Overseas Empires

Chapter #17:ii

Portugal quickly

moved to monopolize

the spice trade with India and other parts

of Asia.

The Portuguese burned Arab dhows and wharves, and ransacked Muslim cities in East Africa.

One of Portugal’s first colonies was Goa in India.

Goa

Through the efforts of

Afonzo de Albuquerque, Goa quickly became the centre of a Portuguese

trading empire.

Strait ofHormuz

Strait ofMalacca

The Portuguese were able to

control the trade of the Indian Ocean after seizing key straits.

The Strait of Hormuz

controlled the trade passing between the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean.

The Strait of Malacca

served as the major trade

route between the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea.

Cargoes of Pepper came from India.

Cinnamon was imported from Ceylon (present-day Sri Lanka).

Cloves were brought from the East Indies.

Nutmeg was shipped from the East Indies.

Portugal faced stiff competition for the

spice trade from France, England,

and the Netherlands by the late-1500s.

The Dutch displaced the Portuguese as the dominant power in the spice trade during the 1600s . . .

while English and French merchants concentrated on India.

The Ming dynasty of

China permitted

only limited trade with European

merchants.

By the early-1500s, the Portuguese

had to confine their trading to Macau.

Macau

In 1542, a newsource of trade was opened when a

Portuguese ship was blown off course and ended up in Japan.

[Need picture of Jesuit missionaries.]

The Dutch were the only foreigners (barbarians) allowed to trade with Japan from the early-1600s to the mid-1800s.

The Dutch did not try to evangelize,

nor did they try to conquer, . . .

they merely came to trade.

Outside contact was limited to one ship per year at Nagasaki after 1635.

Why Nagasaki?

Resident barbarians lived on the man-made islet of Dejima in the harbour of Nagasaki.

Dejima Island today.