Phạm Văn Thủy

It is evident from historical texts and archeological sources that trade had become flourished in the Northeastern region of Vietnam during the first centuries AD. During the time, North Vietnam played a role as the Southern gateway of China to connect with the outside worlds. The severe exploitation of Chinese colonial authorities, the chaotic situation caused by consecutive rebellions of the Vietnamese people against the Chinese domination, and the frequent attacks by the Cham in the Southern territories of Giao Chi (Jiaozhi), however, stimulated foreign traders to move their trade activities from North Vietnam to Southern China, especially Guangzhou where they found more secure and easier to contact with Chinese merchants.

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Vietnam became independent from the Chinese domination in the tenth century, at the very time of the so-called ‘An Early age of Commerce in Southeast Asia, (900-1300)’ coined by Geoff Wade. The successive Vietnamese dynastic states tried to take advance of the favorable condition of the regional trade, especially the expansition of the Chinese trade with Southeast Asia. In 1149, the Ly dynasty established the international trading port of Van Don, marking the intergration of indepdent Vietnam in to the international trade. Foreign traders from Java, Siam, Malay peninsular, China as well as from South and West Asia could come to trade with Dai Viet at Van Don. Until the fifteenth century, Van Don served as the principal trading port of Dai Viet to export Vietnamese and Chinese ceramics and silk, as well as other products to international markets. In addition to Van Don, other ports in the Nghe An- Ha Tinh region also attracted a large number of foreign traders from China and Southeast Asia.

         

The establishment of early Le dynasty with its biased policies against commerce and especially the unfavourable political climate made by the consecutive civil wars caused the dramatic decline of Van Don as well as the international trade of Dai Viet in the last quarter of the fifteenth and ealry sixteenth centuries. The international trade relations of Dai Viet tended to move to the ports in the Southern region. North Vietnam was drifted away from the expansion of regional trade network created by the favourable condition of the ‘Age of Commerce in Southeast Asia (1450-1680)’ as Anthony Reid puts it. Efforts to develope the manufacturing and commerce made by the Mac dynasty (1527-1593) were unable to revive the traditional trade of Dai Viet until the advent of European traders in the country in the late seventeenth century.

         

The aim of this presentation is to relocate the position of North Vietnam in the regional trade network in the medieval history of Vietnam between the tenth and sixteenth century. Attention is given to the responses of Vietnamese dynasties toward the changing condition of the regional trade. Particular attention is paid to the functions and activities of the Van Don port, as well as other sea ports in the Northeastern region. While emphasizing the policies of the Vietnamese dynasties, the presentation also explains the changing condition of the regional economic and political climates as the important factors influencing the emergence and decline of Dai Viet’s commerce during the medieval times.