Abstract
While former studies have primarily concentrated on geographical sub-regions or thematic aspects, we pursue what may be considered a nascent field of Asian and Indian Ocean Studies (including the Asia-Pacific), namely the examination of intra- and trans-regional connections, of Asian and IOW interactions over the longue durée. The introduction addresses some key problems and definitions in historical debates about the topic, for example the traditional centre/empire-periphery model, Eurocentric views and the role of the Europeans, as far as changes in the IOW are concerned, or concepts of Indianization, Sinicization or Europeanization and colonization. It also specifically discusses the role of trade in China in the early fifteenth century when private maritime trade was officially prohibited.
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- 1.
“Empire” is defined as “a political unit of large extent controlling a number of territories and peoples under a single sovereign authority”, where the “extent” is relative and depends on how far advanced transport conditions and news dissemination are”. Wolfgang Reinhard (2015) Empires and Encounters, 1350–1750 (Cambridge, MA, and London: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press), 12, with reference also to Thomas Allsen (2011) “Pre-Modern Empires”, in Jerry H. Bentley (ed.), Oxford Handbook of World History (Oxford: Oxford University Press), 361–378, here 361; and Leonard Jörn and Ulrike von Hirschhausen, eds. (2011) Comparing Empires: Encounters and Transfers in the Long Nineteenth Century (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht).
- 2.
Kirti N. Chaudhuri (1990) Asia Before Europe: Economy and Civilisation of the Indian Ocean from the Rise of Islam to 1750 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).
- 3.
See Angela Schottenhammer (2016) “China’s Gate to the Indian Ocean—Iranian and Arab Long-Distance Traders”, Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 76.1, 135–179, esp. 137; also Angela Schottenhammer (2002) Das songzeitliche Quanzhou im Spannungsfeld zwischen Zentralregierung und maritimem Handel. Unerwartete Konsequenzen des zentralstaatlichen Zugriffs auf den Reichtum einer Küstenregion, Habilitation thesis [Münchener Ostasiatische Studien, 80] (Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag), 53–39, 57.
- 4.
See, for example, Ian W. Mabbett (1977) “The ‘Indianization’ of Southeast Asia. Reflections on the Prehistoric Sources”, Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 8.1, 1–14; Ian W. Mabbett (1977) “The ‘Indianization’ of Southeast Asia: Reflections on Historical Sources”, Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, 8.2, 143–161; Hermann Kulke (1990) “Indian Colonies, Indianization or Cultural Convergence? Reflections on the Changing Image of India’s Role in South-East Asia”, in Henk Schulte Nordholt (ed.), Onderzoek in Zuidoost-Azië. Agenda’s voor de jaren negentig (Leiden: Rijksuniversiteit te Leiden), 8–32; Monica Smith (1999) “‘Indianization’ from the Indian Point of View: Trade and Cultural Contacts with Southeast Asia in the Early First Millennium C.E.”, Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient 42.1, 1–26; or Kenneth R. Hall (1982) “The ‘Indianization’ of Funan: An Economic History of Southeast Asia’s First State”, Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 13.1, 81–106.
- 5.
Chinese sources indicate the presence of Indian merchant communities in coastal China including Guangzhou around this time. In the middle of the eighth century, three Brahmanical temples with a number of priests existed in Guangzhou; see Tansen Sen (2003) Buddhism, Diplomacy, and Trade. The Realignment of Sino-Indian Relations, 600–1400 (Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press), 163. The mention of Hindu temples could also indicate the existence of merchant guilds.
- 6.
See, for example, https://www.southeastasianstudies.uni-freiburg.de/areastudies/research/sinicization-in-southeast-asia (accessed June 17, 2017).
- 7.
William H. Frederick (2017) “History of Southeast Asia”, Encyclopaedia Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/topic/history-of-Southeast-Asia (accessed June 4, 2017).
- 8.
Herold J. Wiens (1952) China’s March Toward the Tropics: A Discussion of the Southward Penetration of China’s Culture, Peoples, and Political Control in Relation to the Non-Han-Chinese Peoples of South China and in the Perspective of Historical and Cultural Geography (New York: The Ronald Press), passim.
- 9.
The Yuan court in total dispatched about sixteen missions to India. See, for example, Tansen Sen (2011) “Maritime Interactions Between China and India: Coastal India and the Ascendancy of Chinese Maritime Power in the Indian Ocean”, Journal of Central Eurasian Studies 2, 41–82.
- 10.
Between 1405 and 1435 in total seven expeditions were carried out, a last one after the death of Yongle.
- 11.
See, for example, Paul D. Buell (2012) “Qubilai and the Indian Ocean: A New Era?”, in Salvatore Babones; Christopher Chase-Dunn (ed.), Handbook of World-Systems Analysis (London and New York: Routledge), 42–43; see also Virgil Ciocîltan (2012) The Mongols and the Black Sea Trade in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries, trans. Samuel Willcoks (Leiden and Boston: E. J. Brill).
- 12.
Cao Renhu 曹仁虎 [1730–1786] (compiled on imperial command between 1747 and 1767 or 1772), Qinding xu wenxian tongkao 欽定續文獻通考, in Siku quanshu, fasc. 62, 6–631, 26.31a.
- 13.
Ibid., 26.30a.
- 14.
For an excellent analysis of Ming China’s maritime prohibition policy and the faction struggle in the Chinese government about the role and position of foreign trade, see Li Kangying (2010) The Ming Maritime Policy in Transition, 1368–1567 [East Asian Maritime History, 8] (Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz).
- 15.
See, for example, Shen Jia 沈佳 who stressed that “the Son of the Heaven should stick to the ‘Way’, with China at the center and the barbarians on the periphery, and China should rule by both ethical and physical power”. Shen Jia 沈佳 [jinshi 1688] Mingru yanxing lu 明儒言行錄, in Siku quanshu, fasc. 458, 1.20a; or Feng Zhang 馮璋 (jinshi 1538) who claimed that “contact with the barbarians will confuse the division between Chinese and aliens, and the damage could become uncontrollable if we allow such a trend to grow”. Feng Zhang 馮璋 [jinshi 1538] (1997) “Tongfan boyi” 通番舶議, in Chen Zilong 陳子龍陳子龍 [1608–1647] (ed.), Ming jingshi wenbian 明經世文編明經世文編 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju), vol. 280, 1.18b–1.19a.
- 16.
The exclusive exploitation of a country or region by one specific nation state that had occupied it, was one of the particular characteristics of colonialism in contrast to the “free trade” as later enforced by the USA.
- 17.
See also my “China’s Rise and Retreat as a Maritime Power” (2017), Chapter 12 of Robert J. Antony and Angela Schottenhammer (eds.), Beyond the Silk Roads: New Discourses on China’s Role in East Asian Maritime History [East Asian Maritime History, 16] (Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz), 189–212, esp. 203–205.
- 18.
See, for example, Hendrik L. Wesseling (1997) Imperialism and Colonialism: Essays on the History of European Expansion (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press); or Itinerario: International Journal on the History of European Expansion and Global Interaction (1977–) (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press); Comparative Studies in Overseas History: Publications of the Leiden Centre for the History of European Expansion (The Hague: Nijhoff); and for those who read German, I recommend Wolfgang Reinhard’s (2016) Die Unterwerfung der Welt. Globalgeschichte der europäischen Expansion 1415–2015 (München: C. H. Beck), an English translation will certainly follow soon.
- 19.
Fei Xin 費信 [c. 1388–1436] (1436) Xingya shenglan 星槎勝覽 (Overall Survey of the Star Raft) and Ma Huan 馬歡 [c. 1380–1460] (1451) Yingyai shenglan 瀛涯勝覽 (The Overall Survey of the Ocean’s Shores).
- 20.
See also René Barendse (2009) The Arabian Seas 1700–1763 (Leiden: E. J. Brill), 4 vols.
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Schottenhammer, A. (2019). Introduction. In: Schottenhammer, A. (eds) Early Global Interconnectivity across the Indian Ocean World, Volume I. Palgrave Series in Indian Ocean World Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-97667-9_1
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