Asia in the Early Modern Era

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Chapter 10 Asia in the Early Modern Era
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Southeast Asia 500 C.E.-1200C.E. 1. Although
northern Vietnam was brought under Chinese
control in 111 B.C.E., its trade and religion
came primarily from India. Trade from Rome to
India was extended east across the Indian Ocean
to Malaya where the goods were transhipped
throughout Southeast Asia and became part of the
trading network including Srivijaya, Sailendra,
and Champa. Srivijaya, with its capital at the
deep water port of Palembang, promoted commercial
relations between China and the Indian Ocean due
to the control of the trade route through the
Strait of Malacca. In 1025 Srivijaya was attacked
and defeated by the Indian kingdom of Chola.
Although Srivijaya recovered, it could not regain
its dominance of the area in part because
commerce increasingly flowed through the Strait
of Sunda into the Indian Ocean. This benefited
the Javanese kingdom of Sailendra. In the late
thirteenth century Srivijaya was destroyed by the
kingdom of Singhassari, the successor to
Sailendra. By the mid-fourteenth century, most
of the archipelago and parts of the mainland had
been brought under the single control of
Majapahit. 2. The Vietnamese came from the
coastal plains of southern China and occupied the
delta of the Red River. A strong sense of
national identity had developed in North Vietnam
by the time of the collapse of the Tang dynasty
in 907. By 939, Vietnam, calling itself Dai
Viet, achieved its independence though Chinese
influence remained in Confucian institutions and
political structure. As Dai Viet expanded south
it came into conflict with Champa. In part, their
struggle was rooted in Cham raids into the Red
River delta. At times, Champa was victorious but
by 1471 the region was under Dai Viet control.
The Vietnamese continued their push south until
reaching the Gulf of Siam in the eighteenth
century. The Die Viet march south nevertheless
continued until the Gulf of Siam was reached by
the seventeenth century. China, however, never
lost its desire to bring the Red River delta of
north Vietnam into the empire. Chinese rule was
established by the Ming in 1408 but by 1428 the
Vietnamese had expelled them. 3. The kingdom of
Champa was made up of a seafaring people with
linguistic and cultural ties to Indianized
Indonesia. It consisted of decentralized coastal
villages that specialized in piracy as well as
maritime trade with ties to the Islamic
commercial network. Over the centuries, Champa
became embroiled with Vietnam. 4. Located on the
lower Mekong River was the kingdom of Funan. It
is the first historically confirmed state in
Southeast Asia, existing at least prior to the
third century C.E. It was an agricultural and
trading society possessing contacts with India
and China. Funan dominated regional trade as the
major land route between the Gulf of Thailand and
the Bay of Bengal passed through the Funan
controlled Isthmus of Kra. The discovery of
Roman coins at Oc Eo would suggest at least an
indirect contact with Rome. Moreover, there were
clearly Indian influences in society. In the
early ninth century, Funan gave way to the
emerging kingdom of Anghor that dominated what is
today northwestern Cambodia (Kampuchia) from the
early ninth to fifteenth centuries. The Cambodian
kings built a number of cities including their
capital Anghor Thom. It covered about four
square miles and may have had a population of one
million. A walled city, it contained temples
including the central one dedicated to Buddha and
the king. Others were built to honor the Hindu
gods. The Angkor civilization reached its peak
in the twelfth century. 5. In the eighth
century the Thais united into a confederacy which
lasted until the attack of the Mongols in 1253.
By the eleventh or twelfth century the Thai,
originating in southwestern China, had pushed
south eventually leading to conflict with Anghor.
In 1432 they conquered the capital Angkor Thom
but soon abandoned it for a new capital at
Ayuthaya to the west. Significantly, the Thai
absorbed Indian religious and political
institutions, especially Theravada Buddhism. 5.
The Burmese began migrating south from the
highlands of Tibet into Nan Chao about the
seventh century C.E. By the eleventh century
they had found the kingdom of Pagan. It expanded
south down the Malay peninsula and became active
in the maritime trade. Question 1. What was the
relationship between China, India and Southeast
Asia?
Southeast Asia 500 C.E.-1200 C.E.
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• Colonization of Southeast Asia
• Mongol successes on the mainland in late 13th
  century
• Mongol failures to dominate the Southeast Asia
  islands
• Political fragmentation and products made the
  islands easy prey
• Portuguese outposts
• Ceylon, Sunde Islands, Malacca, Taiwan, and Macao
• Spanish Asian Empire
• Philippines
• Trade

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Dutch church in Malacca. Built by Dutch in the
seventeenth century after seizing the city from
the Portuguese
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• Dutch Asian Empire
• Expel the English from East Asia, 1622
• Gran Malacca occupied 1640
• Expel Portuguese from Ceylon and East Indies
• Headquarters at Batavia (Jakarta) on Java
• English Asian Empire
• Seize Dutch possession in 1795-1811
• Return of Dutch East India, 1816
• Purchase of Singapore, 1819

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The Mughal Empire
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• Moghul Conquest and Rule
• Babur driven to Afghanistan, 1504
• Invasion of India, 1524
• Battle of Panipat, 1526
• Akbar
• Regains Delhi, Agra, Hindustan, and Afghanistan
  lost by his father
• Religious problems
• Moghul Empire disintegrates after 1760
• Moghul Government
• Absolute and commander of the military
• Use of foreign officials, Hindus
• Agricultural problems

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• Society and Economy
• Extravagance of the rulers
• Pilgrimages to shrines
• Village agriculture
• Slavery
• Artisans
• Women
• Religion
• Three-fourths of Moghul India were Hindus
• Growth of Muslim population
• Most were Sunnis, concentrated in the northwest
• Akbar synthesized Hinduism and Islam, proclaim
  Divine Faith
• Aurengzeb ends religious tolerance and persecuted
  Hindus

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• Sikhism
• Guru Nanak
• Discards caste or creed
• Golden Temple at Amritsar
• Guru Arjan executed by Jahangir in 1606, Sikhs
  become the enemy of Islam
• Moghul Architecture and Painting
• Indo-Islamic culture
• Humayun, Akbar, and Shah Jahan great builders
• Fusion of Sino-Persian, Muslim, and
  Hindo-Buddhism art into Moghal and Rajput schools

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Humayuns tomb at Agra
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Royal reception hall at Red Fort in Agra
12
China and Its Enemies During the Late Ming Era
1. One of the chief threats to the Ming was the
Mongols. Overthrown is 1368 by a massive peasant
uprising, the Mongols broke up into eastern1
western, and southern tribes. Although the
Ming made alliances with the southern tribes
(north of the Great Wall), all was not always at
peace. In 1449 an ill-prepared expedition
against the Mongols ended in military disaster
and the capture of the emperor who remained a
prisoner for seven years. In 1550 the Mongols
overran Beijing. 2. During the thirteenth and
early fourteenth centuries, Japanese warlords and
Chinese pirates associated with them began
raiding the Korean and northeastern China coasts.
They eventually extended their operations to
the southern Chinese coast in the fifteenth
and sixteenth centuries. The most serious
Japanese threat came with invasions of Korea in
1592 and 1597-98. Although the Japanese would
eventually withdraw, the Ming had been
considerably weakened the imperial treasury. 3.
Another threat to the Ming was the Manchu
(Jurchen) from Manchuria. In the early
seventeenth century they built a strong army and
gained the allegiance of the Mongols and other
tribes. In the meantime, the Ming government
floundered while droughts led to banditry and
revolt in the provinces. The decay prepared the
way for the rebels to occupy Beijing in 1644.
With the aid of Ming military commanders who had
deserted, the Manchu took advantage of the
conditions to conquer Beijing for themselves. A
new dynasty was proclaimed with the reigning
title of Qing. Questions 1. What was the
weakness of China that allowed its enemies to be
successful in assaulting its territory? 2. What
was the role of the Manchu in the weakening of
China?
China and Its Enemies during the Late Ming Era
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Models of traditional Chinese single-mast sailing
vessels
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• Ming Dynasty
• Chu Yuan-chang proclaims himself Emperor Hung-wu
  founder of the Ming (brilliant)
• Expulsion of Mongols and expansion
• Emperor Yung-lo (Prince of Yen)
• Expansion
• Admiral Cheng Ho
• Peace and public works projects
• Autocratic Government and Conservative Military
• Disappearance of hereditary, nobility, and great
  families
• Dominance of a nonhereditary civil service
• Legacy of absolutist Mongol rule
• 15 provinces divided into counties
• Eunuchs

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• Economy, Society, and Education
• Population decline, especially due to the Mongols
  in the north and the bubonic plague
• Need to stimulate agricultural production through
  hydraulic engineering and printing manuals
• Silk production
• Products introduced from the Americas
• Urban growth
• Manufacturing
• Growth of merchant class
• Public education, improved examination system
• Culture and Arts
• Drama, theater, the novel

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The Qing Empire in the Eighteenth Century 1.
The Qing dynasty from 1644 to 1912 generally
continued the political and social order of the
previous Ming dynasty. The ruling Manchus
originated in Manchuria from which the unifier of
the Manchu state, Nurhachi, seized part of the
Liaotung peninsula and made Mukden his capital in
625. Nurhachi's successor continued the
expansion as attacks were made in 1629, 1632, and
1634 north of the Great Wall as Inner Mongolia
and the Amur region were acquired. In 1637 Korea
was made a vassal state. Beijing, and thus the
Chinese throne, fell to the Manchus in 1644.
Previously, in 1637 the dynasty renamed itself
Qing, meaning "Pure." 2. The last Ming prince
was chased into Burma where he was killed in
1662. Shortly thereafter, three generals who had
aided the Manchus in subduing south China
revolted. Although aided by pirates on Taiwan,
the revolt was quelled in 1681. Two years later
Taiwan was captured and made part of China. It
was also in 1681 that Yunnan was occupied by
imperial armies. 3. In the 1680s military
colonies were established in Manchuria for the
purpose of driving out Russian traders, trappers,
and adventurers who had reached the Amur River in
northern Manchuria by the 1660s. Success led to
the Treaty of Nerchinsk in 1689 that excluded
Russia from Manchuria but did allow Russian
caravans to visit Beijing. 4. In western China
the Manchus were faced with the Russians, western
Mongols, and Tibet. War was waged against the
Mongols, Tibet was invaded, and in 1727 a treaty
was signed with Russia, which confirmed Chinese
rule over Mongolia, Tibet, and Xinjiang in return
for formal trading rights and permanent residence
for Russian merchants and missionaries in
Beijing. Significantly, modern China continues
to claim the Manchu conquests as the limit of its
legitimate borders. 5. Tributary relations were
established with Korea, Burma, Vietnam, Laos,
Nepal, and Siam. 6. After nearly a century of
struggle, the Qing gained control of Xinjiang by
the 1750s that led to a protectorate over Tibet
in 1750. 7. The Manchus dealt with foreigners by
continuing to keep them restricted to Macao, just
south of the Pearl River estuary. The English
established their first trading post at Canton in
1699. To limit contacts between the Europeans
and Chinese, the Qing eventually confined the
Europeans to the small island of Shamian on the
Pearl River just outside Canton's city walls.
They were permitted to reside there only from
October through March. Question 1. How did the
Qing expand their empire and deal with outsiders?
The Qing Empire in the Eighteenth Century
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• Contacts with the Europeans
• Portuguese arrive at Canton, 1515
• Macao established, 1557
• Dutch in Taiwan
• Catholic missionaries, Jesuits
• The Ching (Manchu) Dynasty
• Nomadic Manchus expand under Nurhachi and his son
  Abahai
• Compulsory military service
• Use of Chinese to fill bureaucracy
• Manchus capture Peking and the throne, 1664
• Kang-hai
• Intellectual
• All China under Manchu authority

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• Government
• Retain three-tier examination system
• Dyarchy of Manchu and Chinese ministers and
  vice-ministers
• Success of Mongols because they embraced Chinese
  culture, values, and fair government
• Dynasty sustained by the army
• No advances in military technology
• Population boom, government fails to adjust
• Missionaries
• Jesuit influence
• Franciscans and Dominicans bring decline of
  Christian influence
• Rites Controversy
• Emperor restricts missionaries

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• Foreign Relations Based on Tribute
• Denial of other nations equality with China
• Russia
• Quarantine Approach to Trade
• Macao and Canton
• Kowtows
• Culture and the Arts
• Jesuits artists introduce new forms and
  techniques
• Complete Writings of the Four Treasuries
• Poetry, novels, theater, and opera
• Lunar calendar and festivals

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Japan and Its Neighbors 1. The Yamato state,
located on the Yamato plain in central Honshu
near Koyoto, was established by the fifth
century. It soon conquered the southern island
of Kyushu and Kanto east of the Yamato plain. A
foothold was also established in Korea that
probably facilitated the movement of people from
Korea to Japan until the early ninth century.
The Japanese hold in South Korea was eliminated
in 562. The result of this contact was the
penetration of Chinese and Buddhist ideas into
Japan. 3. In 710 a new capital was established
at Nara on the eastern edge of the Yamato plain.
It was laid out on the same checkerboard pattern.
The city was roughly three miles by two and
two-thirds miles. With no enemies, there were no
walls. Another capital was built in 794 at
Heian on the Kyoto plain. Again the city was
laid out in a checkerboard pattern, three miles
by three and a third miles. Like Nara, it was
without walls. It became the modern city of
Kyoto and remained the capital until 1868. 4.
The decline of power at Heian (794-1185) resulted
in aristocrats increasingly acting independently
and resorting to military force to protect their
interests. Civil war was almost constant until
the twelfth century. By 1185 Minamoto Yoritomo
had defeated his rivals and within four years had
all of Japan under his military control. To
strengthen the state, Yoritomo created a
centralized government under a powerful military
leader called shogun (general). The shogun
system will last until the last half of the
nineteenth century. 5. In 1266 the Mongol
emperor Khubilai Khan demanded tribute from
Japan. When Japan refused, the khan's army
invaded in 1274 with a force of over 30,000 but
was compelled to retreat. In 1281 the khan's
army of 150,000 landed on the northern coast of
the southwestern island and Kyushu. Again the
Mongols failed as a typhoon destroyed the Mongol
fleet. 3. The Korean state was controlled by
North China by the early third century B.C.E.
Korea remained colonized until the fourth century
when the Chinese were expelled in the fourth
century. Three native kingdoms were formed
Koguryo in the north, Paekche in the southwest,
and Silla in the southeast. Chinese influences,
however, continued as repeated waves of Chinese
refugees from the Han dynasty poured into Korea.
The expansion of Koguryo and consolidation of
Paekche brought the two to almost three centuries
of war. In the sixth century Silla allied with
Paekche and then turned on its ally. The
reunification of China by the Sui dynasty was
followed by an attack on Koguryo in 598, and
three more expeditions in 612-614. All ended in
disaster and contributed to the collapse of the
Sui. The successor Tang dynasty had no better
luck in 644 and 659. In 660 with the aid of
Silla, Paekche was destroyed. Three years later
a Japanese expedition to aid Paekche was
repulsed. Meanwhile the Tang and Silla attacked
Koguryo and brought it to an end in 668. Within
a decade the Tang forces were expelled by the
Silla from most of Korea and it was unified.
Silla became a tributary to the Tang but remained
autonomous. By the middle of the eighth century,
unification began to disintegrate. In 780 after
more than a decade of revolts, the Silla king was
assassinated and over the next century and a half
a series of briefly reigning kings assumed the
throne. Questions 1. How was Japan unified into
a single state? What was the real source of
power? 2. What was the relationship between China
and Japan 3. How was Korea unified?
Japan and its Neighbors
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Tokugawa Japan 1. The national unification of
Japan began in the middle of the sixteenth
century under Oda Nobunaga (1568-1582), a samurai
of the lesser daimyo. By 1559 he controlled the
province of Owari (10) and in 1568 seized Kyoto,
the capital city. He drove the shogun out of
Kyoto in 1573, thus becoming virtual ruler of
central Japan. To this was added western
Japan under the brilliant general Toyotomi
Hideyoshi. Also added were eastern and northern
Japan once the fortress of Odawara in southern
Honshu fell. 2. In 1582 Nobunaga was murdered
while his armies were fighting the Mori (21) at
the western end of Honshu. Hideyoshi (1582-1598)
soon managed to establish his control over
Nobunaga's coalition of daimyo in central Japan.
In 1585 the southern island of Shikoku was
subdued. Tokugawa Ieyasu in the east accepted
vassalage to Hideyoshi in 1586 while the Shimazu
(26) did the same in the extreme south.
Meanwhile, the Date (5) and others in the north
submitted to Hideyoshi. By 1590, Japan was
reunited politically. When Hideyoshi died in
1598 a regency was established for his infant
son. Tokugawa Ieyasu (1598-1616), who controlled
vast territories around Edo (Tokyo), eliminated
the boy and in 1600 at Sekigahara smashed a
coalition of daimyo. 3. Hideyoshi had eyes
beyond Japan. With an objective of China,
passage was sought through Korea. When that was
refused, a Japanese invasion force entered in
1592. Using firearms, Korea was quickly overrun
but the Japanese had to withdraw south when faced
by massive Chinese Armies. This was renewed in
1697 but when Hideyoshi died the following year,
the Japanese armies withdrew. 4. In 1549 the
Jesuit missionary Francis Xavier landed at
Kagoshima. By 1600, there were some 300,000
baptized Catholics, most of which were found on
southern Kyushu. In 1615 Christian samurai
supported Ieyasu's enemies at the battle of
Osaka. Thirty thousand peasants in heavily
Catholic northern Kyushu revolted in 1637
contributing to the ruthless repression of the
Christians after 1639. Foreign priests were
expelled or tortured, and thousands of Japanese
Christians suffered crucifixion. At the same
time, all foreigners were expelled except the
Dutch who aided the Japanese government against
the Christians (Catholics) by providing cannons.
As a reward, the Dutch could stay but their
factory station was removed in 1641 to the 2100
square foot island of Deshima in Nagasaki harbor.
One ship a year was permitted by the
Japanese. Questions 1. What role did the daimyo
play in the unification of Japan? 2. What was the
relationship between the Japanese government and
the Dutch?
Tokugawa Japan
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Osaka Castle. Last headquarters of son of
Hideyoshi Toyotomi, it was seized by forces of
Tokugawa Ieyasu in 1615 on the latter ascent to
the shogunate
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• Japan
• Ashikaga shogunate, 1338-1573
• Civil wars
• Expanding economy
• Ashikaga shoguns recognize Ming emperors as
  overlords
• Learned firearms from the Europeans
• Hideyoshi Toyotomi
• Overan Korea, 1592, but turned back by the Ming
  army
• Tokugawa Ieyosu
• One of five regents for Hideyoshis son
• Shogun, 1603
• Family will remain shoguns until 1868
• Retain one quarter of all arable land
• Expel most foreigners, banned Christianity
• Retires in 1605 for his son

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• Isolation
• Francis Xavier introduces Christianity
• Missionaries welcomed as source of European goods
• Large numbers of converts create fears of
  European expansion
• Christianity banned in 1587, enforced in 1612
• Japanese forced to renounce Christianity and
  missionaries exiled or executed
• Isolation

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• Feudalism
• Rigid class structure
• Daimyo and samurai retainers
• Samurai from soldiers to administrators
• Education for samurai
• Framers
• Paid 40-60 of rice crop in taxes
• Urban culture dominated by well-off merchants
• Extensive publishing
• Strain on the late Tokugawa as Japan outgrew
  feudalism