History week 4 journal entry

Political and Cultural Consolidation in Asia History 111 – World History since 1500

Spring 2022

Jorge Minella ([email protected])

Variety of Situations (late 15th century)

 Russia: expanding from Moscow.

 China: vast, populous, sophisticated.

 Japan: fractured among feuding warlords.

 Korea: small but unified.

 Southeast Asia: neo-Confucianism influences.

Common Trends – 16th

to 18th centuries.

 Population growth.

 Commercial expansion.

 Political consolidation.

 Cultural florescence.

 Weaker links to the outside world.

Pine, Plum and Cranes, 1759, by Shen Quan (1682–1760). Patronage of the arts was common in Qing China.

The Philippines

 Regional exception.

 No dynastic rulers; No religious or ethical unifying traditions.

 Small kin-based rival communities.

 Conquered by Spain in the 1560s.

 Became a trade hub for Spanish- Chinese trade.

Russian Political Consolidation and Expansion

Moscow in the 1450s

 Grand Duchy of Moscow.

 Impacted by the Fall of Constantinople.

 Orthodox Church key to Russian History.

 11th century – East-West Schism.

Ivan, the Great (1462-1505)

 Nobility + Orthodox Religious Authorities.

 United to expand the Orthodox domain.

 Prince Ivan III.

 Expanded toward the Baltic sea.

 Trade opportunities.

 Gunpowder weapons.

Ivan, the Terrible (1533-1584)

 Expansion toward northern Asia.  Siberian fur trade.

 Reforms.

 Conflict with the nobility.

 Foreign wars.

Nocolai Nevrev’s 1870s depiction of Ivan’s conflictive relations with the nobility.

Time of Troubles, 1584-1613

 Famine, disease, military defeat, social unrest.

 Polish invasion.

 Religious undertone: Catholic vs. Orthodox.

 Orthodox religion united the Russians.

 Nobility, merchants, peasantry against the Polish.

Konstantin Makovsky's Appeal of Minin (1896), depicting the appeal to form a militia against the Polish.

The Romanov Dynasty

 Political stability restored.

 Western European culture assimilation.

 Investment in the military.

 Resumed eastward expansion.

 Trade of fur and timber.

Russia in the 1750s

 Vast territory.

 Merchant class in the larger cities.

 Religious unity.

 Westernized military and elite culture.

 Majority of Russians remained under serfdom; little social change.

Transition and Growth in China

Ming China (1368- 1644)

 Population growth.

 Intensive agriculture.

 Vast water and transportation infrastructure.

 Materially and culturally self- sufficient empire.

Ming China in 1415

China and Silver

 Wanli’s late sixteenth century tax reform.

 High demand for silver.

 Trade of silk and porcelain.

Ming Decline

 Severe droughts.

 Regional famine and local unrest.

 Court intrigues undermined stability.

 Major peasant rebellion.

 Beijing controlled by Manchu troops.

Qing China

 Qing Dynasty (1644-1911)

 Manchu ethnic group, minority in China.

 Smooth transition from Ming to Qing rule.

 Qing dynasty maintained distinctive identity.

 But also maintained overall policy.

Qing Expansion

 Territorial expansion.

 Adoption of western gunpowder technology.

 Self-sufficiency still preserved.

Emperor Kangxi (1661-1722), by an Anonymous Qing Dynasty Court Painter.

Unification and Isolation in Japan

Fragmented Japan

 Fragmented territory.

 Ruled by Daimyos (landlords with military power).

 Samurais.

 Disputes among competing Daimyos.

Tokugawa Ieyasu

 Former samurai turned Daimyo.

 Turned shogun in 1603.

 Started a unification process.

 Some daimyos adhered to Tokugawa.

 Others were militarily defeated.

 Tokugawa shogunate would last until 1867.

Japan’s Seventeenth Century Isolation

 Rejected European influence.

 Problem with Christian missionaries’ religious intolerance.

 Distrust European intentions (example of the Philippines).

 Some ties with China and Korea.

Effects of Peace

 Population growth.

 Cities became thriving cultural centers and meeting points.

 Leisure activities.

 High literacy and circulation of written material.

 Formation of a national culture.

"View of Edo" (Edo zu) pair of six- panel folding screens (17th century) – Current-day Tokyo.

Concluding Remarks

 Russia, China, Japan.

 Ties to the outside existed but were less relevant.

 Japan: isolation.

 Russia: expansionism and limited interaction.

 China: silver trade, otherwise self-sufficiency.

 Outside world not as relevant as in West Africa, South Asia, Europe, for instance.