CHAPTER 19 - An Age of Explorations and Isolation (1400-1800) - World History: Patterns of Interaction (Atlas by Rand McNally 2009)

CHAPTER 19.1: Europeans Explore the East

• Starting around 1100, European crusaders fought Muslims for control of the Holy Lands in Southwest Asia
• 1275: marco Polo reached the court of Kublai Khan in China
• Europeans mostly did not have interest/ability to explore foreign lands, changes by the 1400s
• Europeans wanted to grow rich/spread Christianity
• A desire for wealth/spread of religion along with advances in maritime technology spurred an age of exploration
• A desire for wealth was the main motive for exploration

• Merchants/traders hoped to benefit from the profitable trade of spices/other luxury goods from Asia

• After the Crusades, Europeans continued to demand such spices as nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon, and pepper
• Demand for these goods was greater than the supply, merchants could charge high prices and thus make great profits
• The Muslims/Italians controlled the trade of goods from East to West
• Muslims sold Asian goods to Italian merchants, who controlled trade across the land routes of the Mediterranean region
• Italian merchants resold the items at increased prices to merchants throughout Europe
• Other European traders didn’t like this arrangement because it severely cut into their own profits
• 1400s: European merchants, monarchs of England, Spain, Portugal, and France sought to bypass Italian merchants by finding a sea route directly to Asia
• There was still tension between Christians and Muslims after the Crusade

• European countries believed that they had a sacred duty not only to continue fighting Muslims, but also to convert non-Christians throughout the world

• European ships used to not be able to sail against the wind

• Triangular sails from the Arabs allowed to sail effectively against wind

• 1400s: shipbuilders built the caravel

• It was sturdier than most vessels

• Sailors used astrolabes

• An astrolabe is a brass circle w/ carefully adjusted rings marked off in degrees
• A sea captain could calculate latitude

• Explorers also used the magnetic compass, invented by the Chinese to more accurately track direction
• Portugal took the lead in overseas exploration in part due to strong government support
• The nation’s most enthusiastic supporter of exploration was Prince Henry, the son of Portugal’s king

• 1415: He helped conquer Ceuta in North Africa and saw the wealth from beyond Europe
• Prince Henry also wanted to spread Christianity

• 1419: Henry founded a navigation school on the southwestern coast of Portugal

• Mapmakers, instrument makers, shipbuilders, scientists, and sea captains gathered there to perfect their trade

• By the time Henry died in 1460, the Portuguese had established a series of trading posts along western Africa’s shores

• They traded with Africans for items such as gold/ivory
• Eventually, they traded for African captives to be used as slaves

• Bartolomeu Dias explored the southeast coast of Africa
• 1497: Vasco da Gama began exploring the east African coast
• 1498: He reached the port of Calicut on the southwestern coast of India/were amazed by the spices, silks, and gems that were in the shops
• 1499: They filled their ships with spices (pepper, cinnamon) and returned to Portugal
• Da Gama’s remarkable voyage of 27,000 miles had given Portugal a direct sea route to India
• As the Portuguese were establishing trade posts along the west coast of Africa, Spain also wanted to join in/find a direct sea route to Asia
• 1492: Christopher Columbus convinced Spain to finance a plan to find a route to Asia by sailing west across the Atlantic Ocean

• Columbus reached an island in the Caribbean/mistook it for the East Indies
• His voyage opened the way for European colonization of the Americas
• The immediate impact of Columbus’ voyage was to increase tensions b/t Spain/Portugal

• The Portuguese believed that Columbus had indeed reached Asia
• The rivalry between Spain and Portugal grew more tense
• 1493: Pope Alexander VI suggested an imaginary dividing line (north to south) through the Atlantic Ocean

• All lands to the west of the line, known as the Line of Demarcation, would be Spain’s (most of the Americas)
• All lands to the east of the line would belong to Portugal

• Portugal complained that the line gave too much to Spain so it was moved further west to include parts of present-day Brazil for Portugal
• 1494: Spain/Portugal signed the Treaty of Tordesillas, in which they agreed to honor the line
• In the years following da Gama’s voyage, Portugal built a bustling trading empire throughout the Indian Ocean
• The Portuguese gradually took control of the spice trade from Muslim merchants
• 1509: Portugal extended its control over the area when it defeated a Muslim fleet off the coast of India
• 1510: The Portuguese captured Goa, a port city on India’s west coast

• They made it the capital of their trading empire

• 1511: A Portuguese fleet attacked the city of Malacca on the west coast of the Malay Peninsula

• By doing so, the Portuguese seized control of the Strait of Malacca
• Seizing this waterway gave them control of the Moluccas

• These were islands so rich in spices that they became known as the Spice Islands

• 1514: Portugal strengthened its hold on the region by building a fort at Hormuz
• It established control of the Straits of Hormuz, connecting the Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea/helped stop Muslim traders from reaching India
• Portuguese merchants brought back goods from Asia at about 1/5 of what they cost when purchased through the Arabs/Italians

• As a result, more Europeans could afford these items

• Portugal’s success in Asia attracted the attention of other European nations
• As early as 1521, a Spanish expedition led by Ferdinand Magellan arrived in the Philippines
• Spain claimed the islands and began settling them in 1565
• By the early 1600s, the rest of Europe had begun to descend upon Asia

• They wanted to establish their own trade empires in the west

• Beginning around 1600, the English/Dutch began to challenge Portugal’s dominance over the Indian Ocean trade
• The Dutch Republic, (Netherlands), was a small country situated along the North Sea in northwestern Europe
• Since the early 1500s, Spain had ruled the area
• 1581: The people of the region declared their independence from Spain and established the Dutch Republic
• By 1600, the Dutch owned the largest fleet of ships in the world—20,000 vessels
• Pressure from Dutch and also English fleets eroded Portuguese control of the Asian region
• The Dutch and English then battled one another for dominance of the area
• Both countries had formed an East India Company to establish and direct trade throughout Asia

• These companies had the power to mint money, make treaties, and even raise their own armies

• The Dutch East India Company was richer and more powerful than England’s company

• As a result, the Dutch eventually drove out the English and established their dominance over the region

• 1619: The Dutch established their trading headquarters at Batavia on the island of Java

• They expanded west to conquer several nearby islands
• They seized Malacca/the Spice islands from Portugal

• Amsterdam (Netherlands capital) became a leading commercial center
• By 1700, the Dutch ruled much of Indonesia and had trading posts in several Asian countries

• They also controlled the Cape of Good Hope on the southern tip of Africa, which was used as a resupply stop

• By 1700 also, Britain/France had gained a foothold in the region
• The English East India Company focused much of its energy on establishing outposts in India since they failed to win control of the larger area
• There, the English developed a successful business trading Indian cloth in Europe
• 1664: France also entered the Asia trade with its own East India Company/faced continual attacks from the Dutch
• Eventually, the French company established an outpost in India in the 1720s but never showed much of a profit
• As the Europeans battled for a share of the profitable Indian Ocean trade, their influence inland in Southeast Asia remained limited
• European traders did take control of many port cities in the region but their impact rarely spread beyond the ports
• 1500-approx. 1800: The peoples of Asia remained largely unaffected by European contact

CHAPTER 19.2: China Limits European Contacts

• China had become the dominant power in Asia under the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644)
• Vassal states from Korea to Southeast Asia paid their Ming overlords regular tribute

• China expected Europeans to do the same

• Ming rulers were not going to allow outsiders from distant lands to threaten the peace/prosperity the Ming had brought to China when they ended Mongol rule
• 1368: Hongwu commanded the rebel army that drove the Mongols out of China

• He became the 1st Ming emperor/ruled from Nanjing
• Hongwu began reforms designed to restore agricultural lands devastated by war, erase traces of Mongol past, and promote China’s power/prosperity
• Hongwu’s agricultural reforms increased rice production and improved irrigation
• He also encouraged fish farming/growing commercial crops (cotton/sugar cane)

• Hongwu used respected traditions and institutions to bring stability to China/encouraged a Confucian return in moral standards

• He improved imperial administration by restoring the merit-based civil service examination system

• Hongwu became a ruthless tyrant later in his rule/conducted the purges of government officials suspecting plots against his rule
• Hongwu’s death in 1398 led to a power struggle and his son Yonglo emerged victorious
• Yonglo continued many of Hongwu’s policies, but moved the royal court to Beijing
• 1405: He launched the first of seven voyages of exploration in hopes that they would impress the world with Ming China’s power
• Zheng He, a Chinese Muslim admiral, led all seven of the voyages
• The voyages ranged from Southeast Asia to eastern Africa

• The crew included sailors, soldiers, carpenters, interpreters, accountants, doctors, and religious leaders

• Zheng He distributed gifts including silver/silk to show Chinese superiority

• As a result, more than 16 countries sent tribute to the Ming court

• Chinese scholar-officials complained that the voyages wasted valuable resources that could be used to defend against barbarians’ attacks on the northern frontier
• 1433: After the 7th voyage, China withdrew into isolation
• Only the government was to conduct foreign trade, and only through 3 coastal ports: Canton, Macao, and Ningbo
• Trade flourished up and down the coast
• Merchants smuggled cargoes of silk, porcelain, and other valuable goods out of the country to European merchants

• Usually, Europeans paid for purchases with silver, much of it from mines in the America

• Industries such as silk-making/ceramics grew rapidly and manufacturing/commerce increased
• China did not become highly industrialized for 2 main reasons:

• The idea of commerce offended China’s Confucian beliefs
• Chinese economic policies traditionally favored agriculture

• Taxes on agriculture stayed low while taxes on manufacturing/trade skyrocketed
• Christian missionaries accompanied European traders into China/brought Christianity/knowledge of European science & technology (ex. the clock)
• The first missionary to have an impact was an Italian Jesuit named Matteo Ricci

• He gained special favor at the Ming court through his intelligence/fluency in Chinese

• By 1600, the Ming had ruled for more than 200 years/the dynasty was weakening

• They had ineffective rulers, corrupt officials, and a government out of money
• Higher taxes/bad harvests pushed millions of peasants toward starvation

• 1644: the Manchus, the people of that region, invaded China/the Ming Dynasty collapsed

• The Manchus seized Beijing, and their leader became China’s new emperor

• The Manchus took a Chinese name for their dynasty, the Qing Dynasty
• They would rule for more than 260 years/expand China’s borders to include Taiwan, Chinese Central Asia, Mongolia, and Tibet
• Many Chinese resisted rule by the non-Chinese Manchus, rebellions happened periodically for decades
• The Manchus upheld China’s traditional Confucian beliefs/social structures

• They made the country’s frontiers safe and restored China’s prosperity

• Kangxi became emperor in 1661/ruled for some 60 years

• He reduced government expenses/lowered taxes
• Kangxi gained the support of intellectuals by offering them government positions/also enjoyed Jesuits in his court

• They told him about developments in science, medicine, and mathematics in Europe

• Under his grandson Qian-long, who ruled from 1736 to 1795, China reached its greatest size/prosperity
• Qian-long often rose at dawn to work on the empire’s problems, including armed nomads on its borders/expanding European presence/merchants in China
•  If foreign states wished to trade with China, they would have to follow Chinese rules

• This included trading only at special ports/paying tribute

• The Dutch accepted China’s restrictions/paid tribute to the emperor via gifts/performing the kowtow ritual
• As a result, the Chinese accepted the Dutch as trading partners

• The Dutch returned home with traditional porcelains and silk and tea

• Great Britain also wanted to increase trade with China but didn’t like their restrictions
• In the 1800s, the British, Dutch, and others would attempt to chip away at China’s trade restrictions until the empire itself began to crack
• In 1636, even before they came to power in China, the Manchus conquered nearby Korea and made it a vassal state

• Korea remained independent/existed in China’s shadow

• Koreans organized their government according to Confucian principles/adopted China’s technology, culture, including its isolation policy
• The Manchu invasion, combined with a Japanese attack in the 1590s, provoked strong feelings of nationalism in the Korean people

• This sentiment was most evident in their art

• During the Qing Dynasty, irrigation/fertilizer use increased
• Farmers grew rice/new crops, such as corn/sweet potatoes, brought by Europeans from the Americas
• As food production increased, nutrition improved and families expanded → a population explosion
• These expanded Chinese families favored sons over daughters

• Only a son was allowed to perform vital religious rituals
• A son would raise his own family under his parents’ roof, assuring aging parents of help with the farming

• As a result, females were not valued, and many female infants were killed
• Although men dominated the household and their wives, women had significant responsibilities

• They supervised the children’s education/managed the family’s finance
• Most women were forced to remain secluded in their homes, but some found outside jobs such as working as midwives/textile workers

• The culture of early modern China was based mainly on traditional forms

• The great masterpiece of traditional Chinese fiction was written during this period
• Dream of the Red Chamber by Cao Zhan examines upper class Manchu society in the 1700s
• Most artists of the time painted in traditional styles, which valued technique over creativity
•  In pottery, technical skill as well as experimentation led to the production of high-quality ceramics, including porcelain
• Drama was a popular entertainment, especially in rural China where literacy rates were low        

• Plays that presented Chinese history/cultural heroes entertained/helped unify Chinese society by creating a national culture

CHAPTER 19.3: Japan Returns to Isolation

• In 1467, civil war shattered Japan’s old feudal system
• Centralized rule ended/power went away from the shogun to territorial lords in hundreds of separate domains
• The Sengoku (“Warring States”) period lasted from 1467-1568 and was a violent era of disorder

• Powerful samurai seized control of old feudal estates
• Daimyo (“great name”) offered peasants/others protection in return for their loyalty

• Under this system, security came from this group of powerful warlords

• The emperor at Kyoto became a figurehead, having a leadership title but no actual power

• The new Japanese feudalism resembled European feudalism in many ways

• The daimyo built fortified castles/created small armies of samurai on horses
• Later they added foot soldiers with muskets
• Rival daimyo often fought each other for territory → led to disorder throughout the land

• 1568: Oda Nobunaga defeated his rivals and seized the imperial capital Kyoto
• Nobunaga sought to eliminate his remaining enemies

• This included rival daimyo/wealthy Buddhist monasteries aligned w/ them

• 1575: Nobunaga’s 3,000 soldiers armed with muskets crushed an enemy force of samurai cavalry

• This was the 1st time firearms had been effectively used in battle in Japan

• Nobunaga was not able to unify Japan

• He committed seppuku, the ritual suicide of a samurai after one of his own generals turned on him

• Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Nobunaga’s best general, set out to destroy the remaining hostile daimyo

•  By 1590, by combining brute force with shrewd political alliances, he controlled most of the country
• With the idea of eventually conquering China, he invaded Korea in 1592/began a long campaign against the Koreans/their Ming Chinese allies

• Hideyoshi died in 1598, his troops withdrew from Korea
• One of Hideyoshi’s strongest daimyo allies, Tokugawa Ieyasu completed the unification of Japan
• In 1600, Ieyasu defeated his rivals at the Battle of Sekigahara

• His victory earned him the loyalty of daimyo throughout Japan

• He then moved Japan’s capital to his power base at Edo, a small fishing village that would later become the city of Tokyo
• Japan was unified, but the daimyo still governed at the local level

• To keep them from rebelling, Ieyasu required that they spend every other year in the capital

• Even when they returned to their lands, they had to leave their families behind as hostages in Edo (alternate attendance policy)

• Through this, Ieyasu tamed the daimyo, which was a major step in restoring centralized govt to Japan
• Ieyasu founded the Tokugawa Shogunate, which would hold power until 1867
• Ieyasu died in 1616 and most Tokugawa shoguns brought a welcome order to Japan
• Farmers produced more food, and the population rose under the Tokugawa shoguns

• The majority of peasants were weighed down by heavy taxes/were miserable

• The people who prospered in Tokugawa society were the merchant class/the wealthy
• The emperor had the top rank but was just a figurehead

• The actual ruler was the shogun, who was the supreme military commander
• Below him were the daimyo
• Samurai warriors came next, with peasants/artisans following them

• Peasants made up about ⅘ of the population
• Merchants were at the bottom but gradually became more important as the Japanese economy expanded
• Confucian values influenced ideas about society

• Farmers, not merchants, made ideal citizens

• However, peasant farmers bore the main tax burden/faced more difficulties than any other class

• Many of them abandoned farm life and headed for the expanding towns and cities, in which they mixed w/ samurais, artisans, and merchants

• By the mid-1700s, Japan began to shift from a rural to an urban society
•  Edo had grown from a small village in 1600 to perhaps the largest city in the world (more than 1 million in population)
•  The rise of large commercial centers also increased employment opportunities for women

• Women found jobs in entertainment, textile manufacturing, and publishing
• The majority of Japanese women led sheltered and restricted lives as peasant wives
• They worked in the fields, managed the household, cared for the children, and each woman obeyed her husband without question

• Samurai attended ceremonial noh dramas, which were based on tragic themes
•  In their homes, they hung paintings that showed scenes from classical literature
• But traditional entertainment faced competition in the cities from new styles of literature, drama, and art
• The people also read haiku, a 5-7-5 syllable, 3-line verse of poetry

• This poetry presents images rather than ideas

• Townspeople also attended kabuki theater, in which actors in elaborate costumes, using music, dance, and mime, performed skits about modern life
• The paintings the people enjoyed were often woodblock prints showing city life
• Europeans began coming to Japan in the 16th century during the Sengoku period

• Despite the severe disorder in the country, the Japanese welcomed traders and missionaries, from Portugal and, later, other European countries

• The Japanese first encountered Europeans in 1543, when shipwrecked Portuguese sailors washed up on the shores of southern Japan

• Portuguese merchants soon followed/hoped to involve themselves w/ Japan’s trade w/ China/Southeast Asia

•  The Portuguese brought clocks, eyeglasses, tobacco, firearms, and other unfamiliar items from Europe
• Japanese people were eager to expand their markets
• Daimyo were interested in Portuguese muskets/cannons because of the desire to have an advantage of their rivals
• The Japanese purchased weapons from the Portuguese and soon began their own production

•  Firearms forever changed the time-honored tradition of the Japanese warrior, whose principal weapon had been the sword

• Some daimyo recruited and trained corps of peasants to use muskets
• The cannon also had a huge impact on warfare and life in Japan

• Daimyo had to build fortified castles to withstand cannonfire
• The castles attracted merchants, artisans, and others to surrounding lands
• Many of these lands were to grow into the towns/cities of modern Japan, including Edo (Tokyo), Osaka, Himeji, and Nagoya

• 1549: Christian missionaries began arriving in Japan

• The Japanese accepted the missionaries partly because they associated them w/ muskets/other European goods that they wanted to buy
• Jesuits, Franciscans, and Dominicans came to convert the Japanese

• Francis Xavier, a Jesuit, led the first mission to Japan

• Francis Xavier baptized about a hundred converts before he left Japan

• By the year 1600, other European missionaries had converted about 300,000 Japanese to Christianity
• The success of the missionaries upset Tokugawa Ieyasu

• Missionaries scorned traditional Japanese beliefs/sometimes involved themselves in local politics
• He feared driving off the Portuguese, English, Spanish, and Dutch traders who spurred Japan’s economy

• By 1612, however, the shogun had come to fear religious uprisings more

• He banned Christianity/focused on getting rid of Christians

• Ieyasu died in 1616, but repression of Christianity continued off and on for the next two decades under his successors
• 1637: Uprising in Japan of 30,000 peasants, led by dissatisfied samurai shook the shogunate

• Because so many of the rebels were Christian, the shogun decided that Christianity was at the root of the rebellion
• After that, the shoguns persecuted Christians
• European missionaries were killed or driven out of Japan

• All Japanese were forced to demonstrate faithfulness to some branch of Buddhism
• These policies eventually eliminated Christianity in Japan →  to the formation of an exclusion policy
• As time passed, the Tokugawa shoguns realized that they could safely exclude both the missionaries and the merchants
• By 1639, they had sealed Japan’s borders and instituted a “closed country policy.” (sakoku)
• Most commercial contacts with Europeans ended
• One port, Nagasaki, remained open to foreign traders with only Dutch/Chinese access
• Earlier, the English had left Japan voluntarily; the Spanish and the Portuguese had been expelled
• Since the Tokugawa shoguns controlled Nagasaki, they now had a monopoly on foreign trade, which continued to be profitable
• For more than 200 years, Japan remained basically closed to Europeans
• The Japanese were forbidden to leave, so as not to bring back foreign ideas
• Japan would continue to develop, but as a self-sufficient country, free from European attempts to colonize or to establish their presence