The Silk Road and Chinaand

Southeast Asia

HIST 100711/25/13

The Silk Road

Silk? Road?

• Not just a single road – Networks• Not just a single commodity• Standard of Ur – Lapis Road

Han Empire (202BCE-220CE)

Zhang Jian

• Han General• 128BCE – Expedition beyond Tarim Basin,

Taklamakan Desert, and Tian Shan mountains

Zhang Jian

• Ferghana Valley• Alfalfa, wine grapes, pistachios, walnuts,

pomegranates, sesame, coriander, and spinach.

• Horses!

The Silk Road

• Turkmen and the Bactrian Camel• Soghdia• Parthian Empire (r. 247BCE-225CE)• Silk Road or Horse Road?

But Why Silk?

• Silk Diplomacy• Sumptuary Laws• Invest – “to clothe”

Silk Road and Islam• Conversion of the Turks• Qarakhanids (r. 840-1212) – Steppe Turks who converted

to Islam, conquer Samanids• Encourage conversion of the Turks• Shakyh Ahmad al-Yasavi (d. 1166) – Naqshbandi Sufi who spread Islam among nomadic peoples of modern Kazakhstan

Mausoleum of Ahmad al-Yasavi, Turkestan, Kazakhstan

Islam on the Steppes

• Islam as part of popular identity• Islam not a part of social organization– Family, clan, confederation (horde)

• Urban centers saw state organized religion• Syncretism– Sufis replace shaman– Jinn replace spirit gods– Quranic amulets

• Poets and storytellers preserve older traditions

Islam on the Steppes• Islamic identity used to reinforce membership in coalition• Golden Horde or Ulus of Jochi (1240s-1502)• Uzbek Khan (r. 1313-1340): Makes Islam official religion• 15th century – breakdown of Golden Horde• Uzbek and Kazakh “nations”• Tatars – Muslim Volga Bulgars and Qipchaqs• 16th-18th centuries – Russian conquest and colonization, forced conversion

15th century Tatar mosque in Kasimov, Russia

Shaybanid Empire (r. 1500-1598)• Turko-Persian empire?

– Uzbek ruling family– Persian administration– Islamic religious institutions– Turkic uymaqs

• Centered on control of Silk Road trading entrepots (Bukhara, Samarqand, etc.)• Khalifat al-rahman – Lieutenant of the Merciful God• Imam al-zaman – Ruler of the Age

Muhammad Shaybani (r. 1500-1510) and his yurt

Shaybanid Empire• Decline of the steppe• Safavid Shi’ism vs. Shaybanid Sunnism and Naqshbandism

– Loss of trade with Iran• Russian expansion on the steppe

– Loss of trade with Russia, Eastern Europe, and Scandinavia• European maritime trade in Indian Ocean and China

– Loss of European market for overland trade

• Uymaq independence• Return of Central Asian city-states

Eastern Turkestan• Tarim Basin• Chagatay Khanate (r. 1225-1687) – Muslim, but held nominal

authority• Khwajas – Sufi masters who claim descent from Muhammad

and Chinggiz Khan• 15th century – mosques and Muslim communities appear along trade routes deep into China• Travels with Turkic languages

Id Kah Mosque, Kashgar, China

Islam and Buddhism• Dzungarian Confederation – Tibetan Lamaist Buddhist

Oirat Mongols• 1368 – End of Mongol rule in China• Mongols pushed out of China• Buddhist Oirats and Muslim Chagatay compete in Tarim Basin• 1759 – China invades Tarim Basin in order to pacify frontier

Buddhist inscriptions in Almaty, Kazakhstan

Islam in China

• 8th century – Arab officials and merchants in Canton• Yuan Dynasty (r. 1271-1368) – importation of

Muslim administrators from greater Mongol world• Primarily settled in northwestern China, along Silk

Road routes• Separate independent Muslim quarters under shaykh al-Islam and Muslim judges

Great Mosque of Xian, oldest mosque in China, built in 742

Is Islam an Ethnicity?• Ming Dynasty (r. 1368-1644)• Attempt to establish Chinese identity after Mongol rule• Hui – Chinese Muslims

– Assimilated foreign Muslims– Chinese converts to Islam

• Adoption of Chinese language, names, manners, clothes, etc.• Reconcile Islam with Confucianism and Chinese culture

Jinjue Mosque (Pure Enlightenment Mosque),Nanjing, China, built by the Hongwu Emperor (r. 1368-1398)

The Indian Ocean

Blue and White Pocelain

Monsoons

Highly predictable

Seasonal shifts in winds

Sailing the Indian Ocean

Chinese JunkMing era junk shown in comparison to contemporary Spanish caravel.

Arab Dhow

Decentralization and Cooperation

Swahili Coast

Aden

Gujarat andMalabar Coast

Malacca

Trade and the Spread of Islam

Southeast Asia before Islam• Rice agriculture• Indian Ocean trade• Small kingdoms built on control of agricultural land• Cultural influence from India, including Hinduism and

Buddhism• Srivijaya Kingdom (r. 650-1377) – controls Malacca Straits, master of maritime trade to China

Borobudur, Buddhist TempleJava, Indonesia

Trade and Religion

• 1400-1700 – Indian Ocean trade spreads universalist religions throughout SE Asia

• Islam – Indonesia and Malaysia• Confucianism – Vietnam• Buddhism – Mainland SE Asia• Christianity – Philippines

Angkor Wat, Cambodia

Spread of Islam• Difficult to identify• 1292 – Marco Polo reports Muslim community in Sumatra• 1297 – tomb of Sultan Malik al-Salih in Perlak• 1345-46 – Ibn Battuta visits Muslim community in Samudra• ca. 1400 – Iskander Shah (Parameswara) founds Sultanate of Malacca

Palace of Malacca Sultans