Join the James Ford Bell Library on May 7 for a talk by Dr. Richard A. Pegg, Director and Curator of Asian Art at the MacLean Collection. This talk is held in conjunction with the Bell Library’s current exhibition, “Mapping Global Connections. The First 5,000 Years.”

About the talk

Speaker: Dr. Richard A. Pegg, Director and Curator of Asian Art, The MacLean Collection
Title and abstract: “Maps and Trade Systems in Pacific Asia During the Seventeenth Century.”

During the 17th century, numerous networks of maritime trade were in place in today’s East and South China Seas. They comprised a number of distinct, overlapping systems, which were all intertwined and interdependent, including the red-seal, Manila, Siam, Fujian, Zheng family, silver-silk, rice-silk, tribute, Muslim, Portuguese, British and Dutch systems. The networks encompassed port cities that were unregulated centers of commerce, including Macao, Quanzhou, Fuzhou, Ningbo, Xiamen and Guangzhou in China, Hirado, Nagasaki and Naha in Japan, Manila in the Philippines, the Penghu islands, Batavia and Aceh in Indonesia, Champa and Hoi An in Vietnam, Ayutthaya in Thailand, Malacca and Patani in Malaysia, Goa in India, Acapulco in Mexico and Lima in Peru, to name but a few. This talk will examine some of the many maps created during that time to better understand these complex systems.

Event details

What: Maps and Trade Systems in Pacific Asia During the Seventeenth Century
When: Thursday, May 7, 2026 | 4 to 5:30 p.m.
Where: Elmer L. Andersen Library, Givens Suite 120
Parking and directions