HIS333H1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Mercantilism, Arraignment, Indirect Rule
Document Summary
As it appeared in asia in the 17th and 18th century, think of the states in asia as a multi-stock company, e. g. the dutch east india company (voc). Malacca was at the juncture where all routes from southeast asia met. The portuguese ultimately decide that it was too expensive to monopolize the entire. Spice trade and they integrate themselves in the existing structure. This is the compromise they make because of the other entrep ts they have to deal with (e. g. macau). So essentially if they maintained a huge presence in malacca they would have to split their time, and they never had resources, which made it less attractive. There are slaves and servants in malacca itself throughout the muslim and. Portuguese periods, but because it was a city (and quite a cosmopolitan one at that) it drew the most successful merchants (including those from china and malay).
