The Memoirs and Memorials of Jacques de Coutre: Security, Trade and Society in 16th- and 17th-century Southeast Asia
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.69 (785 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 9971695286 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 488 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2015-11-11 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
First English Translation Alex This book is a compilation of five works of Jacques de Coutre, a Flemish merchant-traveller-adventurer whose sympathies apparently lay on the orbit of the Estado da Índia, the Portuguese imperial government in Asia. A man that deserves well to be considered a most distinguished representative of the prolific family of the arbitristas. These were men who often in their twilight years felt authorized by experience and long service to push their writings to the king, to his councils and to his delegates in Asia with what they considered the most adequate
--Barbara Andaya, University of Hawaii at Manoa The Vida includes a vividly detailed eye-witness account of Ayutthaya under the rule of King Naresuan Although his work has been described as picaresque in style and manner, full of exotic tales of pagan despotism, De Coutre did at least visit the places in Asia which he describes His anecdotes about King Naresuan and his descriptions of the city of Ayutthaya contain much data which is unique --Dhiravat na Pombejra, Chulalongkorn University . The carefully illustrated, impeccably translated and eruditely annotated edition of some of Jacques de Coutre s most valuable and unpublished manuscript works is both an exquisite human self-portrait d'époque and a remarkable contribution for the understanding and better knowledge of South East Asia and an invaluable depiction of a crucial and strategic section of Maritime South East Asia that was masterly and vividly painted by an extra-ordinary eyewitness and activ
Peter Borschberg is a fellow of the Royal Historical Society and teaches history at the National University of Singapore.
In addition to his autobiography, De Coutre wrote a series of memorials to the crowns of Spain and Portugal that contain recommendations designed to remedy the decline in the fortunes of the Iberian powers in Southeast Asia, particularly against the backdrop of early Dutch political and commercial penetration into the region. He left history a substantial autobiography written in Spanish and preserved in the National Library of Spain in Madrid. Annotated and translated into English for the first time, these materials provide a valuable first-hand account of the issues confronting the early colonial powers in Southeast Asia, and deep insights into the societies De Coutre encountered in the territory that today makes up Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia and the Philippines. The book is lavishly illustrated with 62 maps and drawings of the period, including examples not previously published.. Jacques de Coutre was a Flemish gem trader who spent nearly a decade in Southeast Asia at the turn of the 17th century. Narrow