Gulf of Thailand

The southeastern shores of the Gulf of Thailand linked the western Mekong delta with Cambodia and the wider maritime world. In the eighteenth century Hà Tiên, known to Chinese traders as Gangkou, became a flourishing port under the Mo, or Mạc, family. Its influence extended along the gulf coast between Cà Mau and the area of present-day Sihanoukville.

Mo Jiu and his successor Mo Tianci cultivated overlapping relationships with the southern Vietnamese regime, Cambodia, Siam and the Dutch East India Company. Such flexible allegiances helped preserve a trading polity amid rival claims to the coast. The port prospered as an entrepôt, drawing on connections that crossed political borders. For vessels sailing these waters, access to markets depended on negotiations among coastal rulers as well as on the physical routes through the gulf.