Preparing for a walk in the neighborhood, I was looking at this old map of the Beijing legation quarter and playing a game to myself and trying to see if I could name all 13 legations as of 1912…US, Britain, France, Russia, Germany, Japan (those are easy), then Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, and Italy make a certain amount of sense, The Austro-Hungarian Empire was a bit of a stretch and somehow I always forget about Portugal but number 13…well, I had to peek and I’m shamed to say, I wouldn’t have guessed it.
Without cheating, can anyone name number 13?
A: Mexico.
5 responses so far ↓
1 wu ming // Aug 16, 2008 at 8:31 am
ok, i cheated, and won’t spoil the surprise, but when you think about the source of the late qing’s foreign-minted de facto currency, it actually makes a great deal of sense.
2 Jeremiah // Aug 16, 2008 at 8:41 am
Yeah, when you see it, it makes sense (not the least of it for the reason you mentioned above) but I admit to being a little surprised.
Now I’m wondering if anyone has done research on this? Perhaps scholars based in the country in question?
3 Jeremiah // Aug 16, 2008 at 8:44 am
Okay…I just answered my own question:
Clinton Harvey Gardiner, “Early Diplomatic Relations between Mexico and the Far East,” The Americas, Vol. 6, No. 4 (Apr., 1950), pp. 401-414
It’s on JSTOR.
4 wu ming // Aug 16, 2008 at 11:25 am
the very existence of manila as a spanish city derives pretty much from being an entrepot for the silver of potosi and zacatecas.
ask resendez, it’s his period of mexican history. it could be an interesting diss. topic, and a phenomenal pacrim grant proposal, now that i think about it.
5 chriswaugh_bj // Aug 16, 2008 at 1:58 pm
‘Scuse the boasting: I got it fair and square, but only because my brain suddenly switched from embassies to currency.
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