著者

斎藤 照子

出版者

東南アジア学会

雑誌

東南アジア -歴史と文化- (ISSN:03869040)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.2013, no.42, pp.59-79, 2013 (Released:2016-12-15)

参考文献数

18

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In the 18th−19th century Burma, a variety of metallic currencies casted freely by any individuals were circulated side by side with gold, silver, copper and lead bullion. Accordingly, people had to call assayers and weighers who gauged the quality and weight of these currencies in every commercial transaction. An attempt at standardizing currencies was made by two kings; King Bodaw-hpaya at the end of the 18th century and King Mindon in 1865. The first monetary reform was not successful, while the second one proved to be successful, despite the similarity in terms of policy content and methodology. Conventional studies on these monetary reforms have failed to inquire into the causes of the failure and success of each reform. This paper argues that the first reform could not eliminate the middlemen such as brokers and assayers who played important roles in providing as well as circulating monies. As for the second reform, ironically enough, it was given a momentum by the loss of Lower Burma in the 2nd Anglo-Burmese war in 1852. The Lower Burma, the important supplier of the staple to the Central Burma was annexed to the British India. The royal government had to procure necessary staples with the currencies acceptable to the British Burma. Only option for the government was to issue the standardized currency similar to the British Indian Rupee in terms of quality and weight. Basing on the Burmese case study, we suggest that studies on the monetary systems would surely provide several useful insights to understand the 18−19th century Southeast Asia. (1)The study on monetary systems in the 18−19th centuries reveals that the process of political integration and economic integration did not occur simultaneously. In terms of currency circulation, different areas coexisted within a politically integrated area and it was not rare such an area was connected to areas belonged to other polities. (2)Research on Southeast Asian monetary system before the colonial period will surely provide ample opportunities for the comparative studies not only within the area but also between SEA and the neighboring countries such as China, India and Japan. (3)The study of currencies leads us to the deeper understanding of segmented markets and the important roles of middlemen who connect demands and supplies, which we can observe up to now in many places in Southeast Asia.