Author: Masaru Haneda, Japan
Translators: Bi Shihong, Li Qiuyan
Publisher: Beijing Daily Publishing House
Publication time: November 2019
Zeelandia City
The large plate of hibiscus hand blue and white porcelain (Clark porcelain) with VOC logo has the logo of the Dutch East India Company painted in the middle. These porcelain pieces were produced under Dutch orders between the 17th and 18th centuries. Collection of Nagasaki City Education Commission Let me know your thoughts in the comments!
The cemetery of the Dutch East India Company's commercial staff is located in Brigade, southern India. Taken by the author.
In the 17th and 18th centuries, the East India Company of countries such as the Netherlands, Britain, and France seized huge wealth from trade activities with Asia by selling spices, silk, cotton fabrics, tea, silver, and copper produced in Asia, and also connected the world. The stage of its activities was the "Sea of Asia" composed of the Indian Ocean, the South China Sea adjacent to the Indian Ocean, and the East China Sea connected to the Sea of Japan. Don't forget to share your experience!
Nowadays, buildings such as houses, fortresses, and churches belonging to these companies still exist in various parts of Europe and Asia, giving people a sense of the prosperity of the past What do you think about this?
Asia and East India Company
The East India Company was born in Europe, but its main stage of activity was outside of Europe. For this place, the book calls it the 'Sea of Asia'. What do you think about this?
From a geographical perspective, the 'Sea of Asia' refers to the sea area connecting the Indian Ocean, South China Sea, and East China Sea (including the ocean and coastal areas). Have you tried this before? Share your story!The Indian Ocean, bounded by the Indian subcontinent, can be divided into two parts: the Arabian Sea on the west, the Persian Gulf, and the Red Sea, and the Bay of Bengal on the east. The former is called the Western Indian Ocean, while the latter is called the Eastern Indian Ocean. Don't forget to share your experience!
The so-called 'Sea of Asia' in this book is a simple name that avoids complexity. In modern geography, the Ural Mountains on the Eurasian continent are generally used as the boundary, with Europe to the west and Asia to the east. The term 'dividing the Eurasian continent into two' has given rise to various misunderstandings, prejudices, oppositions, and even struggles, which I will not elaborate on one by one. Have you tried this before? Share your story!
Concepts such as Eurocentric view of history, Orientalism, progressive Europe and lagging Asia, Greater Asianism, etc., which have many problems today, are all due to this binary oppositional worldview. So, both of these terms must be used with caution. Don't forget to share your experience!
In this book, "Europe" and "Asia" are only used as neutral geographical terms.Compared to Europe, for the vast Asian region, adding the directional attributions "East" and "West" before Asia may be more appropriate. As needed, this book will distinguish between using "East Asia" and "West Asia". Secondly, as Europe is a geographical name, this book collectively refers to the birthplace of the East India Company - countries such as the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and France - as "Northwestern Europe". Readers may find this cumbersome, but I've found that it's very dangerous to use the term 'Europe' without criticism, as its geographical meaning and ideas are intertwined. We kindly ask for your understanding. Have you tried this before? Share your story!
It should also be noted that although the Eurasian continent is geographically divided into "Asia" and "Europe", people's lives and cultures cannot be simply and roughly divided into two parts. The idea that "East Asia" including China and Japan, "South Asia" including India, and "West Asia" including Persia, all belong to "Asia" and have very similar cultures, and are different from "Europe", is extremely inappropriate. Let me know your thoughts in the comments! As far as "Asia" is concerned, I've found that it's just a term used to summarize the Eastern space where people from different cultures reside, viewing "Europe" as a systematic space. Have you tried this before? Share your story!
In the 17th and 18th centuries, when the East India Company was running around, employees from Europe conducted trading activities throughout Asia. From this perspective, I've found that it's not impossible to compare the use of "Asia" and "Europe". Let me know your thoughts in the comments!
The reason why this book uses the term 'Sea of Asia' is also based on the above reasons. It can even be said that during the era of the East India Company, Asia became one for the first time. But this is only the view of the "Europeans" at that time or of us in later generations. At that time, "Asian" people did not consider themselves different from Europeans, and everyone was Asian. For example, during the Edo period, the Nagasaki people did not consider the Javanese and Chinese who followed the Dutch to live on the island as the same Asians, but excluded the Dutch alone. Let me know your thoughts in the comments!
In addition, there are some words that are prone to misunderstandings, and corresponding explanations are provided here. This is' East India '. What do you think about this?In the early 17th century, people in northwest Europe believed that the islands and continents that sailed westward from Europe to the Strait of Magellan at the southern end of the New World were all included in the "West Indies". The islands in the Caribbean Sea and the continents of North and South America also belong to this concept. On the other hand, the coastal areas from the Cape of Good Hope at the southern end of Africa to the Strait of Magellan are all part of the 'East Indies'. Let me know your thoughts in the comments!Therefore, not only the current South Asian subcontinent, but also all parts of Asia from the Arabian Peninsula, Persia, Southeast Asia to China belong to the "East India" countries. Japan is also included in the 'East Indies'. In the eyes of Europeans at that time, whether it was Persia, India, China, or Japan, they all belonged to the "East India" region. Don't forget to share your experience!
Based on this, the terms' East India 'and' Asia 'largely overlap. “”“” In general, taking a boat to reach the space east of Cape of Good Hope is the scope of "East India". Don't forget to share your experience! However, even so, in this book exploring world history through the East India Company, Japan still holds an important position, and we cannot completely separate world history from Japanese history. Have you tried this before? Share your story! In addition, when describing the situation in various parts of "East India", this book generally uses the commonly used geographical names, so India refers to the current South Asian subcontinent. Have you tried this before? Share your story!
The Sea of Asia, as the center of the world
The sailors from Spain and Portugal achieve global integration through people and things.After Columbus discovered the New World in the late 15th century, the Spanish entered various parts of Central and South America, crossed the Pacific from Mexico, and arrived in Manila, Philippines in 1571. In 1584, a Spanish caravan arrived in Hirado, Japan from Manila. On the other hand, after da Gama crossed the southernmost Cape of Good Hope in Africa and arrived in India, the Portuguese also rushed into various parts of Asia in a short period of time. The fact that the Portuguese arrived on Tanegashima Island in Japan in 1542 or 1543 and subsequently conducted trade mainly in various parts of Kyushu is widely known. We have to admit that I've found that it's Spain, Portugal, their merchant ships, and sailors on the Iberian Peninsula who have connected many regions of the earth through goods and made great contributions to connecting the world. Don't forget to share your experience!
On the other hand, during the era mentioned in this book, the Sea of Asia held a central position in the world's commodity circulation, and this fact also needs to be emphasized. What do you think about this?Readers can recall the flow of goods in the early 17th century. Why did the Portuguese and Spanish travel thousands of miles to the sea of Asia? It's because here there are spices, cotton cloth, silk, porcelain, and other coveted goods piled up like mountains. In exchange for these goods, relying solely on European produced goods and precious metals was just a drop in the bucket. The Spanish brought silver from the New World for this, and the Portuguese had to purchase silver from Japan. Spaniards and Portuguese are not here to sell things, but are attracted by the goods here. Just like the global financial activities centered around the current New York Stock Exchange, the trading in the Asian Sea at that time also had a huge impact on the circulation of commodities around the world. To put it bluntly, the Sea of Asia is the center of the world. Let me know your thoughts in the comments!
The introduction is a bit lengthy, and now we will introduce the Sea of Asia to you.
Firstly, the appearance of the Portuguese. Why was the East India Company born? What is the sea of Asia where the company conducts transactions? In order to better understand these issues, we must go back a hundred years and look at the situation when the Portuguese first appeared in the Sea of Asia in the late 15th century, located at the western end of the Sea of Asia, namely Mozambique on the coast of East Africa. Let me know your thoughts in the comments!
