Trinidad as a Tributary to China in the Early Ming Dynasty

Author: T. C. Hsu(Department of English, National Taiwan Normal University)

Abstract：

Scholars have failed to find the name of Trinidad on the Marine Map of Cheng-ho drawn by Mao Yuan Yi of the late Ming dynsaty. After the elapse of about six hun-dred years, it is rather difficult to trace the geographical site or the source of the name. After several years of research and contact with oversea people, the researcher has ar-rived at the following possible conclusions:
1.The name of Trinidad has come from Castila or Castelo, which is of course another name for the quasi city-state or castle in Portugal.
2.The name of Trinidad referred to the Order of Holy Trinidad, whose members came to China, following the Polos of the Yuan dynasty, for both religious and commercial purposes.
3.Call a spade a spade. The name of Trinidad referred to the Trinidad Island of the Carabean Sea, which traded with some countries both in Africa and Asia in tobacco business.

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