CONTENTS -- Preface and Acknowledgements -- Abbreviations -- Explanation for units of measurement -- Glossary -- Maps -- INTRODUCTION -- The subject -- Tonkin in the intra-Asian trade of the VOC -- Source materials and analytical framework -- PART ONE: THE SETTING -- Introduction -- Chapter One: Political background -- 1. Vietnamese maritime trade prior to 1527 -- The Hundred Viets and the Vietnamese -- The Chinese colonization of northern Vietnam, 179 BC-AD 905 -- Independent Dai Viet and the state monopoly of foreign trade, 1010-1527 -- 2. Incessant conflicts and political schisms, 1527-1672 -- Chapter Two: Economic background -- 1. Handicraft industries and export commodities -- Raw silk and piece-goods -- Ceramics -- Other miscellaneous exports -- 2. New trends in foreign trade -- A more open trend in foreign trade, the 1500s -- The birth of the seventeenth-century commercial system -- Complicated trading conditions -- 3. Foreign merchants -- The Chinese -- The Japanese -- The Portuguese -- The Dutch -- The English -- Other foreign merchants -- Concluding remarks -- PART TWO: THE POLITICAL RELATIONS -- Introduction -- Chapter Three: Intimate phases -- 1. The abortive Dutch trade with Quinam, 1601-1638 -- 2. The Dutch arrival in Tonkin, 1637 -- 3. Ideological struggles and belligerent decisions, 1637-1643 -- Military or peaceful involvement, 1637-1641? -- Tension escalating in Quinam, 1642 -- The Dutch military defeats, 1642-1643 -- 4. The Quinam interlude and frigid relations with Tonkin, 1644-1651 -- The VOC's unilateral war with Quinam, 1644-1651 -- The peace agreement with Quinam, 1651 -- Frigid relations with the Trịnh, 1644-1647 -- The relationship deteriorated, 1647-1651 -- Chapter Four: Vicissitudes, decline and the final end -- 1. Revival of the relationship, 1651-1660 -- Verstegen's commission to Tonkin, 1651.

A short-lived permanent factory, 1651 -- The first phase of decline, the 1650s -- 2. Attempts to expand the Tonkin trade, 1660-1670 -- The decline in the Tonkin-China border trade and the loss of Formosa -- The VOC's 'Tinnam strategy', 1661-1664 -- Tonkin as a permanent factory, 1663 -- Continued decline, the 1660s -- 3. Towards the final end, 1670-1700 -- The eventful 1670s -- Decline intensified, 1680-1690 -- The last ship, 1699/1700 -- Concluding remarks -- PART THREE: THE COMMERCIAL RELATIONS -- Introduction -- Chapter Five: The import trade -- 1. Silver -- 2. Japanese copper zeni -- The Vietnamese monetary system prior to the seventeenth century -- The cash shortage in the 1650s and the VOC's import of Japanese copper zeni into Tonkin -- 3. The arms trade and the import of other miscellaneous items -- Chapter Six: The export trade (i): Tonkinese silk for Japan -- 1. The Far Eastern silk trade prior to the early 1630s -- 2. The period of experiment, 1637-1640 -- 3. The period of high profit, 1641-1654 -- Silk trade under military alliances, 1641-1643 -- Decline of Formosa and rise of Tonkin, 1644-1654 -- 4. The period of decline, 1655-1671 -- 5. On the capital and profit -- Chapter Seven: The export trade (ii): Other products -- 1. Tonkinese products for the Netherlands -- Silk piece-goods -- Musk -- 2. Gold for the Coromandel Coast -- 3. Tonkinese ceramics for the insular South-East Asian markets -- Concluding remarks -- PART FOUR: DUTCH-VIETNAMESE INTERACTIONS -- Introduction -- Chapter Eight: The Dutch East India Company trade and its impact on seventeenth-century Vietnamese society -- 1. Dutch residents and local society -- Factories and factors -- The directorship: the need for 'Vietnamese learning' and diplomatic activities -- Religious practices and anti-Christian sentiments in Tonkin.

Paid company and sentimental attachment: foreign merchants and Vietnamese women -- 2. The impact of the VOC trade on Tonkin's economy -- The VOC's import of monetary metals and its impact on the silver/cash ratio -- Impact on prices -- Impact on labour -- The commercial centres and the commercial system -- Were the first seeds of capitalism sown? -- 3. The Dutch catalyst in the Tonkin-Quinam conflict -- 4. Miscellaneous issues -- Concluding remarks -- CONCLUSION -- Conflicting interests and the political vicissitudes -- The intra-Asian trade and varying commercial trends -- Trade as a bridge for Dutch-Vietnamese interactions -- APPENDICES -- 1. Vua (Emperors) Lê and Chúa (Kings) Trinh in seventeenth-century Tonkin -- 2. Governors-General and Chief Factors of the Dutch factory in Tonkin in the seventeenth century -- 3. Dutch shipping in Tonkin, 1637-1699 -- 4. Foreign shipping in Tonkin, 1637-1699 -- 5. Intended division of the Tonkin cargo for Japan, 1645 -- 6. Tonkinese silk exported to Japan by the VOC, 1635-1697 -- 7. Silk prices as recorded by the Deshima factory, 1636-1668 -- 8. Tonkinese ceramics exported to Batavia and other places, 1663-1681 -- 9. Re-shipments of Tonkinese ceramics, 1670-1681 -- 10. Ceramics imported into Tonkin, 1637-1681 -- 11. Porcelain the VOC ordered in Japan for the Trịnh rulers, 1666-1681 -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index.