Tongking in Trade Epoch - A Primary Exploration of Northern Viet Nam's Oversea Commerce and Social Changes in 16-17 Century

Abstract

Studies on the pre-modern history of Vietnam owe much to Tony Reid, whose concept of "age of commerce" enlightened and inspired a generation of younger scholars. The "traditional" Vietnam had been portrayed as an undifferentiated swamp of peasantry living in closed and identical villages, " the" Vietnamese village, which stretched from north to south and throughout the centuries. Since year 2000 our knowledge on the seventeenth century northern Vietnam ( T ongking, or Dang Ngoai) has grown remarkably. In a way they indicate and are the result of the acceleration of researches on Vietnamese history of the last decade. Scholars in Vietnam , in collaborations with foreign scholars have also contributed important works to the field, and many of them are based on stele inscriptions collected from northern and central Vietnam . This article will build on these new findings and explore the relations between Tongking's overseas trade and social changes particularly the cultural and religious changes in the seventeenth century T ongking society.