Trade is War

This book is divided into two parts. One is the state of trade in East Asia before and after the collapse of the tributary system to the Ming Dynasty, and the other is the war of aggression in which Toyotomi Hideyoshi of Japan sent a large number of troops to the Korean Peninsula with a view of conquering China at the end of the sixteenth century. With regard to East Asia in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the contributors in this book share a problem awareness in terms of using trade and war as subjects to clarify multi-ethnic, borderless, and multi-layered situations. Although there are many chapters related to Japan, this book tries to grasp the interaction between Japan as a region of East Asia and neighboring countries from a global perspective, not the one singular national history.

A wide-ranging account of shipping and capitalism in the Middle East

Adam Smith wrote that man has an intrinsic "propensity to truck, barter, and exchange one thing for another". But how did trade evolve to the point where we don't think twice about biting into an apple from the other side of the world? …

For thousands of years, military engagements between opposing nations and societies have had important effects on all aspects of human civilization. While the most direct and recognizable impacts of war are the victories and defeats that shape the course of history, warfare also affects human culture in ways that are not always appreciated or understood. Surprising as it may seem, war often creates as well as destroys…