Nanban Trade - Timeline

Timeline

• 1543 - Portuguese sailors (among them possibly Fernão Mendes Pinto) arrive in Tanegashima and transmit the arquebus.
• 1549 - St Francis Xavier arrives in Kagoshima.
• 1555 - Establishment of Macau by the Portuguese. Dispatch of annual trading ships to Japan.
• 1570 - Japanese pirates occupy parts of Taiwan, from where they prey on China.
• 1571 - Daimyo Ōmura Sumitada assisted the Portuguese establishing the port of Nagasaki.
• 1575 - Battle of Nagashino, where firearms are used extensively.
• 1577 - First Japanese ships travel to Cochinchina, southern Vietnam.
• 1579 - The Jesuit Alessandro Valignano arrives in Japan.
• 1580 - Ōmura Sumitada ceded Nagasaki "in perpetuity" to the Society of Jesus.
• 1580 - Franciscans from Japan escapes to Vietnam.
• 1584 - Mancio Ito arrives in Lisbon with three other Japanese, accompanied by a Jesuit father.
• 1588 - Hideyoshi prohibits piracy.
• 1592 - Japan invades Korea in the Seven-Year War with an army of 160.000.

- First known mention of Red Seal Ships.

• 1597 - Martyrdom of 26 Christians (essentially Franciscans) in Nagasaki.
• 1598 - Death of Hideyoshi
• 1600 - Arrival of William Adams on the Liefde.

- The Battle of Sekigahara unites Japan under Tokugawa Ieyasu.

• 1602 - Dutch warships attack the Portuguese carrack Santa Catarina near Malacca.
• 1603 - establishment of Edo as the seat of Bakufu government.

- Establishment of the English factory (trading post) at Bantam, Java.

- Nippo Jisho Japanese to Portuguese dictionary is published by jesuits in Nagasaki, containing entries for 32,293 Japanese words in Portuguese.

• 1605 - Two of William Adams's shipmates are sent to Pattani by Tokugawa Ieyasu, to invite Dutch trade to Japan.
• 1609 - The Dutch open a trading factory in Hirado.
• 1612 - Yamada Nagamasa settles in Ayutthaya, Siam.
• 1613 - England opens a trading factory in Hirado.

- Hasekura Tsunenaga leaves for his embassy to the Americas and Europe. He returns in 1620.

• 1614 - Expulsion of the Jesuits from Japan. Prohibition of Christianity.
• 1615 - Japanese Jesuits start to proselytise in Vietnam.
• 1616 - Death of Tokugawa Ieyasu.
• 1622 - Mass martyrdom of Christians.

- Death of Hasekura Tsunenaga.

• 1623 - The English close their factory at Hirado, because of unprofitability.

- Yamada Nagamasa sails from Siam to Japan, with an Ambassador of the Siamese king Songtham. He returns to Siam in 1626.

- Prohibition of trade with the Spanish Philippines.

• 1624 - Interruption of diplomatic relations with Spain.

- Japanese Jesuits start to proselytise in Siam.

• 1628 - Destruction of Takagi Sakuemon's (高木作右衛門) Red Seal ship in Ayutthaya, Siam, by a Spanish fleet. Portuguese trade in Japan is prohibited during 3 years as a reprisal.
• 1632 - Death of Tokugawa Hidetada.
• 1634 - On orders of shogun Iemitsu, Dejima artificial island is built to constrain Portuguese merchants living in Nagasaki.
• 1637 - Shimabara Rebellion by Christian peasants.
• 1638 - Definitive prohibition of trade with Portugal as result of Shimabara Rebellion blamed on Catholic intrigues.
• 1641 - The Dutch trading factory is moved from Hirado to Dejima island.