The Memoirs and Memorials of Jacques de Coutre: Security, Trade and Society in 16th- and 17th-century Southeast Asia

Preface

xxiii Preface This book is an annotated source translation that brings an important eyewitness account of early modern Southeast Asia closer to a contemporary, general Asian readership. The documents contained in this volume are by Jacobus van de Koutere, alias Jacques de Coutre (and later also Jaques do Couto), who was a native of Bruges in present-day Belgium. Jacques spent more than three decades of his adult life in Asia. Between 1594 and 1603, he lived first in Melaka and then for about two years in Manila. He was an independent trader, dealing chiefly in precious stones, bezoars and Indian textiles. Apart from the problematic Mendes Pinto, his account of Ayutthaya is arguably the oldest surviving eyewitness account of the old Thai royal capital written by a European visitor. Moreover, taken as a whole, De Coutre’s writings also offer the single most comprehensive European account of Singapore before 1800. A selection of materials taken from his autobiography (book 1 of 3), as well as four memorials to the Spanish crown and to the Portuguese viceroy in Goa are translated into English for the first time. They touch on Jacques’ life in, knowledge of, and personal experience with Southeast Asia. These texts position Melaka and the region of the Malay Peninsula, including the Singapore and Melaka Straits, into a vast web of trading relations maintained by Portugal and Spain that spanned from the eastern coast of Africa to the Japanese islands. In the first half of the 17th century this network was being seriously challenged by traders from the Dutch Republic. After 1602, the Portuguese were presented with a formidable military force and economic competitor in the form of the United Netherlands East India Company, better known by its historic initials VOC. Jacques was clearly interested in more than just trade and commerce. He provided an astonishingly detailed overview of the peoples, cultures and regions he came into personal contact with, yielding rare glimpses into a pre-colonial Asian world that has long been eclipsed by imperialism and the Industrial Revolution. 00a MJdC fm.indd 23 10/24/13 4:31:51 PM 00a MJdC fm.indd 24 10/24/13 4:31:51 PM ...