The economy of cochinchina (1558 - 1777)

g ở Quảng Ngãi” [Traditional craftsmanship in Quang Ngai] by Nguyễn Ngọc Trạch; “Nghề và làng nghề truyền thống đất Quảng” [Occupations and traditional trade villages of Quang land] by Võ Văn Hòe, Hoàng Hương Việt, Bùi Văn Tiếng. A few works mention specific job, such as Huỳnh Thị Cận‟s "Tìm hiểu nghề đúc đồng ở "Phường Đúc" Huế" [Learn about bronze casting in „Phuong Duc‟ Hue]; Bùi Thị Tân‟s "Về hai làng nghề truyền thống Phú Bài và Hiền Lương" [On the two traditional craftmen villages of Phu Bai and 7 Hien Luong]; Nguyễn Văn Đăng‟s “Vài nét về quan xưởng ở Phú Xuân thời các chúa Nguyễn” [Overview of the workshop in Phu Xuan during the Nguyen Lords]; Nguyễn Thanh Lợi‟s Ghe bầu miền trung [Barrges of Central land]; Nguyễn Thị Thủy‟s “Thủ công nghiệp Đàng Trong dưới thời các chúa Nguyễn (1558-1777)’ [Cochinchina Handicraft under the Nguyen Lords (1558-1777)] (Master's thesis of Hue University), and so forth. The above studies to a certain extent have provided the formation process of a number of craft industry in Cochinchina. However, these projects are unable to deeply study the nature, scale, and development of handicraft in Cochinchina since 16 th to 18 th century. as well as the role of handicrafts in the socio-economic development of Cochinchina. 1.2.3 Research on commercial economics The Vietnamese and foreign scholars have agreed that the economy in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries was a period of trade. This means that the development of states‟ economy was not limited in the region or the continent but the world trade economy as a sea-oriented economy. Therefore, most studies have focused on foreign trade. The typical works are: Thành Thế Vỹ‟s “Ngoại thương Việt Nam hồi thế kỷ XVII, XVIII và đầu XIX” [Vietnam Foreign Trade in 17th, 18th, and early 19th centur]; Đỗ Bang‟s “Phố cảng vùng Thuận Quảng thế kỷ XVII-XVIII” [Port area of Thuan Quang in 17 th and 18 th centuries]; Nguyễn Văn Kim‟s "Việt Nam trong thế giới Đông Á-Một cách tiếp cận liên ngành và khu vực học" [Vietnam in the East Asian sphere – An interdisciplinary and regional study approach]; Vũ Thị Xuyến‟s "Chợ Cam Lộ trong tuyến thương mại Đàng Trong và khu vực thế kỷ XVI –XVIII" [Cam Lo Market in Cochinchina trade route and the area in 16 th – 18th century]; Hồ Châu‟s "Thuế thương nghiệp ở Đàng Trong thời chúa Nguyễn" [Trade taxes in Cochinchina during the Nguyen Dynasty], .... Through these studies, the issue of foreign trade has been clarified, while study on internal trade is only dispersed 8 through articles on market and port city without analyzing the role of river trade routes. 1.3. The content inherited by the thesis Research results from the above works have provided the author with a rich and diverse source of information and an overview of Cochinchina socio-economy from 1558 to 1777. At the same time the basic content on Cochinchina economy in each locality and region has been somewhat clarified. 1.4. Contents the thesis needs to solve In order to clarify the economic issue in Cochinchina during the Nguyen Lords era (1558-1777), the dissertation discusses the following issues: For agricultural economy, clarify the reclaming process and land management policy for each region and point out the differences between Thuan - Quang and Gia Dinh, between Cochinchina and Tonkin. The problem of agricultural production would be analyzed in order to clarify the inheritance and influence from Cham and Khmer agriculture. For crafts, the dissertation clarifies the production force, the origin and production scale of some typical handicrafts. For trade, the author concentrates on the traders of Cochinchina, role of internal trade on foreign trade. On that basis, the dissertation examines whether the economic sectors interact with each other? And, how does the economy affect culture, society, diplomacy and national security in Cochinchina? CHAPTER 2: AGRICULTURE 2.1. Reclaiming policy 2.1.1. With Thuan - Quang lands Nguyen Hoang implemented his policy: "appease the people, recruit great men, employ low taxes". He recruited his fellows from Tong Son and brave soldier from Thanh Hoa to explore new lands. At the same time, he allowed Cham people to have an autonomy in Thuan Thanh town 9 and allowed them to migrate to fallow lands in the western mountains and to the south. 2.1.2. With mountainous areas, western border The Nguyen lords used prisoners to reclaim land with the policy to "provide buffaloes and tools for farming", and "divide into individual hamlets, calculate the demographics to provide food to help them reclaim the fields". Soldiers were divided into 50 men in each hamlet for 50 years, provided them with food for half a year. Also the rich was ordered to lend rice and allowed soldiers to seek the benefits in the mountains and to live there. The land they reclaimed was legalized as private property. Cochinchina‟s government also used ethnic minorities along the western border to reclaim land by setting up plantations and allowing them to hold local authority with the strategy "Use barbarian to rules barbarian". 2.1.3. With Gia Dinh area In order to quickly control the wasteland, the Nguyen Lords soon implemented the policy of "Tàm thực" (means steady progession), using military forces to reclaim and expand territories, and pardon prisoners, free taxes for volunteer males who join the reclaming process. People with resources in Thuan – Quang was recruited to reclaim lands. Ethinic Chinese was allowed move into Nong Nai and later to establish in Thanh Ha commune in Tran Bien and Minh Huong in Phien Tran. The Nguyen lords allowed Mac Cuu to have autonomy rights in Ha Tien. 2.1.4. With sea and islands The Nguyen Lords allowed those who volunteered to exploit the sea and the islands, "to issue moving paper, to exempt tax and ship fee", to provide them with food for 6 months, allowed them to collect products for sale. For offshore islands such as the Paracel and Spratly Islands, although there hadn‟t been any residents here, every year, Nguyen lords sent a Paracel mission around of 70 men, mostly people in An Vinh commune, and Bac Hai mission with people from Tu Chinh hamlet of Binh Thuan and 10 Canh Duong commune to collect material, exploit bird's nests and other island-based resources from March to August. 2.2. Land ownership and usage 2.2.1. Land in Thuan - Quang - Farms directly managed by the Government: including the plantation field and the main plantation in Thuan Hoa region. The Nguyen lords used these lands in two forms: allowed people to directly cultivate or hire cultivators, each time they would sent the watch to load products on boats to send to “nội trù”1; granted benefits to relatives and followers. The use of plantation fields to create fortune for mandarins and nobles in the early stages can be considered as a progressive policy of the Nguyen lords because they did not use village public fields to distribute to nobles like in Tonkin. - Public land in the village: The public land had many types and was directly managed by the Nguyen lords. The government allowed people to make applications to reclaim, after completing the tax to the government which ranged from 3 tien to 3 quan per mẫu, so the land was directly managed by the village. In fact, the village had the right to divide the land and collect taxes for the government, but the one who came out to redistribute it was Cochinchina officials who managed the communes, which mean the government indirectly managed this land. The first policy on public communal farm was issued in 1618 and later specified in 1669. The typical feature of Thuan - Quang land was reclamation by groups, so the area of communal farms accounted for a large acreage in the area. To divide public land in the village: Continue quân điền (equal distribution of riceland) policy of the Le dynasty which 6 years re-distributing land or 10 years like the case of Phu Kinh village. Private fields were regulated specifically in the 1669 land policy. In 1770, Nguyen lord created a set of books to facilitate management. 1 “Nội trù”: The kitchen inside the Lord’s palace 11 However, compared to private land in Cochinchina and private fields in the south, we can see that the acreage of private land in Thuan Quang area is not much. 2.2.2. Land in Gia Dinh area - Public land: In Gia Dinh, there is no public farms, and Nguyen lords were nearly unable to manage directly plantations and communal fields. For plantation fields, which were mostly reclaimed by generals who used their soldiers to reclaim around the garrisons, after the farm was created they have autonomous right. Nguyen lords did not calculate these lands. Communal farms in the South is also different from the Thuan Quang region when the migration process here was sporadic, the village was created before the government. As a result, these fields make only a small percentage of land, donated by villagers to serve as villages‟ property. - Private land: Before the Nguyen lords established the authority in Gia Dinh, private land ownership there was quite dominant. Even after when Lord Nguyen established the government, the generous policy still allow the right to arbitrarily choose land without any interference, restriction or constraint by the government, as well as unused land. Therefore, Gia Dinh mainly contained private land and there have been many large landowners. 2.3. Agricultural production 2.3.1 Cultivation Rice is the main crop in Cochinchina with over 200 species grown in shallow, wet and saline fields. Especially in Gia Dinh, rice has become a commodity for Phu Xuan and regional countries in the 18 th century. Cochinchina also had many other crops with high export value such as pepper, areca, sugarcane, etc. 2.3.2. Livestock breeding In Cochinchina, all families raised animals such as buffaloes, horses, goats, cows, rabbits, dogs, cats, pigs and chickens. Elephants and horses were also bred in large numbers 12 2.3.3. Forest products exploitation Cochinchina has an advantage in which most localities in the region have mountains. Thus, the exploitation of forest and forest product was very developed, especially in Thuan - Quang area. Most forest products had very high value in export such as agarwood, agarwood, wood, honey, etc. 2.3.4. Exploiting resources from rivers, islands Residents here soon learned to exploit the resources on the island such as bird's nest (with huge amount), snails, tortoises, fish, etc. Every year, the people of Cochinchina also collected some valuable products from shipwrecks on islands, or coastal areas such as tin, silver, copper, and weapons. Salt and fish sauce production was also quite developed. Besides, with the intermittent river system and most localities bordering the sea, Cochinchina had a large number of fish annually. 2.4. Irrigation - In Thuan - Quang: Made use of the Cham's clever watering system with the river dams and the ditch system to bring water to the rice fields. The Nguyen lords often order to dredge the river. - In Gia Dinh: A favorable natural conditions for agricultural production and a system of rivers. Therefore, irrigation work here was mainly dredging rivers, digging more canals to connect rivers to ensure water circulation. 2.5. Agricultural tax - In Thuan - Quang: The policy on farm tax was more strict and specific than in Gia Dinh. The tax policy was enacted in 1618 and specified in 1669. On this basis, land taxes were divided into two categories: the main tax and the surtax. The main tax was equally regulated in both public and private fields, whereby the first class collects 40 thang paddy và 8 cap rice, the second class collects 30 thang paddy và 6 cap rice, the third class collects 20 thang paddy và 4 cap rice. Surtax had many types and was collected depending on the region with different norms. 13 - In Gia Dinh: When the government was first established, the Nguyen lords did not seem to have the land calculated, so there were no specific regulations for each type of land tax. After stabilized the power, Nguyen lords set different tax rates depending on the exploitation conditions of each district, but lower than in Thuan-Quang. - For mountainous fields, the tax rate is not collected according to the field acreage but per capita. Chapter 2 conclusion: With a clever reclamation policy, the territory of Vietnam was extended to Ca Mau for the first time on the mainland and islands. The area under exploitation in agriculture has increased significantly. Agricultural production was not only to serve daily life but also to export. CHAPTER 3: HANDICRAFT 3.1. State industry crafts 3.1.1. Organization of workshops Facing urgent needs in weapons and warships to serve the defence and expansion of territory, while previously there had not been any factory of the state. Therefore, upon entering Cochinchina, Nguyen lords had gradually built workshops, directly organized and managed by the government, these workshops were organized according to their profession and called “Tuong cuc”. On the organizing structure: Managing Tuong cuc was “Ty lenh su do gia”. Under them were “Tuong cuc” and other officials such as Chánh ty quan, Ty quan, Thủ hợp with different numbers in each Tượng cục. The labor force in Tượng cục was concentrated like soldiers, paid and exempted from taxation. 3.1.2. Some typical works Foundry: includes weapon foundry and coin foundry. Shipbuilding Cochinchina 's advantage with a large number of warships. Mining is another important job. 3.2. People's handicrafts 14 3.2.1 Measures to restore and develop people's handicrafts. - Encouraged the Cham and Khmer people to retrun to former occupations and expanded the handicrafts development of Kinh and Chinese people. - The government did not have strict regulations on designs and quality of folk handicraft products. - Tax policy was usually adjusted at an early stage to create conditions for handicrafts in localities to develop. - Exemption from army and corvée duty in villages that produce materials for the Ty, cục in dinh phủ. - Expanding trading to create outputs for products. At the same time allows foreigners to set up area to live in Cochinchina. 3.2.2. Some typical craftsmanship By 18 th century in Cochinchina, there were about 48 craft villages focusing on the production of weaving, sugarcane, casting, boat building, pottery, forging, etc. 3.3. Production force The main production force in Cochinchina crafting villages include: Kinh, Cham, Khmer, Chinese. Kinh people was accounted for a large number of people with two types: one came from Kinh origin, the other is Cham people which have been Vietized in previous centuries. 3.4. Impressions of the ethnic groups of Viet, Cham and Chinese in handicraft products One of the most basic characteristics of Cochinchina handicrafts was: The diversity in the crafting production force which created diversity in the shape and quality of craft products in Cochinchina. That was because Nguyen lords did not have different regulations between state-made handicrafts and folk handicrafts, nor distinctions for the craftsmen, if they were skilled then they would be added to the group or team or be summoned suddenly to serve the lords needs. Because the structure of the villages in Cochinchina is not closed to residential clusters with strong 15 kinship relations as in Tonkin, there was often a mix with immigrant. Therefore, folk craftsmen in Cochinchina often gather in small families raher than as a ward. The communities in the reclamation process had influenced each other on the way of handicraft production, so in products such as ceramics, the Cham impressions were visible along with the Vietnamese and Chinese ones. 3.5 Taxes for occupations and trade villages - Each occupation, trade village had different tax rate. - Taxes on natural resources and earth products for crafting production were heavy. Households in Cochinchina when producing or transporting materials at the uppers, posts, boats, or markets had to pay separately. In the second half of 18 th century, the heavy tax policy caused crafting occupation declining. Many people quit their jobs to join the army. Conclusion of chapter 3: Cochinchina handicrafts had a remarkable development with many crafts from different ethnic groups. handicrafts were also influenced by Western, Japanese and Chinese techniques. In some cases, such as large mines, capital sprouts had begun to arise such as hiring of labor and the appearance of hired labor force, or the appearance of businessmen in craft villages. But those changes were quickly quelled by the crisis of the Cochinchina government in the second half of 18 th century. CHAPTER 4: TRADING 4.1. Factors affecting business 4.1.1. Impact from outside By the fifteenth century, geographical discoveries in Europe opened maritime route linking continents and forming world trading system. Spain and Portugal has established trade relations with Japan and the islands in Asia since the beginning of 16 th century. In Asia, the embargo policy of two major countries, Japan and China, also created changes in sea trade route. Western and Japanese merchant ships, and Chinese headed to South East 16 Asia countries. That created an opportunity for Cochinchina to become a transsit station in the international trade route. 4.1.2. Impact from inside Cochinchina had a favorable position with a dense network of rivers, deep and wide seaports, located on the sea route connecting countries in the region and the world. The Nguyen lords implemented proactive policies in trade developmen: inviting foreign traders to come and trade, using a large number of labor 2 to serve merchant ships at the port and to salvage wrecked ships, establishing markets and trade centers; setting up trade teams and fleets to transport goods. 4.2. Internal trade 4.2.1. Markets and ports According to Le Quy Don's statistics, there were about 28 markets the cities, also there was a large system of markets in villages, upstream, riversides. In addition to the market system, Nguyen lords also focus on building large urban ports where goods were gathered in the region, typically Hội An port, Thanh Hà port, Nước Mặn port, Hương Úc port, Rạch Giá port, Đốc Hoàng port, Bãi Xàu port, and so on. 4.2.2 Inland trade routes River trade route: In Thuan Hoa, there are trade routes along Hương river, Ô Lâu river, Thạch Hãn river to transport goods from headwaters to the sea gates. Quang Nam was famous for the trade routes on the Thu Bồn River connecting the coastal plain to the region of Katu people 2 According to handwritten version of “Phủ Biên Tạp lục” [Phủ Biên Journal] stored in the Library of History Institute, symbol HV.504 as letter “Nhiêu” was written as 橈 and symbol HV.393 was written as 饒. Looking up Từ Hải Dictionary, Từ thư Thượng Hải Publisher, 1989, p.1460, both of these “Nhiêu” letter can be used interchangeably, but often use Nhiêu (橈) in Bộ Mộc, means paddle. Phu (夫)： Worker or adult male employee. Thus, the “Nhiêu ohu” people are people working rowing and towing boats at ports. 17 in the mountains, or the trade route along Côn River once known as a ceramic road in the Champa era. In Gia Dinh, main trading method was river trade with dense river systems, goods are agricultural products. Sea trade route: From Gia Dinh to Thuan Quang, bringing rice from Gia Dinh to sell in Thuan Quang and buying consumer goods from there back to Gia Dinh. 4.2.3. Currency and trading methods The currencies in Cochinchina were mainly gold, silver, copper and zinc coim. Gold was also marketed in the form of ingot but not popular, and also there were Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese, and Dutch currencies. On trading methods: In 17 th century, trading was carried out in three common ways: using silver to exchange goods, exchanging goods, or buying. Cash advance to buy goods was also recorded. 4.3. Foreign Trade 4.3.1 International trade routes Including sea and land routes, of which sea routes were essential. The international maritime trade route connected ports in Southeast Asia with China and Japan. Through the East Sea trading system, Cochinchina market connected with Western countries. 4.3.2. Export - Agricultural products: Prominent exports with large volumes and high values: wood, areca, pepper, rice, bird's nests. Cochinchina also sold many other valuable products, such as: coarse cloth, silk, aloe vera, agarwood, shark skin, honey, pepper, rattan, nutmeg, rosewood, wood snout, rhinoceros, bird's nests, deer veins, fish fins, dried shrimp, sea vegetables, snails, tortoises, tusks, etc. - Handicraft products: Gold, sugar, silk and ceramics, crockery, etc. 4.3.3. Import goods Cochinchina 's main importing items were coins, silver, copper and weapons. There were also a number of consumer products from Europe such as hats, bonnet hats, belts, shirts, sewing needles, pearls, diamonds, watches. Goods imported from China include: luxury silk, brocade, Chinese herbs, gold and silver paper, incense, paper products, tinsel, purl, clothing, 18 shoes, socks, velvet, glasses , crystal, paper fans, pens, needles, buttons, lanterns, bronze, porcelain, tea, oranges, lemons, pears, apples, persimmons, etc. 4.4. Traders 4.4.1. Domestic traders Include: mandarins, women in craft villages, landowners or farmers with little capital, Cham merchants and ethnic minorities. 4.4.2. Foreign traders Mostly Chinese merchants, also there were Japanese, Portuguese, Dutch, British, French and regional traders. 4.5. Business tax 4.5.1. Domestic tax Include corporate taxes, market taxes. In which, guarding tax in upstream areas was very strict. 4.5.2. Foreign tax Traders of foreign countries entering Cochinchina to apply for permission to enter the port must submit such taxes as annoucement tax, presenting tax, and procession tax. In addition, there is an additional tax for coming and leaving depending on the country of merchant ship. Conclusion of chapter 4: The development of trading in Cochinchina during this period is considered a flourishing breaking point for the country's trading. Abundant handicraft and agricultural products promoted the strong development of internal, river, sea and inland trade routes between regions in the country. CHAPTER 5: THE CHARACTERISTICS AND ROLE OF COCHINCHINA ECONOMY 5.1. Characteristics 5.1.1. Cochinchina economy is a commodity economy In 17 th and 18 th centuries, Cochinchina with the development of the commercial economy, the division of labor in the craft villages and contactwith Western capitalism led to specialization in the production of goods, and products made for export purposes. The commodity economy 19 was also reflected in the commodity and monetary relations which have penetrated quite deeply into the rural life, forming a network of markets in riverside, coastal, hilly and urban areas. 5.1.2. Cochinchina economy mainly developed within the inland with the characteristics of river trading. Trade activities in Cochinchina were mainly reflected through river trade routes, partly via sea from Thuan Hoa to Gia Dinh. Long-distance trade routes at sea with countries in the region and with Dang Ngoai were hardly recorded in the documents. A few documents show that there were merchant ships under lords orders came to China or countries in Southeast Asia to buy some necessary products, but the quantity was not high. 5.1.3. Land plays an important role in economic development For an agricultural country, whether in Cochinchina or Tonkin, when resolving the land issue, it would not only deal with the immediate concerns of the farmers but also the conditions for the development of agricultural production, which is the way to build a strong government. On the basis of agricultural development with the private ownership of land dominated from Quang Nam to the south, the commodity economy in Cochinchina has reached a very fast growth rate. It can be seen that the main commodities exchanged in Cochinchina are mainly agricultural products, such as rice in the South, forestry and forestry resources in Central Vietnam, sugarcane in Quan