1583年論敦商人東方行

London Merchants' Expedition to the East in 1583

1583年，英格蘭的「土耳其公司」派員前往東方探尋商業機會。商隊從倫敦出發，抵地中海東岸後循「幼發拉底河」南下。他們在波斯灣口遭到葡萄牙人逮捕，押解至印度受審。商隊在果阿棄保潛逃，成員有人留在蒙兀兒帝國，有人繼續東行，也有人客死異鄉。此次東行沒有創造出可觀的利潤，卻是倫敦商人首次深入波斯灣、印度，以及東南亞等地區。「英帝國史」的研究經常忽略，英格蘭在十六世紀展開其海外拓殖時，「東」、「西」向的探索其實「同時進行」，而東方貿易的興起雖落在十八世紀之後，其基本的商業架構與模式早已奠定。本文透過此次的東行，對十六世紀英格蘭海外拓殖中的「商業運作模式」及「官商關係」，提出初步的觀察。

In 1583, the English 'Turkey Company' sent an expedition to the East in search of commercial opportunities. They departed from London, reached the Levant, and then navigated down the Euphrates. They were arrested by the Portuguese in the Persian Gulf and then escorted to India for investigation. The team members absconded from Goa; some stayed in the Mughal Empire, some continued the journey eastward, and some died on the way home. The expedition did not make a great profit, but it was the first time that London merchants ventured into the Persian Gulf, India, and Southeast Asia. Studies of the British Empire often ignore England's exploration in the sixteenth century, when it was simultaneously exploring both eastward and westward. Although England's oriental trade reached its peak after the eighteenth century, its structure and operation were founded in the previous era. This paper investigates the commercial operation of the expedition and the relationship between government and merchants in the England's sixteenth-century overseas exploration.