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«Robbe d’Europa»: Global Connections and the Mailing of Letters, Money, and Merchandise in the Eighteenth-Century China Mission

  • Eugenio Menegon

Manuscript reports and letters written in China by the Propaganda Fide and Jesuit missionaries criss-crossed the oceans and the continents to reach Europe on ships, carts, horses, mules, and palanquins, using both European systems of transportation provided by the various East India Companies and governments, and other local public and private postal arrangements. Missionary agencies also mailed from the West robbe d’Europa («European things»), such as silver coins, foodstuff and drugs (chocolate, wine, cheese, olive oil, tobacco), medicines, galanterie (luxury items), books, devotional objects and prints. Chinese goods (tea, silk, medicines, luxury items, books) were sent in the opposite direction to please patrons in Europe. Without this multi-layered, imperfect, yet workable mailing system, the flow of information and articles fuelling early modern globalisation and, within it, the Chinese missions, would have been impossible.

  • Keywords:
  • Global Connections; China Catholic Mission; Propaganda Fide: Jesuits,
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Eugenio Menegon

Boston University, United States - ORCID: 0000-0001-6803-5697

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Chapter Information

Chapter Title

«Robbe d’Europa»: Global Connections and the Mailing of Letters, Money, and Merchandise in the Eighteenth-Century China Mission

Authors

Eugenio Menegon

Language

English

DOI

10.36253/979-12-215-0242-8.03

Peer Reviewed

Publication Year

2023

Copyright Information

© 2023 Author(s)

Content License

CC BY 4.0

Metadata License

CC0 1.0

Bibliographic Information

Book Title

East and West Entangled (17th-21st Centuries)

Editors

Rolando Minuti, Giovanni Tarantino

Peer Reviewed

Number of Pages

228

Publication Year

2023

Copyright Information

© 2023 Author(s)

Content License

CC BY 4.0

Metadata License

CC0 1.0

Publisher Name

Firenze University Press

DOI

10.36253/979-12-215-0242-8

ISBN Print

979-12-215-0241-1

eISBN (pdf)

979-12-215-0242-8

eISBN (epub)

979-12-215-0243-5

Series Title

Connessioni. Studies in Transcultural History

Series ISSN

2975-0393

Series E-ISSN

2975-0261

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