A Forgotten Exchange?

It seems that in the last two years, transnational ideas have been challenged across the world. From Brexit to Trump and his trade protectionist policies the interconnectedness of the world seems to be unravelling at its seams. Repeatedly politicians hark back to by gone days of old, reminiscing about factually incorrect historical pasts. It is why I find Wenceslaus Hollar’s painting “Royal Exchange. 1644” so striking.

The painting depicts English and foreign merchants animated in conversation, discussing business and news, working in cooperation for financial advantage. Cooperation is a keyword word here, for Englishmen relied greatly on the aid of others during the early 17th century. Traditional conceptions of Englishmen overseas, especially merchants are synonymous with exploitation of the local populace, the cause of the opium wars is a fine example. Yet, during early English explorations of the economic networks developing across the world, especially in Asia we find this to be not the case. The English were numerically and diplomatically weak across the world in the 17th century.

The English factory at Hirado in Japan offers an excellent example of this, demonstrating how Englishmen were not only merchants but ambassadors and diplomats. Transnational actors operating on an international stage. Robert Cocks, the factor at Hirado was known to stay up all night if he suspected Japanese guests were to be visiting. In many ways Hirado offers us an excellent case study of English merchant activity in Asia, highlighting the importance of integration in local cultures.

It also offers interesting character studies such as that of the life of William Adams (which spanned across the turn of the 17th century). An Englishmen whose career saw him serve in the English navy, the Company of Barbary Merchants, as well as a Dutch expedition to the Far East in 1598. A transnational career which did not stop there, for in 1600, Adams, embroiled in religious rivalry, was imprisoned in Japan for five years before eventually rising to become an adviser to the shogun, Ieyasu. In search of opportunity Adams, traversed much of the known world, serving under three different states.

In the end the factory at Hirado was closed in 1623 after struggling with solvency for most of its operational career, contradicting transnational tendencies to view economic integration as a gradual process. This is because Japan proceed to close itself off from much of the west for the next couple of hundred years. However, this in my opinion makes it a more interesting transnational case study for historians cannot be swayed by narratives of progression which have often plagued histories associated with the interconnectedness of the world.