Ancient History of Asia

1. Ancient History of Asia Before & After the Westerners Came

2. Outline • Ancient civilizations in Asia • Empires and dynasties • Qin Dynasty • tributary system • After Westerners came • Opium War • Meiji Restoration

3. Mesopotamia • First known civilization (7,000 B.C.) • Earliest cities (3,500 B.C.) • Became part of the Persian Empire in 6th century B.C.

4. Indus Valley Civilization • Bronze Age culture (2500 B.C.-1700 B.C.) • Cities dominated by large public buildings • Invasion by Aryans from the north in 1500 B.C.

5. Chinese Civilization • Shang Dynasty (1,600 B.C. - 1,047 B.C.) • 31 kings of same family • weak central control • written record

6. Zhou Dyn. (1047-256 B.C.)

7. Qin Dynasty (221-206 B.C.) • Qin Shi Huang (``First Emperor of Qin”) • Unification • Centralized control • laws, measures, currency, roads, Great Wall, thinking

8. Later Dynasties • Han (206 B.C. - 220 A.D.) • Jin (265 - 420) • Sui (581 - 618) • Tang (618 - 907) • Song (960 - 1279) • Yuan (1271 - 1368) • Ming (1368 - 1644)

9. China’s Tributary System • Traditional system for managing foreign relations • The ``Central Kingdom” worldview • Ming dynasty (1368 - 1644) had the most extensive tributary system • tributes from East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and even West Asia and Africa

10. Zheng He’s fleet (1405-33) • Over 300 ships & 20,000 men • trade and commerce • Southeast Asia, South Asia, West Asia, and East Africa

11. Zheng He’s expeditions

12. Ancient Southeast Asia • Buddhist kingdoms and empires • trade with East and South Asia • near continuous warfare • invasion by Mongols in the 1300’s • spread of Islam in 1400 - 1620 • mosaic of small states

15. Cause of the Opium War

16. The Opium War (1840-42) • British navy captured Hong Kong and defeated China

17. Historic Turning Point • Series of western invasions • Unequal treaties with Western powers • extraterritorial jurisdiction • tariffs subject to approval by Western powers • Shattered tributary system • Exacerbated domestic crises • Culminated in the fall of Qing dynasty

18. Japan’s Meiji Restoration • Similar challenges, different response • Japan’s 250-year seclusion • Commodore Matthew Perry’s warships entered Tokyo Bay in 1853

19. Western Challenges • Series of treaties with Britain, France, Russia, and the Netherlands • opening ports • low customs duties • extraterritorial jurisdiction

20. Domestic problems • Shogun (literally, ``general”) in Edo (Tokyo) controlled the Emperor in Kyoto • Shogun’s government didn’t have strong central control • Japan was divided into some 260 semiautonomous and mutually jealous domains

21. Meiji Restoration - I • Broke down shogun’s polity • military coup • Created centralized national government • Used Emperor as focus of loyalty and symbol of legitimacy • Incremental steps to replace the autonomous domains with prefectures • Imperial Guard of 10,000 men

22. Meiji Restoration - II • Two most important constituencies: samurai and farmers • samurai: privileges gradually removed • farmers: land-tax reform • eradicated payment in produce • basis for modern capitalist economy • 109 million certificates of land ownership

23. Meiji Restoration - III • Education • established elementary schools • universal compulsory education • Military • universal conscription (citizen army)

24. Meiji Restoration - IV • Meiji Constitution of 1889 • limited constitutional monarchy after Bismarck’s Germany • male suffrage based on property rights • bicameral legislature with budgetary power • Emperor’s rights, prerogatives, and power • commanded the military • War Minister or Navy Minister from military

26. Self-modernization • Industrialization, technological innovations, and growth of trade

27. New Imperialist Power • Japan defeated China in 1894-5 • Japan defeated Russia in 1905 • Theodore Roosevelt: ``if [the Japanese] win out, it may possibly mean a struggle between them and us in the future” • Japan annexed Korea in 1910

28. Asia by World War II