The Role of Chinese Migrants in Vietnam in Promoting Trade between the Port of Ha Tien and International Market in the 17th–18th Centuries

Abstract

Ha Tien, which covered a vast area of southern Vietnam in the past, was the location of one of the most important Vietnamese trade ports during the 17th and 18th centuries. Owing to the trading expertise of its lord Mac Cuu and the Minh Huong people (descendants of Ming loyalist immigrants who settled in South Vietnam during the 16th and 18th centuries), as well as the strategic vision and open policies of the Nguyen lords, a large trade network was established, connecting Ha Tien with other busy trade ports in Vietnam as well as internationally at that time. This achievement also sprang from the fact that Ha Tien trade port was founded during “the Age of Commerce”, when systems of international seaports were set up and developed vigorously. Although studies on Ha Tien trading port mentioned in Vietnamese and foreign language works, those works just wrote the name of the trade port without going into deep analysis the position and role of the trading port in the regional and international trade system. Therefore, the article focuses on in-depth analysis, clarifying contributions of the port to trade activities of Vietnam and the world in the the 17th and 18th centuries.