The Age of Edited by BLAIR B. KLING and M. N. PEARSON ISBN 0-8248-0695-3 The Age of Partnership: Europeans in Asia before Dominion edited by Blair B. Kiing and M. N. Pearson The Age of Partnership is a study of shift- ing relationships in a time of turbulence from the sixteenth through the eighteenth centuries, "a huge and colorful arena in which were played out a vast variety of contacts between Asians and Europeans." There was rivalry, to be sure, often intense and frequently violent, but there was sur- prising cooperation as well: between Indian agent and English master in Calcutta; be- tween Jesuit missionary and Chinese cler- gy in China; between urbane English mind and the exotic features of Hinduism. As Pearson explains in his introduction, "The basic intent is neither to vilify nor to ignore the early Europeans in Asia but rather to place them ... in context." That context was for the most part commercial. Religion had its role to play, especially among the Spanish and Portuguese with their twin motives of "Christians and spices," but the paramount interest was beyond doubt in trade. Thus, most of the essays in this book deal with the scramble for wealth—competition for trade routes, gunboat diplomacy, enterprise, economic pressure. Often, in fact, the Age of Part- nership seems but a mirage. Yet, if among major powers the focus is mainly on force, among individual merchants and groups of merchants there is widespread evidence of alliance and accommodation. The range of topics here is wide and ka- leidoscopic: the failure of missionaries in China; the mixed success of Dutch force of arms in Malaya; the English attempt to graft the joint-stock concept onto the In- dian economic structure; corsairs and cor- ruption in India. Many of the studies are o DS 33.7 RDDE3E 3^fl7E .A3 The Ai?e of 1S79 par tnerehip o (Ljxp >>® r*! *- soc 33.7 The ^^®^ohiP par to®** snip 197 9 cot).? m fi/^ r%f lx ^ it ^ SOCIAL SCIEFiCES I HISTORY DlwiSfO^i ^Maldixa# aru I/l H T1. CHICAGO PHBUC LIBRARY AionJ^ I.jyie^o lU © THE BAKER & TAYLOR CO, o K ^Ji^ t^4->(\ //>n ^ JTJs^n^ aJ /*ajuiu.1. Cha^^J It uipa/tof'^a 1 Of'iXA <yJ^ ’ EA STERN OCE J VV/// s I oV/ < V/ ^ ^ ^ () io\o Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2017 with funding from China-America Digital Academic Library (CADAL) https://archive.org/details/ageofpartnershipOOklin The Age of Partnership 0 4 The Age of Partnership Europeans in Asia before Dominion edited by Blair B. Kling and M. N. Pearson Published with the support of The Maurice J. Sullivan & Tamily Fund in The University of Hawaii Foundation The University Press of Hawaii Honolulu SJfK. J Copyright © 1979 by The University Press of Hawaii All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmit- ted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Manufactured in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Main entry under title: The Age of partnership. Includes bibliographical references. 1. Asia—History—Addresses, essays, lectures. 2. Asia—Relations (general) with Europe—Addresses, essays, lectures. 3. Europe—Relations (general) with Asia—Addresses, essays, lectures. I. Kling, Blair B. II. Pearson, Michael Naylor, 1941- DS33.7.A3 1979 301.29’4’05 78-31650 ISBN 0-8248-0495-3 These Essays Are Written in Honor of Holden Furber Teacher, Colleague, Friend i ) r i‘ , ) ’ - t , I ■ .'i ' < ■ ■ , < ■ fir ^^|| fffT I //«