [ed.] (1996: 276–291).

  28. 28.

    September, 16, 1555, Hirado, Letter from Luís de Almeida to Fr. Belchior Nunes Barreto (Historiographical Institute University of Tokyo [ed.] 1996: 222–224).

  29. 29.

    January, 7, 1556, Malacca, Letter from Br. Luís Fróis to the Jesuits in Goa (BA, Jesuítas na Ásia, 49-IV-49, fls. 276v–279r; Historiographical Institute University of Tokyo [ed.] 2011: 11).

  30. 30.

    According to a letter of Francisco Cabral, dated November, 25, 1559, Almeida belonged to a New Christian Family, who had converted from Judaism to Christianity. Wicki (ed.) (1956: 447) (document no. 53).

  31. 31.

    Louthia 老爹 was an honorific title of Chinese high offcials.

  32. 32.

    Curz. Tractado, Chapter XXIII. English translation by Boxer [ed.] (2004: 192).

  33. 33.

    Ibid.

  34. 34.

    This word must derive from nakhoda which means captain in Persian language.

  35. 35.

    Samip-ocheca is described as Chinese captain of the fleet on Pinto’s first arrival to Tanegashima, and from this spelling one can easily imagine the name of Wang Zhi 王直, but there is no prove for such identification.

  36. 36.

    November, 5, 1549, Kagoshima, Letter from Fr. Francisco Xavier to the Jesuits in Goa (Historiographical Institute University of Tokyo [ed.] 1990: 109).

  37. 37.

    June, 20[-22], 1549, Malacca, Letter from Fr. Francisco Xavier to Frs. Micer Paulo, Antonio Gomez & Balthazar Gago, Goa (Historiographical Institute University of Tokyo [ed.] 1990: 90). English translation by Xavier (1872: 155), with a slight modification (changed “Ladro” to “Ladrão”, as in the original letter of Xavier).

  38. 38.

    November, 5, 1549, Kagoshima, Letter from Fr. Francisco Xavier to the Jesuits in Goa (Historiographical Institute University of Tokyo [ed.] 1990: 114).

  39. 39.

    November, 5, 1549, Kagoshima, Letter from Fr. Francisco Xavier to Dom Pedro da Silva, Captain in Malacca (Historiographical Institute University of Tokyo [ed.] 1990: 150).

  40. 40.

    November, 5, 1549, Kagoshima, Letter from Fr. Francisco Xavier to Dom Pedro da Silva, Captain in Malacca (Historiographical Institute University of Tokyo [ed.] 1990: 149). English translation by Xavier 1872: 280, with a slight modification (corrected “Osaka” to “Sakai”, as in the original letter of Xavier (“Sacay”).

  41. 41.

    November, 5, 1549, Kagoshima, Letter from Fr. Francisco Xavier to Fr. António Gomes, Goa (Historiographical Institute University of Tokyo [ed.] 1990: 145).

  42. 42.

    November, 24, 1550, Malacca, Letter from Fr. Francisco Perez to the Jesuits in Portugal (Historiographical Institute University of Tokyo [ed.] 1990: 159).

  43. 43.

    Riben-Yijian was written by Zheng Shun Gong, a Chinese in Ming period, who had visited Bungo under the dominion of Ōtomo Family in 1556 (35th year of Jiajing). Cf. Watanabe (1955).

  44. 44.

    Iwai (2004: 125), and Jin & Wu (2002: 56).

  45. 45.

    January, 15, 1556, Letter from Leonel de Sousa to Dom Luís, Infante of Portugal (AN/TT, Gaveta 2, Maço 10, no. 15, Livro 60, fls. 160–162; Loureiro 1996: 91–99).

  46. 46.

    November, 20, 1555, Macau, Letter from Br. Fernão Mendes Pinto to the Rector of the College in Goa (BA, Jesuítas na Ásia, 49-IV-49, fls. 253r–255v; Historiographical Institute University of Tokyo [ed.] 1996: 258–275).

  47. 47.

    November, 23, 1555, Macau (Lampacau), Letter from Fr. Belchior Nunes Barreto to the Jesuits in India, Portugal & Europe (BA, Jesuítas na Ásia, 49-IV-49, fls. 237r–241v; BPADE, Cartas da Índia, primeiro tomo, fls. 32v–37r; Historiographical Institute University of Tokyo [ed.] 1996: 276–291).

  48. 48.

    “Deste Machoa porto da China” (BA, Jesuítas na Ásia, 49-IV-49, fl. 241v). In other manuscripts, this part is “Deste porto da China”, and the name of Machoa (Macau) does not appear.

  49. 49.

    For the arguments on the period of the settlement of Jesuits at Macau, cf. Okamoto (1974: 261–264).

  50. 50.

    January, 10, 1558, Cochin, Letter from Fr. Belchior Nunes Barreto to the Jesuits in Europe (BPADE, Cartas da Índia, primeiro tomo, fls. 47r–51r; Historiographical Institute University of Tokyo [ed.] 2011: 102–122).

  51. 51.

    Ibid.

  52. 52.

    Ibid (BPADE, Cartas da Índia, primeiro tomo, fls. 47v; Historiographical Institute University of Tokyo [ed.] 2011: 105).

  53. 53.

    Ibid.

  54. 54.

    September, 20, 1555, Hirado, Letter from Fr. Balthazar Gago to D. João III, King of Portugal (Historiographical Institute University of Tokyo [ed.] 1996: 226).

  55. 55.

    January, 10, 1558, Cochin, Letter from Fr. Belchior Nunes Barreto to the Jesuits in Europe (BPADE, Cartas da Índia, primeiro tomo, fls. 48r; Historiographical Institute University of Tokyo [ed.] 2011: 107).

  56. 56.

    “In past years, we stayed at Lampacau. This part is surrounded by the sea, and the water and the soil are very bad. To stay here for a long is difficult…” (Pang, Shang Peng. 1565. Chen Moyi Yi Bao Haiyu Wanshi Zhian Shu [Memorandum to the Emperor on the Lasting Security of Sea Borders]). The text is in Pang, Shang Peng. Baiketing Zhaigao [Collected Works of the Baike Kiosk], vol. 1. This is cited also in Historiographical Institute University of Tokyo Collection. Ozaki, Masayoshi. Zoku Ishō Nihon Den [A Sequel to the Variant Names of Japan which Appear in the Foreign Historiographies], book 142 (as a part of Gu, Yanwu. Tianxiajunguo Libingshu [The Advantages and Disadvantages of All Prefectures and Countries under Heaven], book 102, Guangdong.

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Oka, M. (2022). The Origin of the Namban Trade: The Sea of Private Traders. In: Oka, M. (eds) War and Trade in Maritime East Asia. Palgrave Studies in Comparative Global History. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-7369-6_4

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