World History:The Earth and its Peoples

Chapter 20

Eurasia,

1500-1800

Objectives

• Understand the roles of the Jesuits and the East India Companies in the development of cultural exchange and trade between Europe and Eastern Eurasia.

• Be able to use the concept of “land-based empires” to analyze the territorial expansion, the economic and political structures, and the foreign relations of the Russian and Qing empires.

• Be able to describe the causes and symptoms of the decline of the Qing state in the eighteenth century.

• Be able to describe the Tokugawa political system and explain why and how the decentralized political structure contributed simultaneously to economic growth and the weakening of the Tokugawa state.

Eastern Eurasia, 1500-1800

Eurasian Patterns– no central rule– weakening of overland trade– advent of seaborne trade

• Land–Based Empires– Ottoman, Mughal, Russian, Ming

• emphasis on agriculture– forced labor, serfdom

• political centralization– disadvantage to sea-based

• European Influence– Society of Jesus (Jesuits)

• missionaries– Matteo Ricci (1552-1610)

• European technology

The Russian Empire

Muscovite Princes– Moscow– Ivan IV – 1547

• tsar– removal of Golden Horde– “Time of Troubles”

• Sweden, Poland, Ottomans• replacement of Princes• Mikhail Romanov

– boyar– consolidation and competition

Russian Culture– Slavic (Russian) and Turkic– Cossacks

• Turkic word – ‘warrior’• Turks, E. Europeans, Mongols• defended western frontier

The Russian Empire

Peter the Great – 1689-1725– Black Sea port, Christianity– ‘Great Northern War’ – 1700-21

• Baltic Sea access• European recognition

– St. Petersburg – 1712• “window on the West”• strengthen state / autocracy

– Political autocracy• boyars, church, peasants

– serfdom

• Eastern Push– less threat in west– Mongolia / Siberia / Pacific

• fur trade• natural resources

– timber, precious metals

Ming and Qing Empires, 1500-1800

Late Ming - 1500-1644• Strengths

– silk, furniture, porcelain• Portuguese and Dutch

– tributary status– vast population (100M)

• Weaknesses– climate change

• famine and disease• external pressure

– Mongolia– Manchus

» Japan in Korea - 1582

– ‘silver’ inflation• uprisings• 1644 rebellion

Ming and Qing Empires, 1500-1800

Qing Empire - 1644-1783– Manchus

• minority rule• Taiwan, C. Asia (Tibet)

• Kangxi - 1662-1722– Russian struggles– Treaty of Nerchinsk - 1689

• Amur River border– Mongolia - 1691– Jesuit influence - 1600s

• Confucian ancestor worship• two-way influence

– variolation

• Qianlong - 1736-1796

Amur River

Ming and Qing Empires, 1500-1800

European Thirst– Luxury items

• tea, silk, porcelain, wallpaper– political philosophy

• benevolent despots– limitless profit potential

• EIC

Chinese Trade– imperial control

• taxation; limit piracy• kowtow (VOC)

– “the Canton system”• Portugal, Holland, England

– Macartney mission - 1793• open trade with G. Britain

– negative European reaction

Ming and Qing Empires, 1500-1800

Qing Stresses– rising population

• 400M by 1700• stagnant agriculture

– deforestation• erosion• Grand Canal

– localized misery• migration

• failure to adapt to changes– local elites– corruption

• shrinking revenues– land-based empires

• maintenance costs

Tokugawa Japan to 1800

Shogunates - 1200-1500– little centralized rule

• Tokugawa Shogunate - 1600– relative peace– land grants for support

• daimyo– rice– samurai

– emperor as figurehead• Edo to Kyoto traffic• urban centers for trade

– Shogun responses• samurai

– economic well being• merchants

– control prices

Outer Lords (Daimyos)

Tokugawa Japan to 1800

Merchant Class– rise in wealth

• alliances with daimyo– key to industrial transformation

Isolation– Jesuits

• mixed response– few converts (farmers)

• peasant revolts– Christian blame

• closing of country - 1649– prevent outside influences– “Dutch studies”– Effect

• ignored by some daimyos– ‘outer’ lords

Tokugawa Japan to 1800

Instability– ‘outer’ lord sea trade– population growth– increasing rice prices– samurai economic decline

• debt to merchants

• Shogunate Power– rested on daimyo / samurai

health– traditional land-based response

• Confucian ideals– decentralized government

• little economic control

• Military to Civil Society– “Forty-seven Ronin” - 1702