A Research On Pirates And Coastal Defence System Of Hainan Island During Ming Dynasty

Coastal defense, as an important part of homeland security, from the beginning of Ming dynasty ruler has been unprecedented attention.With the rise of the enemy in the southeast coast, hence sea-faring truly feel the presence of maritime threat, which constructed the national land, sea and in the land of the coastal defense pattern.Hainan island is south of the Ming dynasty coastline which has important strategic significance.The island’s coastal defense system construction is not only related to the security of Guangdong coastal, but also play an important role in the Ming dynasty southeast coastal.In order to the mid-term of Jiajing period as the demarcation point,before the construction and development of the Hainan coastal defense system can be basically divided into the two period.The early stage of the coastal defense system based on the hereditary promises,Zhu yuanzhang had built up a strong defence in combination with the land and sea by the establishment of weisuo system and the anti-japanese army during this period.But the early coastal defense system of Hainan into the dilemma after Zhengtong period with the decline of the hereditary promises.The southeast coastal got into “the pirate era”in the late of Jiajing period,so rulers had to reconstruct military power to deal with the rise of pirate groups and formed a defensive pattern which composed of “the yangwei four battalions”and”the baisha water village”.This paper attempts to present the development and evolution of the coastal defense system of Hainan in Ming dynasty and reveal inner mechanism of the evolution of the pattern of coastal defense of Ming dynasty by combing the historical data and analysis.