References

Nagasaki as a European city in Early Modern Japan

Nagasaki’s foundation dates from 1571, the exact year in which the Great Ship under the Captain-Major Tristão Vaz da Veiga sailed there for the first time. In the Spring 1571 the land granted to the missionaries upon request from Cosme de Torres, was divided into six quarters, having the plots of ground been distributed among Ômura’s vassals and banished Christians from other regions. The quick growth of both its population and commercial activity can be realised if we take into account that by 1579 the place had already 400 houses and some Portuguese settled there married with native women.