31.6 The far east: a.d. 1601 to 1700  (Page 4/4)

Korea

Following the great war with Japan, in which the Koreans defeated the invading Japanese by cutting their supply lines at sea, Injo was put on the throne by the so-called "southern faction" of Confucianists. In 1637, however, the Manchus overran Korea and within 10 years it was simply a vassal state of the Manchu Ch'ing Dynasty and, isolated from the non-Chinese world, became known as "The Hermit Kingdom". The court and the people remained loyal to the Ming and in the last quarter of the century the western faction of Confucianists returned to power, under Sukchong.

Southeast asia

Under the Ming Dynasty of China there was a kind of colonial capitalism among the emigrant Chinese to the East Indies. This has persisted to the present day, with Chinese merchants and bankers among the most prominent of the entire Southeast Asia region. (Ref. 292 )

Mainland southeast asia

After 1644 much of Indo-China and all of Annam became part of the Manchu Chinese Empire. Towns in Vietnam were little populated on ordinary days as the people were in the fields, but twice a month great markets were held. At Hanoi (then Ke-Cho) the merchants were grouped on different streets according to their specialties. In effect it was a fair or market rather than a town. (Ref. 260 ) In 1659 Vietnamese armies penetrated Cambodian territory and in 1697 LanXang split into three rival states and wrangled among themselves for 2 centuries, while f ighting off outside invaders at the same time. Burma had broken up into a number of small states at the beginning of the century. Japanese, Portuguese and Eng1ish traders were all active in Siam, along with the ever present Dutch. The European powers also traded in Burma and Malaysia early in the century. When the Dutch attempted to monopolize Siam's foreign trade, King Narai (1661-88) and his Greek adviser, Constant Phaulkon, invoked French aid and the resulting French garrisons at Bangkok and Mergui led both to a change of dynasty at Ayurthaya and complete expulsion of the French, with heavy losses. (Ref. 175 , 8 )

After the Dutch seized Amaboyna and established themselves at Batavia, the English withdrew from Malaysia, as the Dutch had also captured Malacca from the Portuguese. The latter had introduced pineapples, papaya and sweet potatoes to southeast Asia from America. With Chinese-influenced Vietnam as an exception, houses in southeast Asia were built on piles and made of wood and bamboo, with wood and mud lattices. (Ref. 211 , 260 )

Indonesia and adjacent islands

In the course of this century the Dutch East India Company, by both force and diplomacy, got control of the sources of almost all the valuable spices coming from this part of the world and thus established a virtual monopoly on their shipment to Europe.

Besides their headquarters at Batavia and Malacca, they had a large establishment at Goa to service the Indies' activities. (Ref. 8 ) Sumatrans, as other far easterners, were basically grain eaters. Only a great lord might have chicken and they could not understand the Westerners love of cattle and poultry. Spanish galleons linked America with Manila, where Chinese junks hurried to trade. Mexican silver in the amount of about a million pesos a year thus went to the Orient. (Ref. 260 ) Timor, out at the eastern end of the lower island chain, was held by the Dutch East India Company because of its sandalwood, which could be used as an exchange currency in China. (Ref. 292 )

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