middle/far east pirate history

I have an interest in the history of piracy in the age of sail. Although alot of information can be found about european pirates of the Carribean, I cant find anything about piracy in the middle east and far east. Im wondering if anyone from asian nations who visits this forum can give me any info on where to find books or websites about history and folklore of piracy in your respective seafaring history.

http://www.nus.edu.sg/sup/9971-69-242-2.html

Try “Iranun and Balangingi: Globalisation, Maritime Raiding and the Birth of Ethnicity” by James F. Warren.

In this case, one man’s patriot is another man’s pirate. The latter is how basically the Qing viewed this guy. And vice versa. Much later in history, the Japanese imperialists, Chinese communists and Chinese nationalists exploited this person’s legend for their own propagandistic purposes.

Very true, and the same is valid for ‘European’ piracy in the Carribean in the 1600s. The (in the Netherlands at least) famous captain Piet Heyn of the West-Indies Company who stole the Spanish ‘Silver Fleet’ was nothing more but a pirate – a contract pirate maybe, but definately a man whose job it was to rob ships.

Also, the Watergeuzen, the first guys to conquer one of the Spanish-occupied towns during the Eighty Years War (in which the Northern Netherlands gained their independence) were pirates as well. These Watergeuzen mostly were controlled by exiled/fled noblemen who didn’t want to follow Spanish (and Catholic) rule, and they survived by raiding ports, theft and a little bit of trade. When they found the Dutch port of Den Briel hardly occupied, they for once took the town and claimed it for the Prince of Orange (this was 1572, IIRC). An act of piracy which turned political.

During the 1600s and into the early 1700s, the western Indian Ocean was the scene of much European-based “Privateer/Pirate” activity. (Privateer is the term for a civilian ship’s master who has been authorized by one nation to raid the shipping of another nation. The document is called a “Letter of Marque and Reprisal”, and is supposed to regulate his activity.) In reality most Privateers were virtually indestinguishable from Pirates (Captain William Kidd was one such, and most of his activity took place between Madagascar and India). The English, French, Dutch, and Portugese were all involved with this.

In earlier centuries, there was much sea-borne trade, and therefore also pirate-like activity, in the Indian Ocean by Arab sailors, all along the African, Middle Eastern, and Indian coasts (and ocean areas between). This activity gave birth to the legends of Sinbad (according to other legends). A search of Arabian and East African histories would also be fruitful for your interest.

He died young at 37, but shortly before that, he was becoming murderously sociophatic. 38 years later, his Taiwan stronghold under the command of his son eventually fell to the Qing.

The bad karma came back and haunted his descendants. (because of the people he persecuted)

In this case, one man’s patriot is another man’s pirate. The latter is how basically the Qing viewed this guy. And vice versa. Much later in history, the Japanese imperialists, Chinese communists and Chinese nationalists exploited this person’s legend for their own propagandistic purposes.

Thanks Danrh, I appreciate your being willing to scan stuff.

Thanks Croboto- What you tell brings up two important points, One that its difficult to differenciate pirate activity with that of regular naval warfare. And two that pirate history often gets pushed into the background when large scale wars are happen during certain eras.

There were a lot of Japanese, Korean and Chinese pirates around the medieval or Ming period (1400s to 1600s), which is the golden age of the Junk ships. By the 1600-1700s, there were literally thousands of junks, and the Chinese navy alone had hundreds. Pirates raided much of the eastern Chinese coast, and against islands in the Far East.

During the early period of Spanish occupation in the Philippines, the Spanish and the Filipinos banded together to thwart repeated Chinese and Japanese pirate incursions, including a celebrated pirate named “Lim Ma Hong” that tried to take over Manila. They also fought against the Moro (Muslim) incursions from the south who uses fast sailing ships built like catamarans, then later against British and Portugese incursions.

The most celebrated “pirate”, although technically he’s not, is Lord Koxinga, aka Zhen Chen Gong. Not sure if I got his name spelled right, but Koxinga is what the Dutch called him, and his Japanese name is Tei Seiko. There are Kabukis in celebration of this person. He was born in Nagasaki, Japan between a Japanese mother and a father who was a lord and official of the Ming Dynasty. When he was 9, his father took him away from his mother who had taken good care of him, and sent him to China. Though heartbroken, His mother eventually did reunite with him, moving from Nagasaki to Fujien province.

To make a long story short, he had reputable military history as a Ming general against the Manchu (Qing) invasion. The Ming eventually fell to the Qing but there were many Ming holdouts who refused to surrender. As the last Ming emperor hanged himself, his father surrendered to the Qing, an act that Koxinga took as a sign of major disgrace. Rather than surrender, his Japanese mother commited suicide rather than surrender to the Qing. As he was close to his mother, this raised some heavy revenge issues.

He raised a large army and resisted the Qing successfully for many years. Eventually his army could not withstand the sheer might of the Qing and they left for the sea.

He and his large fleet of junks forced the surrender of the Dutch in the island of Formosa, then claimed the island for the Ming. Thus his status as the “liberator” of the island now known as Taiwan. He set himself up as a king in the island and made it a hotbed of Ming resistance against the Qing.

He died young at 37, but shortly before that, he was becoming murderously sociophatic. 38 years later, his Taiwan stronghold under the command of his son eventually fell to the Qing.

I have an interest in the history of piracy in the age of sail. Although alot of information can be found about european pirates of the Carribean, I cant find anything about piracy in the middle east and far east. Im wondering if anyone from asian nations who visits this forum can give me any info on where to find books or websites about history and folklore of piracy in your respective seafaring history.

There was an excellent article in the most recent National Geograpic about the voyages of Admiral Zheng He which had some information on pirates, particularly in the Staits of Malacca area. Unfortunately I’m having scanner issues (the computer insists I don’t have one while my eyes tell me I do 🙂 ) and I can’t scan it for you. Try using the Malacca area as a location when googling, the place has a long history of pirate activity.

Daniel