| 研究実績の概要 |
For two years, thanks to JSPS, I have studied the enslavement of Japanese, Chinese and Koreans and its Diaspora to America and Europe in the Early Modern Period. During this research, I found that there was an important link between Asian slaves and Converso traders. In fact, the main traders who received Asian slaves in China, America, India and Europe, were of Jewish origin. The results were published in my recent book. I also learnt that the forced exile enacted by the 1492 Alhambra Decree and the Edict of Expulsion of 1496 originated the dispersion of the largest Jewish community in Europe and also that the Jews who remained in the Iberian Peninsula were forced to convert to Christianity. As a consequence, in the wake of their expulsions and subsequent Diasporas throughout a world, then in-the-making, these Iberian Conversos participated actively in the Age of Exploration begun by the Portuguese. Thanks to these journeys, driven by trade and religious persecution, the Conversos sought to reconstruct new communities. Among the many places where these Conversos merchants settled, Macau (China), Manila (Philippines), and Nagasaki (Japan) are the least-known locations with untapped documental sources ready to be brought to light and analyzed. Unfortunately, during my research, it was not possible to reconstruct the size of these communities, their leaders, and have a full understating of their commercial network and their relationship with the slave trade.
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