Episode 12, The Portuguese Trailblazers

Charles Kimball (0:01)

This episode is dedicated to two friends of the podcast on Facebook. The first friend is Ben Jacobs. As of January 2017, the podcast is six months old, it has gotten 8,000 downloads, and I estimate it has around 470 listeners. That's not bad for a beginner like me, and I did choose to tackle a difficult subject. You know there are history podcasts with topics that are more fun. So far, most of the downloads and listeners have come from a successful Facebook promotion. Only in the past couple months has it become easy to find the podcast with a Google search. Still, the podcast wouldn't have gotten as far as it did if I was the only one promoting it, though I have said more than once that it is currently a one person show. Recently, I found out that Ben Jacobs is the podcast's most enthusiastic promoter, aside from myself. So Ben, thank you for the kind words. You gave the podcast a try before listening to it was cool. With your help, the podcast has reached what I call a critical mass. From this point on, it will continue to attract new listeners for as long as new content is added. May you have a great day as you listen to this episode.

The other friend is James T who made a generous donation on the day the previous episode went online. This will keep the lights on, supporting the hosting of this podcast for the time being, because I have learned from past experience not to trust websites that will host sound files for free. This also convinced my wife that all the time and work put into researching and recording the podcast is worth it. James, I hope you don't mind me using this name for you rather than the other name, I know. And I hope your holiday season was a great one for you and your family too. To both Ben and James, in the words of the Bartles and James commercials from 30 years ago, Thanks for your support.

And now on with today's show.

Welcome to the History of Southeast Asia podcast. I am your host, Charles Kimball.

Episode 12, The Portuguese Trailblazers. Or, How Portugal Served Both God and Mammon.

Well, at least they tried to do that. Greetings, dear listeners! I uploaded this episode on the first day of 2017, so if you are listening near that date, HAPPY NEW YEAR!

My, oh my. Is it just me, or is every year getting more crazy than the years before it? For 2016, we had the Zika virus, Brexit, creepy clown sightings, terrorist shooting sprees, a presidential election in the United States that we can't stop talking about, and all too many celebrity deaths, from David Bowie to John Glenn to Carrie Fisher to Debbie Reynolds. And in a related news story, I just heard that Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones has been found alive. I'm sure a lot of folks would like to forget 2016, but as an historian, I can't do that. Besides, my second grandchild was born in November, so for me 2016 wasn't all bad. Still, we can get our minds off the recently passed year by concentrating on other times, and this podcast is good for that.

The first episode of the new year also marks the beginning of what historians call the modern era, and likewise, we are beginning a new era in Southeast Asian history. Therefore, I will now give a quick recap of the past episodes before we get into the new content for this one. The recap will give new listeners an idea of where we are and let long-time listeners know how far we have come.

For those who like to see history as a series of ages, you can divide the time before 1500 AD into three ages. First, there is the prehistoric age. For this, I assign all the years before 250 BC. This includes the time of the various cavemen I mentioned in episode 1 Since nobody in Southeast Asia could read or write during this time, the written records that make up quote-unquote history simply aren't available. All that we have to go on comes from the sciences, especially archaeology and anthropology. On a positive note, all the achievements made by Southeast Asians during this era, from the Ban Chiang bronze work, to the Malay mastery of sailing, to the construction of the Banawi rice terraces, these were all things that Southeast Asians did by themselves, without any help from outsiders. Also, this was the time of the Malay and Hmong Khmer migrations, the oldest of several movements that brought the ancestors of today's Southeast Asians into the region.

The Second Age is what we commonly call ancient times. For Southeast Asia, I have it begin around 250 BC and end around 775 AD. 250 BC is our best guess for when contact with India began. And we saw in episodes 2 through 5 how important trade with India was, for it also brought Indian civilization into the region. The only parts of Southeast Asia that weren't fully Indianized, were North Vietnam, which was civilized by the Chinese instead, and the Philippines, which were beyond the reach of Indian traders and missionaries.