Alt: This is a document with a mix of printed and handwritten script in Dutch. It appears to be a form that is completed by hand with a signature.
This primary source is a bond issued by the Dutch East India Company. Founded in 1602, the Dutch East India Company was one of several European companies founded to stabilize trade. Because the initial investment in the company was considerable, the company’s founders needed to raise a lot of capital. This was accomplished through issuing bonds to those who lent the company money. According to economics historian Larry Neal, these bonds could earn lenders around 6% interest per year. The biggest investment--and the biggest risk--belonged to those who actually owned portions of the company. At first, these shareholders were paid in spices and other trade goods; eventually, they earned yearly dividends around 16%. Shareholders were also allowed to sell their portion back to the company if they no longer wanted to participate in the endeavour. Some historians argue that this was the first incarnation of the stock market.
Companies like the Dutch East India Company were given considerable leeway by their rulers. The Dutch East India Company was essentially given sovereign powers on its trading routes, meaning that it could act like its own state; it could even wage war and had its own currency.
Alt: This is an image of what appears to be a floating city, connected to the mainland by a bridge. It looks like a visitor’s map because you can see the individual buildings and there appear to be numbers indicating particular locations.
This is Dejima (or Deshima), a floating island constructed by Japanese merchants in the mid 17th century. Due to the isolationist policies of the Japanese shogunate, this became the only place in Japan where the Portuguese, and later the Dutch, could interact with Japanese merchants.
Trading with Japanese merchants at Dejima was part of a complex network of exchanges called the Country Trade, which brought Dutch merchants into repeated contact with merchants throughout Asia. Anne Goldgar, Reader in Early Modern European History at King's College London, explains this trade network:
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b071vl2l
Exclusion of the Portuguese, 1639. Source.
The matter relating to the proscription of Christianity is known [to the Portuguese]. However, heretofore they have secretly transported those who are going to propagate that religion.
If those who believe in that religion band together in an attempt to do evil things, they must be subjected to punishment.
While those who believe in the preaching of the priests are hiding, there are incidents in which that country [Portugal] has sent gifts to them for their sustenance.
In view of the above, hereafter entry by the Portuguese galeota is forbidden. If they insist on coming [to Japan], the ships must be destroyed and anyone aboard those ships must be beheaded. We have received the above order and are thus transmitting it to you accordingly.
The above concerns our dispositions with regard to the galeota.
Memorandum
With regard to those who believe in Christianity, you are aware that there is a proscription, and thus knowing, you are not permitted to let priests and those who believe in their preaching to come aboard your ships. If there is any violation, all of you who are aboard will be considered culpable. If there is anyone who hides the fact that he is a Christian and boards your ship, you may report it to us. A substantial reward will be given to you for this information.
This memorandum is to be given to those who come on Chinese ships. [A similar note to the Dutch ships.]
From the arrival of the Portuguese in 1549 to unification under Toyotomi Hideyoshi in 1587, the Christian presence in Japan grew considerably. While its influence depended on the region, every major center had a Christian presence. Jesuits from Spain and Portugal actively converted as many Japanese as possible, but focused on the elite in hopes that their conversion would impact those in the lower classes.
At first, the Christian presence was tolerated. By the late 16th century, however, the Portuguese and the Jesuits were viewed with suspicion. The Japanese knew of Portuguese attempts to conquer other locations in Asia, and the heavily armed Portuguese galleons off the Japanese coast made them wary. The fact that some daimyos were converting to Christianity to get access to saltpeter heightened these concerns; these daimyos also received Portuguese military support against their non-Christian rivals, meaning that Portugal (and Christianity) was having a significant impact on internal power structures.
Christianity was banned in Japan in 1614, while the Portuguese were banned in 1639 following several small incidents that cemented the opinion of the shogunate.
Alt: Text hand-written in Arabic on an old-looking piece of paper.
In the mid-15th century, Timbuktu had come under control of the neighbouring Songhai Empire. The strength of this empire enhanced the city’s importance in the region. Songhai ruler Askia Mohammad I encouraged trade throughout north Africa and with Europeans, and valued educational and cultural growth.
The city of Timbuktu flourished. Its numerous libraries and universities contained thousands of manuscripts; modern estimates place the number of manuscripts still in existence at 700 000.
These documents also reinforced the importance of Islam to education and learning. Though it was authored in Timbuktu, this document was was written in Arabic, a script that originated thousands of kilometers away. The spread of Islam and Arabic script was symbiotic: the spread of one was sometimes hard to distinguish from the influence of the other. Thus, many of the documents in Timbuktu were in Arabic and directly referenced Islamic teaching.
This document is a slave trade agreement between between merchants in Timbuktu and north Africa. While Timbuktu merchants were involved in the slave trade, the practice was regulated by Islamic law, which allowed enslavement only under very specific conditions.
Alt: This is a wooden cross with decorations on the ends - a circular engraving and square relief carvings. A human figure is in the centre.
Alt: This is a wooden cross with decorations on the ends - a circular engraving and square relief carvings. A human figure is in the centre.
The first years of the relationship between Portugal and Kongo were cordial. Many Kongolese, including the king, converted to Christianity and chose Portuguese names. In the early 1500s, Kongolese King Afonso I was an ardent supporter of the Portuguese, converting to Christianity and spreading Roman Catholicism and European culture in the Kongo through building schools and churches.
While this Kongolese cross dates from the 19th century, the statue of St. Anthony is from the 16th century. Some historians believe that the ease with which Christianity spread through the Kongo was due to the cross itself. Kongolese religious traditions used the cross as a metaphor for the universe and the human experience before the arrival of Europeans.
LETTER TO THE KING OF PORTUGAL
From Africa and the West: From the slave trade to conquest, 1441-1905
By William H. Worger, Nancy L. Clark, Edward A. Alpers
.Sir, Your Highness should know how our Kingdom is being lost in so many ways that it is convenient to provide for the necessary remedy since this is caused by the excessive freedom given by your factors and officials to the men and merchants who are allowed to come to this Kingdom to set up shops with goods and many things which have been prohibited by us, and which they spread throughout our Kingdoms and Domains in such an abundance that many of our vassals, whom we had in obedience, do not comply because they have the things in greater abundance than we ourselves; and it was with these things that we had them content and subjected under our vassalage and jurisdiction, so it is doing a great harm not only to the service of God, but to the security and peace of our Kingdoms and State as well.
And we cannot reckon how great the damage is since the mentioned merchants are taking every day our natives, sons of the land and sons of our noblemen and vassals and our relatives, because the thieves and men of bad conscience grab them wishing to have the things and wares of this Kingdom which they are ambitious of; they grab them and get them to be sold; and so great, Sir, is the corruption and licentiousness that our country is being completely depopulated, and Your Highness should not agree with this or accept it as in your service. And to avoid it we need from those (your J Kingdoms no more than some priests and a few people to teach in schools, and no other goods except wine and flour for the holy sacrament. is why we beg of Your Highness to help and assist us in this matter, commanding your factors that they should not send here either merchants or wares, because it is our will in that in these Kingdoms there should not be any trade in slaves or outlets for them ...
(July 6, 1526).
At first, the trade relationship between Portugal and Kongo was mutually beneficial. The Kongolese trade enslaved prisoners from neighbouring regions to the Portuguese, who in turn took them across the Atlantic or back to Europe. Eventually however, the Portuguese demands for slaves exceeded the supply. Portuguese traders responded by enslaving Kongolese people themselves. Kongolese king Afonso wrote a series of letters to the king of Portugal asking him to stop the practice.
Conflict over the slave trade continued after Afonso’s death in 1542. Relations deteriorated in the 1550s when the Portuguese circumvented a trade deal with Kongo by going further inland to buy slaves from another community. The king of Kongo responded by expelling many Portuguese In the 1560s, the Portuguese assassinated the Kongolese king and replaced him with someone to represent their interests. The people of the Kongo rioted, and the official trade relationship between Portugal and Kongo ended. Still, the Portuguese maintained a presence in Africa for centuries.
This place [Hoden] is not walled, but is frequented by Arabs, and is a market where the caravans arrive from [Timbuktu], and from other places in the land of the Blacks, on their way to our nearer Barbary...
They are Muhammadans, and very hostile to Christians. They never remain settled, but are always wandering over these deserts. These are the men who go to the land of the Blacks, and also to our nearer Barbary. They are very numerous, and have many camels on which they carry brass and silver from Barbary and other things to [Timbuktu] and to the land of the Blacks. Thence they carry away gold and pepper, which they bring hither...
You should know that the said Lord Infante of Portugal [the crown prince, Henry the Navigator] has leased this island of Argin to Christians [for ten years], so that no one can enter the bay to trade with the Arabs save those who hold the license. These have dwellings on the island and factories where they buy and sell with the said Arabs who come to the coast to trade for merchandise of various kinds, such as woollen cloths, cotton, silver, and "alchezeli," that is, cloaks, carpets, and similar articles and above all, corn, for they are always short of food. They give in exchange slaves whom the Arabs bring from the land of the Blacks, and gold tiber. The Lord Infante therefore caused a castle to be built on the island to protect this trade for ever. For this reason, Portuguese caravels are coming and going all the year to this island.
…. others again are taken to this place, Argin, and sold to the Portuguese leaseholders. As a result every year the Portuguese carry away from Argin a thousand slaves. Note that before this traffic was organized, the Portuguese caravels, sometimes four, sometimes more, were wont to come armed to the Golfo d'Argin, and descending on the land by night, would assail the fisher villages, and so ravage the land. Thus they took of these Arabs both men and women, and carried them to Portugal for sale: behaving in a like manner along all the rest of the coast, which stretches from Cauo Bianco to the Rio di Senega and even beyond.
This primary source is a first-hand account was written around 1455 by Alvise da Cadamosto, a Venetian explorer who assisted the Portuguese with their initial navigations along the African coast. It provides some insight into not only the scope of the slave trade, but also the way in which the Portuguese obtained some of their slaves.
While some slaves were sent to Portugal, most were forced onto ships destined for colonies in South America. The voyage across the Atlantic, called the Middle Passage, was long and painful. The voyage could take several months, during which African slaves were confined below deck in horrible conditions. Disease spread rapidly, killing a number of slaves on the journey; others died because they refused to eat. Once discovered, their bodies were dumped over the side of the ship. While approximately 15% of slaves died on the voyage, far more died in Africa itself during Portuguese raids on villages.
Upon arrival in South American colonies, the slaves were often traded for goods that were sent back to Europe for sale.
And of all the infinite universe of humanity, these people are the most guileless, the most devoid of wickedness and duplicity, the most obedient and faithful to their native masters and to the Spanish Christians whom they serve. They are by nature the most humble, patient, and peaceable, holding no grudges, free from embroilments, neither excitable nor quarrelsome. These people are the most devoid of rancors, hatreds, or desire for vengeance of any people in the world. And because they are so weak and complaisant, they are less able to endure heavy labor and soon die of no matter what malady. The sons of nobles among us, brought up in the enjoyments of life's refinements, are no more delicate than are these Indians, even those among them who are of the lowest rank of laborers. They are also poor people, for they not only possess little but have no desire to possess worldly goods. For this reason they are not arrogant, embittered, or greedy. Their repasts are such that the food of the holy fathers in the desert can scarcely be more parsimonious, scanty, and poor. As to their dress, they are generally naked, with only their pudenda covered somewhat. And when they cover their shoulders it is with a square cloth no more than two varas in size. They have no beds, but sleep on a kind of matting or else in a kind of suspended net called bamacas. They are very clean in their persons, with alert, intelligent minds, docile and open to doctrine, very apt to receive our holy Catholic faith, to be endowed with virtuous customs, and to behave in a godly fashion. And once they begin to hear the tidings of the Faith, they are so insistent on knowing more and on taking the sacraments of the Church and on observing the divine cult that, truly, the missionaries who are here need to be endowed by God with great patience in order to cope with such eagerness. Some of the secular Spaniards who have been here for many years say that the goodness of the Indians is undeniable and that if this gifted people could be brought to know the one true God they would be the most fortunate people in the world.
The Spanish interaction with Mesoamerica was defined by two groups: the Conquistadors and priests. While these groups often cooperated--they were both subject to power of the Spanish crown--their interests did not always align. The Conquistadors pursued the acquisition of gold and the conquest of the indigenous groups they encountered; priests and monks, however, actively pursued widespread conversion.
The tension between these two groups is epitomized in the writings of Dominican friar Bartolome de Las Casas. During his first years in Hispaniola, Las Casas owned an Encomienda, a plantation/settlement that served three purposes: the forced labour of the indigenous people, a means to convert those same people to Christianity, and the spread of Spanish culture and values. However, after witnessing the treatment of the indigenous people, Las Casas became their advocate, calling for an end to their mistreatment.