1. For the fall of the Yiian and the rise of the Ming, see John W. Dardess, Conquerors and Confucians. Aspects of Political Change in Late Yuan China (Columbia University Press, New York and London 1973)
2. L. Carrington Goodrich and Chaoying Fang, Dictionary of Ming Biography, 2 vols (Columbia University Press, New York and London 1976).
3. Pierre Chaunu, L’Amérique et Les Amériques (Librairie Armand Colin, Paris, 1964) p. 57.
4. Fernand Braudel, La Mediterranée et le monde mediterranéen à L’époque de Philippe II (Librairie Armand Colin, Paris 1949) p. 624.
5. See S.A.M. Adshead, ‘An Energy Crisis in Early Modern China’, Ch’ing-shih Wen-ti, vol. III, no. 2 (December 1974) pp. 20–8.