Eurasian Steppe PDF

- Eurasian (Interasian) Steppe is the joint between Europe and Asia - Basically a massive elevated plateau (grassland) - Herders, pastoral nomads, etc live on the Steppe - Not anymore because Kazakhstan, all the stans, war, etc - Herded sheep, goats, cow...

- Eurasian (Interasian) Steppe is the joint between Europe and Asia - Basically a massive elevated plateau (grassland) - Herders, pastoral nomads, etc live on the Steppe - Not anymore because Kazakhstan, all the stans, war, etc - Herded sheep, goats, cows (?), camels, etc - Similar to the Arab pastoral nomads who would steal everyone else’s stuff - Steppe’s flatness and not-being-a-desert ness made it easy to travel for armies or merchants or anyone - Goes from Mongolia to Hungary/Romania - Mongol house called a ger/yurt - Was very easy to pack up (1 hr) and they could move (pretty much asian tipis) - Since they’re tribes, they do all the tribe things - Steal neighbors’ stuff - Raid settled people (China, Persia, Roman Empire) - Side note they’re kind of cracked at this - They were MUCH more gender egalitarian - Mongol women rulers were much better rulers than the males (Khans vs Khatuns) - Same happened with the Vikings - Both males and females (less) were cracked at horse riding - Mongols are one of hella confederations that come from this steppe but they’re not the first (that was the “Hsiung Nu”) 200 AD - Chinese beat them and force them west - This makes it easy for all the groups to join up since they’re all in the same region - Fictive kinship (ancestral/marriage based tribe alliance) made it easy for tribes to spread and grow - This is amplified by the hugeness and ease of travel of the Steppe - Side note horses in settled society is really expensive but in the Steppe you can just feed them anything you see (this is where centaur myths came from) - Scythians were another example who raided Greece - This happened at the same time that Sakas were raiding Persia - Round 400 AD we get word of the Huns (Attila the Hun) - Raiding Byzantine - They were white but they were also Huns (racism?) - Side note Mulan was kind of racist - All the Huns (enemies) were guys with gray skin & yellow eyes - BASICALLY the groups could pretty much go wherever they wanted because it was chill to travel anywhere because of the Steppe - Now comes along the Mongols (religion Animism) - Similar to Shintoism - Believed in a god of the sky called Tengri - Recall from above that when you combine a bunch of pastoral nomadic tribes under a ruler you get BAM - This is what Genghis Khan (1162-1267) (born Temujin - an orphan) was able to do - Chinese had done a good job of keeping the tribes divided but after some war and diplomacy Temujin manages to unite everyone and takes the name Genghis Khan (Oceanic Ruler) - Turks use a similar title - All the tribes who he rules have a Quraltai (council) where they elect him the Great Khan in 1206 - Genghis is a W commander - Organizes his army into divisions of 10, 100, 1000, etc - Knows the tribes like fighting each other so he keeps members of different tribes throughout the hierarchy to make it more united - FIERCE discipline - if one guy messed up in a g10 everyone dies - He was also good at diplomacy, had good people skills, and could tell who would be loyal to him - I.e. he came across this one guy called Subodei when fighting a tribe that he was about to win against - Subo said that he’d take on 5 of gengy’s best guys and win, which he did - Genghis was so impressed that he made him a general - Subo went on to make the Golden Horde and take over Russia - Mongols are now at a point where they can take over China - China’s divided into North (Qin) & South (Sung) dynasties - Mongols attacked Qin first and conquered the capital (Beijing) in 1215 - Then he took the western regions (Stans) and is bordering the Islamic place, currently controlled by the Khwarezm people (ruled by Shahs who took influence by Persia) - Shah screwed up by executing ambassadors which is a big no no back then - He started war between their nations which he definitely lost - Muslim historians record everything of how the Mongols basically cooked them and a bunch of cities just surrendered so they wouldn’t go through it  - Would catapult diseased bodies into cities, massacre anyone outside the walls - Would throw claypots full of fire into cities - Numbers probably exaggerated but it was still bad - Genghis gets the advantages of settled/hydraulic civilizations - They can spend more time on technology and defenses - If you were cracked at engineering you were going with the Mongols, they wouldn’t kill you - They drafted Chinese and Persian engineers to make trebuchets and ballistas and other siege weapons - They also used gunpowder weapons made by China - Some think the Mongols brought gunpowder to Europe - When the Mongols first took China they wanted to massacre them, loot them, and and turn their lands into farmland - They were considering genocide against China - A scribe named Yelu Chucai told Genghis Khan to not kill everyone because TAXES - He convinces Genghis that it’s better for him to let everyone live and even to protect them because then he gets $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ - This saved millions of people - Side note Yelu has a statue in his home province now - Now, Genghis is taking control of EVERYONE - Taking people from everywhere who are skilled to serve the empire - Because of this, he’s taking control of the Silk Road, the mega trade route - The cities along the road are pretty loaded because taxes - They use their $$ to get more cities to get more gold (extend their empire) - Because the Mongols now own everything, it’s like an Apple ecosystem where everything works better together - Side note Alexander the Great did a good amount of the trade work and stuff - They keep pushing into the Middle East & Europe - In 1233, they capture Russia - They locked the princes in boxes and made them suffocate because they thought that people who were noble shouldn’t shed blood outside the battlefield - Genghis dies in 1227 (old age) and is replaced by son (Ogedei) - He does all the actual conquest into Eurasia - 2-pronged invasion into Europe - North wing goes to Poland - South wing goes to Hungary  - They wanted to conquer Europe - Even though all the Europeans hate each other they hate Mongols more - They made a mixed army of a bunch of random dukes/lords/etc - They had little organization & centralization but they were led by W knights called the Teutan - Met at the Battle of Liegnitz 1241 - Europeans got owned by the blitzkrieg - Light cavalry harassed Teutonic knights and split them up, heavy cavalry finished them off - See Oversimplified Punic Wars 2 P2 - Ogedei was a bit of a drunkie so he died the year they took Europe - When he died, customs say they have to go back home and vote on a new leader - By the time they were in a place to reconquer Europe, they were divided, so Europe was saved - Russia continued to be a colony of Mongol empire, called the Golden Hoard - In 1258, Hulagu (some general) conquered Baghdad, where the Abbasid caliphate is, bringing the caliphate to an end - He wasn’t a direct descendant - They weren’t very powerful but they were symbolic - Killing him and conquering their heartland looked like the Islamic world would also get owned by the Mongols - They wrapped the guy up in a carpet and trampled him with horses - Weaknesses of the Mongols: - They’re great on the Steppe and L most other places - I.e. they got owned by the jungle beneath China when trying to take the Sung - They lost a sea invasion to Japan - Defeated by a sultan in the middle of the desert - Every soldier had horses, they made their own weapons, every able-bodied male is a soldier - Because of fictive kinship, they were able to get a bunch of other people with them - By the time they got to Europe, the “Mongol” army was also a bunch of other tribes - Side note you could do it even if you weren’t from a tribe  - They were very mobile - When they needed to move they would leave all their stuff (even food) and cut some of the horses and drink their blood - Side note pastrami may have come from meat being cured by horse sweat and salt - Mongol legacy lasted for a really long time in and around their region - - When Genghis died he was supposed to divide his land among his sons, each section called an “ulus” - Chagatah gets the area on the Great Silk Road (modern day middle-stans) - Jochi gets the Golden Horde (Greece, Romania, Georgia, Armenia etc to Kazakhstan) - New capital in the heart of Mongolia called Karakorum (all that remains right now is a turtle), but it was kind of L, so they moved into Beijing - Hulagu (see above) makes the Ilkhanate (subordinate khan) and makes a new empire which is the western stans and the northern part of Mesopotamia - Claim loyalty to the Great Khan - Keeps trying to push into the Holy Lands - In 1260 they are met by sultan of Egypt Baybars - He’s the first guy to defeat the Mongols in the battle of ’Ayn Jalut. They won from being in the desert and not the Steppe - Baybars was from Eurasia so he knew the way that they worked and how good they were and exactly how to beat them - In the short run, Mongols were kind of destructive - In the long run, though, the Mongols brought together all the people in their empire so they could share ideas and trade - It’s easy to travel in a large empire - (side note everyone had same thesis) - This is how gunpowder comes to Europe (screw u mongols)  - After them, they start experimenting with gunpowder (again screw u mongols) - Pasta/noodles comes to Europe (originated in China and moved to Italy (where they dunked it in cheese) - This also spreads to the Middle East and other parts of Europe - It’s very efficient because you don’t need an oven and it stores for a while - Mongol conquest sort of stabilized Eurasia (relatively) because now you can travel HUGE (like absolutely MASSIVE) distances very quickly - Marco Polo visited some king in Beijing (may have brought pasta?) - Ibn Battuta comes from Morocco and goes through Africa, MidEast, and East Asia - He writes a record of it and it would’ve been a lot more difficult to do this if it wasn’t unified by the Mongols - We also see this back when Alexander the Great got his own empire - When the Roman Empire was chill it was called Pax Romana (Roman peace) because now everyone can spread ideas/trade - Now the same thing is happening in the Mongol Empire so it’s called Pax Mongolica (Mongol peace) - However because everyone’s going everywhere, the Black Death (bubonic plague) spreads around - Starts in China and goes through the Silk Road to Europe - Comes from the flies on rats not the rats themselves - Only cure is isolation - Kills ¼ of the world’s population (millions-ish) in the 1300s - That’s why nothing good happens during then in literature and stuff - In the long term, the Mongols assimilate (join the culture) into the societies that they have conquered - This is because it’s easier than going all the way back home - Those places might also have something to offer the Mongols - I.e. China - Chinghis Khan (chungus khan?) exists - His son Kublai Khan (1260-1294 leader) conquers the Sung dynasty - He moves the capital to Beijing and under him, they start assimilating into the culture - The Mongols pretty much become Chinese but not really - They form another dynasty called the Yuan formed by all the Mongols going back to Kublai Khan and settling - Golden Horde (actually only called that by Russian sources) (northwest near Russia) - Called the Ulus that go there and conquer it - The Mongols conquered Russia but didn’t occupy it/ - Instead those regions became tributaries of the Mongols and had to pay taxes (sort of) - Original term for the Russians is Russ (in Scandinavian) - Some Vikings sailed down the Volga and stuff and mixed in with the locals in the region of Slav - They formed the population known as the Russians (called that because Russ, in Nordic, means red hair or smth) - Actual state was founded by Oleg (late 9th, early 10th) and then by Vladimir (930-1015) who converted Russia to Orthodox Christianity - Original strongest city was Kyiv (lol) - Moscow rose to power because they were the tax collectors of the Mongols - That’s why when Russia asserted their independence Moscow becomes capital - Under Ivan III (1462-1505) the Russians are able to kick out the Mongols and start their own imperial conquest - The Russians are under Tatar (Mongol) Yoke (like oxen) - This is relevant because Russia is known for its…authoritarian government - Some people think that the Russians are the way they are because the Mongols took over and instilled a thirst for war and conquest - that’s why the rest of Europe is pretty chill because they didn’t actually get conquered - Mongols didn’t occupy what we actually think of Russia (Moscow, Stalingrad, etc) because it wasn’t steppe land - They were fine with chilling and taxing - Mongols do end up assimilating but they assimilate into Islam not Orthodox Christianity - Late 14th the ruler of the Golden Horde named Ozbek Khan converts to Islam - He sees a miracle that makes him change from Anamism to Islam and once he did so did everyone - Person who performed the miracle was - Once he becomes Muslim he does his own thing - Sufism is a type of Islam that is more spiritual and more lenient  - They practice mysticism and focus on meditation and stuff to get a divine union (have a direct experience) with God - Because they’re more lenient and kinda W they become effective agents of conversion - To convert to a new religion, people often latch on to what’s familiar - Baba Tukhmas does this for Khan and his people, making South Russia Muslim - Now the Ilkhanate (see Hulagu above) - Early Ilkhans were Anamists, and Persia kind of got owned by them - They’re a hydraulic society, so for the first half of the Mongol rule they didn’t really get it - Persia used underground channels which need supervision, but the Mongols didn’t really care and agriculture got destroyed by that - Mongols kept asking for taxes leading to famine - Also the Mongols were L at tax collecting - They’re meant to be collected at the end of the agricultural cycle, but the Mongols collected taxes whenever they felt like it - Since no one had money, they were straight up dying out there - Now the end of the 13th century is here - Ruler of the Ilkhanate (Ghazan) converts to Islam, and as he does he assimilates and regularizes taxation - He starts ruling like a normal premodern emperor and starts using a brain cell - Now Persia starts flourishing again - Shah Charagh - Filigree inside the Tomb of Oljeitu - Persian Miniatures (small paintings) - Little bit of Chinese influence. People in paintings look East Asian but wearing slightly Middle Eastern clothes, playing music, wearing turbans, etc - Ilkhanate ends in 1335 (we don’t know what happens it just dies) - Empire of Tamerlane (right east of the Arabian Peninsula, including Syria-ish, going to Iran  - Guy comes from the central Asian part of the Mongol Empire - They split in the mid 1300s into a West (islam) and an East (buddhism) - From this some military adventurer called Timur i Lenk - Was shot in the hip with an arrow so he had a bit of a limp - Established his own empire in Samarkand - Claimed descent from Genghis - Was a brute (cemented people into buildings) - Even he was affected by the Silk Road - Was a patron of art and stuff - He built up Samarkand and a lot of cities along the Silk Road benefited from him - Later Mongols can’t be barbaric because now they represent a higher culture - Invades India - Guy’s grandson, Ulugh Beg, was a mathematician (most of guy’s descendants were nerds not jocks) - He built an observatory for stars - Assimilates into Islam - Tamerlane tries to take China but it doesn’t work because his descendants are nerds - Now we have a descendant of Tamerlane (Babur I) who started the Mughal Empire (lasted till 1700s) - Claims descent from Genghis - Tries to seem like an Indian or at least not like a Mongol (reading, clothes, etc) - Mughals were Mongols, but not the same way that Genghis was a Mongol - Accretion and Reform Theory (CLASS DISC - NOT LECTURE) - When people start in a religion, they do what they can and they do less - Then, as more and more time passes, they do more of the actual religion - Islam Venn - Center has orthodox scholars - Edges have Sufis - Sufi edges might go out to Animism, which is how Baba got Mongols to be Islam  - Side note Sufis went to India/Pakistan and got them to convert but then they went HARDCORE and now they’re Sunni Central Station - And now begins the Ottoman Empire - From Turkey - Spread around to Turkmenistan, well into Asia - Turkey is from the Mongol Empire and so they got expedited - By like 1299 they take over Turkey from the Byzantines - Also Uzbekistan from Ozbek - Now we got a bunch of competing Turkish states, one of them is near Anatolia (close to Istanbul/Constantinople/Euro border) - Ruled by warrior chieftain called Osman - They expand into other Turkish states and the Byzantine Empire - Muslim Empire pushing into Europe (again) - Christains launch a Crusade (defensive) (v2) against the Ottomans in 1396 - Crusade of Nicapolis - The French drank a bit much and ran into the Ottoman trap - As we get into 1400s and as they grow the Ottomans settle into cities instead of being pastoral nomads - They develop new military systems - They have muskets (early form called archibus) - Janissaries are previously enslaved - Not what we think of as enslaved because you can get really high up in society - People selling their kids into slavery was to get them a better life - They raided christian territory and kidnapped boys (~13) and enslaved them but converted them to islam, educated them, raised them to be warriors - Trained because they want to be able to start them from the beginning - Also Istanbul parents might not want their parents going off to war but it’s a free manpower source - They also used light cavalry and infantry - Guns be owning the place, one gunshot and the plate armor dies - Opps take the wrong approach and just make the armor more heavy (not the play) - Ottomans had conquered all of the territory around Constantinople except the city itself but Mehmet II ends up doing it in 1453 - It’s surrounded by all sides by water but the guy pulls up with a cannon and breaches the walls  - Huge victory because it sent shockwaves throughout the rest of Europe because they vanquished the remnants of the Roman Empire - When he conquers he reconsecrates it as a Muslim city and reconsecrates the Hagia Sophia (see above) - It has some Christian stuff but remains mostly Muslim - By the 16th century, they’re going everywhere - They conquer Egypt and Syria - Mecca and Medina - Arabian Peninsula - Mesopotamia - North Africa - Balkans - Reach their height under Suleiman I (1520-1566), the Magnificent - They start the move from cavalry to infantry - Side notes - Typically painting pics of people is frowned upon back then because it could lead to idol worship - They just got Italians to do it and said they’re Christian so it’s fine - Also the Persian miniature style (lotta small things in one) is used a lot - Their leader title is Sultan - They’re now in striking distance of Vienna - At the time, Austria and Spain controlled the longest standing Christian dynasty, the Habsburg - They were also the rulers of the Holy Roman Empire - They ALSO were funding the exploration throughout the world - They literally drew up a line about how to divide up the world (mostly between Spain and Portugal) - Sully lays siege to the city in 1529 - Inside was Charles V (Habsburg & Holy Roman leader) - Sully challenged him but he already left and left mercenaries, who held out until winter - Ottomans were scared of the guns sinking into the mud - They tried again in 1689 but were unsuccessful - At their height: - - Inner dynamics: - They had developed their own empire by this time - Official religion is Sunni Islam but also used Sufis to get conversions - They recorded EVERYTHING - Practiced Shariya but they also had their own law called Khanun - Suleiman introduced his own law called Qanunname - It’s like Hammurabi but with guns - They organized their empire very flexibly - Called the Millet system (very hands off) - Ottomans were very hands off and let people do their own thing - Jews had a millet, they would find the local rabbi and told him if they paid taxes they were chilling - Same for Christians (for each type) - Loose system let them thrive because it was a flexible way to deal with diversity - They were able to deal with their own civic affairs like this - At this point they’re very tolerant, and compared with Europe they were much more tolerant of Jews because Europe kinda hates Jews right now - Late 1400s in Spain, Europeans started making Jews and Muslims convert to Christianity saying that they weren’t pure - Lot of them fled to the Ottomans - Sully is known for being a protector of both - No oppressive taxes - His personal doctor was Jewish - He enacted laws in conquered regions against antisemitism - A pogrom is an organized attack on Jews - A lot happen during Passover  - Christains thought that Jews were killing Christian kids and drinking their blood (called blood libels) - Sully ended this - Blue Mosque is constructed after Sully as a statement of power - Looks similar to the Taj Mahal because the students who designed this designed that - Great at grandiose Islamic architecture - By the 1600s, they begin to stagnate around when Europe starts taking off - Scientific revolution - Reformation - World exploration - Renaissance - Ottomans couldn’t keep up because they were lacking in humanistic inquiry that we had during Bayt al Hikma times - I.e. we have a great Turkish astronomer in the 1500s called Taqi al Din who was a contemporary of Kepler & Copernicus - After he died they destroyed it - By the 1800s they’re a shell of their former self - By 1700s when they realize they have to catch up they’re WAY behind - Ottomans knew they sucked but they blamed women - Harem was the place where a guy’s multiple wives and female slaves lived - The women in the harem had influence because they were competing with each other (ultimate real housewives) - Wanted their sons to be Sultan so they could be chilling - One of them was Hurrem Sultan (known to Europe as Raxelana) - From Ukraine, enslaved by the empire - She rose up the ranks and became the chief wife of the Sultan and was very influential + ruthless - Had sons of her rivals murdered - Became advisor to Sultan on affairs - Was an ambassador - Was a great patron and philanthropist - Founded soup kitchens, schools, hospitals  - By the late 16th century, women of the harem were dominating the state’s affairs - This period called the sultanate of women - They would rule through their sons - Ottomans are influenced by European architecture and make HUGE structures like Blue mosque - Safavids make architecture with Asian architecture and make smaller things that live in harmony with nature - Influenced by Taoism - Same with the Forbidden City - At the same time that the Ottomans were pushing west, the Safavids were pushing east (1501-1722) - Called their rulers Shahs - Shah Abbas I was the most powerful - Big challenge to the Ottomans - Also gunpowder empire - They were Shiites and fought with the Ottomans over control of Mesopotamia - Also supported luxury trade, porcelain design, architecture - Made the Masjid-i-Shah - Meanwhile, in India… (Mughal Empire) - India has a history of hydraulic empires - Goes back to Indus River Valley - Mauryan Empire, Gupta Empire - Then during Islamic time we see Islamic invasions - Also is birthplace of Hinduism, Buddhism - Babur (guy from Uzbekistan) claims descent from Genghis and inherits a kingdom out of what’s left of the empire of Timur (late 15th century) - He’s a sophisticated guy, patron of arts and literature - Early 1500s, Babur conquers India - This civilization reaches peak under Akbar the Great, during the Golden Age (1566-1605) - So this is a Muslim dynasty with Mongols who bring Islam to the region - They bring some Sufism, mostly Sunni muslims, with some Turkish and Arabic for their main languages - They are a GUNPOWDER empire - They start out up near Kabul and conquer Delhi, Agra, Marathon, and then keep going to Goa and Rijapur - Akbar’s rule was great because he was religiously & culturally tolerant (this is a Savran argument) - Since India was super diverse everyone thought they could flourish - He advanced Hindus into leadership roles militarily and politically - When he married Hindus they could keep their Hindu faith - He removed the tax on non-Muslims (Jizya) - He supported pilgrimages of Hindus and also supported Christians - However we now see Europeans pulling up (British in Mumbai, Portuguese in Goa) - Mughals weren’t able to remove them because they were land based, and didn’t really care for the beach - Appointed a Catholic teacher for his students - Head of Finance was a Hindu (Todar Mal) who introduced gradual income tax (tiered income tax that increases with how much you make) - Since peasants weren’t taxed as much, their output increased - Tolerated other languages - Seen in the army because people are speaking Hindi, Persian, and we get the evolution of Urdu, the way that they all talked to each other - Now prominent in Pakistan - Basically he was a stand up guy with other religions - We also see flourishing of architecture and literature and art - Book about his reign, Akbar Name - Hindu literature pulls up, but we also get it written not only in Sanskrit but also Hindi (like Ramayana) - Blending of styles (Islam - Arabesque (emphasis on symmetrical, geometrical patterns) & Hindu (red sandstone)) - Carpets have geometric patterns and also portrayal of nature (Hindu) - Sahangir exists, during his time we get - Sikhism (blending of Hinduism and Islam) - After him we get his son Shahjahan who builds the Taj Mahal for his wife who died early - Same school of people built Ottoman architecture - He had a design to build another one but never got to it - He lived very lavishly, building palaces and stuff but didn’t put well being into the people, so the state lost hella $$, and we get famines - Was succeeded by Aurangzeb, who’s a lot more ruthless and tougher - Imprisoned his own dad, where he died - Was very militant and extremist in religion  - Imposed a morality police to make sure people are acting in accordance with Islamic law - Brought back tax, didn’t allow Hindus to build temples, kicked them from power, etc - This causes rebellions, an empire’s favorite - Some princes (Rajputs) used to be allies but now they hate them so they rebel - State of Marathas rebels - Sikhs rebel and set up shop in Punjab - Aurangzeb manages to beat them but bankrupts the country - By the time he dies empire’s broke and his successors lose power - This causes a rise in local lords, and the emperor becomes a figurehead if useful at all - Now after this, we get the Europeans taking more control - Now, there’s a huge window open, so the British take Bengal, and in a few decades, most of India is owned by the British East India Co., and no more Mughal dynasty - By the late 1700s some princes worked with the British to kill the Mughals - This got them a lot of colonization from the British - Chinese Dynasties - Ming Dynasty - Yonglo - Forbidden City - Qing Dynasty - Kangxi - Qianlong - Middle Kingdom - Kowtow - After the Mongols (Yuan dynasty), the Ming dynasty took over - They were tired of the Mongols, even though they had already assimilated (ruled from 1388-1644?) - Round this time the dynasties start to expand to closer to the current shape of the country - They make Korea a tributary, as well as Southeast Asia (Vietnam, Thailand, etc) - Son of a Chinese peasant (Hongwu) leads a movement to drive out the peasants and improve the agricultural system (namely irrigation, which is what china relies on) - He reinstitutes traditional Confucianism values, as well as the exams to be able to be in high level positions  - Twas a merit based system where anyone could take it, and they had a rich bureaucratic tradition - Hongwu’s son (Yonglo) establishes himself as the first ruler of this dynasty and a setup of shop in Beijing - This guy commissions an explorer (Zheng Ho) - Used to be a naval captain who went to SE Asia, India, Africa, etc with huge ships (called Junks) - They explored the Indian Ocean 60-70 years before the Portuguese - In 1433 Yonglo tells Zheng Ho to stop because it’s a waste of money - The Europeans were trying to GET to China so they don’t need to go anywhere - They already made everything they needed and got paid everything they wanted - They start being isolationist (sort of by not exploring the world) but they keep trading with Europe - They kept taking over land near them though - They also wanted to limit European influence - They said that Europeans who wanted to trade could only trade at certain ports and had to pay more taxes - For things like tea, silk, china (porcelain) - They also couldn’t spread religion or influence - However traders on both sides got around this by the black market - Europeans traded gold, sugar, silvers, etc - Before Age of Exploration they were broke but since they started enslaving people they had a lot more cheap labor and could afford a lot more stuff - This leads to booms in silk and ceramic manufacturing; however there’s no industrial revolution around the time that there’s one in the US and Europe - China is a very hierarchical/stratified society so even though you have artisans producing and merchants trading they’re both looked down upon - China puts more emphasis on peasants/agriculture because it’s the historical source of their wealth (one reason why we don’t see above) - Peasant’s aren’t richer but they have higher social status - They also put a tax on manufacturing because of that (emphasis continued to modern day, even in the PRC) - Yonglo (remember that guy) also builds structures because that’s just what they did - He built the Forbidden City - Outsiders/peasants couldn’t get in - only nobles - East Asian triumphal architecture is grand but subtle - Hall of Great Harmony is where they had coronations - Nine Dragon Wall was a symbol of the leadership - By 1600, the Ming was declining and by 1644 they’re replaced by the Qing - These people come from the northeastern region of China (Manchuria) and establish their own dynasty - This is the last of the Chinese dynasties - They were very successful during the 1600s and early 1700s because they respected traditional values and had great agriculture & irrigation - Begin growing New World crops (sweet potato, corn) leading to a population explosion! (more people = more workers) - They have 2 long standing important emperors - Kangxi rules 1661-1722 - Replaced by grandson, Qianlong, who rules from 1736-1795, where China reaches its greatest size and extent - Now Europeans still want to trade - Chinese thought they were all that and if you wanted to trade with them, you had to show respect - You had to kowtow to them (basically bow down) - Side note: the Dutch took over the southeast asian region, but they were willing to play ball with the Chinese and they dominated the trade because they understood them - Even after they colonized some parts of China, they still paid tribute to the Qing emperor - Now the British want to trade too, but they’re a little diff - Round here King George III (same as American Rev) sent an ambassador to Qianlong asking him to open China’s ports - The ambassador was George McCarthy and refused to perform the Kowtow, so the Chinese emperor refused to deal with them (the Chinese literally said they were hairy barbarians - respect)  - So now the British are thinking that they can either break the society or be nice (hmm which one will they pick) - Of course, they used the best tool of all, DRUGS - By this time, China was very powerful, but by 1900, it was a shell of its former self because of the British - Japanese Empire - Words: - Sengoku (period of warring states - 1457 to 1568) - Daimyo (local landowning lord) - Tokugawa Ieyasu (daimyo who united Japan in 1600) - Battle of Sekigahara (battle where he defeated rivals and did that) - Edo (place where Tokugawa ruled) - Samurai (knights of Europe but the Japan equivalent) - Zen Buddhism (read below) - Kabuki (form of Japanese theater where all actors are men and the audience participates - has strong gestures and over-the-top acting (melodramatic)) - Haiku (you know what a haiku is) - Longest running imperial household that exists today (2000 years old) - Emperor is pretty much a figurehead but shhh - Round 2000 years ago there’s a dynasty but over time they lose power - By 1500s ish they don’t hold effective power and they’re already figureheads - Sengoku period: - Situation very similar to medieval Europe - Kings have a lot of trouble controlling compared to Asia because they were dependent on local lords - This led to a pyramid system among nobles where you had knights who owed allegiance to lords who owed allegiance to kings - No big cities in med. Europe - Lots of feudalism - Japan also does the above and defends its castles with walls, not cities - Castles being built by local lords (daimyo) who are served by samurai (warriors who afford armor) - Samurai have a code called Bushido (they should be learned and sophisticated) - After this it becomes the most strong Asian country economically - It has something in common with Europe in that it’s not based on irrigation agriculture, but rainfall agriculture  - That’s why (some think) development was similar and emperors had trouble holding on, so no one had a need for organization or public based irrigation system - With gunpowder we get musket bearing infantry (particularly through contact with Portuguese) - At one point one of the daimyos succeeds in uniting Japan (Tokugawa Ieyasu) in 1600 at the Battle of Sekigahara - Takes the title of Shogun - He didn’t get rid of the emperor (all this time the emperor existed) but he does the actual ruling while the emperor stands there and does nothing - Puts an emphasis on perfecting the art of the sword - He also founded the Tokugawa Shogunate (dynasty of rulers until 1867) - They’re stable but poor but merchants do pretty well but are kept in check by the central government who’s concerned about outside influence and is VERY hierarchical - Strict hierarchy: emperor, shogun, daimyo, samurai, peasant, artisan, merchant - Power doesn’t correspond to hierarchical status - Taxes were very high so lots of peasants moved to Edo which caused growth of the city - Japan also was a little wary of merchants because they control the change of society - I.e. France - At first Japan was interested in trading with the Portuguese for things like guns, glasses, tobacco, etc - Side note elements of Japanese cuisine are influenced by Portuguese - Tempura - Batter frying - Tonkatsu - Also some Catholics converting locals to Christians - Tokugawa doesn’t really like this so he oppresses them - missionaries driven out or killed - People had to display public faith in (Zen) Buddhism - Combines discipline of samurai with Buddhism - They argue that you can achieve moments of extreme attention to the world around you just like how you can achieve ultimate peace and clarity - They would sit thinking about riddles for days until life broke down - This remained popular till early 20th  - They allowed outsiders to trade at 1 port, and the only people who did the trading were the Dutch - It’s stable until in the 1850s an American gunship under control of Matthew Perry comes into a harbor and says trade up or get shot - They let him in and trade and realized they were WAY behind technologically in an effort to preserve culture - They looked over to China and saw they were getting owned by China so they began rapid modernization so they did away with the Tokugawa Shogunate - Now we’re done with the Shogunate so Japan begins the Meiji restoration which is basically trying to do what Europe did over 100 years in 10 - This leads to a rise in facism in the 1930s