Pacific World - Midterm 1

Basalt adzes

• Basalt adzes are ancient stone tools, often made from volcanic basalt, used for woodworking.

• A variety of basalt adzes, such as those from Hawaii or Southeast Asia, were made and used by various cultures for purposes from felling trees to delicate carving.

Belitung Shipwreck

• A 9th-century Arab trading vessel discovered off the coast of Indonesia, known for its cargo of ceramics and artifacts.

• Belitung shipwreck (discovered in 1998) - Cargo found was 60,000 pieces of pottery 

  • Not pedestrian objects, they were everyday high-end luxury items 

  • Extensively trafficked 

  • Following a well-established sea route 

• Critical mass of shipwrecks found in Belitung, Intan, and Cirebon 

Hiram Bingham

• Hiram Bingham, formally Hiram Bingham I (October 30, 1789 – November 11, 1869), was the leader of the first group of American Protestant missionaries to introduce Christianity to the Hawaiian Islands. 

  • Like most of the missionaries, he was from New England.

• Saving souls justification 

• His timing is good because now Hawaii is unified and known as Hawaiian kingdom - 1820s

  • One king and queen 

  • Queen is open to Christianity → Converts queen 

• In less than 2 decades he creates state church, Westminster of Hawaii 

• Bible society 

• Builds 30 schools 

• Creates Hawaian language Bible - 1843 

• Create conditions for Western imperial entry 

  • Justification that since there are so many Westerners there they must have a stake 

• Bingham thought whaling crew was bad news 

  • Whalers beat up Bingham 

  • Public acts implemented due to his direct access to the throne 

    • Illegal to make noise in street 

    • Banned hula dancing 

    • Ban of public intoxication 

Canton system 

• The Canton System was a Chinese policy from 1757 to 1842 that restricted all foreign trade to the port of Canton (Guangzhou) and regulated it through a group of Chinese merchants known as the co-hong.

•  This system was designed by the Qing dynasty to control foreign influence and trade, but it eventually led to conflict with Western powers. 

• The system ended after China's defeat in the First Opium War, which resulted in the opening of more ports and the abolition of the trade restrictions.  

James Cook 

• Motivated by the spirit of exploration and enlightenment but also a subtext of imperial conquest 

• Discovered Hawaiian islands and traveled extensively the Pacific islands 

• Keeps a captain log - Useful navigation tool for those who will follow 

• Unlike previous travelers, Cook spent extended periods in the islands 

  • Month long sojourns 

  • Acts as an amateur ethnographer 

• Cook spends 6 months exploring the coast of New Zealand and Eastern coast of Australia 

  • Interaction with islanders but no catastrophic results 

  • Not seizing commodities, harming people (minus Tahiti theft), and no people left behind 

• Renowned for 3 journeys where he circumnavigated the world 

First Voyage (1768-1771)

• Science is a major goal but also establishing national pride 

• There are a number of scientist, botanists, and draftsmen who are brought along to document 

• Joseph Banks (botanist) - Obsessed with collecting biota 

  • Professionally trained scientist who is instrumental in cataloging different kinds of flora and fauna that grow in the Pacific 

  • Member of Royal Society 

  • Botany Bay 

Second Voyage (1772-1775)

• Marine chronometer - Measure latitude and longitude 

  • Allows for the ships to follow paths that are known to work - Prevent detours 

• Small ships 

• Experiments in social enguneering 

  • Omai and Ahutoru were islanders that were interacting with Cook and the French Captain Bougainville 

  • In both cases they were brought to the Imperial center (London/Paris) as a way to represent the island 

  • Toast of the town for a few years then they would feel homesick and taken back 

    • Test if they can assimilate again and repatriate 

      • Part of what killed them was the exposure to germs and viruses they encountered while they were living in the hub of European civilization 

  • Considered spectacles and were celebrities

Third Voyage (1776-1780)

• Ends with Cook’s death in Hawaii 

• Started from Plymuth to New Zealand to Cook Islands to Tonga to Tahiti to Hawaii to North America 

• Death of Captain Cook

  • Initially he is treated extremely well 

  • Guest that stays a little too long

  • Different dynamic than Magellan 

  • Dies on shore but he was not an unknown person, had been there for weeks  

  • One theory is that the Hawaiians had seen Cook when he arrived as part of an island myth about the god Lomo

    • That god when he returns is killed according to myth 

    • Fulfilling the narrative of an ancient myth 

  • Another theory is that Cook came, he stayed, but he was a not a well behaved guest 

    • Willing to tolerate him at first, but when he came back they were sick of him 

  • Within a few years of his death he is turned into a god of British exploration and scientific inquiry 

    • A hero of British imperial project 

  • These new lands become accessible to Europe through him 

    • First wave of imperial course that will follow

Vasco da Gama

• Vasco da Gama, was a Portuguese mariner, explorer and nobleman. His discovery of the first direct maritime route between Europe and India via the Cape of Good Hope and across the Indian Ocean from Malindi in Kenya to Kozhikode, was to open up European exploration of, and commerce with, India. 

• Leaves in 1499

• Goes to Calicut then goes back 

  • Loaded up ship with gold and silver, he bought a lot of cloth in India where there was already a flourishing international market on the ground 

• He buys spices brought from the Pacific and brings it home 

  • Everyone wants spices!!: Cardamom, Turmeric, etc. 

• Port to Port trade 

  • Leave Europe with gold/silver → Purchase cloth in India → Trade for spices in SE Asia → Purchase raw silk in Japan → Purchase porcelain and silk in China 

Dutch East India Company (VOC)

• Largest global corporation in the 17th century

• Transformed the relationship between Europe and South East Asia 

• The war between Netherlands and Spain gave the Netherlands an opportunity to be in a different place economically 

  • More capital and more skilled trading population 

• The Dutch East India company was founded in 1602 

  • Before 1602 there was a period of 7 years when there were different East India companies within the Dutch republic 

    • When Dutch republic rebelled against the King of Spain (who was also the king of Portugal)

    • Traders in Antwerp 

• Price of pepper went up

• Merchants started competing with each other 

  • Fear of that the company would become a vehicle of the state and a vehicle of war, cutting into profitability 

  • Had to be granted privileges by the state in order to agree to VOC 

    • Start of stock capital - Share of the company 

    • First stock exchange of the world 

• Fiscal military state approach 

  • States waging war to have trade routes, colonies, and trading rights 

  • Quasipublic institutions like the VOC created as a result

  • Mixed strategy of trying to dominate other European states by combining commercial and military power 

• VOC as acting like a state within the state 

  • Really are a state when they are outside of Europe

  • As if they are a sovereign, national power 

• Buying things and then selling to other people 

  • Ex: Buying cloth from India → Bringing to spice islands and buy spice → Bring spices to China and buy silk there → Bring silk to Japan and buy silver there → Bring silver back to spice islands to buy more spices → Go back to India 

  • Portuguese and Dutch used this model 

• VOC was not invincible

  • They were defeated by China twice 

  • Sent presents to Japanese emperor, shogun 

• Amsterdam replacing Antwerp as an important site for trade 

• VOC outposts in the Pacific 

  • Batavia - Headquarters of VOC, present day Jakarta 

    • Puts them in close proximity to Spice islands 

    • Seized Batvia and rebuilt it as a walled city in 1619 

      • Similar to the Spanish 

    • Major base of operations 

  • Macau 

    • Originally a Portuguese outpost 

    • Dutch tried to control Macau but they were defeated in the Battle of Macau (1622) 

  • Fort Zeelandia, Formosa (Taiwan) 

    • Was a Spanish outpost but the Dutch took their aggressive approach and were able to seize the island 

    • Successive ways of imperial control until it is claimed by the Qing empire (China) 

    • Why? Because it gives you close acces to China, it is not part of the pearl river delta where everything is clustered

      • Fewer Chinese gov. controls 

  • Nagasaki

Fukuzawa Yukichi

• Public intellectual 

• Writes about all the things he observes and all the steps Japan needs to take to modernize 

• Founded Keio University 

• He is on 10,000 yen bill! - I know him! 

• Wrote “Goodbye Asia” essay after the Meiji Restoration

  • Concerns about Western influence on the East 

  • Ancient vs. Present-day Westerners

    • Slow vs. Fast-paced 

      • Role of transportation in this 

  • Working with Westerners is necessary to prevent total colonialism in the East

  • Movement of civilization = spread of measles 

    • No effective way of preventing it 

  • Old fashioned and bloated government that stood in the way of this movement and its progress 

    • Now that this government has toppled, everyone in Japanese society has accepted the modern Western civilization

  • Relations to China and Korea 

    • Chinese and Koreans as more alike 

      • They are too set in their ways

    • Cannot survive as independent nations with the onslaught of the West 

Guano Islands Act (1856)

• The Guano Islands Act of 1856 allows U.S. citizens to claim any unclaimed island with guano deposits, and for the President to consider these islands part of the United States at his discretion. This was driven by the high demand for guano as a fertilizer and explosive ingredient in the 19th century.

• Any unoccupied island that the Americans claim are US territory 

• Very imperial 

• Lots of gray area 

• US Secretary of State: William H. Seward

• Over 100 islands claimed through this act 

  • Caribbean and Pacific 

• By 1914, every island in Asia and Oceania had been claimed 

Hong merchants 

• Hong merchants were a group of licensed Chinese merchants in Guangzhou who held a monopoly on all foreign trade under the Canton System from roughly 1757 to 1842. 

  • They operated as exclusive liaisons between foreign traders and were responsible for customs duties and guaranteeing the behavior of foreigners. 

  • This role made some hong merchants extremely wealthy.  

• Howqua (1769-1943) 

  • British and Americans had to rely on a Chinese intermediary 

  • Most successful of Chinese hong merchants who mediated Western-Chinese trade

Kanakas 

• Kanakas were workers (a mix of voluntary and involuntary) from various Pacific Islands employed in British colonies, such as British Columbia (Canada), Fiji, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, and Queensland (Australia) in the 19th and early 20th centuries. 

• New England whaling crew - Some Asian and Pacfic Islanders join them 

  • Not a systematic form of migration 

  • Voluntary workers 

  • 60,000 Kanakas, or Pacific Islander “men”, are brought to  Australia 

    • Also women 

    • Put to work on these whaling vessels that are part of the British colony’s emerging economy 

Lapita Cultural Complex

• Around 3,500 years ago the earliest ancestors of many Pacific people and Māori – the people provisionally named Lapita – appeared in Oceania. 

  • Records of the Lapita people and the way in which they lived – their culture – have been recorded across 200 sites.

• The remnants of their culture is referred to as the Lapita cultural complex. 

• Lapita pottery 

  • Evidence of islands communicating with one another 

  • Lapita pottery can be found in different islands 

    • Where they are found may indicate relations between islands 

  • Gradual and leapfrogging settlements reflected through this pottery 

Lin Zexu

• Lin Zexu, was a Chinese political philosopher and politician. He was a head of state, Governor General, scholar-official, and under the Daoguang Emperor of the Qing dynasty best known for his role in the First Opium War of 1839–42.

• LIN Zexu (1785-1850), appointed to be the customs inspector at Canton shortly before the outbreak of the Opium War, addressed this letter to Queen Victoria as part of his campaign to eradicate opium from Chinese society

  • Confiscated smoking equipment and the drug itself

  • Never interacted with the British

  • His confiscation of Westerners’ opium and his blockading of Western enclaves would increase Chinese-British tensions and eventually lead to war.

Letter from Com. Lin to Queen Victoria

• Begins by praising the emperor of China

  • “If there is profit, then he shares it with the peoples of the world; if there is harm, then he removes it on behalf of the world. This is because he takes the mind of Heaven and earth as his mind.”

• Praising English royalty but passive aggressive

  • You come from an honorable country but the past kings were known for their politeness and submissiveness 

  • We are the reason your company has wealth 

    • “The profit from trade has been enjoyed by them continuously for two hundred years. This is the source from which your country has become known for its wealth.”

• Referring to drug smugglers as barbarians 

  • Smuggle opium to “seduce the Chinese people”

  • “We find that your country is sixty or seventy thousand li (distance 0.5 km) from China. Yet there are barbarian ships that strive to come here for trade for the purpose of making a great profit.” 

  • Blaming English and these barbarians for making a profit that rightfully belongs to China according to Lin Zexu 

• All Chinese exports are beneficial to other countries so this is unfair, especially since opium is banned in England 

  • “Of all that China exports to foreign countries, there is not a single thing which is not beneficial to people; they are of benefit when eaten, or of benefit when used, or of benefit when resold: all are beneficial. Is there a single article from China which has done any harm to foreign countries? Take tea and rhubarb, for example; the foreign countries cannot get along for a single day without them.”
    

• Threats from China to cut off silk production

  • China can survive without your exports but you can’t survive without ours 

    • “On the other hand, articles coming from the outside to China can only be used as toys. We can take them or get along without them. Since they are not needed by China, what difficulty would there be if we closed the frontier and stopped the trade?”

    • Chinese as being very gracious 

• Discovery that opium is being produced in India not in England 

• Strict measures for people who are selling opium 

  • “Therefore in the new regulations, in regard to those barbarians who bring opium to China, the penalty is fixed at decapitation or strangulation.”

• “The barbarian merchants of your country, if they wish to do business for a prolonged period, are required to obey our statutes respectfully and to cut off permanently the source of opium.”

  • Trade implications 

• Assumes that Victoria is a king…

  • “May you, O King, check your wicked and sift out your vicious people before they come to China, in order to guarantee the peace of your nation, to show further the sincerity of your politeness and submissiveness, and to let the two countries enjoy together the blessings of peace.”
    

Pearl River Delta

• The Pearl River Delta Metropolitan Region is the low-lying area surrounding the Pearl River estuary, where the Pearl River flows into the South China Sea.

• It includes the Guangdong cities of Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Dongguan, as well as the Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macau

Matthew Perry 

• Matthew Perry was a United States Navy officer who commanded ships in several wars, including the War of 1812 and the Mexican–American War. 

• He led the Perry Expedition that ended Japan's isolationism and signed the Convention of Kanagawa between Japan and the United States in 1854

• Com. Perry has a letter from US President Millard Fillmore (1850-1853) to emperor of Japan

  • But emperor is a figurehead, the military governor is the one who actually has the power 

• Shogun counselor receives the letter 

  • Extensive discussion with various members of Japanese gov (feudal state with multiple domains) 

  • Shogun does not have executive authority to say yes or no 

• Celebrate Com. Perry, suggesting the Japanese encounter was positive 

• Americans brought a lot of stuff to gift and impress the Japanese 

  • Telegraph line 

  • Minstrel show 

  • Fascinated by sumo wrestling 

  • Spend 10 months here, waiting for a response 
    

• Com. Perry gets impatient and returns home 

  • Convention of Kanagawa

    • Two Japanese ports open up to American ships, ending the isolationist policy. 

Sandalwood

• Sandalwood is a fragrant wood from several species of slow-growing evergreen trees, most famously Santalum album (white sandalwood) native to India.

• It is valued for its essential oil, which is used in perfumes, cosmetics, and traditional medicine for its aromatic and therapeutic properties

• Aromatics 

  • Status symbol as consumption of aromatics were limited to the upper echelon of society 

  • The Tale of Genji by Lady Murasaki 

    • Lead characters who lived in the Kyoto Imperial Palace devoted attention to aromatics 

    • Aromatics originated in Islamic world and SE Asia and were transshipped via Song dynasty China to the port of Fukuoka, Japan

    • Mark of a gentleman was his own distinctive scent - Genji included

      • Genji spent hours making his own perfume

    • Women also perfumed their clothing 

  • Chinese and Japanese used wood or resin in their fragrances 

  • Aromatics much more important then than they are now 

Seven Years’ War (1756-1763)

• French and Indian War 

• British lost the US 

• Motivation for their Pacific exploration 

• Claimed Philippines for quick interlude but reverts to Spanish control again 

  • The Seven Years' War had a significant impact on the Pacific world, primarily through a British campaign against Spanish interests in the Philippines, which resulted in the temporary occupation of Manila

    •  In 1762, the British captured Manila, the capital of the Philippines. They were met with resistance from Spanish forces and local allies, but ultimately succeeded in taking the city.

    • The conflict in the Pacific officially ended with the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1763, which returned the Philippines to Spanish control.

Spice trade

• Spice trade: Nutmeg, Pepper, Cinnamon, Cloves 

• Portuguese had monopoly on the spice trade

  • Route around Africa 

  • Take over spice in Goa, Malacca, and Hormuz 

    • Controlled all spice routes from Asia to Europe except for the Overland trade (controlled by Arabs) 

• Pepper was important because it was rare in Europe, used in cooking and for medicinal purposes 

  • Give taste to food 

Treaty of Ganghwa (1876)

• The Treaty of Ganghwa, or the Japan-Korea Treaty of 1876, was a treaty signed on February 26, 1876, between Japan and Korea. It was the result of a Japanese military incident on Ganghwa Island and forced Korea to open its ports to Japanese trade, recognized Korea's independence from China, and granted Japan extraterritorial rights. The treaty was pivotal in ending Korea's isolationist policies and increasing Japanese influence in the region.

• Recognition of Korea as a state 

  • “Same sovereign rights as Japan”

• Reciprocal relationship established (not only Korea visiting) - Article 2

  • Japan and Korea would exchange envoys within fifteen months and permanently maintain diplomatic missions in each country.

• Article 4 terminated Tsushima’s centuries-old role as a diplomatic intermediary by abolishing all agreements then existing between Korea and Tsushima

  • Korea will open 2 ports 

• Article 5 authorized, in addition to the open port of Pusan, the search in Kyongsang, Kyonggi, Chungchong, Cholla, and Hamgyong Provinces for two more suitable seaports for Japanese trade to be opened in October 1877

  • Japan has upper hand 

• Whenever Japanese vessels either by stress of weather or by want of fuel and provisions cannot reach one or the other of the open ports in Chosen, they may enter any port or harbour either to take refuge therein, or to get supplies of wood, coal and other necessities or to make repairs; the expenses incurred thereby are to be defrayed by the ship’s master. - Article 6

  • Explicitly mentions Japanese vessels first… not Korean ones 

• Article 7 permitted any Japanese mariner to conduct surveys and mapping operations at will in the seas off the Korean peninsula’s coastline.

  • Data 

• Article 8 permitted Japanese merchants’ residence, unhindered trade, and the right to lease land and buildings for those purposes in the open ports.

• Article 9 guaranteed the freedom to conduct business without interference from either government and to trade without restrictions or prohibitions.

Treaty of Nanjing (1842)

• First unequal treaty 

• The Treaty of Nanjing, signed on August 29, 1842, formally ended the First Opium War between Great Britain and China. 

  • The treaty compelled China to cede Hong Kong to Britain, pay a large indemnity, open five treaty ports for trade and residence, and grant extraterritoriality and most-favored-nation status to the British in a subsequent agreement.

  •  It is considered the first of the "unequal treaties" that significantly weakened Chinese sovereignty and set a precedent for foreign powers to gain control over key aspects of Chinese trade and governance.  

Treaty of Tordesillas (1494)

• Spanish given the Atlantic 

• Portuguese given the other direction, making its way to Southeast Asia (spice islands) 

• The Treaty of Tordesillas was a 1494 agreement between Spain and Portugal that divided the newly discovered lands outside of Europe between the two countries along a meridian 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde Islands. 

  • Lands to the west were granted to Spain, and lands to the east to Portugal. 

  • This division significantly influenced the colonization of the Americas, leading to the Portuguese colonization of Brazil, and was established without the consent of the Indigenous peoples living in those lands.  

Tribute system

• A tribute system is a political and economic arrangement where a less powerful state or region gives gifts and pays homage to a more powerful state in exchange for protection, trade rights, and diplomatic legitimacy. 

• China's traditional tributary system, which lasted for millennia, was based on the idea of Chinese superiority, with tributary states sending gifts and performing acts of subservience like the kowtow to the Chinese emperor in exchange for receiving a letter of patent, the right to trade, and protection.

Whaling

• Moby Dick: Whaling is imperial 

  • Published in 1851, roughly after hay-day of whaling 

• Whaling in Pacific Northwest, Cape Verde, Marquesas, Fiji 

  • Following migration patterns and intel 

  • They start close to home and harvest everything 

  • Need to go further to find more whales 

  • Ecological neoimperialism 

    • Resource harvesting 

    • Depleting 

• Why is whaling so important? 

  • It is not pretty work 

  • Oil for lighting, fuel, and lubrication 

    • Soap 

  • Decorative

    • Scrimshaw (whale tooth/bone) with carving on it 

    • Material for corsets 

• New England whalers are estimated to have killed 225,500 sperm whales and 193,500 right whales 

• New England whaling crew - Some Asian and Pacfic Islanders join them 

  • Not a systematic form of migration 

  • Voluntary workers 

  • 60,000 Kanakas, or Pacific Islander “men”, are brought to  Australia 

    • Also women 

    • Put to work on these whaling vessels that are part of the British colony’s emerging economy 

• Many shipwrecks happen 

Zheng He

• Zheng He was an admiral and diplomat who helped extend the maritime and commercial influence of China throughout the regions bordering the Indian Ocean. He commanded seven naval expeditions almost a century before the Portuguese reached India by sailing around the southern tip of Africa.

• Zheng He’s seven voyages (1405-1430s) 

  • Multiple voyage routes 

  • 5x the size of Christopher Columbus’ ship - 27,500 people traveled with Zheng He 

    • Length of the ship was 400 ft - Larger than a football field

  • Representative of Chinese might 

  • Galle Trilingual Inscription 

    • Sri Lanka (1409)

    • Passive aggressive 

    • Political tensions 

    • Stone edifice, evidence that Zheng He was there 

  • Exotic things that tribute states sent like exotic animals 

    • Giraffe 

    • Zheng He became a legendary person, a shrine/temple was made for him in Indonesia 

Ferdinand Magellan

• Portuguese 

• Entered Indian Ocean beforehand 

• Tried to convince the Crown that he could go further East and enter the spice islands - Rejected by Portuguese 

  • Instead decided to do this with the Spanish

• Statue of Pigafetta in Cebu 

• Santa Maria smaller than Chinese ships (1/5th the size) 

• Forced to sail Atlantic because he was working with Spain 

• Killed in Mactan - Does not actually circumnavigate the world 

• Ship that carried Magellan had 18, the other ship had 17 - High stakes, begun with 35

• Magellan in Mactan 

• Pigafetta 

  • Captain speaking to King of Zzubu 

  • Attempt to initiate him into the faith of Jesus Christ 

    • King replied that he would convert but his chief men did not agree → Captain threatens to kill them if they do not convert → They obey him 

    • Captain left behind 2 men but take away 2 children to have them taught their language 

    • Promise that he would make him greatest king because he was first to convert 

    • Captain set up a cross 

      • Magellan’s Cross 

    • Must burn all idols of his country - Erasure of Filipino religion 

    • Baptism of the Queen and she was renamed 

    • Idols not burned in hopes they would heal someone 

      • Magellan says he would be cured if baptized and king promises to burn the idols 

  • Christianization of Filipino people

  • Mattan Island - Mactan 

    • Refused Christianization 

      • So a fight was declared 

      • Europeans could hardly defend themselves 

      • So Magellan sent his men to burn their houses 

      • Poisoned arrow through Magellan’s leg 

      • Eventually Magellan is killed and they retreat 

    • Lapu-Lapu 

    • People of Mactan would not give up Magellan’s body 

Māhele (1848)

• 1840s - Hawaiian government sees threat of growing number of white settlers 

  • Prevent overtaking of white property owners through mahele 

    • Replaced the traditional communal system with private land ownership

    • Plenty of Hawaiians who could not own title and land 

    • Start selling small plots of land to white settlers 

      • Unsuccessful 

  • By 1860s and 1870s, they are clamoring for London to intervene and set up some type of governmental presence there 

    • Americans also involved 

    • By 1898, Americans have colonized the islands 

Manila Galleon Trade 

• Manila’s Galleon Trade (1565-1815) 

  • Manila-Acapulco galleon trade 

  • Founding of Manila (1571) 

    • 1561 - Spanish have firm control of Manila, takes a while 

    • Pigafetta’s account is instrumental

  • New Spain silver, Chinese private merchants 

    • Potosi Mines, Bolivia 

      • Discovery of silver mountaingenerates so much wealth that the expression was “to be as rich as Potosi”

    • Silver mined in Potosi moves to Acapulco which then moves to Manila where goods are acquired throughout the Pacific 

    • Chinese demand for silver 

    • Not a lot that connects Spanish colonies to Seville so Acapulco becomes center of economic activity

  • Galleon trade begins in 1565 

    • 250 years of regular ships sailing from New World 

      • 4 month long trip to complete

      • 1 or 2 ships per year 

  • Because they are following a well-known path, they missed the Hawaiian islands all together 

  • Beginning of trans-Pacific migrations 

Goods exchanged:

Westbound (Manila to Acapulco): The galleons transported a variety of Asian luxury goods, including Chinese silks, porcelain, ivory, and spices.

Eastbound (Acapulco to Manila): The primary return cargo consisted of silver and gold from the Americas, which were used to purchase Asian commodities and for minting coins in China

Melanesia

• Melanesia is a subregion of Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean.

• The region includes the four independent countries of Fiji, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, and Papua New Guinea.

Nagasaki

• Nagasaki: Dejima

  • Japan’s portal to Europe  

  • Dejima is located off Nagasaki 

  • Dutch are able to approach the Japanese government which decided that they did not want Europeans on Japanese lands 

    • Imposed ban on the Spanish and Portuguese who were the first wave of Europeans to enter Japan 

  • Dutch were able to convince the shogunate that they are not interested in promoting the state or their god, we just want money 

    • Succesful! 

    • Only Dutch are allowed to trade with Japan 

    • Trading in a quarantined zone - Dejima 

    • A development project designed to house the Dutch when they are trading 

      • A group of VOC lives year round here 

      • No freedom of movement 

      • Negotiations taking place in Dutch  

      • Access to water, food, and women were super controlled 

Omai

• Omai and Ahutoru were islanders that were interacting with Cook and the French Captain Bougainville 

  • In both cases they were brought to the Imperial center (London/Paris) as a way to represent the island 

  • Toast of the town for a few years then they would feel homesick and taken back 

  • Test if they can assimilate again and repatriate 

    • Part of what killed them was the exposure to germs and viruses they encountered while they were living in the hub of European civilization 

• During his two-year stay in England, Omai became much admired within London high society. Renowned for his charm, quick wit and exotic good looks, he quickly became a favorite of the aristocratic elite

Opium

• Opium is a dried latex from the opium poppy, containing alkaloids like morphine, codeine, and thebaine, which are used for pain relief and are processed to create drugs like heroin.

Opium Wars 

• Opium has become linked to the Chinese 

  • Derogatory prints in Britain and US 

    • Opium den - Squalid opiate, lower class consumption 

  • Contrasts artifacts like opium pipes which seems artisanal 

• Opium had been around and practiced in China but not all that widely 

  • In 30 million, only 100,000 addicts into 1800

  • Social problem but not a catashtrophic one 

• British saw opium as a solution to the trade imbalance 

  • Solve British woes in China and India 

  • Produce opium in British-controlled India then bring it over to China 

    • Sell it and build an addicted population who are constantly craving this 

    • Removing opium from British-controlled territories 

• Street opium 

  • Market created 10 million addicts over the course of a century 

  • British trade imbalance problem is solved and now China has a severe monetary problem 

• Opium Czar - Commissioner Lin Zexu is on opium control 

• Begins century of humiliation 

• 2 Opium Wars 

  • First Opium War (1839–1842)

    • British decided that they could take on the Chinese in war 

      • Steam ships and steel artillery which put Europeans at an advantage 

    • British were now in the business of training soldiers in different parts of their empire and being able to ship them to theaters of conflict

      • Soldiers from India 

  • Second Opium War (1856–1860)

    • After a decade and a half of British domination 

      • Still don’t have complete economic spoils that they had hoped for, still a trade imbalance 

      • French get involved and they also want to enter China 

    • Among casualties is the Chinese summer palace 

      • Completely sacked by British soldiers 

      • Empress’ pet is taken from its owners and brought to England and becomes a gift to Queen Victoria 

      • Looty, Britains’s first Pekinese

      • Zodiac bronze heads looted and used as trophies by Europeans 

Polynesian Voyaging Society

• The Polynesian Voyaging Society (PVS) is a non-profit organization in Hawaiʻi founded in 1973 to revive traditional Polynesian voyaging and wayfinding, proving that ancient Polynesians settled the Pacific using ancestral knowledge instead of modern instruments.