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Japanese Warship San Juan Bautista

Japanese warship San Juan Bautista

San Juan Bautista (“St John Baptist”) (originally called Date Maru, 伊達丸 in Japanese) was one of Japan's first Japanese-built Western-style sail warships. She crossed the Pacific in 1614. She was of the Spanish Galleon type, known in Japan as Nanban-Sen (南蛮船, lit. “Southern Barbarian ships”). She transported a Japanese embassy of 180 people headed by Hasekura Rokuemon, and accompanied by the Spanish friar Luis Sotelo, to the Spanish possessions of Mexico. The ultimate mission for the embassy was to go on to Europe, which she reached in 1615, before going back to Japan.

Construction

San Juan Bautista was built in 1613 by Date Masamune, the Daimyo of Sendai in northern Japan, in Tsuki-No-Ura harbour (Ishinomaki, Miyagi). The project had been approved by the Bakufu, the Shogun's government in Edo. The Shogun already had had two smaller ships (80 and 120 tons) built for him by the English pilot William Adams, and the larger one, the San Buena Ventura, was given to Spanish shipwrecked sailors for their return to Mexico in 1610. The Shogun also issued numerous permits for Red seal ships, destined to Asian trade and incorporating many elements of Western ship design. San Juan Bautista is reported to have required 45 days work, with the participation of technical experts from the Bakufu, 800 shipwrights, 700 smiths, and 3000 carpenters. Two Spanish men are also reported to have participated to the endeavour: the friar Luis Sotelo, and the Spanish captain Sebastian Vizcaino. These efforts were seen with disapproval by the Spanish government in Manila, and Los Rios Coronel suggested that Luis Sotelo should not be allowed into Japan any further (C.R. Boxer).

Two trans-pacific round-trips

Manila Upon completion, the ship left in 28 October 1613 for Acapulco in Mexico, with around 180 people on board, consisting of 10 samurai of the Shogun (led by the Minister of the Navy Mukai Shooken), 12 samurai from Sendai, 120 Japanese merchants, sailors, and servants, and around 40 Spaniards and Portuguese. The ship arrived in Acapulco on 25 January 1614 after three months. After a year in Acapulco, the ship returned to Japan in April 1615, as Hasekura continued to Europe. It seems that around 50 specialists in mining and silver-refining were invited to Japan on this occasion, so that they could help develop the mining industry in the Sendai area. In September 1616, the San Juan Batista headed again to Acapulco, at the request of Luis Sotelo. She was sailed by Captain Yokozawa Shogen, but the trip went wrong and around 100 sailors died en route. Sotelo and Hasekura met in Mexico for the final trip back to Japan. In April 1618 the ship arrived to the Philippines, where she was sold to the Spanish government there, with the objective of building up defenses against the Dutch. Hasekura returned to Japan in 1620. By the time Hasekura came back, Japan had changed quite drastically: Christianity was being eradicated since its interdiction in 1614, and Japan was moving towards a period of Seclusion. Because of these persecutions, the trade agreements with Mexico he had been trying to establish were also denied. In the end, his embassy seems to have had little results, and he died two years later of illness. Philippines in 1617. Japanese painting, 17th century.]]

San Juan Bautista today

A new San Juan Bautista was reconstructed in 1993 on the basis of the records of the House of Date. Although the exact blueprints have not been found, the ship’s dimensions were recorded properly, permitting the reconstitution. The ship is currently on display in a theme park in northern Japan, close to the location where she was originally built.

References

- “The Christian century in Japan 1549-1650” C.R. Boxer ISBN 1857540352
- “Quand le Japon s’ouvrit au monde” Francis Marcouin and Keiko Omoto ISBN 207053118X

External links

- [http://hb2.seikyou.ne.jp/home/fm/ishi-sant.html Reconstitution of the San Juan Bautista]
- [http://ww51.et.tiki.ne.jp/~santjuan/gif/sokuzu.gif Ship plan]
- [http://ww51.et.tiki.ne.jp/~santjuan/bautista/b-name/b-in.gif Ship interior]
- [http://ww51.et.tiki.ne.jp/~santjuan/gif/canon.gif Ship guns]
- [http://images.google.co.jp/images?q=%E3%82%B5%E3%83%B3%E3%83%BB%E3%83%95%E3%82%A1%E3%83%B3%E3%83%BB%E3%83%90%E3%82%A6%E3%83%86%E3%82%A3%E3%82%B9%E3%82%BF&hl=ja&lr=&sa=N&tab=wi Various views of the ship] Category:Military history of Japan San Juan Bautista San Juan Bautista ja:サン・ファン・バウティスタ号

1614

Events

- April 5 - In Virginia, Native American Pocahontas marries English colonist John Rolfe.
- October 11 - Adriaen Block and a group of Amsterdam merchants petition the States General for exclusive trading rights in the area he explored and named "New Netherland".
- The French Estates-General meets for the last time before the era of the French Revolution. In between, France will be governed as an absolute monarchy.
- John Napier publishes a paper outlining his discovery of logarithms.
- The University of Groningen is established.
- Institution of the Rosicrucian Order in Germany according to Fraternitas Rosae Crucis.
- Toyotomi Hideyori attempts to restore Osaka Castle. Tokugawa Ieyasu, father of the Shogun, is outraged at this act, and takes the castle by storm.

Births

- January 1 - John Wilkins, English clergyman (d. 1672)
- January 5 - Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria, Governor of the Spanish Netherlands (d. 1662)
- July 10 - Arthur Annesley, 1st Earl of Anglesey, English royalist statesman (d. 1686)
- December 16 - Eberhard III, Duke of Württemberg (d. 1674

Month/day unknown

- Franciscus Sylvius, German scientist who first distilled beverage alcohol (d. 1672) See also :Category:1614 births.

Deaths

- April 7 - El Greco, Greek-born artist (b. 1541)
- June 15 - Henry Howard, 1st Earl of Northampton, English politician (b. 1540)
- July 1 - Isaac Casaubon, French-born classical scholar (b. 1559)
- July 14 - Camillus de Lellis, Italian saint (b. 1550)
- July 15 - Pierre de Bourdeille, seigneur de Brantôme, French historian and biographer
- August 11 - Lavinia Fontana, Italian painter (b. 1552)
- August 21 - Elizabeth Báthory, Hungarian serial killer (b. 1560) See also :Category:1614 deaths. Category:1614 ko:1614년 ms:1614

Nanban

The Nanban trade period (Japanese: 南蛮貿易時代, nanban-bōeki-jidai, "southern barbarian trade period") in Japanese history extends from the arrival of the first Europeans to Japan in 1543, to their near-total exclusion from the archipelago in 1650, under the promulgation of the "Sakoku" Seclusion Laws. Nanban (南蛮 Lit. “Southern Barbarian”) is a Japanese word which originally designated people from South Asia and South-East Asia. It followed a Chinese usage in which surrounding “barbarian” people in the four directions had each their own designation. In Japan, the word took on a new meaning when it came to designate Europeans, the first of whom started to arrive in Japan in 1543, first from Portugal, then Spain, and later the Netherlands and England. The word Nanban was thought naturally appropriate for the new visitors, since they came in by ship from the South, and their manners were considered quite unsophisticated by the Japanese.

Cultural encounter

Japanese accounts of Europeans

England.]] England The Japanese were first rather dismissive of the manners of the newly arrived foreigners. A contemporary Japanese account relates: :"They eat with their fingers instead of with chopsticks such as we use. They show their feelings without any self-control. They cannot understand the meaning of written characters" (from Boxer, “Christian century”). Soon enough however, the Japanese adopted several of the technologies and cultural practices of their visitors, whether in the military area (the arquebus, European-style cuirasses, European ships), religion (Christianity), decorative art, and language (integration to Japanese of a Western vocabulary). Many foreigners were befriended by Japanese rulers, and their ability was sometimes recognized to the point of promoting one to the rank of Samurai (William Adams), and giving him a fief in the Miura Peninsula, south of Edo.

European accounts of Japan

Rennaissance Europeans were quite admirative of the country. Japan was considered as a country immensely rich in precious metals, mainly owing to Marco Polo's accounts of gilded temples and palaces, but also due to the relative abundance of surface ores characteristic of a volcanic country, before large-scale deep-mining became possible in Industrial times. Japan was to become a major exporter of copper and silver during the period. Japan was also perceived as a sophisticated feudal society with a high culture and a strong pre-industrial technology. She was more populated and urbanized than any Western country (in the 16th century, Japan had 26 million inhabitants against 16 million for France and 4.5 million for England). She had Buddhist “universities” larger than any learning institution in the West, such as Salamanca or Coimbra. Prominent European observers of the time seemed to agree that the Japanese "excell not only all the other Oriental peoples, they surpass the Europeans as well" (Alessandro Valignano, 1584, "Historia del Principo y Progresso de la Compania de Jesus en las Indias Orientales). Alessandro Valignano in Rome in 1615, Coll. Borghese, Rome.]] Early European visitors were amazed by the quality of Japanese craftsmanship and metalsmithing. This stems from the fact that Japan itself is rather poor in natural resources found commonly in Europe, especially iron. Thus, the Japanese were famously frugal with their consumable resources; what little they had they used with expert skill. Her copper and steel were the best in the world, her weapons the sharpest, her paper industries were unequaled: the Japanese were blowing their noses in disposable soft "tissue" papers made from washi, when most people in the western world still used their sleeves. When the samurai Hasekura Tsunenaga visited Saint-Tropez, France in 1615 he made a sensation with the sharpness of his swords and his disposable tissue papers: :"They never touch food with their fingers, but instead use two small sticks that they hold with three fingers. They blow their noses in soft silky papers the size of a hand, which they never use twice, so that they throw them on the ground after usage, and they were delighted to see our people around them precipitate themselves to pick them up. Their swords cut so well that they can cut a soft paper just by putting it on the edge and by blowing on it." :("Relations of Mme de St-Troppez", October 1615, Bibliotheque Inguimbertine, Carpentras). Japanese military prowess was also well noted : "A Spanish royal decree of 1609 specifically directed Spanish commanders in the Pacific ‘not to risk the reputation of our arms and state against Japanese soldier’" (“Giving up the gun”, Noel Perrin). Troops of Japanese samurai were later employed in the Spice Islands in Southeast Asia by the Dutch to fight off the English.
Trade exchanges
English Soon after the first contacts in 1543, Portuguese ships started to arrive in Japan. At that time, there was already trade exchanges between Portugal and Goa (since around 1515), consisting in 3 to 4 carracks leaving Lisbon with silver to purchase cotton and spices in India. Out of these, only one carrack went on to China in order to purchase silk, also in exchange for Portuguese silver. Accordingly, the cargo of the first Portuguese ships (usually about 4 smaller-sized ships every year) arriving in Japan almost entirely consisted of Chinese goods (silk, porcelain). The Japanese were very much looking forward to acquiring such goods, but had been prohited from any contacts with by the Emperor of China, as a punishment for Wakō pirate raids. The Portuguese therefore found the opportunity to act as intermediaries in Asian trade. Wakō, 17th century.]] From the time of the acquisition of Macao in 1557, and their formal recognition as trade partners by the Chinese, the Portuguese Crown started to regulate trade to Japan, by selling to the highest bidder the annual "Capitaincy" to Japan, in effect confering exclusive trading rights for a single carrack bound for Japan every year. The carracks were very large ships, usually between 1000 and 1500 tons, about double or triple the size of a large galleon or junk. That trade continued with few interruptions until 1638, when it was prohibited on the ground that the ships were smuggling priests into Japan. Portuguese trade was progressively more and more challenged by Chinese smugglers on junks, Japanese Red Seal Ships from around 1592 (about ten ships every year), Spanish ships from Manila from around 1600 (about one ship a year), the Dutch from 1609, the English from 1613 (about one ship per year).
Dutch involvement
The Dutch, who, rather than "Nanban" were called "Kōmō" (Jp:紅毛, lit. "Red Hair") by the Japanese, first arrived in Japan in 1600, onbard the Liefde. Their pilot was William Adams , the first Englishman to reach Japan. In 1605, two of the Liefdes crew were sent to Pattani by Tokugawa Ieyasu, to invite Dutch trade to Japan. The head of the Pattani Dutch trading post, Victor Sprinckel, refused on the ground that he was too busy dealing with Portuguese opposition in Southeast Asia. In 1609 however, the Dutch Jacques Specx arrived with two ships in Hirado, and through Adams obtained trading privileges from Ieyasu. The Dutch also engaged in piracy and naval combat to weaken Portuguese and Spanish shipping in the Pacific, and ultimately became the only westerners to be allowed access to Japan from the small enclave of Dejima after 1638 and for the next two centuries.

Technological and cultural exchanges

Nanban guns

1638.]] One of many things the Japanese were interested in was Portuguese guns. The first three Europeans to reach Japan were Portuguese and came on a Chinese ship to the southern island of Tanegashima, and they had arquebuses and ammunition with them. At that time, Japan was in the middle of a civil war called the Sengoku period (Period of the country at war). Strictly speaking, the Japanese were already familiar with gunpowder (invented by, and transmitted from China), and had been using basic Chinese guns and cannon tubes called Teppō (鉄砲 Lit.”Iron cannon”) for around 270 years before the arrival of the Portuguese. The Portuguese guns however were light, had a matchlock firing mechanism and were easy to aim with. The Famous Daimyo who virtually unified Japan , Oda Nobunaga, made extensive use of guns (arquebus) playing a key role in the Battle of Nagashino, dramatised in Akira Kurosawa's 1980 film Kagemusha (Shadow Warrior). Within a year, Japanese swordsmiths and ironsmiths managed to reproduce the mechanism and mass-produce the guns. Barely fifty years later, "by the end of the 16th century, guns were almost certainly more common in Japan than in any other country in the world", its armies equipped with a number of guns dwarfing any contemporary army in Europe (Perrin). The guns were strongly instrumental in the unification of Japan under Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu, as well as in the invasion of Korea in 1592 and 1597.

Nanban ships

1597 sails, rudder and aft designs. The ships were typically armed with 6 to 8 cannons. Tokyo Naval Science Museum.]] rudder, in Ishinomaki, Japan (replica).]] The ships of the Southern Barbarian were also quite influential on the Japanese shipbuilding industry, and actually stimulated many Japanese ventures abroad. The Bakufu established a system of commercial ventures on licensed ships called Red seal ships, which sailed throughout Eastern and South East Asia for trade. These ships incorporated many elements of Nanban ship designs, such as sails, rudder, and gun disposition. They brought many Japanese traders and adventurers to South-East Asian ports, who sometimes became quite influential in local affairs, such as the adventurer Yamada Nagamasa in Siam, or later became Japanese popular icons such as Tenjiku Tokubei. By the beginning of the 17th century, the Bakufu built several ships of purely Nanban design, usually with the help of foreign experts, such as the galleon San Juan Bautista, which crossed the Pacific two times on embassies to Nueva Espana (Mexico).

Catholicism in Japan

Main article: Kirishitan With the arrival of the leading Jesuit Francis Xavier in 1549, Catholicism progressively developed as a major religious force in Japan. Although the tolerance of Western "padres" was initially linked to trade, Catholics could claim around 200,000 converts by the end of the 16th century, mainly located in the southern island of Kyūshū. The Jesuit managed to obtain jurisdiction on the trading city of Nagasaki. Nagasaki The first reaction from the Shogun Hideyoshi came in 1587, when he promulgated the interdiction of Christianity, and ordered the departure of all "padres". This resolution was not followed upon however (only 3 out of 130 Jesuits left Japan), and the Jesuits were essentially able to pursue their activities. Hideyoshi had written that:
:"1. Japan is a country of the Gods, and for the padres to come hither and preach a devilish law, is a reprehensible and devilish thing...
:2. For the padres to come to Japan and convert people to their creed, destroying Shinto and Buddhist temples to this end, is a hitherto unseen and unheard-of thing... to stir the canaille to commit outrages of this sort is something deserving of severe punishment." (From Boxer, "The Christian century in Japan") Hideyoshi's reaction to Christianity proved stronger when a shipwrecked Spanish galleon brought Franciscans to Japan in 1597. Twenty-six Christians (6 Franciscans, 17 of their Japanese neophytes, and 3 Japanese Jesuit lay brothers - included by mistake-) were crucified in Nagasaki on February 5, 1597. It seems Hideyoshi's decision was taken following encouragements by the Jesuit to eliminate the rival order, the Spanish's bragging that military conquest usually followed Catholic proselytism, and by his own desire to take over the cargoe of the ship. Although close to a hundred churches were destroyed, most of the Jesuits remained in Japan. The final blow came with Tokugawa Ieyasu's firm interdiction of Christianity in 1614, which led to underground activities by the Jesuits, and to their participation to Hideyori's revolt in the Siege of Osaka. Repression of Catholicism became virulent after Tokugawa's death in 1616, leading to the torturing and killing of around 2,000 Christians (70 westerners, and the rest Japanese), and the apostasy of the remaining 200-300,000. The last major major reaction of the Christians in Japan was the Shimabara rebellion in 1637.
Other Nanban influences
1637 The Nanban also had some other various influences:
- Nanbandō (南蛮胴) designates a type of cuirass covering the trunk in one whole piece, a design imported from Europe.
- Nanbanbijutsu (南蛮美術) generally describes Japanese art with Nanban themes or influenced by Nanban designs.
- Nanbanga (南蛮画) designates the numerous pictorial representations that were made of the new foreigners, and define a whole style category in Japanese art (See an example at:[http://www.rekihaku.ac.jp/koohoo/journal/no122/byobu2.jpg] or [http://www.rekihaku.ac.jp/koohoo/journal/no122/byobu1.jpg])
- Nanbannuri (南蛮塗り) describes lacquers decorated in the Portuguese style, and were very popular items from the late 16th century (See example at: [http://www.jti.co.jp/Culture/museum/tokubetu/eventApr00/gif/coffer.gif]).
- Nanbangashi (南蛮菓子) is a variety of cakes derived from Portuguese or Spanish recipies, in particular the popular "Kasutera" (カステラ) named after Castile. These "Southern barbarian" cakes, often with reproductions of 16th century barbarians in the box design, are on sale in many Japanese supermarkets today.
- Nanbanji was the first Christian church in Kyoto. With the support from Nobunaga Oda, the Jesuit Padre Gnecchi-Soldo Organtino established this church in 1576. 11 years later (1587), Nanbanji was destroyed by Hideyoshi Toyotomi. Currently, The bell is preserved as "Nanbanji-no-kane" (the Bell of Nanbanji) at Shunkoin temple in Kyoto.[http://www.shunkoin.com/ Shunkoin Temple]

The decline of Nanban exchanges
After the country was pacified and unified by Tokugawa Ieyasu in 1603 however, Japan progressively closed itself to the southern barbarians, mainly because of the growing threat of Christianization. By 1650, except for the trade outpost of Dejima in Nagasaki, for the Netherlands , and some trade with China, foreigners were subject to the death penalty, and Christian converts were persecuted. Guns were almost completely eradicated to revert to the more "civilized" sword. Travel abroad and the building of large ships was also prohibited. Thence started a period of seclusion, peace, prosperity and mild progress known as the Edo period. The "barbarians" would come back more than 200 years later strengthened by industrialization, and end Japan's isolation, with the forcible opening of Japan to trade by an American military fleet under the commandement of Commodore Matthew Perry in 1854.
Usages of the word "Nanban"
The term Nanban did not disappear from common usage until the Meiji restoration, when Japan decided to Westernize radically in order to better resist the West, and essentially stopped considering the West as fundamentally uncivilized. Words like Yofu (洋風), lit. ocean style, and Obeifu (欧米風), lit. European American style replaced Nanban in most usages. Still, the exact principle of westernization was Wakon-Yōsai (和魂洋才 Lit. Japanese spirit Western talent), which tends to imply that, although technology might be acquired from the West, Japanese spirit is still superior to Western spirit, but probably not to a point overtly justifying the usage of the word “barbarian” anymore... Today the word Nanban is only used in a historical context, and is essentially felt as picturesque and affectionate. It is can sometimes be used in a cultured jokingly manner to refer to Western people or civilization. There is an area where Nanban is used exclusively to refer to a certain style. It is cooking and in names of dishes. These Nanban dishes are not American or European dishes but an odd collection of dishes not using soy sauce or miso but using curry powder and vinegar as its flavoring. Some of these dishes resemble Southeast Asian cuisines but are so heavily changed to fit Japanese tastes like ramen that they should be considered separate dishes.
Timeline

- 1543 - Portuguese sailors (among them possibly Fernão Mendes Pinto) arrive in Tanegashima and transmit the arquebus.
- 1549 - St Francis Xavier arrives in Kagoshima.
- 1555 - Establishment of Macao by the Portuguese. Dispatch of annual trading ships to Japan.
- 1570 - Japanese pirates occupy parts of Taiwan, from where they prey on China.
- 1575 - Battle of Nagashino, where firearms are used extensively.
- 1577 - First Japanese ships travel to Cochin-China.
- 1579 - The Jesuit Alessandro Valignano arrives in Japan.
- 1580 - The Jesuits receive Nagasaki from the Christian Daimyo Arima Harunobu.
- 1584 - Mancio Ito arrives in Lisbon with three other Japanese, accompanied by a Jesuit father.
- 1588 - Hideyoshi prohibits piracy.
- 1592 - Japan invades Korea in the Seven-Year War with an army of 160.000. ::- First known mention of Red Seal Ships.
- 1597 - Martyr of 29 Christians (essentially Franciscans) in Nagasaki.
- 1600 - Arrival of William Adams on the Liefde. ::- The Battle of Sekigahara unites Japan under Tokugawa Ieyasu.
- 1602 - Dutch warships attack the Portuguese carrack Santa Catarina near Malacca.
- 1603 - Establishement of Edo as the seat of Bakufu government. ::- Establishment of the English trading factory at Bantam, Java.
- 1605 - Two of William Adams's shipmates are sent to Pattani by Tokugawa Ieyasu, to invite Dutch trade to Japan.
- 1609 - The Dutch open a trading factory in Hirado.
- 1612 - Yamada Nagamasa settles in Ayutthaya, Siam.
- 1613 - England opens a trading factory in Hirado. ::- Hasekura Tsunenaga leaves for his embassy to the Americas and Europe. He returns in 1620.
- 1614 - Expulsion of the Jesuits from Japan. Prohibition of Christianity.
- 1615 - Japanese Jesuits start to proselytise in Indochina.
- 1616 - Death of Tokugawa Ieyasu.
- 1622 - Mass martyrdom of Christians. ::- Death of Hasekura Tsunenaga.
- 1623 - The English close their factory at Hirado, because of unprofitability. ::- Yamada Nagamasa sails from Siam to Japan, with an Ambassador of the Siamese king Songtham. He returns to Siam in 1626. ::- Prohibition of trade with the Spanish Philippines.
- 1624 - Interruption of diplomatic relations with Spain. ::- Japanese Jesuits start to proselytise in Siam.
- 1628 - Destruction of Takagi Sakuemon's (高木作右衛門) Red Seal ship in Ayutthaya, Siam, by a Spanish fleet. Portuguese trade in Japan is prohibited during 3 years as a reprisal.
- 1632 - Death of Tokugawa Hidetada.
- 1637 - Shimabara Rebellion by Christian peasants.
- 1638 - Definitive prohibition of trade with Portugal.
- 1641 - The Dutch trading factory is moved from Hirado to Nagasaki.
References
"Giving Up the Gun", Noel Perrin, David R. Godine Publisher, Boston. ISBN 0879237732
"Samurai", Mitsuo Kure, Tuttle publishing, Tokyo. ISBN 0804832870
"The Origins of Japanese Trade Supremacy. Development and Technology in Asia from 1540 to the Pacific War", Christopher Howe, The University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0226354857

External links
[http://www.rekihaku.ac.jp/e-rekihaku/122/ Nanban folding screens]
[http://www.city.kobe.jp/cityoffice/57/museum/meihin/5_namban/ Nanban art] (Japanese)
[http://www.shunkoin.com/ Shunkoin Temple] the Bell of Nanbanji Category:Japanese eras Category:Feudal Japan Category:Japan history of foreign relations Category:Economy of feudal Japan ja:南蛮

Hasekura Rokuemon

, Coll. Borghese, Rome.]] Hasekura Rokuemon Tsunenaga (支倉六右衛門常長, 1571–1622) was a Japanese samurai and retainer of Date Masamune, the daimyo of Sendai. He led an embassy to Mexico and then Europe between 1613 and 1620, after which he returned to Japan. He was the first-ever Japanese official envoy to the Americas, and the first recorded instance of Franco-Japanese relations. Little is known of the early life of Hasekura Tsunenaga, except for the fact that he was a veteran samurai of the Japanese invasion of Korea under the Taiko Hideyoshi, in 1592 and 1597.

Spanish approaches

The Spanish started trans-Pacific voyages between Mexico ("New Spain") and China, through their territorial base in the Philippines, following the travels of Andrés de Urdaneta in the 16th century. Manila became their definitive base for the Asian region in 1571. Spanish ships were periodically shipwrecked on the coasts of Japan due to bad weather, initiating contacts with the country. The Spanish wished to expand the Christian faith in Japan. Efforts to expand influence in Japan were met by stiff resistance from the Jesuits, who had started the evangelization of the country in 1549, as well as the Portuguese and the Dutch who did not wish to see Spain participate in Japanese trade. In 1609 the Spanish galleon San Francisco encountered bad weather on its way from Manila to Acapulco, and was wrecked on the Japanese coast in Chiba, near Tokyo. The sailors were rescued and welcomed, and the ship's captain, Rodrigo de Vivero, met with Tokugawa Ieyasu. A treaty was signed on 29 November 1609, whereby the Spaniards could establish a factory in eastern Japan, mining specialists would be imported from Nueva España, Spanish ships would be allowed to visit Japan in case of necessity, and a Japanese embassy would be sent to the Spanish court.

The embassy project

A Franciscan monk named Luis Sotelo who was proselytizing in the area of Tokyo convinced the Shogun to send him as an ambassador to Nueva España (Mexico). In 1610 he sailed to Mexico with the returning Spanish sailors and 22 Japanese onboard the San Buena Ventura, a ship built by the English adventurer William Adams for the Shogun. Once in Nueva España, Luis Sotelo met with the Viceroy Luis de Velazco, who agreed to send an ambassador to Japan in the person of the famous explorer Sebastian Vizcaino, with the added mission of exploring the "Gold and silver islands" which were thought to be east of the Japanese isles. Sebastian Vizcaino, in Ishinomaki, Japan.]] Vizcaino arrived in Japan in 1611, and had many meetings with the Shogun and feudal lords. These encounters were tainted by his poor respect for Japanese customs, the mounting resistance of the Japanese towards Catholic proselytism, and the intrigues of the Dutch against Spanish ambitions. Vizcaino finally left to search for the "Silver island", during which search he encountered bad weather, forcing him to return to Japan with heavy damage. The Shogun decided to build a galleon in Japan in order to bring Vizcaino back to Nueva España, together with a Japanese mission. The Daimyo of Sendai, Date Masamune, was put in charge of the project. He named one of his retainers, Hasekura Tsunenaga, to lead the mission. The Galleon, named Date Maru by the Japanese and later San Juan Bautista by the Spanish, took 45 days work in building, with the participation of technical experts from the Bakufu, 800 shipwrights, 700 smiths, and 3,000 carpenters.

Trans-Pacific voyage

Upon completion, the ship left on 28 October, 1613 for Acapulco in Mexico with around 180 people on board, including 10 samurai of the Shogun (provided by the Minister of the Navy Mukai Shogen), 12 samurai from Sendai, 120 Japanese merchants, sailors, and servants, and around 40 Spaniards and Portuguese. The ship arrived in Acapulco on 25 January 1614 after three months at sea.

Mission to Europe

Spain

1614 The ultimate mission for the embassy was to go on to Europe, which she reached by crossing the Atlantic Ocean on a Spanish galleon on December 20, 1614. The Japanese embassy met with the king of Spain Philip III in Madrid on 30 January, 1615. Hasekura remitted to the King a letter from Date Masamune, as well as offer for a treaty. The King responded that he would do what he could to accommodate these requests. Hasekura was baptized on 17 February by the king's personal chaplain, and renamed Felipe Francisco Hasekura.

France

chaplain After travelling across Spain, the embassy sailed on the Mediterranean aboard three Spanish frigates towards Italy. Due to bad weather, they had to stay for a few days in the French harbour of Saint Tropez, where they were received by the local nobility, and made quite a sensation on the populace. The visit of the Japanese Embassy is recorded in the city's chronicles as led by "Philip Francis Faxicura, Ambassador to the Pope, from Date Masamunni, King of Woxu in Japan". Many picturesque details of their movements were recorded: :"They never touch food with their fingers, but instead use two small sticks that they hold with three fingers". :"They blow their noses in soft silky papers the size of a hand, which they never use twice, so that they throw them on the ground after usage, and they were delighted to see our people around them precipitate themselves to pick them up". :"Their swords cut so well that they can cut a soft paper just by putting it on the edge and by blowing on it." :("Relations of Mme de St Troppez", October 1615, Bibliotheque Inguimbertine, Carpentras ). The visit of Hasekura Tsunenaga to St Troppez in 1615 is the first recorded instance of Franco-Japanese relations.

Italy

Franco-Japanese relations in 1615. Japanese painting, 17th century.]]
17th century, Vatican.]] Vatican The Japanese Embassy went on to Italy where they were able to meet with the Pope Paul V in Rome, in November 1615. Hasekura remitted to the Pope a gilted letter, containing a request for a trade treaty between Japan and Mexico and the dispatch of Christian missionaries to Japan. The Pope agreed to the dispatch of missionaries, but left the decision for trade to the King of Spain. The Pope wrote a letter to Date Masamune, a copy of which is still visible at the Vatican. The Roman Senate also gave to Hasekura the honorary title of Roman Citizen, in a document he brought back to Japan, and which is preserved today in Sendai. In 1616, the French publisher Abraham Savgrain published an account of Hasekura's visit to Rome: "Récit de l'entrée solemnelle et remarquable faite à Rome, par Dom Philippe Francois Faxicura" ("Account of the solemn and remarquable entrance in Rome of Dom Philippe Francois Faxicura").

Second visit to Spain

For the second time in Spain, Hasekura met again with the King, who declined to sign a trade agreement, on the ground that the Japanese Embassy did not appear to be an official embassy from the ruler of Japan Tokugawa Ieyasu, who, on the contrary, had promulgated an edict in January 1614 ordering the expulsion of all missionaries from Japan, and started the persecution of the Christian faith in Japan. The embassy left Seville for Mexico in June 1617 after a period of two years spent in Europe but some of the Japanese remained in Spain, in a town near Seville (Coria del Río), where their descendants to this day still use the surname Japón.

Return to Japan

Coria del Río In April 1618 the San Juan Bautista arrived to the Philippines from Mexico, with Hasekura and Luis Sotelo on board. The ship was acquired by the Spanish government there, with the objective of building up defenses against the Dutch. Hasekura returned to Japan in August 1620. By the time Hasekura came back, Japan had changed quite drastically: an effort to eradicate Christianity had been under way since 1614, and Japan was moving towards the "Sakoku" period of isolation. Because of these persecutions, the trade agreements with Mexico he had been trying to establish were denied. In the end, his embassy seems to have had little result, although his eyewitness accounts of Spanish power and colonial methods may have precipitated the Shogun Tokugawa Hidetada's decision to sever trade relations with Spain in 1623, and diplomatic relations in 1624. What became of Hasekura is unknown and accounts of his last years are numerous. Some say he willingly abandoned Christianity, others that he was martyred for his faith, and others that he practiced Christianity in secret. He died in 1622, and his grave is visible in the Buddhist temple of Enfukuji (Japanese: 円長山円福寺) in Miyagi.

Notes

# Extracts from the Old French original: "Il y huit jours qu'il passa a St Troppez un grand seigneur Indien, nomme Don Felipe Fransceco Faxicura, Ambassadeur vers le Pape, de la part de Idate Massamuni Roy de Woxu au Jappon, feudataire du grand Roy du Japon et de Meaco. Il avoit plus de trente personnes a sa suite, et entre autre, sept autres pages tous fort bien vetus et tous camuz, en sorte qu'ilz sembloyent presque tous freres. Ils avaient trois fregates fort lestes, lesuqelles portoient tout son attirail. Ils ont la teste rase, execpte une petite bordure sur le derrier faisant une flotte de cheveux sur la cime de la teste retroussee, et nouee a la Chinoise....". "...Ilz se mouchent dans des mouchoirs de papier de soye de Chine, de la grandeur de la main a peu prez, et ne se servent jamais deux fois d'un mouchoir, de sorte que toutes les fois qu'ilz ne mouchoyent, ils jestoyent leurs papiers par terre, et avoyent le plaisir de les voir ramasser a ceux de deca qui les alloyent voir, ou il y avoit grande presse du peuple qui s'entre batoit pour un ramasser principallement de ceux de l'Ambassadeur qui estoyent hystoriez par les bordz, comme les plus riches poulletz des dames de la Cour. Ils en portient quantite dans leur seign, et ils ont apporte provision suffisante pour ce long voyage, qu'ilz sont venus faire du deca....". "... Le ses epees et dagues sont faictes en fasson de simmetterre tres peu courbe, et de moyenne longueur et sont sy fort tranchantz que y mettant un feuillet de papier et soufflant ilz couppent le papier, et encore de leur papier quy est beaucoup plus deslie que le notre et est faict de soye sur lesquels ils escrivent avec un pinceau.". "... Quand ilz mangeoient ils ne touchent jamais leur chair sinon avec deux petits batons qu'ils tiennent avec trois doigts."

External link

- [http://www.ayto-coriadelrio.es/apelljap.htm De Japón a Roma pasando por Coria 1614-1620] by Víctor Valencia Japón. Spanish language documentation on the embassy and the surname Japón.
- [http://www.thr.mlit.go.jp/kamafusa/guide/guide01/top.html Guide to Hasekura's grave in Enchōzan (Japanese).]

References

- Boxer, C.R. The Christian Century in Japan, 1549–1650. Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press, 1951. ISBN 1857540352 (1993 reprint edition).
- Marcouin, Francis and Keiko Omoto. Quand le Japon s'ouvrit au monde. Paris: Découvertes Gallimard, 1990. ISBN 207053118X. Category:1571 births Category:1622 deaths Category:Japanese diplomats Category:Colonial Mexico Category:Christian history Category:Christianity in Japan Category:Edo period ja:支倉常長

Luis Sotelo

.]] Luis Sotelo (1574-1624), was a Franciscan friar born in Sevilla, Spain on September 6, 1574. He died as a martyr in Japan in 1624, and was beatified by Pope Pius IX in 1867. Sotelo studied at the University of Salamanca before entering the convent of "Calvario de los Hermanos Menores". He was sent in 1600 to the Philippines, in order to take on the spiritual needs of the Japanese settlement of Dilao, until it was destroyed by Spanish forces in 1608 after intense fighting. Sotelo then went to Japan where he tried to establish a church in the area of Tokyo. The church was destroyed following the interdiction of Christianity in the territories of the Tokugawa Shogun, and Sotelo fled to the northern part of Japan, in the area controlled by the Daimyo of Sendai, Date Masamune, under whom Christianity was still tolerated. Sotelo projected and accompanied a Japanese embassy sent by Date Masamune to Spain in 1614. The embassy was headed by Hasekura Tsunenaga, and crossed the Pacific onboard the Japanese-built galleon San Juan Bautista. He had the Japanese receive baptism in Madrid, before accompanying them to see Pope Paul V in Rome. The embassy was a product of political ambitions of Sotelo and Date Masamune. Sotelo tried to establish a diocese on Northern Japan that was to be independent from the Jesuits-controlled diocese of Funai (Nagasaki). His campaign was obstructed by the Portuguese and even failed to gain wide support from the Franciscans because it was linked with his personal ambition for the bishop's post. Date Masamune wanted to trade with Nueva España (Mexico) but it became soon apparent that the trade was too costly. Sotelo accompanied the Japanese embassy back to the Philippines in 1618, where he remained for some time, because Christianity was being harshly repressed in Japan. He got into a jam in church as he had oversold his achievement in Japan. The Catholic Council of the Indies sent him back to Nueva España in 1620 to pursue his missionary activities there. Sotelo finally managed to infiltrate Japan in 1622 on-board a Chinese junk, whence he was discovered and imprisoned. After two years in prison, Luis Sotelo was burnt alive, together with two Franciscans, a Jesuit and a Dominican, at the age of 50. burnt alive in 1617, accompanied by Luis Sotelo. Japanese painting, 17th century.]]

References

- “The Christian century in Japan 1549-1650” C.R. Boxer ISBN 1857540352 Category:1574 births Category:1624 deaths Category:Christianity in Japan Category:Spanish colonial period in the Philippines Category:Saints Category:Christian martyrs Category:Foreigners in Japan Category:Franciscans

Mexico

The United Mexican States or Mexico (Spanish: Estados Unidos Mexicanos or México; regarding the use of the variant spelling Méjico, see section The name below) is a country located in North America, bordered by the United States to the north, and Belize and Guatemala to the southeast. It is the northernmost and westernmost country in Latin America, and also the most populous Spanish-speaking country in the world.

History

Main article: History of Mexico

Pre-Hispanic Times

Hunter-Gatherer peoples are thought to have discovered and inhabited Mexico more than 28,000 years ago. Ancient Mexicans began to selectively breed corn plants around 8,000 B.C. Evidence shows the explosion of pottery works by 2300 B.C. and the beginning of intensive farming between 1800 and 1500 BC. For more than 3,000 years, Mexico was the site of several Mesoamerican civilizations, such as the Aztec, the Olmec, Teotihuacan, the Toltec, Mixtec, Zapotec and the Mayan. These indigenous civilizations are credited with many inventions: pyramid-temples, mathematics, astronomy, medicine, writing, highly-accurate calendars, fine arts, intensive agriculture, engineering, an abacus, a complex theology, and the wheel. Archaic inscriptions on rocks and rock walls all over northern Mexico (especially in the state of Nuevo León) demonstrate an early propensity for counting in Mexico. These very early and ancient count-markings were associated with astronomical events and underscore the influence that astronomical activities had upon Mexican natives, even before they possessed civilization. In fact, the later Mexican civilizations would all carefully build their cities and ceremonial centers according to specific astronomical events. At different points in time, three different Mexican cities were the largest cities in the world: Teotihuacan, Tenochtitlan, and Cholula. These cities, among several others, blossomed as centers of commerce, ideas, ceremonies, and theology. In turn, they radiated influence outwards onto neighboring cultures. Cholula] Cholula] While many city-states, kingdoms, and empires competed with one another for power and prestige, Mexico had four major, unifying civilizations: The Olmec, Teotihuacan, Toltec, and the Mexica. These four civilizations extended their reach across Mexico and beyond like no others. They consolidated power and distributed influence in matters of trade, art, politics, technology, and theology. Other regional power players made economic and political alliances with these four civilizations over the span of 4,000 years. Many made war with them, but almost all found themselves within these four spheres of influence. Latecomers to Mexico's central plateau, the Mexica, or Aztecs, as they were sometimes called in memory of Aztlán, the starting point of their tribes wanderings, never thought of themselves as anything but heirs of the brilliant civilizations that had preceded them. For them, highly-civilized arts, sculpture, architecture, engraving, feather-mosiac work, and the invention of the calendar were due to the former inhabitants of Tula, the Toltecs, who reached the height of their civilization in the tenth and eleventh centuries. The Mexica, one of the Aztec groups, were the first people in the world to practice mandatory education for all people, regardless of gender, rank, or station. There were two types of schools: the telpochcalli, for practical and military studies, and the calmecac, for advanced learning in writing, astronomy, statesmanship, theology, and other areas. The Aztecs' religious beliefs were based on a fear that the universe would cease functioning without a constant offering of human sacrifice. This belief was common throughout nahuatl people. As a result, Aztec warfare was conducted with an aim to only injure the enemy, so that he could later be sacrificed, and weapons were constructed with this in mind. This penchant for human sacrifice proved to be the undoing of the Aztecs, for when they confronted the Spaniards, who fought to the death, their less effective weapons made resistance difficult. In order to acquire captives in time of peace, the Aztec resorted to ritual warfare, or flower war. Tlaxcalteca and other nahuatl nations were forced into such wars, so they joined the Spaniard forces against the Aztec. The small Spanish force was reinforced with thousands of indian allies, who were schooled on European warfare.

The Spanish Era

The arrival of the Spanish in the early 16th century and their defeat of the Mexica in 1521 marked the beginning of the 300 year-long colonial period of Mexico as New Spain. After the fall of Tenochtitlan, it would take decades of continuous war to pacify Mesoamerica. Particularly fierce were the "Chichimeca wars" in the north of Mexico (1576-1606). The colonists brought with them the Catholic faith, to which the population seemingly converted rapidly, but soon they found the natives had adopted "the god of the heavens", as they called it, as just one of their gods. While it was an important god, because it was the god of the conquerors,they did not see why they had to abandon their old beliefs. As a result, a second wave of missionaries began a process attempting to completely erase the old beliefs, and thus wiped out many aspects of Mesoamerican culture. Hundreds of thousands of codices were destroyed, priests and teachers were persecuted, and the temples and statues of the gods were destroyed. The Mesoamerican education system was set aside and replaced by church education; even some foods associated with religion, like amaranto, were forbidden. Eventually, the natives were declared minors, and forbidden to read and write, so they would always need a white man in charge of them to be responsible of their indoctrination. Although officially they could not become slaves, the system, known as encomienda, came to signify the oppression and exploitation of natives, although its originators did not set out with such intent. Due to some horrifying instances of abuse against the indigenous peoples, Bishop Bartolome de las Casas suggested bringing black slaves to replace them. Bartolome later repented when he saw the treatment given to the black slaves. Unlike most English-speaking colonists of North America, Spanish colonists married the natives, and were even encouraged to do so by Queen Isabella during the earliest days of colonization (in Cuba, specifically). The first Spanish colonists were mainly male, so they took native women, and sometimes black women, although rarely. After the native population was decimated by epidemics and forced labor, black slaves were imported, and for a time they even outnumbered the white population. However, they eventually mixed with the population. There are still a few black communities (see Afro-Mexican), but few modern Mexicans are aware of this. As a result of these unions, as well as concubinage, a vast class of people known as "Mestizos" and mulatos came into being, of Amerindian, black, and Spanish descent. But even if mixes were allowed, the white population tried to keep their status. A system was created to keep each mix in a different social level. This was "El sistema de castas" (the caste system). Each different mix had a name and a different privileges or prohibitions. There were even two different kind of whites, those born in Spain, or "peninsulares", and in a lower level, those born in America or "criollos". Mestizos and mulatos were next, and then the other mixes. In this system, Native Americans had the lower status, even lower than free black people. The Spanish "peninsulares" tried by all means to keep their status, even if they took native women. Those who could afford also tried to have a Spanish wife, who was sent to Spain to give birth, thus preventing their children became criollos. Mestizos and criollos were not allowed in the upper levels of the government, and eventually they joined forces for the independence of México. With independence, the caste system and slavery were abolished. Mestizos, while they no longer have a separate legal status from other groups, comprise approximately 60% of the population. In modern México, mestizo has became more a cultural term, since a Native American that abandons his traditional ways is considered a mestizo, also most Afromexicans prefer to be considered mestizo, since they feel more identified with this group. During the following centuries, under Spanish rule, a new culture developed that combined the customs and traditions of the indigenous peoples with that of Catholic Spain. Numerous churches and other buildings were constructed in the Spanish style, and cities were named after various saints and objects of veneration, such as "San Luis Potosí" (after St. Louis) and "Vera Cruz" ("True Cross"). Spanish settlers brought with them smallpox, typhus, and other diseases. Most of the settlers had developed an immunity from childhood, but the indigenous peoples had not. There were three separate epidemics that decimated the population: Smallpox (1520-1521), measles ( 1545-1548) and typhus (1576-1581). Of the estimated 15 to 20 million of the original prehispanic population, less than two million survived. The New Spain of the end of XVI century was an underpopulated country with abandoned cities, which would be the main cause of collapse of the Mesoamerican cultures.

Mexican Independence

On September 16, 1810, independence from Spain was declared by Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, a Catholic priest in the small town of Dolores, causing a long war that eventually led to independence in 1821 and the creation of the First Mexican Empire. After independence, Spanish possessions in Central America which also proclaimed independence were all incorporated into Mexico from 1822 to 1823, with the exception of Chiapas. Soon after achieving its independence from Spain, the Mexican government, in an effort to populate its sparsely-settled hinterlands, awarded land grants in a remote area of the northernmost state of Coahuila y Tejas to hundreds of immigrant families from the United States, on the condition that the settlers convert to Catholicism and assume Mexican citizenship. It also forbade the importation of slaves, a condition that, like the others, was largely ignored. The Empire soon fell to rogue republican forces led by Antonio López de Santa Anna. The first Republic was formed with Guadalupe Victoria as its first president, followed in office by Santa Anna. As president, in 1834 Santa Anna abrogated the federal constitution, causing insurgencies in the southern state of Yucatán and the northernmost portion of the northern state of Coahuila y Tejas. Both areas sought independence from the Mexican government. While negotiations eventually brought Yucatán to again recognize Mexican sovereignty, Santa Anna's army turned to the northern rebellion. The inhabitants of Tejas, calling themselves Texans and led mainly by relatively recently-arrived English-speaking settlers, declared independence from Mexico at Washington-on-the-Brazos, giving birth to the Republic of Texas. Texas won its independence in 1836, further reducing the territory of the fledgling republic. In the 1840s, Mexico was invaded and defeated by the United States, which demanded and received roughly one-half of the country's remaining territory, from which were formed the modern states of California, Nevada, and Utah, and most of Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado (see Mexican-American War). In the 1860s, the country again suffered a military occupation, this time by France, seeking to establish the Habsburg Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian of Austria as Emperor of Mexico, with support from the Roman Catholic clergy and conservative criolloss. The Second Mexican Empire was then overthrown by the Zapotec Benito Juárez, with diplomatic and logistical support from the United States and the military expertise of General Porfirio Díaz. General Ignacio Zaragoza defeated the French Army (arguably the most powerful in the world at the time) at the city of Puebla on May 5, 1862, celebrated as Cinco de Mayo ever since. However, after his death, the city was lost in early 1863, following a renewed French attack which penetrated as far as Mexico City, forcing Juárez to organize an itinerant government. 1863 to 1867. In mid-1867, following repeated losses in battle to the Republican Army, Maximilian was captured and murdered by Juárez's soldiers, along with his last loyal generals, in Querétaro. From then on, Juárez remained in office until his death in 1872. After Juárez's death, Mexico experienced economic growth under the conservative and pro-European rule of Porfirio Díaz. Foreign investment allowed the development of the oil industry and the construction of a railroad system across the country. This period of relative peace and prosperity is known as the "Porfiriato". His mandate, however, was mostly undemocratic and benefited the middle and upper classes, while the Amerindian indigenous population continued to live in precarious conditions. Growing social inequalities, restricted freedom of the press, and his insistence to be reelected for a fifth term led to massive protests. His fraudulent victory in the 1910 elections sparked the Mexican Revolution. Revolutionary forces defeated the federal army, but were left with internal struggles, leaving the country in conflict for two more decades. The creation of the National Revolutionary Party (which later became the Institutional Revolutionary Party or PRI), in 1929 ended the struggles, uniting all generals and combatants of the revolution. During the next four decades, Mexico experienced impressive economic growth, and historians call this period "El Milagro Mexicano", the Mexican Miracle. This was in spite of falling foreign confidence in investment, first through the assumption of mineral rights and subsequent nationalisation of the oil industry into Pemex during the presidency of Lázaro Cárdenas del Río. However the management of the economy collapsed several times afterwards. Accused many times of fraud, the PRI's candidates held almost all public offices until the end of the 20th century. It was not until the 1980s that the PRI lost the first state governorship, an event that marked the beginning of the party's loss of hegemony. Through the electoral reforms started by president Carlos Salinas de Gortari and consolidated by president Ernesto Zedillo, by the mid 1990s the PRI had lost its majority in Congress. In 2000, after seventy years, the PRI lost a presidential elections to a candidate of the National Action Party (PAN), Vicente Fox. On September 19, 1985, an earthquake measuring approximately 8.0 on the Richter scale struck Michoacán and inflicted severe damage on Mexico City. Estimates of the number of dead range from 6,500 to 30,000. (See Great Mexican Earthquake.) On January 1 1994, Mexico became a full member of the North American Free Trade Agreement, joining the United States of America and Canada in a large economic bloc with two counties vastly more prosperous. On March 23, 2005, the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America was signed by the elected leaders of those countries.

Government and politics

Main articles: Government of Mexico, Politics of Mexico Politics of Mexico The 1917 Constitution provides for a federal republic with powers separated into independent executive, legislative, and judicial branches. Historically, the executive is the dominant branch, with power vested in the president, who promulgates and executes the laws of the Congress. Congress has played an increasingly important role since 1997, when opposition parties first formed a majority in the legislature. The president also legislates by executive decree in certain economic and financial fields, using powers delegated from Congress. The president is elected by universal adult suffrage for a six-year term and may not hold office a second time. There is no vice-president; in the event of the removal or death of the president, a provisional "emergency" president is elected by Congress, whose first task is to summon the Congress for a session to choose an interim president; the first task of that interim president is to call for elections within the next 18 months. However, in the event of a very short unavailability of the president (e.g. in the case of minor surgery) the executive power is handed to the president of the Supreme Court, who at the same time relinquishes temporarily his role as such. On July 2, 2000, Vicente Fox of the opposition "Alliance for Change" coalition, headed by the National Action Party (PAN), was elected president. Fox began his six-year term on December 1, 2000. His victory ended the Institutional Revolutionary Party's (PRI) 71-year hold on the presidency. The three most important political parties in Mexico are the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), the National Action Party (PAN), and the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD).

Political divisions

:Main article: States of Mexico :See also: Mexican state name etymologies. Mexico is divided into 31 states (estados) and a federal district. Each state has its own constitution and its citizens elect a governor as well as representatives to their respective state congresses. governor
The Federal District is a special political division in Mexico, where the national capital, Mexico City, is located. It enjoys more limited local rule than the nation's "free and sovereign states": only since 1997 have its citizens been able to elect a Head of Government, whose powers are still more curtailed than those of a state governor. Much of the capital city's metropolitan area overflows the limits of the Federal District.

Major cities

The following is a list of the biggest Metropolitan Areas of Mexico in order of population: #Mexico City, Distrito Federal (22.0 million) #Guadalajara, Jalisco (4.7 million) #Monterrey, Nuevo León (3.6 million) #Puebla, Puebla (2.6 million) #Tijuana, Baja California (1.5 million) #León, Guanajuato (1.2 million) #Toluca, México (1.2 million) #Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua (1.1 million) #Torreón, Coahuila (1.1 million) #San Luis Potosí, San Luis Potosí (0.8 million) #Mérida, Yucatán (0.8 million) #Santiago de Querétaro, Querétaro (0.8 million) #Aguascalientes, Aguascalientes (0.7 million) #Cuernavaca, Morelos (0.7 million) #Chihuahua, Chihuahua (0.7 million) :Population figures according to INEGI (National Institute of Statistics, Geography and Information) 2000

Geography

Chihuahua, Chihuahua]] Main article: Geography of Mexico Situated in the southwestern part of mainland North America and roughly triangular in shape, Mexico stretches more than 3000 km from northwest to southeast. Its width is varied, from more than 2000 km in the north and less than 220 km at the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in the south. Mexico is bordered by the United States to the north, and Belize and Guatemala to the southeast. Mexico is about one-fourth the size of the United States. Baja California in the west is a 1,250-km peninsula and forms the Gulf of California. In the east are the Gulf of Mexico and the Bay of Campeche, which is formed by Mexico's other peninsula, the Yucatán. The center of Mexico is a great, high plateau, open to the north, with mountain chains on the east and west and with ocean-front lowlands lying outside of them. (See list of mountains in Mexico). list of mountains in Mexico The terrain and climate vary from rocky deserts in the north to tropical rain forest in the south. Mexico's major rivers include the Río Bravo del Norte (Rio Grande) and the Usumacinta on its northern and southern borders, respectively, together with the Grijalva, Balsas, Pánuco, and Yaqui in the interior.

Economy

Yaqui.]] Main article: Economy of Mexico According to the World Bank, Mexico is the 12th nation in the world in regard to GDP and the highest per capita income in that region; and is firmly established as an upper middle-income country. Since the economic debacle of 1994–1995 the country has made an impressive economic recovery. According to the director for Colombia and Mexico of the World Bank, the population below the poverty level has decreased from 24.2% to 17.6% in the general population and from 42% to 27.9% in rural areas [http://estadis.eluniversal.com.mx/notas/301198.html]. Mexico has a free-market economy with a mixture of modern and outmoded industry and agriculture, increasingly dominated by the private sector. The number of state-owned enterprises in Mexico has fallen from more than 1,000 in 1982 to fewer than 200 in 1999. The administration of President Ernesto Zedillo (1994–2000) continued a policy of privatizing and expanding competition in sea ports, railroads, telecommunications, electricity, natural gas distribution, and airports which was initiated by his predecessors Miguel de la Madrid and Carlos Salinas. A strong export sector helped to cushion the economy's decline in 1995 and led the recovery in 1996–1999. Private consumption became the leading driver of growth, accompanied by increased employment and higher wages. Mexico still needs to overcome many structural problems as it strives to modernize its economy and raise living standards. Income distribution is very unequal, with the top 20% of income earners accounting for 55% of income. Following 6.9% growth in 2000, real GDP fell 0.3% in 2001, with the US slowdown the principal cause. Positive developments in 2001 included a drop in inflation to 6.5%, a sharp fall in interest rates, and a strong peso that appreciated 5% against the US dollar. Trade with the US and Canada has tripled since NAFTA was implemented in 1994. Mexico has opened its markets to free trade as no other country in the world, having lifted its trade barriers with more than 40 countries in 12 Free Trade Agreements, including Japan and the European Union. However more than 85% of the trade is still done with the United States. Government authorities expect that by putting more than 90% of trade under free trade agreements with different countries Mexico will lessen its dependence on the US. The government is seeking to sign an additional agreement with Mercosur.

Demographics

Mercosur Mercosur]] Mercosur Main article: Demographics of Mexico With an estimated 2005 population of about [http://estadis.eluniversal.com.mx/nacion/127113.html 106.5 million], Mexico is the most populous Spanish-speaking country in the world. Mexico is ethnically and culturally diverse. According to the CIA World Factbook, about 60% of the population is mestizo (mixed Amerindian and white), another 30% is Amerindian or predominantly Amerindian, and 9% is white (or of European descent). The remaining 1% includes Afro-Mexicans and others. Mexico is also home for many other Latin American groups: mostly Argentines, but also Brazilians, Cubans, Nicaraguans,Colombians and Venezuelans. The PRI governments in power for most of the 20th century had a policy of granting asylum to fellow Latin Americans fleeing political persecution in their home countries. Mexico also has a sizeable population of Asians numbering around 200,000, many of them being Chinese and Japanese. There are also a small amount of Lebanese. According to the Comisión Nacional para el Desarrollo de los Pueblos Indígenas ("The National Council for the Development of Indigenous People") the Amerindian population in Mexico is approximately [http://estadis.eluniversal.com.mx/nacion/127113.html 12.7 million]. However, the Mexican government does not collect racial information during censuses. In 2004, the National Institute of Statistics, Geography and Informatic had estimated this figure to be 12,089,094 of indigenous people of which, more than one million do not speak Spanish and almost five million are bilingual ([http://www.inegi.gob.mx/prod_serv/contenidos/espanol/bvinegi/productos/integracion/sociodemografico/mujeresyhombres/2004/myh_2004.pdf INEGI, 2004]). Judging by the proportion of people speaking indigenous languages the states with a higher proportion of indigenous people are Yucatán (37.3%), Oaxaca (37.1%), Chiapas (24.6%) and Quintana Roo (23%). The states of Aguascalientes (0.2% ), Coahuila (0.2%), Zacatecas (0.2%) and Nuevo León (0.5%) have the lowest proportion of speakers of indigenous languages ([INEGI, 2004]). Mexico is the country where the greatest number of U.S citizens live outside the United States. This may be due to the growing economic and business interdependence of the two countries under NAFTA, and also that Mexico is considered an excellent choice for retirees. A clear example of the latter phenomenon is provided by San Miguel de Allende and many towns along the Baja California peninsula and around Guadalajara, Jalisco. The official figures for foreign-born citizens in Mexico are 493,000 (since 2004), with a majority (86.9%) of these born in the US (with the exception of Chiapas, where the majority of immigrants are from Central America). The five states with more immigrants are Baja California (12.1% of total immigrants), Federal District (11.4%), Jalisco (9.9%), Chihuahua (9%) and Tamaulipas (7.3). More than 54.6% of the immigrant population are 15 years old or younger, while 9% are 50 or older. 4.2% of male immigrants and 3.8% of female immigrants did not have formal education while 20.2% of male immigrants and 17.7% of female immigrants had a college degree [INEGI, 2004. Life expectancy in Mexico increased from 34.7 for men and 33 years for women in 1930 to 72.1 for men and 77.1 years for women in 2002. The states with the highest life expectancy are Baja California (75.9 years) and Nuevo Leon (75.6 years). The Federal District has a life expectancy of the same level as Baja California. The lowest levels are found in Chiapas (72.9), Oaxaca (73.2) and Guerrero (73.2 years), although the first two have had the highest increase (19.9 and 22.3% respectively). The mortality rate in 1970 was 9.7/1000 people and by 2001 the rate had dropped to 4.9/1000 for men and 3.8/1000 for women. The most common reasons for death in 2001 were heart problems (14.6% for men 17.6% for women) and Cancer (11% for men and 15.8% for women).

Religion

Guadalajara, Jalisco] Mexico is predominantly Roman Catholic (about 89% of the population), with 6% adhering to various Protestant faiths (mostly Pentecostal), and the remaining 5% of the population adhering to other religions or professing no religion. Some of the country's Catholics (notably those of indigenous background) syncretize Catholicism with various elements of Aztec or Mayan religions. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormonism) has a growing presence in the major border cities of northeastern Mexico with over 1,000,000 members nationwide. Judaism has been practiced in Mexico for centuries, and there are estimated to be 100,000 Jews in Mexico today. Islam is mainly practiced by members of the Arab, Turkish, and other expatriate communities, though there is a very small number of the indigenous population in Chiapas state that practice Islam.

Languages

Spanish is the official language of Mexico and is spoken by the majority of the population. About 7% of the population speak an Amerindian language. The government officially recognizes 62 Amerindian languages. Of these Nahuatl, and Maya are each spoken by 1.5 million, while others, such as Lacandon, are spoken by less than 100. The Mexican government has promoted and established bilingual education programs in indigenous rural communities. Although Spanish is the official language of Mexico, English is widely used in business. As a result, English language skills are much in demand and can lead to an increase in the salary offered by a company. It is also spoken along the U.S. border, in big cities, and in beach resorts. Also, the majority of private schools in Mexico offer what they like to describe as "bilingual" education, both in Spanish and English. English is the main language spoken in U.S. expatriate communities such as those along the coast of Baja California and the town of San Miguel de Allende. There are also Mennonite colonies in Chihuahua where education is delivered in English. With respect to other European languages brought by immigrants, the case of Chipilo, in the state of Puebla, is unique, and has been documented by several linguists like Carolyn McKay. The immigrants that founded the city of Chipilo in 1882 came from the Veneto region in northern Italy, and thus spoke a northern variant of the Venetian dialect. While other European immigrants assimilated into the Mexican culture, the people of Chipilo retained their language. Nowadays, most of the people who live in the city of Chipilo (and many of those who have migrated to other cities) still speak the unaltered Veneto dialect spoken by their great-grandparents making the Veneto dialect an unrecognized minority language in the city of Puebla. A similar case is that of the Plautdietsch language, spoken by the descendants of German and Dutch Mennonite immigrants in the states of Chihuahua and Durango.

Education

Mexico has made impressive improvements in education in the last two decades. In 2004, the literacy rate was at 92%, and the youth literacy rate (ages 15-24) was 96%. Primary and secondary education (9 years) is free and mandatory. Even though different bilingual education programs have existed since the 1960s for the indigenous communities, after a constitution reform in the late 1990s, these programs have had a new thrust, and free text books are produced in more than a dozen indigenous languages. In the 1970's, Mexico became the first country to establish a system of "distance-learning" satellite secondary education, aimed for the little towns and rural communities. In 2005 this system included 30,000 connected schools, 3 million students and 300,000 teachers, who use televised lectures and education science programs, pre-recorded and transmitted through "EduSat", via satellite. Schools that use this system are known as telesecundarias in Mexico. The Mexican "distance-learning" secondary education is also transmitted to some Central American countries and to Colombia, and it is used in some southern regions of the United States as a method of bilingual education.

Culture

United States Main article: Culture of Mexico
- Music of Mexico
- Literature of Mexico
- Cinema of Mexico
- Cuisine of Mexico
- Holidays and celebrations in Mexico

The name

Mexico is named after its capital city, whose name comes from the Aztec city Mexico-Tenochtitlan that preceded it. The Mexi part of the name is from Mexitli, the war god, whose name was derived from metztli (the moon) and xictli (navel) and thus meant "navel (probably implying 'child') of the moon". So, Mexico is the home of the people of Mexitli (the Mexicas), co meaning "place" and ca meaning "people". When the Spaniards encountered this people and transcribed their language, they naturally did so according to the spelling rules of the Castilian language of the time. The Nahuatl language had a sound (like English "shop"), and this sound was written x in Spanish (e.g. Ximénez); consequently, the letter x was used to write down words like Mexitli. Over the centuries, the pronunciation of Spanish changed. Words like Ximénez, exercicio, xabón and perplexo started to be pronounced with a (this phonetic symbol represents the sound in the word "loch"). The sound (as in "vision") represented by the letter j (usually g before e or i) also started to be pronounced this way. The coalescence of the two phonemes into a single new one encouraged scholars to use the same letter for the sound, regardless of its origin (Spanish scholars have always tried to keep the orthography of their language faithful to the spoken tongue). It was j/g that was chosen. So, modern Spanish has ejercicio, ejército, jabón, perplejo, etc. (Another example is the old spelling of Don Quixote which is now Don Quijote. The old pronunciation is maintained in French "Quichotte", and the English word "quixotic" maintains the spelling while pronouncing it with its English value.) Proper nouns and their derivatives are optionally allowed to break this rule. Thus, although xabón is now incorrect and archaic, alongside many millions of people called "Jiménez", there also are plenty called "Giménez" or "Ximénez" — a matter of personal choice and tradition. In Mexico, it has become almost a matter of national pride to maintain the otherwise archaic x spelling in the name of the country. It is regarded as more authentic and less jarring to the reader's eye. Mexicans have tended to demand that other Spanish-speakers use this spelling, rather than following the general rule, and the demand has largely been respected. The Real Academia Española states that both spellings are correct, and most dictionaries and guides recommend México first, and present Méjico as a variant. Today, even outside of the country, México is preferred over Méjico by ratios ranging from 10-to-1 (in Spain) to about 280-to-1 (in Costa Rica). Also, in the placenames "Oaxaca" and "Xalapa", the x is pronounced as ; in "Xochimilco", however, it sounds as a . A cultural side-effect of the fact that Mexicans use México and Spaniards sometimes use Méjico is the occasional boiling-over of negative sentiment towards the old colonial oppressor. The mere act of using the j spelling is interpreted by some as a form of colonial aggression. On the other hand, some Peninsular scholars (such as Ramón Menéndez Pidal) prefer to apply the general spelling rule, arguing that the spelling with an x could encourage non-Mexicans to mispronounce México as (as is generally the case in the English-speaking world). Méjico on the other hand could easily be mispronounced as well, because the letter j stands for in other languages. In the Nahuatl language, from which the name originally derived, the name for Mexico is Mēxihco (IPA ).

External links

Government

- [http://www.gob.mx Gob.mx]: Governmental portal (in Spanish)
- [http://www.presidencia.gob.mx/en/ Presidencia]: President of the Republic
- [http://www.cddhcu.gob.mx Cámara de Diputados]: Chamber of Deputies (in Spanish)
- [http://www.senado.gob.mx/index.php?lng=en Cámara de Senadores]: Senate

Information about Mexico

- [http://archaeology.about.com/od/s4/ Mexican Archaeological Sites]
- [http://www.consejomexicano.org.mx/ Mexican Council for Economic and Social Development]
- [http://www.inegi.gob.mx INEGI]: National Institute of Statistics, Geography and Information (in Spanish)
- [http://www.cenam.mx/husos-horarios.htm Time zones in Mexico] (in Spanish)
- [http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/COUNTRIES/LACEXT/MEXICOEXTN/0,,menuPK:338407~pagePK:141132~piPK:141107~theSitePK:338397,00.html World Bank's assessment of the Mexican economy]
- [http://www.portaldeldesarrollo.org/ Mexico Development Gateway]
- [http://texashistory.unt.edu/search.tkl?q=mexico+map&search=Search&fulltext_select=ON&format=&collection=&institution=&document_type=&date1=Anytime&date2=Anytime&type=form Historic Maps of Mexico] hosted by the Portal to Texas History
- [http://www.freeworldmaps.net/northamerica/mexico/map.html Physical map of Mexico]
- [http://www.elbalero.gob.mx/index_kids.html Mexico for kids]

Japanese warship San Juan Bautista

Construction

Two trans-pacific round-trips

San Juan Bautista today

See also

References

External links

1614

Events

Births

Month/day unknown

Deaths

Nanban

Cultural encounter

Japanese accounts of Europeans

European accounts of Japan

Trade exchanges

Dutch involvement

Technological and cultural exchanges

Nanban guns

Nanban ships

Catholicism in Japan

Other Nanban influences

The decline of Nanban exchanges

Usages of the word "Nanban"

Timeline

References

External links

Hasekura Rokuemon

Spanish approaches

The embassy project

Trans-Pacific voyage

Mission to Europe

Spain

France

Italy

Second visit to Spain

Return to Japan

Notes

External link

See also

References

Luis Sotelo

References

Mexico

History

Pre-Hispanic Times

The Spanish Era

Mexican Independence

Government and politics

Political divisions

Major cities

Geography

Economy

Demographics

Religion

Languages

Education

Culture

The name

Further reading

See also

External links

Government

Information about Mexico

Mexican newspapers and ne