Chapter 22 Outline – Asian Transitions in an Age of Global Change
IV. The Early Modern Era
G. Asian Transitions in an Age of Global Change
1. The Asian Trading World and the Coming of the Europeans
- Portuguese 1st Europeans to get to India (1498-Vasco da Gama arrived in market town of Calicut)
 Portuguese used caravels, skinny ships that could sail against the wind
 India had many goods from all over Asia that the Portuguese desired, but the Indians had little
desire for the European goods
- Muslims had arrived much earlier than Europeans, which made it harder for Europeans to build
empires in Asia, and harder to convert the people to Roman Catholicism
a. Bonds of Commerce: The Asian Sea Trading Network, c. 1500
- Asian Sea Trading Network = Trade network in Asia, existed before Europeans, spanned from
Africa and Middle East to east coast of Asia, had 3 major zones: 1) Arab zone (produced glass,
carpet, and tapestries; 2) India (produced cotton); 3) China (produced paper, porcelain, and silks)
 Areas outside those 3 zones (ex: Japan, S.E. Asia, and Africa) provided raw materials
 Spices were the product with the biggest demand and highest prices
 Items that were traded over long distances were the high priced commodities (such as spices and
precious stones) which got highest profit margins
 The largest portion of trade by volume was in bulk items (such as rice, livestock, and timber)
- Most trade in the Asian network done on ships that sailed near and along the coast
 There was no military or central control over the trade network to protect it, so Europeans made
efforts to try to gain control of the network
b. Trading Empire: The Portuguese Response to the Encounter at Calicut
- Only way Portuguese could get Asian goods through trade was by giving gold and silver (Asians had
little interest in European products)
 Europeans believed in mercantilism (economic system in which you acquire gold, silver, and
other resources, and that measures your wealth), so did not want to give up gold and silver
 So, using their superior weapons, the Portuguese used force to get what they wanted from Asia
- Portugal built fortified trade towns to control the trade; major ones were: Ormuz (southern end of
Persian Gulf), Goa (west coast of India), and Malacca (Malayan peninsula)
c. Portuguese Vulnerability and the Rise of the Dutch and English Trading Empires
- Portugal couldn’t maintain dominance over Asian trade (didn’t have enough people, soldiers or ships,
had poor military discipline, corrupt government officials, and Asians resisted)
- Portugal stretched too thin and no match when Dutch and English came and took over Asian trade
 Dutch most successful, captured Malacca, and set up fort at Batavia in 1620 (on island of Java)
 Unlike the Portuguese, the Dutch attempted to monopolize (control the trade of) certain spices
from East Indies rather than control the entire Asian trade network
 English lost out to Dutch in East Indies and settled for control of Indian trade (which turned out
to be huge bonus in the long term)
 Dutch Trading Empire = Dutch controlled much of Asian trade, built fortified towns, had
warships on patrol, and monopoly on a limited number of products (ex: East Indies spices)
- Dutch (and English) learned that biggest profits could be made by peaceful cooperation and
integration into existing Asian trade networks
d. Going Ashore: European Tribute Systems in Asia
- Europeans used ships and guns to control Asian trade, but struggled to control inland in Asia
 Despite Europeans having better weapons, many Asian states had large militaries and greatly
outnumbered the Europeans
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In some cases, the Europeans were able to invade inland
 Dutch moved inland on Java in 1600s, and gained control of the coffee-growing regions
 Spain took over the Philippines in the 1560s
- When Europeans did conquer inland, they set up tribute regimes (similar to what Spain did in
America) – indigenous people were mostly left alone as long as they paid tribute to Europeans
e. Spreading the Faith: The Missionary Enterprise in South and Southeast Asia
- Portuguese and Spanish conquests overseas largely driven by desire to convert people to Catholicism
 They were able to convert Native Americans a lot easier than Asians (major reason was that
Muslims had already arrived in Asia, and Hindus in India already had an advanced religion)
- Despite the setbacks Europeans had in converting Asians, India seemed the promising to convert
 Francis Xavier = Spanish Jesuit missionary in India, converted thousands of low-caste Indians,
but had little success converting higher-caste ones
 Robert di Nobili = Italian Jesuit missionary in India, tried adapting to local culture and then
converting high-caste Hindus, but this strategy failed overall
- Europeans had best success converting Asians in areas not previously converted by Muslims (ex: the
Philippines, in which the Spanish used Christian friars to basically run the colony)
f. Modest Returns: The Early Impact of Europeans in Maritime Asia
- By 1700, Europeans were involved in Asian trade for 200 years, and most Asians were little affected
2. Ming China: A Global Mission Refused
- In 1368, the Mongols (who controlled China with their Yuan Dynasty) were driven out of China and
the Ming Dynasty began (1368-1644)
 Zhu Yuanzhang = Drove out Mongols, began Ming Dynasty, took title of Hongwu (emperor)
 Yuanzhang quickly tried to rid China of all Mongol influence
a. Another Scholar-Gentry Revival
- Early Ming emperors appointed members of the scholar-gentry class to the highest positions in the
government (like they had been under the Han Dynasty much earlier)
 Civil service exams were reinstituted and greatly expanded (Mongols had stopped them) – Exams
played a bigger role in getting job in government bureaucracy than ever before in China
b. Reform: Hongwu’s Efforts to Root Out Abuses in Court Politics
- Hongwu put in place many reforms to stop corruption and abuse of power in the court (government)
 Hongwu abolished position of chief minister, punished corrupt officials with public beatings, rid
the court of the influences of emperor’s wives and their families, and ended court conspiracies
 Later Ming rulers didn’t follow reforms of Hongwu and early Ming emperors, hurt dynasty badly
c. A Return to Scholar-Gentry Social Dominance
- Hongwu instituted many reforms aimed at helping commoners
 Promoted public works projects (ex: irrigation systems), lowered forced labor demands, and
promoted silk and cotton production
- While Hongwu’s reforms helped peasants, but growing power of rural landlord families who had
relatives in the imperial (central government) ultimately made peasants life worse in Ming China
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Relatives of scholar-gentry bureaucrats were exempt from paying taxes, had special privileges,
and bought up all of the land so peasants had no choice but to work for them
 Wealth gap b/t rural landlords and the peasants was huge, and was growing
- Neo-Confucians had great influence, and in Ming China youths were subordinate to elders, and
women were subordinate to men
 Thousands of women brought to palace to be concubines of the emperor
 Daughters in upper-class families sometimes taught to read and write, and many wrote poetry or
played instruments, but still not allowed take civil service exams and work for bureaucracy
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Women in non-elite families worked in the fields, and some sold goods in marketplaces, but main
area women had any freedom was as entertainers
An Age of Growth: Agriculture, Population, Commerce, and the Arts
Early in Ming Dynasty, there was huge economic boom and huge population growth
 New plants from the Americas (maize, sweet potatoes, and peanuts) led to population growth in
southern China (these crops could grow in bad soil and survive drought, so prevented famines
and provided stable food source, along with the rice and millet already being grown)
 This led to huge population growth (in 1300, China had 80 million, by 1600 it had 120 million,
and by 1800 it had over 300 million)
In early Ming Dynasty, there was huge commercial growth
 Big demand in Europe and Asia for Chinese goods (Europeans only allowed to trade in China at
2 ports, Macao and Canton)
 Long-distance trade merchants made the most profits, but had to pay much of them in taxes
Ming Dynasty had very little growth in technology (as Europe was gaining rapidly), but did make
great strides in the fine arts (emperor and bureaucrats were big patrons of the fine arts)
 Ming artwork was more colorful than previous Chinese art, and often depicted scholars or
travelers enjoying the beauty of nature
 Great advances in literature as the first Chinese novels were created, which included: a) The
Water Margin; b) Monkey; c) The Golden Lotus
An Age of Expansion: The Zhenghe Expeditions
Early on (early 1400s) the Ming Dynasty launched a series of great overseas expeditions
 Zhenghe = Led the Ming expeditions, reaching as far as the Middle East and east coast of Africa
 Expeditions were larger and more impressive than Portuguese and Spanish made later in 1400s
China had chance to be global leader, but many Chinese didn’t feel voyages were worth it
 The expeditions yielded few tangible returns, and the voyages were very expensive
 Mongols were again threatening to attack, and Chinese felt money better spent fortifying the
Great Wall rather than on these frivolous expeditions
 The emperors in late 1420s were unenthusiastic about voyages and stopped them in early 1430s
Chinese Retreat and the Arrival of the Europeans
By late 1400s, China chose to become an isolated empire, even greatly reducing the size of its navy
 As China was isolating itself, Europeans were advancing, and wanted to get into the Middle
Kingdom of China as both traders and missionaries
 Matteo Ricci and Adam Schall = Jesuit scholars who lived in Ming emperors’ court around
1600, valued by the emperors for their knowledge, although they gained very few converts
Ming Decline and the Chinese Predicament
By the late 1500s, the Ming Dynasty was in decline
 Ming rulers toward the end of the empire were weak and corrupt
 Public works projects, like dikes, were not done, and floods and famines occurred
 Peasants had to sell their children to slavery to prevent starvation, others became cannibals
Peasants revolts were common, and combined w/foreign threats, led to the end of the Ming Dynasty
 Nomads from the north once again threatened China
 Attacks by Japanese in the south became common
 Chongzhen = last Ming emperor, in power when Chinese rebels ended Ming Dynasty (1644)
Rebels toppled the Ming Dynasty, but none able to set up viable government, so China had power
vacuum and was open to foreign threats
 The nomadic group, the Jurchens, to the north (who by then were known as the Manchus), took
over China and established the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911); final imperial dynasty to rule China
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3. Fending Off the West: Japan’s Reunification and the First Challenge
- By 1500s, Japan had no unity (divided into 300 small kingdoms, each ruled by a daimyo, or warlord,
but 3 powerful rulers emerged who would unite Japan under one leader and end daimyo rule
 Nobunaga = first daimyo to use firearms extensively, was brutal to enemies, and in 1573 he
deposed the last Ashikaga shogun, and united central Honshu (central Japan)
 Toyotomi Hideyoshi = followed Nobunaga, conquered more daimyos and allied with others so
by 1590 he was able to unite Japan
 Tokugawa Ieyasu = became emperor in 1603, began centuries of rule by the Tokugawa family,
capital made at Edo (city now called Tokyo), Tokugawa rule meant Japan finally unified as one
a. Dealing With the European Challenge
- In 1543, the 1st Europeans (Portuguese) arrived in Japan as Japan was going through wars b/t daimyos
 Europeans came to Japan to trade (Europeans brought firearms, printing press, and clocks)
 Trade with Europeans encouraged Japanese to go out and trade, and they went to Korea, nearby
island of Formosa (today Taiwan), the Philippines, and Siam
- Europeans also came as missionaries
 Jesuits tried what they did in India, convert the higher classes, hoping others would follow
 Jesuits successful w/Nobunaga, who loved western culture and encouraged and protected them
 Nobunaga was murdered in 1582, and missionaries fell out of favor w/Japanese rulers, who saw
them as threat, and worried European countries would soon come w/militaries to take over Japan
b. Japan’s Self-Imposed Isolation
- Japanese were worried about Europeans, and took measures to restrict foreign activity in Japan
 Hideyoshi ordered all Christian missionaries out of Japan in 1580s
 Ieyasu officially banned Christianity in 1614, and like in India, Christianity died out in Japan
- Japan began a long period of self-imposed isolation
 In 1630, Japanese ships were forbidden to sail overseas
 Deshima = port in Japan, the only one foreigners were allowed to trade at (and only Dutch and
Chinese allowed)
 Western books were even banned in Japan
- By md-1600s, Japan was pretty much totally isolated
 School of National Learning = new ideology that stressed indigenous Japanese culture (it meant
that outside ideas, like Neo-Confucianism, which was big in Japan, was stopped)
- In the 1850s the West would again try to infiltrate Japan
 Unlike China, which was oblivious to Western threat and power and thus taken over easily, Japan
knew what it was up against with the West
 In late 1800s, Japan made effort to Westernize and build up power so it would not be taken over
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