University of Alberta The English East India Company's Trade in the Western Pacific through Taiwan, 1670 – 1683 by Ryan Edgecombe Holroyd A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in History Department of History and Classics ©Ryan Edgecombe Holroyd Spring 2011 Edmonton, Alberta Permission is hereby granted to the University of Alberta Libraries to reproduce single copies of this thesis and to lend or sell such copies for private, scholarly or scientific research purposes only. Where the thesis is converted to, or otherwise made available in digital form, the University of Alberta will advise potential users of the thesis of these terms. 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Abstract This thesis explores the 1670 to 1683 trading relationship between the English East India Company and the Zheng family, a Ming loyalist organisation that controlled Taiwan in the late seventeenth century. It draws on the available sources of data for the Zheng family’s trading network to create an analysis of how the network functioned and developed, and then applies the available information from the East India Company’s records to understand how the company’s trade to Taiwan developed. The Zheng family’s trade was altered by their participation in the Sanfan Rebellion during the 1670s. The rebellion commercially isolated the Zheng family from mainland China, which in turn gave the East India Company an opportunity to supply substitute goods for the Zheng family’s trade elsewhere. However, the rebellion also weakened the Zheng family and brought about their surrender of Taiwan to Qing China, which ended the company’s trade there as well. i Acknowledgements Many people supported me in various ways during the period I wrote this thesis, and I would like to use this opportunity to express my appreciation to a few of them. First, my thesis supervisor, Dr. Jennifer Jay, helped me throughout the project. She provided me with valuable insights on the content of the thesis. I am also extremely lucky to have found myself among the group of graduate students that I did in the University of Alberta’s Department of History and Classics. Very few of my fellow students were working on projects even remotely close the maritime world of the seventeenth century western Pacific, but the great diversity of topics they were researching (ranging from ancient Greek poetry to Soviet history) exposed me to perspectives on history and historiography that I would not have otherwise had an opportunity to learn about. In particular, I would like acknowledge the help given to me by Rylan Kafara and Amit Sharma, both of whom took the time to read through various bits and pieces of my early drafts and provide criticisms and suggestions. My family’s support was unflagging during my work on this project. My decision to pursue a degree in East Asian history took them somewhat by surprise, I believe, but they nonetheless encouraged me and have remained a Rock of Gibraltar throughout both my undergraduate and graduate degrees. Finally, the largest debt I owe is to the love of my life, Su Shu-Wei. Besides helping me with the difficult Chinese sources, she patiently tolerated the long nights I spent sifting through sources and writing and rewriting my work. More than any other single factor, her love and support made this work possible. ii Table of Contents • Abstract......................................................................................................................................i • Acknowledgments...................................................................................................................ii • List of Maps.............................................................................................................................iv • Introduction..............................................................................................................................1 • Chapter I: The Trading World of the Seventeenth Century Western Pacific................7 o The Zheng Family and Zheng Taiwan o The East India Company’s Plans for Re-entry into the Western Pacific o The East India Company and the Trading World of the Western Pacific after 1670 • Chapter II: The Early Years of the East India Company’s Relationship with the Zheng Family, 1670 – 1673..................................................................................................33 o The East India Company’s First Voyages to Taiwan o The Zheng Merchants’ Diminished Access to the Chinese Market o Difficulties Trading Cloth Indirectly Trade to the Philippines o Competition from South-East Asia • Chapter III: The East India Company’s Trade with the Zheng Family during the Sanfan (Three Feudatories) Rebellion, 1675 – 1679........................................................61 o The Zheng Family’s Participation in the Sanfan Rebellion o Expectations and Results of the East India Company’s Trade during the Sanfan Rebellion o The Impact of the Sanfan Rebellion on the Zheng Merchants’ Chinese Trade o The Shift to South-East Asia o The East India Company’s Participation in the South-East Asian Branch • Chapter IV: The Final Years of the East India Company’s Relationship with the Zheng Family, 1680 – 1683..................................................................................................84 o The Last Years of Zheng Taiwan o The East India Company’s Final Voyages to Zheng Taiwan o The Zheng Merchants’ Trading Network after the Sanfan Rebellion o Factors Affecting the East India Company’s Trade in Taiwan • Conclusion..........................................................................................................................105 • Appendices.........................................................................................................................111 • Bibliography.......................................................................................................................119 iii List of Maps • Map 1. The seventeenth century western Pacific...............................................................6 • Map 2. Taiwan and southern Fujian with Zheng family territory circa 1670 highlighted..............................................................................................................................13 iv Introduction This thesis is an analysis of the thirteen year trading relationship that existed from 1670 to 1683 between the English East India Company and the family of the late Ming 明 (1368 – 1644) loyalist warlord, Zheng Chenggong 鄭成功 (1624 – 1662), better known as ‘Koxinga’ in contemporary European sources. In the late 1660s, the East India Company operated extensively in the Indian Ocean, but did very little trade outside the islands of modern day Indonesia in the western Pacific region. Interested in finding new sources of revenue, the company’s management made plans to expand its operations into the western Pacific so that the company could participate in the trade between China, Japan, and the Philippines- the three most important territories for maritime trade in the region. The political situations in China and the Philippines made direct access to those places impossible for the company, and Japan was soon discovered to be off limits