6 - Muslim Trade and the Conquest of the Coast

Summary

Chapter 6 discusses ceramic especially the blue-and-white ceramic, the chief wealth maker of the fifteenth century Dai Viet, in response to the Ming banning maritime trade from the late fourteenth to the late fifteenth centuries. Both Sukhothai and Champa took the chance to develop their own ceramic exports yet only Dai Viet was able to make the blue-and-white ceramics, because its easy access of the cobalt blue in Yunnan. Dai Viet ceramics’ major markets were Middle East and Java. This export was largely operated by the Muslim networks in Southeast Asia, which first promoted then overlapped with the Fujianese networks. The circulation of Muslim traders through ports in the Tongking Gulf and South China helped Dai Viet to profit from China’s Ming Gap as well as develop deeper trade relations with eastern gulf ports such as Qinzhou and Hainan Island.