Upon venturing into Asian seas at the turn of the sixteenth century, Portuguese mariners were amazed to find flourishing trade networks spanning the oceans from India to China. At that time Melaka—a small Islamic sultanate on the Malay Peninsula, at the crossroads of the navigational routes linking India to China—was the great hub of this maritime trading world, and thus the richest prize in the eyes of Portuguese empire builders. Arriving in Melaka shortly after the Portuguese seized the city in 1511, Tomé Pires wrote a report for his patron, the king of Portugal, exclaiming that “men cannot estimate the worth of Malacca [Melaka], on account of its greatness and profit. Malacca is a city that was made for merchandise, fitter than any other in the world.” From Melaka, the Portuguese pushed eastward, arriving on the coasts of China in 1513. The Portuguese would make no further conquests in East Asia, but rather turned to the pursuit of commercial profit.

Over the next several centuries the European presence in maritime East Asia altered the structure of trade, but did not transform it. Rather, the Europeans insinuated themselves into a dynamic of maritime trade and cross-cultural intercourse that had existed for centuries. Commercial success for the Portuguese (and other Europeans who followed them) depended on their ability to compete with their indigenous rivals under terms of trade established by Asian rulers.