The Siege of Moji was a siege in 1561 against the castle of Moji in Japan. The castle belonged to the Mōri clan, whose capital was the city of Yamaguchi. Forces under Ōtomo Sōrin attacked the castle in alliance with the Portuguese, who provided three ships between 500 and 600 tons, each with a crew of […]
The Nanban trade, Southern barbarian trade or the Nanban trade period, Southern barbarian trade period in the history of Japan extends from the arrival of the first Europeans – Portuguese explorers, missionaries and merchants – to Japan in 1543, to their near-total exclusion from the archipelago in 1614, under the promulgation of the “Sakoku” Seclusion Edicts. First […]
In the seventeenth century, the naval industry in colonial Brazil built the galleon Padre Eterno, one of the biggest ships of its kind at that time. The headlines in Mercurio Portuguez announced: “…a galleon called Padre Eterno will come from Brazil. It was built in Rio de Janeiro and is the most famous warship that […]
Why Muslim Curtain? If you look out at how you could get from Europe to Asia, the promised land of goodies, you’d see a “wall” of Muslim states—Ottomans, Safavids, Mughals— blocking you by land and by sea. How to get around this—and get one over on the infidel Muslims, who were increasing in power and were richer […]