English and French Rivalries

Asia in the 17th & 18th centuries: From Ming to Manchurian Qing in China

• China prospered in the 17th and 18th centuries, but growing wealth and climate change undermined central control
• This contributed to the fall of the long-lasting Ming Dynasty, which collapsed in 1644.
• Local power holders in China defied the Ming government because it discouraged overseas commerce
• Law-abiding merchants were not reaping rewards from long-distance exchange
• Travel abroad was forbidden, preventing people from benefiting from travel and cultural exchange.
• Traders and adventurers (smugglers) who evaded imperial edicts and broke the law were the ones making money.
• Profits attracted resources, even when the activity was illegal, illustrating the perception that the risks were worth it.

Ming Dynasty: Administrative & Economic Problems

• The Ming Dynasty governed the world's most economically advanced society and about 1/3 of the world's population
• Rulers inadequately responded to economic and environmental change, similar to the Ottoman Empire.
• A vast bureaucracy with many governmental departments and employees was beyond the control of Ming emperors.
• Elaborate arrangements and ritual performances were done to convince subjects and affirm the emperor's position as the Son of Heaven.
• Administration weakened, leading to broken trading laws.
• Successful pirates, whether Chinese or not, exploited expanding and lucrative trade opportunities due to their ability to mix with various Asian cultures and trade effectively.
• An influx of silver from the New World, facilitated by Europeans, led to economic and political problems, similar to what occurred in Islamic empires.
• Silver initially stimulated the Chinese economy but later negatively affected peasants due to inflation, making it difficult for them to pay taxes or purchase goods.
• Many peasants took up arms and rebelled, leading to political consequences.

Collapse of Ming Authority

• By the 1600s/17th century, Ming administrative, economic, and political difficulties affected the daily lives of subjects
• Dropping temperatures (Little Ice Age) in the Northwest led to devastation, and the Ming regime failed to cope, raising taxes while people were going hungry.
• Peasants vented anger at local tax collectors and officials.
• Decreased military spending meant fewer forces to fight rebel groups, which grew under charismatic leaders, such as Li Zicheng, who captured Beijing easily in 1644, leading to the fall of the Ming Dynasty.
• A Ming military leader on the border with Manchuria, caught between a rebel army within China and the threatening Manchus, accepted an alliance with the Manchus.

Manchu Qing ("pure") Dynasty Asserts Control

• By the 1630s, a rising Manchurian population sought to breach/cross the Great Wall due to food shortages.

• Manchus defeated Li Zicheng, seized power in Beijing, and found the Chinese government (Ming) in disarray from warfare and fiscal crisis, with central authorities overwhelmed by roving peasant rebels.

• The Manchus were a minority, with 1 million Manchus in China versus 250 million non-Manchu Chinese.

• The Manchus incorporated new territories and saw population and economic growth.

• Manchu Emperors were able administrators who adapted to local/ethnically Chinese ways to govern a diverse population

• Manchu Qing leaders were determined to convey a clear sense of their majesty and legitimacy.

• Local/ethnically Chinese ways were accepted, promoting patriarchal values, praising chaste widows and virtuous women, and focusing on Han/Chinese "family values" and traditional Chinese civilization.

• The Manchu's majesty and legitimacy were conveyed by emphasizing their authority, distinctiveness, and the expectation of submission of Han Chinese subjects.

• The administrative structure was financed through taxes on peasant households, and peasants cultivated new lands and introduced New World crops like corn and sweet potatoes, which changed Chinese diets.

• Sea trade between Chinese and others flourished with textiles, ceramics, and medicine exchanged for spices and rice.

• The Manchu Qing Dynasty vacillated over allowing maritime trade with foreigners but eventually restricted European trade to Canton, establishing the Canton System in 1759, which required European traders to use Chinese merchants as guarantors.

• During the 18th century, the Qing Dynasty forced Korea, Vietnam, Burma, and Nepal to pay tribute and expanded territory far into central Asia, Tibet, and Mongolia.

• Despite political upheaval and climate change, the Qing created stability in China, where peasants continued practicing popular faiths, cultivated crops, and remained close to their fields and home villages.

• Manchu Qing believed prosperity and tranquility depended more on agricultural than commercial health due to steady financial support from peasant farmers.

• The Chinese historically had negative attitudes towards business people, viewing them as money-hungry and selfish.

• The Manchu Qing Dynasty felt they could squeeze merchants when they needed funds, which some historians see as a failure to adapt to changes.

• The Chinese could not conceive of a superior model of belief, politics, or economics, as China enjoyed prosperity into the mid-18th century/1700s.

Tokugawa Japan

• Japanese dealt with the pressures of economic integration better than other Asian empires, where political fragmentation and overthrow of ruling dynasties occurred.

• The Tokugawa Shogunate was a single ruling family that emerged after economic integration in Japan.

• The Tokugawa Shogunate regulated foreign intrusion, which most other regimes did not

• Japan played a modest role in expanding global trade but remained free of outside exploitation.

• 1500s/16th century Japan suffered from political instability due to crime/banditry and civil strife in the countryside

• The Japanese emperor's authority did not extend beyond Kyoto, where government officials/"court" were

• Local, regional ruling families (daimyos) commanded private armies of warriors (samurai) and brought order to their domains (areas)

• No one family dominated, and daimyos fought each other, similar to feudalism.

• In 1603 military leaders moved to unite Japan, where one daimyo Tokugawa Ieyasu, seized power, assumed the title of shogun (military ruler), and declared that rulership would be hereditary.

• Administrative authority shifted to Edo/Tokyo, Ieyasu's domain

• The Tokugawa shogunate lasted until 1867

• Tokugawa ensured flow of resources from the working population to rulers and from provinces to the capital

• Villages paid taxes to daimyos, who transferred resources to shogunate authority with daimyos monitored and under control.

• Samurai stopped fighting on behalf of rival daimyos, and peace brought prosperity.

• Initially, Japanese welcomed Europeans because they wanted European exports like muskets, gunpowder, and other technology.

• As more Japanese converted to Christianity, Japanese authorities realized that Christians were intolerant of other faiths an believed Christ was superior to any authority.

• The Japanese government suppressed Christianity and drove out European missionaries.

• The Tokugawa Shogunate/Japanese government restricted trade to ports under their tight control and expelled European merchants

• Only non-proselytizing Protestant Dutch were permitted to remain under strict supervision by Japanese authorities.

• Despite restrictions to trade, which limited the exchange of ideas with the outside world, trade with China and Korea flourished.

• Dutch and Chinese monks, physicians, and painters provided a connection to the outside world.

• Some Japanese were permitted to learn Dutch and study European technology, shipbuilding, and medicine, and the Japanese were impressed with European technology and architecture.

• The Japanese authority limited entry to European traders and missionaries, ensuring they would not threaten Japan's security.

Transformations In Europe

• From 1600-1750, religious conflict and consolidation for dynastic power (brought about by long-distance trade and climate change), transformed Europe.
• Commercial centers shifted north: England and France became more dominant, and Portugal and Spain lost ground.
• In the east, the state of Muscovy expanded dramatically and became the Russian Empire.

Expansion and Dynastic Change in Russia

• Steppes are dry, grassy plains that occur in temperate climates, which lie between the tropics and polar regions, with cold winters, warm summers, and semi-arid conditions, receiving 10-20 inches of rain/year.

• The Eurasian Steppe is the largest temperate grassland in the world, extending from Hungary to China and reaching almost one-fifth of the way around the Earth.

• Steppe culture includes loyalty to kin/clan, courage, horsemanship, mobility as pastoralists and hunters, animism, raiding between tribes, and trade with sedentary peoples for manufactured goods.

• Muscovy/Moscow was a principality (state/political entity run by a prince).

• Like China and Japan, used territorial expansion and commercial networks to consolidate a powerful state.

• Tsar Peter the Great gave Muscovy/Moscow the name "Russian Empire" c. 1700.

• Muscovy/Moscow included Slavs, Finns, Turkish speakers, and many others.

• Like Japan, Russia emerged out of turmoil.

• Russia sought to control areas south and east of Moscow because the north of Moscow was a highway for nomads (descendants of powerful Mongols).

• From the 1500s to 1700, Muscovy/Moscow claimed an empire covering much of Eurasia with people of many languages and religions.

• The Romanovs were a family who ruled Russia from 1590 until 1917.

• The Romanovs created an absolutist system of government as a despotic state.

• Away from Moscow, local aristocrats enjoyed unlimited authority in exchange for loyalty and tribute to the Tsar.

• Russian peasantry paid to maintain wealth of nobility and the monarchy.

• Peasant families gathered into communes/communities to help each other through harsh climate, severe landlords, and poor harvests.

• In 1649, peasants were legally bound as serfs to nobles and the Tsar.

• 18th century Russian military victories helped consolidate the empire and sparked significant population movements with the conquest of Siberia bringing vast territories and riches in furs.

• Victory with Sweden brought the incorporation of fertile southern steppes (Ukraine).

• By the late 1800s, Russia stretched from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea.

• The Little Ice Age led to freezing temperatures, a short supply of grain products, and escalating prices, resulting in famines and death from diseases due to malnourishment.

• Wood produced by freezing temperatures was crafted by Stradivari into highly valued violins.

Economic and Political Fluctuations in Central and Western Europe

• The Thirty Years' War (1618-1648) started when Ferdinand II became Holy Roman Emperor (1556), and he tried to force subjects to follow Roman Catholicism, leading to many conflicts and resentments; the war began 60 years later.
• Started as religious struggle between Protestants & Catholics then became a political conflict, a war for political dominance
• War owed much to decline of food production due to Little Ice Age

Thirty Years' War

• Religious conflicts occurred between Protestant princes and the Catholic Emperor over religious control in central Europe.

• There was a struggle for regional control among Catholic powers.

• The Protestant Dutch struggled for independence from Catholic Spain

• Treaty of Westphalia determined a rough balance of power between Protestant & Catholic states

• The war remains one of the longest and most brutal wars in human history (more than 8 million deaths due to military battles, famine, and disease).

• Dutch gained independence, but enormous costs led to severe discontent in Spain, France, and England.

• Central Europe took over 100 years to recover from economic and demographic (population) devastation.

• Thirty Years' War transformed war making with centralized governments/states used standing/official armies in decisive & large scale campaigns

• Gunpowder, cannons & muskets (newer tech) became standard

Western European Economies

• Despite warfare and its effects, Northern European states saw significant economic expansion in the 1600s/17th century.
• Greater yields resulted from investments in water drainage, larger livestock, improved cultivation, and four field crop rotation, increasing agricultural output led to growing urban population.
• Dutch specialized in shipping and in financing regional and long-distance trade, leading to significant price decreases for shipping.
• Dutch merchants founded an exchange bank (changed foreign currency), established a rudimentary stock exchange to fund overseas exploration, pioneered systems of underwriting and insuring cargoes.
• England and France established aggressive policies to promote national business and drive out competitors.
• The English Navigation Act of 1651 stated that only English ships could carry goods between England & its overseas colonies to protect English shipping companies.
• The Enclosure movement enclosed common property lands that had served public needs and claimed the land and sold it in distant markets.

Dynastic Monarchies: France and England

• Louis XIII (ruled 1610-43) along with chief minister (Cardinal Richelieu) concentrated power in hands of king and wanted to be absolute ruler/free of external checks.

• King's authority was to be complete and thorough.

• Only God could call to account a king; Europeans believed in the "divine right of kings" that was similar to the Chinese idea of the mandate of heaven

• Privileges and state offices flowed from king's grace.

• Nobles went to Versailles outside of Paris to seek favor/benefits from the king, where Louis XIV renovated a hunting lodge and made it a palace.

• France provided a role model of absolute rule for other European leaders, even the dynasties.

• Discriminatory policies of Louis XIV did not stop Protestants from secretly practicing.

• Due to absolute power held by French king, peasants', judges', nobles' concerns and critiques re: court life, wars, religious policies had no formal way of being heard.

• Since the 1215 Magna Carta, the English Parliament had power to determine and collect taxes; kings had to rule WITH Parliament.

• The Tudors (Henry VIII, Elizabeth I) believed in Divine Right, but understood value of having good relations with Parliament.

• King Henry VIII broke off from Catholic Church and formed the English/Anglican Church.

• Henry VIII ruled from 1509-1547 and supported Pope Leo X/Catholic Church from 1517-21 against Martin Luther during the Protestant Reformation.

• 1530s-created Church of England after breaking away from Catholic Church.

• Turned to Parliament to legalize his actions (Act of Supremacy made monarch head of Church of England).

• Consulted Parliament frequently to raise taxes after spending on overseas wars; Parliament approved and became accustomed to being consulted on important matters.

• Queen Elizabeth I-Tudor Monarch r. 1558-1603, & her successors used policies similar to French kings.

• In 1603 Queen Elizabeth I died without an heir, closest relatives were Stuarts (Catholic).

• During the Stuart family's rule in England, fierce quarrels broke out re: taxation, religion (England Anglican & anti-Catholic, Stuarts-Catholic), efforts to rule without Parliament's consent.

• The 1640s Civil War in England, anti-King side won, beheaded King Charles I in 1649, led to Kingless decade.

• The government run by strict Puritans enacted laws based on Puritan goals with new laws to educate all for Bible reading and marriages based on love), discriminated against Catholics, but granted tolerance to other Protestants & welcomed Jews back to England.

• When leader (Oliver Cromwell) died in 1658, people were tired of military rule and strict Puritan ways.

• The Parliament invited king Charles II to return, end of kingless decade

• In1688-89, King James II aspired to absolute rule, and Parliament offered the monarchy to William and Mary.

• The English monarchs must rule in conjunction with Parliament

Mercantilist Wars

• New powers in Europe (France & England) intensified economic and political rivalries for control of Atlantic trade, colonies and the European ports in Asia
• European powers increased navies to protect their empires
• The Seven Years' War was primarily between England & France over colonies and ports
• Lasted from 1756-63 and was known as French and Indian War in North America
• Britain emerged as foremost European power with control of colonies