|
|
|
|
|
The Ming Voyages -- Cities and Other Places( Travellers | Cities | Routes | Trade Goods | Themes )
There is no question that the Ming Voyages established and strengthened connections between various cities and other places within the Indian Ocean trade network. Some of the places were major political centres of entire countries, while others were islands or tiny settlements. J. V. G. Mills has compiled a gazetteer of 705 places mentioned in the various Chinese sources dating from this period. It is included in the appendix entitled "China and Southern Asia" of his study and translation of Ma Huan's work, Yingyai shenglan. These are the places that were known in the Chinese world at the time. Ma Huan and the other writers of first-hand accounts composed chapters on approximately 20 places. These are obviously the most important places and they are the ones included here. Thanks to these writers, we know a great deal about them. Some are cities, such as Calicut and Cochin; others are polities, such as Champa and Melaka (Malacca). Still others are clusters of islands that form small communities, like the Maldives and Laccadives, and the Nicobar and Andaman Islands. Places Discussed by Ma Huan, Fei Xin, and Gong ZhenThe places in the right-hand column of this page are the ones that captured the attention of at least one of the three writers, and received treatment in chapters of their books. They are in alphabetical order here. They can also be seen by region. The three writers did not all treat the same places, and a chart showing the places covered by each work can be found on another page. The chapters are a mixture of material acquired from first-hand observation and hearsay. A digitised version of Mills' gazetteer, "China in
Southern Asia", is reproduced [here]. J. V. G. Mills, Ma Huan, Ying-yai Sheng-lan, "The Overall Survey of the Ocean's Shores," [1433], Hakluyt Society (Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1970).
|
The Ming Voyages |
