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I. Trade in Asia…Dealing with Europeans
A. European Realizations
1. European products were not wanted in the East…Asia had
the goods everyone wanted.
2. Europeans had to deal with Muslim traders in the Indian Ocean, southern Asia…were already there
3. Missionary activity blocked by Islam…didn’t want to convert to Christianity
4. Asian political divisions advantageous…
5. Large Asian populations also slowed European dreams of conquering
Asian Transitions
Chapter 22
B. Areas of Asian Trade…1500
1. Arab zone – Glass, carpet, tapestries
2. Indian zone – Cotton textiles
3. Chinese zone – Paper, porcelain, silk goods
4. Other regions –
Raw materials: ivory, spices
a. Japan, SE Asia, east Africa
C. Portugal Shows Up…da Gama leads the way
1. Military force – With very poor products, the Portuguese must
use force to get into the Asian market
a. Using the superior military technology (guns and ships) they
possessed, the Europeans took control of the African & Indian coasts despite being outnumbered
b. The Portuguese built forts for defense…Ormuz, Goa, Malacca, Calicut
Portugal’s goal:
Monopolize spice trade, control all shipping;
were never able to gain full control.
Notice the trade
routes are
along the coasts!
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D. Challenges to Portugal’s Control
E. Europeans Stay on the Coast
1. Tribute Systems set up by Europeans…similar to New World
a. Europeans need permission needed to trade inland…large
Asian armies keep them relegated to the shore
2. Some Military Actions
a. Portuguese, Dutch use force in Sri Lanka to gain control of
the cinnamon trade
b. Spanish take the Northern part of the Philippines
F. Christianity and Missionaries in Asia
1. Dutch and English not really interested…Spain & Portugal were
a. Very little success in winning converts…WHY?
1. 17th century…English and Dutch (Holland) arrive
2. Dutch – take several key ports from Portuguese
a. Concentrated on a limited number of spices…formed a monopoly on them
b. The Dutch chose to use the traditional system…they realized
there was more profit in peace than the use of force
3. English – India became the center for them
II. The Ming Dynasty (1368 – 1644)
A. Founded by peasant general Zhu Yuanzhang after defeating the Mongols
a. Renamed himself Ming Hongwu
b. Began to rid China of all traces of Mongols;
pushed them back north of the Great Wall
China still had
the world’s
largest
population,
a well-functioning
bureaucracy, good
natural resources,
and a large military.
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B. Revival of Scholar-Gentry
1. Scholar-Gentry reinstated…were needed to bring Chinese civilization back
2. Civil service exams expanded to greatest level
3. Bureaucracy gained highest level of educated and competent
officials
4. Power of scholar-gentry kept in check by Hongwu through public beatings for corruption or failure
a. Position of Chief minister abolished…Hongwu takes those powers
C. The Peasant Class
1. Hongwu’s reforms for peasants
offset by growing power of rural gentry
a. Peasants lost land to landlords
2. Subordination of youth to elders
intensified…neo-confucianism
D. Women
1. Few opportunities for women
2. Thousands become concubines…a few
gain a place w/emperor
3. Peasant women worked fields or shops
4. Greatest degree of freedom gained by courtesans and entertainers
5. Bearing male children stressed
E. The Economy
1. Population in south boosted by trade w/Europe and introduction of crops from New World (corn,
sweet potatoes, and peanuts)
2. Macao and Canton only ports open to outside traders
Led to a
boom in
Chinese
population!!
3. Merchant wealth used for land purchases
(increased social status)
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Goods
Traded:
Silk
Tea
Porcelain
F. Age of Expansion…1405 to 1423
1. Seven major sea expeditions by
Zheng He (Zhenghe)
2. Voyages reached India and Africa
3. Voyages stopped due to power
of scholar-gentry
**China could have
dominated other countries.
**Voyages were expensive;
people questioned the
worth of the expeditions.
**Wanted to spend money
guarding Chinese borders.
G. The Arrival of Europeans
1. Foreign trade (influence) restricted…policy of isolation
2. Jesuit missionaries attempted conversion of Chinese court through science and technology
3. Scholar-gentry hostile to
“barbarians”;
this is how
they viewed
the Christian
missionaries
H. Ming Decline
1. Series of weak rulers
a. Corruption develops
2. Growing gap between rich and poor…rebellions
3. Japanese pirates
4. Fall of dynasty to Chinese
rebels in 1644
a. Emperor commits suicide b. The fall of the dynasty
created an opening that was quickly filled by the Manchus, a northern tribe
c. The rebels were defeated and a new dynasty was created: the
Qing (Manchu)
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III. Japan’s Reunification
A. Late 1400’s…Collapse of Ashikaga Shogunate
1. Period of the Warring States
2. Reunification occurred under three powerful figures:
Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, and Tokugawa
B. Oda Nobunaga
1. Seized Kyoto and placed reigning shogun under his rule (1573)
2. Use of gunpowder weapons
3. Nobunaga murdered by one
of his generals (1582)
C. Toyotomi Hideyoshi…succeeded Nobunaga
1. Extended lands to include Kyushu and
Shikoku
2. Two attempts to invade Korea
3. Death
leads to a succession struggle
Both Nobunaga and Hideyoshi
used gunpowder weapons to
gain power…both unable to
totally subjugate daimyo.
Both had to create alliances
with daimyo to gain power
and hold or administer territory
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D. Tokugawa Ieyasu took control after death of Hideyoshi in 1598
1. Tokugawa powerful daimyo of Edo (Tokyo)
a. Claimed title of Shogun in 1603
b. Tokugawa Shogunate most
powerful and longest-lasting
--Ruled over 250 years…until (1868) IV. Japan and the West
A. First Contact
1. Portuguese in 1543…followed by other in increasing
numbers
2. Arrival of Jesuit missionaries 1549
a. Focus on top down conversions
b. Jesuit missionaries converted many local daimyo to Christianity. By 1600, much of Kyushu and Shikoku
were Christian.
c. Christianity used by Nobunga to offset power of
Buddhists
d. Missionaries destroyed Japanese shrines and temples
e. Christians persecuted by Hideyoshi (feared Europeans
might try to conquer Japan)…banned by the Tokugawa
shogunate
f. Japanese Christian revolts ruthlessly suppressed
3. Foreigners welcomed at first
a. Novelty items such as firearms, clocks,
eyeglasses, printing presses, and
tobacco are traded for Japanese silver,
copper and other products
b. Daimyo wanted gunpowder weapons
--Gunpowder influenced architecture
as daimyo built stone castles
--Eventually banish gunpowder
weapons and return to the cult of the sword
4. Dutch only Western nation allowed to trade with Japan on a limited
basis at Nagasaki
B. Tokugawa Shogunate
1. Tokugawa shogun ruled over Japanese semi-feudal system
2. Shogun set policy for the emperor
3. State separated into 250 provinces…each ruled by a daimyo.
4. Shogun controlled nobility
5. Peace under shogun lessened need for warrior class
a. Many samurai became managers of
daimyo estates
Samurai
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6. Commerce
a. Peace under shogunate allowed expansion of commercial sector
b. Business was beneath them, but many daimyo forced to promote sale of goods to bring in revenue
Japanese market
c. Banks formed
d. Use of paper money
e. Establishment of guilds to regulate the markets 8. Agriculture
a. High taxes forced many farmers from their lands
b. Many revolts…7,000 revolts in Tokugawa period
7. Samurai
a. Did not benefit from peace…were warriors
b. Barred from commerce by tradition
c. Relied on rice lands for income
d. Many debt-ridden
e. Many samurai were released from service…became masterless
or Ronin…Ronin became problem due to plots and revolts
9. Japan Chooses Isolation a. Under the early Tokugawa regime people followed Neo
Confucianism…eventually that was replaced by the “School of
National Learning”…philosophy based on native Japanese culture
b. Unlike Chinese scholar-gentry, the Japanese did not ignore the outside world
--They kept informed of outside events through Dutch trade
at Nagasaki & Deshima
c. Increased isolation
--1616, merchants restricted
--By 1630, Japanese ships forbidden to sail overseas
--By 1640s…Dutch, Chinese visit only at Nagasaki
--Complete isolation from mid-1600s
Rice farming
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