【简译】放眼东方：印度洋香料贸易纪事

2023-01-16 17:59 作者:神尾智代 0人读过 | 我要投稿

As the 15th century ended, Europeans were still mostly in the dark about the Eastern world. Early travelers like Marco Polo had given the West tidbits of information, but these accounts were too highly colored and fragmentary to provide a true picture of Asia. The first really accurate and detailed reports came out in the 1500s from four remarkable travelers - Tomé Pires, Garcia de Orta, Jan Huygen van Linschoten, and Ralph Fitch.

15世纪的结束时，欧洲人对东方世界仍然一无所知。像马可·波罗这样的早期旅行者给西方带来了一些零星的信息，但这些描述色彩太浓，而且很分散，无法提供亚洲的真实情况。16世纪，四位杰出的旅行者——托梅·皮雷斯（Tomé Pires）、加西亚·德·奥尔塔（Garcia de Orta）、扬·哈伊根·范林斯霍滕（Jan Huygen van Linschoten）和拉尔夫·费奇（Ralph Fitch），首次提供了真正准确而详细的报告。

托梅·皮雷斯（Tomé Pires）

Much is known about early sixteenth-century trade in the Indian Ocean and Southeast Asia because of the in-depth report written by Tomé Pires for Manuel I of Portugal between 1512 and 1515. Remarkably, it was left unpublished and lost in the Bibliothèque de la Chambre des députés in Paris until 1944, when it was discovered by historian Armando Cortesão and translated. In this masterpiece, Suma Oriental, Pires describes his journey from Egypt to the Malay Archipelago and provides a detailed historical and ethnographic account of the Indian Ocean emporium trade.

由于托梅·皮雷斯在1512年至1515年间为葡萄牙的曼努埃尔一世写了一份深入的报告，人们对十六世纪早期的印度洋和东南亚贸易有了很多了解。值得注意的是，该报告一直没有出版，并遗失在巴黎的议会图书馆，直到1944年才被历史学家阿曼多·科特桑发现并翻译。在这部杰作《Suma Oriental》中，皮雷斯描述了他从埃及到马来群岛的旅程，并对印度洋帝国贸易进行了详细的历史和人种学描述。

In his introduction, Pires states:

The Suma Oriental is divided into four parts or Suma. books'; the first will deal with the beginning of Asia, starting from Africa to the First India; the second will be from the First India to the end of Middle India; the third will be the High India on the other side of the Ganges, （ending at Ayuthia Odia) the fourth will be about the kingdom of China and all the provinces subject to it, with the noble island of Liu Kiu (Lequeos), Japan (Janpon), Borneo, the Lufoes and the Macassars Macaceres) the fifth will be about all the islands in detail [Indonesia].

(Cortesão, 1944, p. 4)

皮雷斯在他的导言中说：

《Suma Oriental》分为四个部分。第一部分涉及亚洲的开端，从非洲到第一印度（这里直译是“第一印度”，但我暂时没找到真正所指的区域，我的猜测是“印度次大陆”）；第二部分从第一印度到印度中部的尽头；第三部是恒河对岸的印度北部（以Ayuthia Odia为终点）；第四部是关于中国王朝和所有受其管辖的省份，以及琉球岛（Lequeos）、日本（Janpon）、婆罗洲、Lufoes和Macassars Macaceres）第五部将是关于所有岛屿的细节[印度尼西亚]。

(Cortesão, 1944, p. 4)

Pires arrived in Portuguese Cochin (Kochi), India in 1511 after stopovers in Aden at the mouth of the Red Sea and Ormuz at the southern end of the Persian Gulf. Little is known of his early life, although he might have been a second-generation apothecary to the royal family. His first job in India was as ‘factor of drugs’ in Cochin but was soon sent to Malacca. Malaysia as a registrar. From there he visited Java, Ceylon (Sri Lanka), the Moluccas (Spice Islands) and ultimately was sent to China where he died in 1524 in a failed diplomatic mission.

皮雷斯在红海口的亚丁和波斯湾南端的奥尔穆兹停留后，于1511年抵达葡萄牙的科钦（柯枝）。人们对他的早期生活知之甚少，尽管他可能是王室的第二代药剂师。他在印度的第一份工作是在科钦担任药剂师，但很快被派往马六甲，在马来西亚担任登记员。在那里，他访问了爪哇、锡兰（斯里兰卡）、摩鹿加群岛（香料群岛），最终被派往中国，并于1524年死于一次失败的外交任务中。

Pires left us with vivid descriptions of the major points of trade in the Indian Ocean. It is the first description of the Malay Archipelago and the trade network stretching east all the way to Japan. It is a remarkable compilation of the trade activities including historical, geographical, ethnographic, economic and commercial information. Through its pages one can follow the entire complex trading network that crisscrossed the Indian Ocean.

皮雷斯给我们留下了对印度洋上主要贸易点的生动描述。这是第一部关于马来群岛和向东一直延伸到日本的贸易网络的描述。它是一本出色的贸易活动汇编，包括历史、地理、人种学、经济和商业信息。通过篇幅，人们可以了解纵横交错的印度洋的整个复杂贸易网络。

The central role of trade in the Indian Ocean was abundantly clear to Pires. As he describes in his preface:

And in this Suma I shall speak not only of the division of the parts, provinces, kingdoms and regions and their boundaries, but also of the dealings and trade that they have with one another, which trading in merchandise is so necessary that without it the world would not go on. It is this that ennobles cities that brings war and peace.

(Cortesão, 1944, p. 4)

贸易在印度洋的核心作用对皮雷斯来说是非常清楚的，正如他在序言中所述：

在这篇总结中，我不仅要讲到各部分、各省、各王国和各地区的划分及其边界，还要讲到它们之间的交易和贸易，这种商品交易是非常必要的，没有它世界就不会继续下去。正是这一点使这些城市变得高贵，从而带来战争与和平。

Tomé Pires describes Cambay in the Gujarat Province in northwestern India as central to the Indian trade network. It was the home to what came to be the world’s most widely travelled sailors. As he observed:

There is no doubt that these people have the cream of the trade. They are men who understand merchandise; they are so properly steeped in the sound and harmony of it, that the Gujaratees say that any offence connected with merchandise is not pardonable. There are Gujaratees settled everywhere. They work some for some and others for others…Cambay chiefly stretches out two arms, with her right arm she reaches out towards Aden and with the other towards Malacca, as the most important places to sail to…

(Ibid, p. 42)

托梅·皮雷斯将印度西北部古吉拉特邦的康贝（肯帕德 (Khambhat)）描述为印度贸易网络的中心。它是后来世界上走得最远的水手们的家，正如他所观察到的：

毫无疑问，这些人拥有贸易头脑。他们是了解商品的人；他们是如此恰当地沉浸在商品的声音和和谐之中，以至于古吉拉特邦的人说，任何与商品有关的罪行都是不可原谅的。到处都有古吉拉特邦人定居。他们有的为这些人工作，有的为另一些人工作...... 康贝作为最重要的航行地点，主要向外伸出两只手，她的右臂伸向亚丁，左臂伸向马六甲。

加西亚·德·奥尔塔（Garcia de Orta）

Records of how spices were grown and processed in ancient Southeast Asia were left to us in Garcia de Orta’s remarkable “Colloquies on the Simples & Drugs of India”, published in 1563. de Orta was a Portuguese, Sephardic Jewish physician, who worked for decades for the elite in the colony of Portuguese Goa, India.

1563年出版的加西亚·德·奥尔塔（Garcia de Orta）卓越的《印度简单药材和药物讨论会》为我们留下了古代东南亚香料种植和加工的记录。

He left numerous accounts of age-old Eastern farming practices. He records that:

The trees [of cinnamon] are about the size of olives or rather smaller, the branches are numerous and not crooked, but somewhat straight. The flowers are white, the fruit black and round, larger than a myrtle, or between that and a nut. The canela [cinnamon in Portuguese] is the second bark of the tree: for it has two barks like the cork tree, which has bark and shell…First, they take off the outer bark and clean the other. The outer bark, cut in squares, is then thrown on the ground. When on the ground it rolls itself up in a round form, so as to look like the bark of a stick which it is not. For the poles or sticks are the size of a man’s thigh. The thickest of the bark is the thickness of a finger. It takes a vermilion colour, or that which is given when burnt by the sun; or more like ashes mixed with red wine, very little of the cinder and a great deal of the wine…This year’s bark is taken and leaving the tree for three years it renews its bark.

(de Orta, 1563, pp. 129–130)

他留下了许多关于东方古老的农耕方式的记载：

肉桂树大约有橄榄大小，或者更小，树枝很多，不弯曲，但有点直。花是白色的，果实是黑色的、圆形的，比桃金娘大，或者介于桃金娘和坚果之间。canela[葡萄牙语中的肉桂]是这种树的第二层树皮：因为它有两层树皮，就像软木树一样，它有树皮和外壳......首先，他们取下外皮，清洗里面的树皮。然后将切成方块的外皮扔在地上。在地上时，它自己卷成圆形，树皮看起来像棍子，但它并不是。因为这些杆子或棍子有一个人的大腿那么大。最厚的树皮有一个手指那么粗。它的颜色是朱红色的，或者说是被太阳灼烧后的颜色；或者更像是与红酒混合的灰烬，很少的煤渣和大量的酒......今年的树皮被取走，让树在三年内重新长出新树皮。

He tells us about the harvest of ginger in India:

It is gathered in December and January, dried and covered with clay in holes to prevent it from decaying. It is also enclosed in clay to make it weigh more and to keep it fresh, preserving its natural humidity. Besides, if it is not well covered with clay the worms eat it. It is also more humid and has a better taste.

(Ibid, p. 399)

他向我们讲述了印度生姜的收获情况：

生姜在12月和1月被人们采集，晒干后用粘土覆盖在洞里，以防止其腐烂。粘土也被包裹起来，使其重量增加，并保持新鲜，保持其自然湿度。此外，如果它没有被粘土很好地覆盖，虫子就会吃掉它。生姜越潮湿，味道越好。

Garcia de Orta described the nutmeg tree as follows:

It is like a pear tree, or, to be more exact, like a small peach tree. The rind is hard, the outer skin being harder than green pears. Removing the thick rind, there is a very fine rind like that which encircles our chestnuts. This goes round the nut. The nut is like a small gall nut. The delicate skin which encircles it is the mace…You must know that when the nutmeg begins to swell, it breaks the first rind, as our chestnuts burst their prickly covering, and the mace becomes very red, appearing like fine gram. It is the most beautiful sight in the world when the trees are loaded…

(Ibid, pp. 272–273)

加西亚·德·奥尔塔对肉豆蔻树的描述如下：

它像一棵梨树，或者更确切地说，像一棵小桃树。果皮很硬，外皮比青梨还硬。去掉厚厚的外皮，有一个非常细的里皮，就像我们的栗子一样，环绕着栗子。这是绕着坚果转的。坚果就像一个小果仁。围绕着它的精致的皮是肉豆蔻......你必须知道，当肉豆蔻开始膨胀时，它就会打破第一层皮，就像我们的栗子破开它们带刺的外壳一样，而肉豆蔻变得非常红，看起来就像细小的chana dal（一种印度鹰嘴豆品种）。当树木满载果实时，这是世界上最美丽的景象......

He also provided the earliest record of black pepper cultivation. He wrote:

The tree of the pepper is planted at the foot of another tree, generally at the foot of a palm or cachou tree. It has a small root, and grows as its supporting tree grows, climbing round and embracing it. The leaves are not numerous, nor large, smaller than an orange leaf, green, and sharp pointed, burning a little almost like betel. It grows in bunches like grapes, and only differs in the pepper being smaller in the grains, and the bunches being smaller, and always green at the time that the pepper dries. The crop is in its perfection in the middle of January. In Malabar, the plant is of two kinds, one being the black pepper and the other white; and besides these there is another in Bengal called the long pepper…

(Ibid, p. 399)

他还提供了关于黑胡椒种植的最早记录，他写道：

胡椒树通常种植在大树的脚下，一般是棕榈树或腰果树。它的根很小，随着支撑树的生长而生长，绕着它爬行并拥抱它。胡椒树叶子不多，也不大，比橘子叶小，绿色，尖尖的，烧起来有点像槟榔。它像葡萄一样成串生长，唯一不同的是，胡椒的颗粒较小，成串较小，而且在胡椒干枯前总是绿色的。庄稼在一月中旬达到最佳状态。在马拉巴尔，这种植物有两种，一种是黑胡椒，另一种是白胡椒；除此之外，在孟加拉还有一种叫做荜拔（长胡椒）的植物。

扬·哈伊根·范林斯霍滕（Jan Huygen van Linschoten）

To a large extent, the Dutch path to the East Indies was paved by the adventurer Jan Huygen van Linschoten, who in 1595 published his Itinerario, almost an exposé of the Portuguese spice trade. Huygen was born in Haarlem, Holland in 1563, the son of an innkeeper. At the age of 16 he left for Spain to work with his brother in Seville for five years and then headed to Lisbon where he was employed as a merchant. In 1583 he landed a job as an accountant for the Archbishop of Goa, Joa͂o Vicente da Fonseca, and sailed off to India. Once there, Huygen devoted himself to learning about Goa and its inhabitants, assimilating a great deal of nautical and mercantile information by visiting the docks and talking to sailors. He obtained much first-hand knowledge of the ‘secret’ Portuguese trade routes and practices, and even befriended the Portuguese viceroy who let him see top-secret charts which he deviously copied. Huygen loved his life in Goa but was forced to leave in 1588 when his sponsor died. On the way home, his ship was wrecked near the Azores and he stayed for two years on the island of Terceira working to salvage and sell the spices that were aboard the ship. He also began writing his future publications.

在很大程度上，荷兰通往东印度群岛的道路是由冒险家扬·哈伊根·范林斯霍滕铺就的，他在1595年出版了《行程》，对葡萄牙香料贸易进行了较为详细的揭露。范林斯霍滕于1563年出生在荷兰的哈勒姆，是一个旅馆老板的儿子。16岁时，他前往西班牙，与他的兄弟在塞维利亚工作了5年，然后前往里斯本，在那里他被聘为商人。1583年，他通过果阿大主教若昂·比森特·达·丰塞卡找到了一份会计工作，并乘船前往印度。到了那里，范林斯霍滕致力于了解果阿及其居民的情况，通过访问码头和与水手交谈，吸收了大量的航海和商业信息。他获得了许多关于葡萄牙“秘密”贸易路线和做法的第一手资料，甚至还结识了葡萄牙总督，后者让他看到了他狡猾地复制的最高机密图表。范林斯霍滕热爱他在果阿的生活，但在1588年，他的赞助人去世后，他被迫离开。在回家的路上，他的船在亚速尔群岛附近失事，他在特塞拉岛呆了两年，致力于打捞和出售船上的香料，他开始记录自己这些年的所见所闻。

He finally got home in 1592 but his wanderlust was not extinguished, and he sailed to the Arctic with Willem Barents on the first two of his failed missions to find the Northeast Passage to China. It was not until 1595 that Huygen finally settled down and finished the Itinerario, describing his experiences in the East and offering detailed information on the route to India, the nature of the spice markets and the condition of the Portuguese Estado da Índia. The book clearly documented the growing European suspicion that the Estado da Índia had become decadent and overstretched. It showed that the Portuguese did not really have control of the markets in Java, which would ultimately become the centre of Dutch Indonesia. Most importantly, the book gave almost complete nautical and economic information about the Indian Ocean that until its publication had been a closely guarded secret of the Portuguese.

他终于在1592年回到了家，但他的冒险欲望并没有熄灭，他与威廉·巴伦支（Willem Barents）一起航行到了北极，完成了寻找通往中国的东北航道的前两次失败的任务。直到1595年，范林斯霍滕才终于安下心来，完成了《行程》，描述了他在东方的经历，并提供了关于通往印度的路线、香料市场的性质和葡萄牙印度国的状况的详细信息。这本书清楚地记录了欧洲人日益增长的疑虑，即印度国家已经变得颓废和过度扩张。它表明，葡萄牙人并没有真正控制爪哇的市场，而爪哇最终成为荷兰印度尼西亚的中心。最重要的是，该书提供了关于印度洋的几乎完整的航海和经济信息，而在该书出版之前，这些信息一直是葡萄牙人严守的秘密。

拉尔夫·费奇（Ralph Fitch）

In 1591, the first English worldwide traveler Ralph Fitch returned home after an astonishing eight-year journey to Mesopotamia, the Persian Gulf, the Indian Ocean, India and Southeast Asia. He returned with incredible first-hand knowledge of the inner workings of the spice trade and its opportunities. His journey began in February 1583 when he embarked for Aleppo, Syria with two merchants, John Newberry and John Eldred, a jeweler William Leedes, and a painter, James Story. Their trip was to generate trade and political alliances with the Ottoman Empire.

1591年，英国第一位环球旅行者拉尔夫·费奇在经过八年的惊人旅程后回国，足迹遍及美索不达米亚、波斯湾、印度洋、印度和东南亚。他带着关于香料贸易内部运作及其机会的令人难以置信的第一手资料返回。他的旅程始于1583年2月，当时他与两名商人约翰·纽伯里和约翰·埃尔德雷德、珠宝商威廉·利兹和画家詹姆斯·史都瑞一起踏上了前往叙利亚阿勒颇的旅程。他们的旅行是为了与奥斯曼帝国建立贸易和政治联盟。

The five travelled down the Euphrates, crossed southern Mesopotamia to Baghdad, and then followed the Tigris to Basra where Eldred stayed behind to trade. Fitch and the others found passage down the Persian Gulf to the Portuguese fortress at Ormuz, where they were arrested as spies and sent across the Indian Ocean to Goa. There they were held captive until two English Jesuits helped them escape. Story chose to join their sect and remain, while the other two continued across India until they reached the court of the great Mogul leader Akbar at Agra.

五人沿幼发拉底河而下，穿过美索不达米亚南部到达巴格达，然后沿着底格里斯河到达巴士拉，埃尔德雷德留在那里做贸易。拉尔夫·费奇和其他人沿着波斯湾到达葡萄牙的奥尔穆兹要塞，在那里他们被当作间谍入狱，并被送往印度洋对面的果阿。他们在那里被囚禁，直到两名英国耶稣会士帮助他们逃脱。詹姆斯·史都瑞选择加入他们的教派并留下，而另外两人则继续穿越印度，直到他们到达位于阿格拉的伟大的莫卧儿领袖阿克巴的宫廷。

Leedes got a post from Akbar and stayed put, while Fitch and Newberry continued on to Allahabad, after joining a huge convoy carrying salt, opium, lead and carpets. Newberry decided to head home at this point but was never heard from again. Fitch kept travelling, sailing down the Yamuna and Ganges Rivers from 1585 to 1586, and then across the sea to Pegu and Burma, where he further travelled deep into the interior of the continent on the Irrawaddy River. Early in 1588, he visited Malacca, and tried but failed to get passage into the South China Sea. At this point, he decided it was time to head towards home, travelling first to Bengal, round the Indian peninsula to Cochin and Goa, then on to Ormuz, up the Persian Gulf to Basra and then down the Tigris and Euphrates to Aleppo and Tripoli. Fitch arrived back in London on 29 April 1591, eight years after he had left, having visited the whole extent of the spice route spanning from the Levant to South East Asia. He appeared in London after being long presumed dead and until his real demise 20 years later, his eyewitness accounts served as a firebrand and blueprint for the early English missions to the Indian Ocean.

阿克巴授予了威廉·利兹以职位，所以他留在当地，而拉尔夫·费奇和纽伯里则继续前往阿拉哈巴德。在加入一个运送盐、鸦片、铅和地毯的庞大车队后，纽伯里决定回家，但再也没有听到他的消息。拉尔夫·费奇继续旅行，从1585年到1586年沿亚穆纳河和恒河航行，然后渡海到勃固和缅甸，通过伊洛瓦底江上进一步深入大陆的内部。1588年初，他访问了马六甲，并试图进入中国南海的通道，但没有成功。这时，他决定回家了，先到孟加拉，绕过印度半岛到科钦和果阿，然后到奥尔穆兹，沿着波斯湾到巴士拉，然后沿着底格里斯河和幼发拉底河到阿勒颇和的黎波里。拉尔夫·费奇于1591年4月29日回到伦敦，在他离开八年后，他访问了从黎凡特到东南亚的整个香料路线。他在被长期假定死亡后再一次出现在伦敦，直到20年后他才去世，他对印度和东南亚描述成为早期英国派遣印度洋使团的火种和蓝图。

四位伟大旅行者的影响

The reports of these trailblazing four adventurers fired up the Dutch and English to follow the Portuguese to the riches of the Indian Ocean. As the 16th century ended, the Indian Ocean trade network was no longer a mystery to them, and they exuberantly entered into a power struggle with Portugal and each other for its control.

这四位开拓者的报告激起了荷兰人和英国人的热情，他们跟随葡萄牙人去印度洋寻找财富。随着16世纪的结束，印度洋贸易网络对他们来说已不再神秘，他们兴致勃勃地加入了与葡萄牙的权力争夺战，并相互争夺其控制权。

参考书目：

Anonymous. Jan Huygen van Linschoten’s ‘Itinerario’: Key to the East. Utrecht University Library Special Collections, Utrecht University, 2020

Cortesão, A. (tr.). The Suma Oriental of Tomé Pires and The Book of Francisco Rodriques. . Hakluyt Society, Second Series No. LXXXIX, Digitized version from McGill University Library , 1944

de Orta, G. Colloquies on the Simples & Drugs of India (New edition). Henry Sotheran and Co., London., 1895

Hakluyt, R. . Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques and Discoveries of the English Nation, Volume Two. JM Dent and Sons Limited, London, 1927

Ryley, J.H. . Ralph Fitch: England’s Pioneer to India and Burma. T. Fisher Unwin, London, 1899

Saldanha, A. . "The Itineraries of Geography: Jan Huygen van Linschoten’s Itinerario and Dutch Expeditions to the Indian Ocean, 1594–1602. ." Annals of the Association of American Geographers , 101(1), 2011., pp. 149–177.

Shaffer, M. . Pepper: A History of the World’s Most Influential Spice. Thomas Dunne Books, St Martin’s Press, New York, 2013