Chapter 14 & 15: Tradition and Change in East Asia, Empires in South and Southwest Asia

Ming Dynasty

Name of dynasty meaning “Brilliant”. A Chinese Dynasty after the Mongol Yuan Dynasty. Restored Han Chinese rule to China. Built a tightly centralized state.

Hongwu

Founder of the Ming Dynasty

Eunuchs

Servants to the Chinese emperor. Valued as loyal servants who could be trusted.

Yongle

The second Ming Emperor, launched a series of naval expeditions to promote China’s glory.

Great Wall of China

A wall built in China. Came from a determination to prevent new invasions.

Movement Of Chinese Capital

The capital moved to Nanking from Beijing to keep close watch to potential invaders.

Ming Decline

Began with pirates and smugglers raiding the east coast. They were unable to be quelled for 40 years due to political trouble. This came about because the emperors were not involved with state affairs.

Ming Collapse

A series of famines struck China, with the government unable to coordinate relief efforts. Then, peasant revolts began a long with Manchu invaders from the north.

Qing Dynasty

The Chinese dynasty that lasted until 1911, and replaced the Ming Dynasty. Founded by the Manchu peoples, who were nomads.

Nurhaci

A ambitious Manchu chieftain who centralized the Manchu tribes. He also established a code of laws and a powerful military.

Kangxi

A former confucian scholar, who was a Qing emperor. His reign was mainly based on confucian principles. He also conquered the island of Taiwan.

Qianlong

Kangxi’s grandson, his reign marked the height of the Qing Dynasty. Under his reign, the imperial treasury amassed so much wealth, tax collection was cancelled 4 times. Started the delegation of imperial affairs to eunuchs.

Son of Heaven

Another title of the emperor, meaning that they had divine powers to maintain order on earth.

Analects of Confucius

The confucian textbook used in Civil Service Exams.

Civil Service Exams

Exams used to test scholar-bureaucrats, were extremely difficult.

Filial Piety

A principle of Confucianism. The idea that the duties of children towards their parents and loyalty of subjects to the emperor is necessary.

Foot Binding

A process where the feet of women were bound to make them small and dainty. This was a way to show off wealth, and degrade women.

Introduction of American Food Crops to China

Crops such as corn, sweet potatoes, and peanuts allowed the Chinese farmers to support rapid population growth.

Trade to Southeast Asia

The Chinese were linked to the Americas through Manila galleons, made of American Silver. Much of that silver also came from Japan.

Education In China

Revolved around Confucian principles, but demographic changes and urban growth reintroduced Christianity to the region.

Hanlin Academy

A center of Confucian Research, in Beijing.

Popular Novels in Qing China

The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, A novel that explored politics after the fall of the Han, The Dream of the Red Chamber, A story of two cousins who were not allowed to marry, and Journey to the West which explored the the 7th century journey to India by Xuanzang.

Jesuits

A Roman Catholic order of priests and brothers founded half a millennium ago by the soldier-turned-mystic Ignatius Loyola.

Matteo Ricci

An Italian Jesuit priest and one of the founding figures of the Jesuit China missions. He created the Kunyu Wanguo Quantu, a 1602 map of the world written in Chinese characters.

Tokugawa Shogunate in Japan

The shogunate sought to lay a foundation for political and social stability, much like the Ming and Qing emperors.

Shogun

A military governor who ruled Japan through Retainers. They were considered as a stand-in for the emperor.

Retainers

Governors of certain Japanese provinces, received political rights and large estates in exchange for military services.

Sengoku

Japanese for “the country at war“, Japanese Civil War

Tokugawa Ieyasu

The founder and first shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan, which ruled from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was one of the three "Great Unifiers" of Japan, along with his former lord Oda Nobunaga and fellow Oda subordinate Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Established the bakufu, and tried to control Daimyo.

Bakufu

Japanese tent government, because in theory, it was a temporary government.

Daimyo

Powerful territorial landlords who ruled most of Japan thru their vast territorial holdings.

Ukiyo

The centers of Tokugawa urban culture, where the rules were much less strict.

Kabuki

A classical form of Japanese theatre, mixing dramatic performance with traditional dance. Known for its heavily stylised performances, its glamorous, highly decorated costumes, and for the elaborate kumadori make-up worn by some of its performers.

Bunraku

A form of traditional Japanese puppet theatre, founded in Osaka in the beginning of the 17th century, which is still performed in the modern day.

Francis Xavier

A Jesuit missionary that traveled to Japan, established a successful mission to convert the Japanese

Christovao Ferreira

The Portuguese head of the Japanese mission, who was forced to give up his faith and convert to Buddhism.

Dutch Learning

Concentrated effort by Japanese scholars during the Tokugawa period to learn the Dutch language so as to be able to learn Western technology; the term later became synonymous with Western scientific learning in general.

Distinguishment of the Gunpowder Empires

• The Ottomans ruled over a large multi ethnic population.

• The Safavids were the only Shia Muslim Empire at the time.

• The Mughals ruled over a vast Hindu majority population.

Osman Bey

The founder of the Ottoman Empire, was a ghazi

Ghazi

Muslim religious warriors, fought against non believers

Ottoman Expansion

Were able to expand quickly due to proximity with the Byzantine Empire and because of gunpowder. Eventually take over parts of African and the Byzantine Empire.

Devshirme

A program that took kidnapped Christian boys and trained them to work for the Ottomans.

Jannisaries

Children recruited through the Devshirme system, trained to be soldiers.

Mehmed the Conqueror

An Ottoman sultan who ruled first for a short time. He captured Constantinople and conquered the territories in Anatolia and the Balkans that constituted the Ottoman Empire's heartland for the next four centuries.

Suleyman the Magnificent

The 10th Sultan from the Osman House. To the Islamic people he was known as "the Lawgiver", along with "the Magnificent." He was a great patron of the artists, and also supported philosophers as well. Was also known to be an Islamic poet as well as an talented goldsmith.

Jahangir

The ruler of the Mughal Empire of Pakistan and India from 1605 until his death in 1627. He was the son of Emperor Akbar and the father of Emperor Shah Jahan. At birth, he was named Nur-ud-Din Muhammad Selim, but he renamed himself upon ascending to the throne. Besides being a patron of the arts and a generous husband (to his many wives), He was a skilled military man.

Kanun

Refers to a set of laws or legal codes used in the Ottoman Empire and some other Islamic societies. It was distinct from Sharia, which is based on Islamic law. Covered various aspects of daily life, including criminal law, taxation, and land ownership, and was often enacted by the sultan to address specific issues or needs of the state. It played a crucial role in the administration and governance of the empire.

Agriculture in gunpowder empires

They relied mainly on wheat and rice. Eventually, European merchants introduced maize, potatoes, and tomatoes. Potatoes and tomatoes were used as dietary supplements, while maize was used as animal feed.

Introduction of Tobacco to the Ottoman Empire

Introduced around 1600, through trade. Went through many attempts to ban this item. Originally marketed with health benefits.