Exploration, trade and interaction in East Asia and South-East Asia (1405–1700)

Emperor Yongle, to display Ming power and prestige and to draw foreign rulers into the tribute system after Mongol rule ended.

Muslim eunuch admiral who commanded seven Ming treasure fleet voyages between 1405 and 1433, reaching as far as East Africa.

Seven voyages (1405-1433); reached India, the Persian Gulf, Arabia, and the East African coast (Malindi).

Zheng He's fleet captured and executed a pirate leader who defied Ming authority — one of the rare uses of force during the voyages.

1543 — a Portuguese ship was blown off course by a storm and landed at Tanegashima.

The Japanese term ("southern barbarian trade") for commerce with Portuguese and Spanish traders, centred on the port of Nagasaki.

Jesuit missionary who landed in Japan in 1549 and began the Christian mission there, working alongside Portuguese traders.

Good relations with missionaries helped secure access to profitable Portuguese trade and firearms — trade and mission were linked.

Portuguese navigator who opened the first direct European sea route to Asia by sailing around Africa to Calicut, India.

Afonso de Albuquerque led Portugal's capture of the Sultanate of Malacca, giving Portugal control of the key strait between the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea.

Spanish-sponsored voyage seeking a westward route to the Spice Islands; Magellan died in the Philippines in 1521, but his crew completed the first circumnavigation of the globe.

China (Zheng He) sought tribute and prestige within an existing world order, with no permanent colonies. Portugal and Spain sought control of trade routes and profit, backed by naval force and fortified bases like Malacca.

A full colony from 1565 — direct rule, land seizure (encomiendas), and mass Catholic conversion of the population.

They mainly built fortified trading-post empires (e.g. Malacca, VOC/EIC posts) to control trade routes, rather than ruling whole populations.

The Portuguese, under Afonso de Albuquerque, captured the wealthy trading sultanate of Malacca, ending local rule of the region's key spice-route port.

The Dutch East India Company (founded 1602) — a chartered trading monopoly that focused on controlling the spice trade, especially in the Moluccas.

Demographic, Territorial, Social, and Religious/cultural change (memory line: D-T-S-R).

The destruction of ocean-going ships, due to the cost of maintaining a navy, fear of piracy, and Confucian suspicion of overseas trade — ending state-sponsored long-distance seafaring.

Japan's 17th-century "closed country" policy under the Tokugawa Shogunate, restricting foreign contact and travel abroad.

Japanese subjects banned from travelling abroad (death penalty for returning); foreign ships banned from most ports; Christianity suppressed; only four controlled "gateways" remained open.

Nagasaki (Dutch and Chinese trade), Tsushima (Korea), Satsuma (Ryukyu Kingdom), Matsumae (Ainu of Hokkaido).

It saw them as a threat to political control and social order in a recently unified Japan, potentially strengthening rivals to shogunate authority.

It strengthened central authority (Ming/Qing court; Tokugawa Shogunate) by removing external threats and internal rivals who had profited from foreign trade.

No — it reduced trade but did not eliminate it: Chinese coastal trade continued informally, and Japan's Nagasaki gateway kept Dutch and Chinese trade alive under strict control.