Abstract
UIDB/04666/2020 UIDP/04666/2020In 1601, D. Luís Cerqueira, Bishop of Japan, revealed a multicultural social network composed of merchants - some of which were “cristãos-novos” - and Jesuits which connected Nagasaki, Macao, Manila, Goa and Siam. By analysing the paths of Jewish-origin merchants belonging to this network, we aim to question their importance within the Jesuit project’s sustenance and survival network in East Asia and Macao itself. We also look at the reach of the cristão-novos network which was useful to the self-financing strategy launched by Alessandro Valignano, SJ, and that was of key importance between 1593 and 1596 when the cristão-novo Jesuit Gomes Vaz was the procurator. A network which by operating in concert with the Jesuits still connected Nagasaki and Macao to Portugal, Peru, Panama, Mexico, Manila, Goa, Kochi and the Ottoman Empire.publishersversionpublishe