The Age of the Sea Falconsnaval combat were located in three areas: the Tonkin Gulf, the central
coast from Quang Binh to Nha Trang, and the waters stretching from
the Mekong estuaries to the eastern Gulf of Siam. These three areas were
also key fields of power contests that changed the course of Vietnamese
history. Indeed, it would be difficult to write a narrative history of
early modern Vietnam without reference to maritime violence and
naval operations. Nevertheless, while Li Tana (1998), Charles Wheeler
(2001), Nola Cooke and Li Tana (2004), and Charlotte Minh Ha Pham
(2013) extensively discuss aspects of trade and cultural exchange in
these maritime environments, very little analysis has been devoted to
the interrelation between political geography and naval warfare in the
making of early modern Vietnam.^5
Overcoming this neglect requires reconsidering three conventional
approaches to the country’s naval history. The first is traditional na-
tionalist historiography in which the Tayson insurgency is depicted as
a “national movement”.^6 According to nationalist scholars, the Tayson
military achievement exemplifies the glory of Vietnam’s indigenous
naval skill and technology. This influential view has dominated both the
Vietnamese and foreign academic landscapes and obstructed the search
for more balanced perspectives about the Tayson’s rival, Nguyen Phuc
Anh, and his military prowess.^7 The second approach is related to the
burgeoning interest in piracy and privateering in the South China Sea. It
posits that the Tayson navy was heavily reliant upon piracy.^8 In contrast
- Li Tana, The Nguyen Cochinchina: Southern Vietnam in the Seventeenth and
Eighteenth Centuries (Ithaca: Cornell University Southeast Asia Program, 1998);
Charles Wheeler, “Cross-Cultural Trade and Trans-Regional Networks in the Port
of Hoi An: Maritime in the Early Modern Era” (PhD dissertation, New Haven: Yale
University, 2001); Cooke & Li (eds), Water Frontier; Charlotte Minh Ha Pham,
“The Vietnamese Coastline: A Maritime Cultural Landscape”, in Satish Chandra
& Himanshu Prabha Ray (eds), The Sea, Identity and History: from the Bay of Bengal
to the South China Sea (New Delhi: Manohar, 2013): 137–67. - Van Tan, Cach mang Tay son [The Tayson Revolution] (Hochiminh City: Khoa Hoc
Xa Hoi, 2004). - Nguyen Luong Bich, Tim hieu thien tai quan su cua Nguyen Hue [Study of Nguyen
Hue’s Military Brilliance] (Hanoi: Quan Doi Nhan Dan, 1971); Nguyen Viet, Vu
Minh Giang, and Nguyen Manh Hung, Quan thuy trong lich su chong ngoai xam
[Navy in the History of Resisting Foreign Invasions] (Hanoi: Quan Doi Nhan
Dan, 2012): 304–85. - Dian H. Murray, Pirates of the South China Coast 1790–1810 (Stanford: Stanford
University Press, 1987); John Kleinen & Manon Osseweijer (eds), Pirates, Ports, and