Meanwhile, in Asia…Early Modern Asia – Ming China and Japan

Unlike the Europeans

• European growth and expansion had a lot to do with making contacts around the world • In Asia, development and growth came from inside- they did not

expand too far outside of Asia and they did not consider Europeans a threat

Asian Trading Network

Control goes to the Portuguese

• Portugal quickly learned choke points- points where geography funneled trade into narrow areas• Identify the Red Sea,

Persian Gulf, Straits of Malacca

• No central control• Military force absent

from commercial exchanges

How did the Europeans take over?

• Asian resistance to Portuguese control• Poor military discipline• Corruption in the Portuguese monarchy• Shipping losses – overloading, poor design

• Dutch capture Indonesian ports, England settles in India, Spain takes the Philippines

Ming China

• Hongwu Emperor (the first Emperor of the Ming Dynasty) – rid China of traces of Mongols – names changed, buildings sacked, records destroyed• Re-revival of the scholar-gentry – what

philosophy?• Emphasis on manufacturing and expansion of

social works projects – dams, dykes, irrigation• Zheng He’s voyages and the end of expansion

Fall of Ming

• Incompetent rulers (political)• Public works projects fell into disrepair, and floods, famine and drought

occurred (environmental and social)• Peasants got desperate – eating tree bark, goose excrement, selling children into

slavery, cannibalism

• Landlords built estates and took advantage of peasant labor (political decentralization)• Peasants rebelled (social)• Renewed assaults by nomads beyond the wall (external)• As Jurchens scaled the wall of the Forbidden City, the last Ming Eperor,

Chongzhen, committed suicide by hanging

Japan

• Political pattern – decentralized daimyo rule and constant civil wars• Oda Nobunaga unified much of Japan, but

was ultimately killed in battle• Tokugawa Ieyasu took control and worked on

consolidation• Moved the capital to Edo, later renamed Tokyo• Demanded daimyos to pledge honor and

allegiance

Japan and the West

• Along with a daimyo civil war, the Japanese had to deal with:• Portuguese traders• Christian missionaries• Potential European military expeditions

• In response, Japan became isolated• Missionaries and merchants might negatively impact the Japanese social

order• Christian missionaries and converts persecuted• All ships forbidden to sail outside Japan• Exports greatly restricted

Big Picture

• China and Japan rejected global dominance to preserve their cultures and countries• Japan recognized that Europe might become a threat and isolated

themselves, while China underestimated their strength and were later subjected to imperialism• European expansionism was possible because of mercantilism, while

China and Japan culturally expanded on their own

Multiple Choice

Which of the following characterized the Asian trading system as the first Europeans encountered it?

(A)The Indian Ocean trade was monopolized by Hindu merchants(B) The Indian Ocean trade was dominated by Muslim merchants(C) The trade is slaves was the principal cargo traversing the Indian

Ocean(D)The Indian Ocean trade was highly militarized

Multiple Choice

What circumstances prevented the Portuguese from establishing a monopoly over the Asian spice trade?

(A) The Mughal and Ottoman navies were too strong(B) French traders offered too much competition(C) Portugal was a small nation and lacked the ships and

manpower needed to overcome Asian and European rivals(D) Access to the most profitable spices was controlled by the

Chinese

Multiple Choice

What Asian society witnessed the largest percentage of its population converted to Christianity?

(A) China(B) India(C) Japan(D) Philippines

Multiple Choice

The raw material with the broadest demand and highest price was(A) silk from China in the Middle East(B) cottons from India to the Middle East(C) bulk items, usually foodstuffs, exchanged among each of the main zones(D) spices from the East Indies

Multiple Choice

Following the defeat and expulsion of the Mongols from China,(A) Chinese manufacturing expanded further.(B) peasants were granted equality with the scholar-gentry and noble classes(C) China converted to Buddhism(D) the civil service exam system of the Mongols ended

Multiple Choice

In the 17th century, the Japanese dealt with the startling arrival of the Europeans to East Asia by

(A) allying with the Portuguese against the other Europeans(B) permitting the Jesuits to convert the Japanese to Christianity(C) permitting the Europeans to establish control over Japan’s

foreign trade(D) self-imposed isolated and forbidding most contact with

Europeans