Chapter 28 Outline
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Asian Transitions in an Age of Global Change
Vasco da Gama's voyages into the Indian Ocean opened up Asia for European commercial development through the control of the sea. Not sufficiently powerful to conquer the great Asian civilizations, the European nations fit themselves relatively peacefully into the Asian commercial network. European nations worked along the interstices of Asian civilizations and introduced little external change. When the Europeans posed a threat, the Asian civilizations isolated themselves from the West. Vasco da Gama's initial trip to India revealed one of the most problematic aspects of European trade with Asia, which was that Asian merchants were interested in little from Europe other than bullion. The Portuguese also discovered that Muslim rivals had already established themselves within the Asian markets. One weakness was also discovered. The Asian and Muslim raiders were politically divided. The Asian trading network was composed of three main zones: an Arab zone in the west based on carpets, tapestry and glass; an Indian zone in the center based on cotton textiles; and a Chinese zone to the east based on silks, paper, and porcelain. On the fringes of the system lay Japan, the Southeast Asian islands, and East Africa. The most valued of the raw materials within the system were spices, which were traded over great distances. Less valuable products were normally exchanged within each of the subordinate zones. Because much of the trade was carried along the coasts, it tended to concentrate in certain well-defined ocean straits. These geographical features -- the mouth of the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf, and the Straits of Malacca -- the Portuguese rapidly discovered. No single power controlled the Asian trading network, and military force was virtually absent. The Portuguese rapidly decided that exportation of bullion to Asian markets was not desirable and that force could obtain what peaceful trade could not. No Asian fleets were prepared to defend the trading network against European power. The Portuguese defeated a combined Egyptian and Indian naval force at Diu in 1509. It was the last Asian attempt to halt European naval depredations. After 1507, the Portuguese began a program of capturing towns and building fortifications at strategic points along the commercial network. Such fortified trading centers included Ormuz at the mouth of the Persian Gulf, Goa on the western coast of India, and Malacca on the Malaysian peninsula. The Portuguese sought to establish a monopoly over key trade items within the Asian system, particularly spices. In addition to a trade monopoly over critical commodities, the Portuguese attempted with less success to license all ships trading in the Indian Ocean. The Portuguese were never able to enforce their monopoly schemes. Corruption, lack of numbers, and resistance among Asian peoples weakened the system. In the seventeenth century, the Dutch and English penetrated the Asian trade system. Initially, the Dutch were more successful. The Dutch captured the Portuguese fort at Malacca and built a new trade post at Batavia on the island of Java in 1620. The English lost the struggle to dominate the spice trade and were forced to retreat to India. Like the Portuguese, the Dutch trade empire consisted of fortified trading centers, warships, and control of the spice trade. More successful than the Portuguese, the Dutch still abandoned forcible monopolization in favor of peaceful incorporation into the Asian trade system. The British adopted the Dutch approach to Asian trade. Once away from the sea, the European military advantage rapidly dissipated. Large Asian populations minimized the European technological edge. On the Asian islands, however, Europeans attempted to extend their control inland from the coastal fortifications. On Ceylon and Java, the Dutch were able to reduce local rulers to subservience. In the 1560s, the Spanish invaded the northern islands of the Philippines, but failed to conquer the more unified southern island of Mindanao. In cases where Europeans penetrated inland, they permitted indigenous governments to remain in return for payment of tribute. Tribute was normally calculated in agricultural products, often produced under conditions of coerced labor. The spread of Roman Catholicism was part of the Portuguese and Spanish approach to colonization. Because Islamic missionaries had already appeared in much of Southeast Asia prior to the European arrival, the Iberian powers enjoyed limited success in converting local populations. The only region where wholesale conversion occurred was on the northern islands of the Philippines. Friars sent to convert the indigenous population of the northern Philippines both governed and exposed the Filipinos to Western culture. While many Filipinos were technically converted to Catholicism, they often retained traditional beliefs. The Europeans developed several new routes for the Asian trade network, built trading posts and fortifications, and introduced the principles of sea warfare, which was later abandoned in favor of more peaceful approaches to controlling trade. There were relatively few cultural exchanges. Europeans did introduce New World crops into Asia after 1600, but little else of value was disseminated from one culture to the other. Zhu Yuanzhang, a peasant, led the armies that overthrew the last of the Mongol Yuan dynasty. In 1368, he declared himself the first emperor of the Ming dynasty. As the Hongwu emperor, he attempted to remove all cultural traces of the Mongol period in Chinese history. The Hongwu emperor restored the social and political dominance of the scholar-gentry. He ordered the civil examination system restored. The examinations became more important than ever before in determining entry into the imperial administration. A tiered system of examinations determined entry into the various levels of the bureaucracy from prefectural to imperial. Those who passed the most difficult imperial exams were the most highly respected of all Chinese. Hongwu abolished the post of chief minister and transferred the formidable powers of this official to the emperor. He instituted public beatings for ministers or bureaucrats found guilty of corruption. To end court factionalism, the emperor declared that wives could only come from humble families and sought to limit the influence and numbers of eunuchs. Certain authors, such as Mencius, were stricken from the imperial exams. Hongwu attempted to support public works to make more lands available to the peasantry and to reduce labor demands. Imperial reforms were offset by the growing power of regional landlords, particularly those who belonged to the scholar- gentry. As the gentry began to control much of the land, the gap between them and the peasantry widened. The Confucian social hierarchy was reinforced under the influence of the Ming scholars. Women continued to have subordinate positions in Chinese society. At the court, women continued to exercise some influence behind the scenes, but most women had little status or respect accorded them. Avenues for escape from labor in the fields were limited to becoming courtesans or entertainers. During the early period of the Ming dynasty, the commercial prosperity and population increase that had typified the Tang and Song periods continued. New food crops from the Americas supported rapid population growth. Both the internal market of China and overseas connections increased during the early Ming period. As a producer of luxury products, China's trade balance with Europe and the rest of Asia was positive. Trade with foreigners was limited to the ports of Macao and Canton. Despite the growth of trade, most commercial profits went to the state in taxes or were invested in land. Ming prosperity was reflected in patronage of the fine arts, which flourished during the dynasty. During this epoch, Chinese authors introduced the novel to literary genres. During the reign of the third Ming emperor, an imperial eunuch, Zhenghe, led seven major commercial and diplomatic expeditions overseas. The expeditions reached as far away as Persia, Arabia, and Africa. In fact, despite the adventuresome nature of the voyages, they produced little of significance. The scholar-gentry argued that the minimal profits did not justify the expense. The voyages were abandoned in the 1430s. By 1390, the Chinese had begun to embark on an official policy of isolation from the rest of the world. As the Chinese withdrew, the Europeans sought greater access to the Middle Kingdom. Christian missionaries attempted to move from the coastal regions to the imperial court. In particular, the Jesuits hoped to convert China by making inroads within the imperial family. The Jesuits who sought to penetrate the imperial court were aware that scientific and technological knowledge were more highly prized than religious theology. In the sixteenth century, Matteo Ricci and Adam Schall maintained themselves at the court through scientific contributions. Most members of the imperial bureaucracy remained hostile to external cultural influences, including the missionaries. When the Ming were overthrown, a few Jesuits were able to keep their precarious position at the imperial court. By the late 1500s, the Ming were in obvious dynastic decline. Under mediocre rulers, the more centralized government structure of the Ming foundered. The deterioration of necessary public works led to widespread famine in China. Despite the problems, the gentry's stranglehold on land was tightened. The Ming bureaucracy was unable to halt internal disorder or Japanese piracy along the coast. Rebel forces overthrew the last Ming emperor in 1644. Without a stable imperial government, China was vulnerable to external attack. The Manchus seized power under Nurhaci and established the Qing dynasty. The centralization of Japan began when Nobunaga, one of the regional daimyo lords, successfully unified central Honshu prior to his assassination in 1582. Nobunaga deposed the last of the Ashikaga shoguns in 1573. Nobunaga's most successful general, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, continued to break the power of other daimyos. By 1590, he became the military overlord of a united Japan. Campaigns launched against Korea were less successful. Following Hideyoshi's death in 1598, the position of military overlord was taken by Tokugawa Ieyasu. In 1603, the emperor granted Ieyasu the title of shogun. The new shogun curtailed daimyo independence and imposed political unity. After 1543, Europeans attempted to enlarge their presence in Japan. European traders and missionaries brought cultural change and firearms to the island. The importation of modern weapons revolutionized the civil struggles among the daimyos. Increased commercial contact also drew the Japanese into wider experience in the Asian trade system. Particularly during the period of Nobunaga's dominance, Christianity spread in Japan. Christian acceptance began to diminish following Nobunaga's assassination. Alarmed by the potential threat to the Japanese social hierarchy, Hideyoshi proved less amenable to the spread of Christianity. Official measures to halt foreign activities in Japan commenced in the 1580s. By the 1590s, Hideyoshi began active persecution of Christians. Persecution continued during the Tokugawa shogunate, and the religion was banned totally in 1614. Christianity was successfully reduced to the status of a minor, underground faith. Ieyasu sought even greater isolation from European cultural influences. By the 1640s, foreign contact was limited to a few Dutch and Chinese ships permitted to dock at the port of Deshima in Nagasaki Bay. Western books were banned. By the eighteenth century, even Confucianism began to be replaced by the school of "National Learning." The school placed greatest emphasis on indigenous Japanese culture. Members of the Japanese elite, however, continued to keep track of Western innovations through the Dutch community at Deshima. As a result, the Japanese were aware of the technological sophistication of the West, when demands came to open Japan in the 1850s. In China and Japan, the West's introduction in the early modern period was brief and largely inconsequential. Trade restrictions and the elimination of Christian influences limited European contacts. Change in these societies was largely generated by internal forces. Even in the Asian archipelagoes, where European commercial intervention was more significant, indigenous elites continued to exist and cultural change was minimal.
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