Download Chapter 8 Asian History Notes Outline

Chapter 8: Asian History Outline
Confucius: “Do to no one what you would not wish others to do to you.”
 Confucius: Kung Fu-tzu was born a peasant in 551 BC
 After both of his parents died he started a career as a teacher, and quickly
became famous for his wisdom.
 He taught that the only way to prevent government and social corruption was to
have the rulers lead a moral life.
What defined moral?
 Loyalty
 Order
 Respect
 Compassion
 Love and respect for ancestors
Fixed Social Status
 The system of belief that each family has its place beneath the ruler, each
individual has his or her place in the family, and no force should be required.
 All people should be naturally accepting of their place in society.
Sui Dynasty 581 AD – 618 AD
Reuniting China
 After the Han Dynasty ended in 220 AD, China divided in dozens of rival
kingdoms.
 Emperor Wen (also called Yang Jian) founded the Sui Dynasty after reuniting the
Northern and Southern rival kingdoms through a war violent campaign.
 Sui Yangde was the second and last Sui Emperor.
Sui Yangdi
Why We Remember Sui Yangdi…
 Completed the Grand Canal with forced labor
 When there weren’t enough men to do the work, he drafted women to work on
the canal.
 Because of taxes, war policies, and forced labor he was generally hated.
 So, someone murdered him, and that was the end of the Sui Dynasty.
Empress Xiao tried to warn Yangdi, but he didn’t listen.
Tang Dynasty 618 AD – 907 AD
 Restored merit-based civil service system
 Distributed land to peasants
 Took over Tibet
 Traded with Southwest Asia
 Invention of printing
 The Diamond Sutra is the earliest known printed document in the world
 Gunpowder invented
 Began to make steel
 Started using cotton
 Invented the firelance, which could shoot out a fireball reaching up to 40 yards
 Silk Road re-established for the first time since the fall of the Han Dynasty and
the Roman Empire.
Religion & Government
 The Han Dynasty was founded upon the principals of Confucianism
 By the time China was reunited under the Sui Dynasty, Buddhism had been
introduced by missionaries from India.
 During the Sui and early Tang Dynasties Buddhist institutions were supported by
the government.
 The Tang Withdraw Government Support of Buddhism
By the later Tang Dynasty there was a movement against Buddhism because:
1. The wealthy monasteries were corrupt, being misused by people who were
in it for the money not the religion.
2. Buddhism was a foreign religion.
Art & Literature
Li Bo wrote:
“Beside my bed the bright moonbeams bound
Almost as if there were frost on the ground.
Raising up, I gaze at the Mountain moon.
Lying back of think of my old home town.”
A Golden Age
 The period between the Tang & Ming dynasties
 Invention of printing made literature more accessible
 Tang dynasty is considered a great age of poetry
 Li Bo- Daoist poet
 Duo Fu- Confucianist writer
Ceramics
 During the Tang Dynasty porcelain was invented.
 Porcelain was a ceramic baked at very high temperatures so that it acquired a
glass-like quality.
 Europe did not develop this technique until the 18th century.
Song Dynasty 960 AD – 1279 AD
 Immediately had trouble with the Mongolian population to the north of them
 Lost control of Tibet
 Retreated south and made the capital Hangzhou
 The Song Dynasty was the China described by Marco Polo
 Eventually overthrown by the Mongols
Landscape Painting
 During the Song and Mongol dynasties landscape painting became the most
common art form
 Influenced by Daoism
 Artists went explored the mountains in search of the Dao or “the way”
The Mongols & China
 The Mongols were a pastoral culture from the area now known as Mongolia.
 Temujin united the Mongolians and was elected Genghis Khan in 1206 AD.
 He conquered much of Eurasia establishing the largest land empire ever in
history.
Genghis Khan
 Died in 1227
 His heirs split up the empire so that each got a piece of it.
 The empire was divided into several smaller khanates.
 Conquests continued, but Europe was spared.
 Mongols attacked the Song around 1260
Kublai Khan
 Genghis’ grandson
 Conquered the Song in 1279
 Established the Yuan Dynasty in China
 Conquered Vietnam for a short time
 Marco Polo (the same one who visited the Song) lived in China during much of
Kublai Khan’s reign.
 Ruled until he died in 1294
End of the Yuan Dynasty
 Eventually the Yuan Dynasty suffered the same fate as all previous large
empires
1.
Overextended resources
2.
Corruption
3.
Instability caused by discontent citizens
 In 1368 a peasant named Zhu Yuanzhang gathered an army to overthrow the
Yuan, and established the Ming Dynasty
Early Japan
Geographic Isolation
 Japan and China have always been very different societies, partly because of
their very different geographies.
 While China took shape on the huge Asian Continent-- Japan developed on a
series of islands.
The Four Main Islands
1. Hokkaido
2. Honshu
3. Shikoku
4. Kyushu
Size and Land
 Japan is only about the size of Montana
 Mountain terrain takes up much of Japan’s 146,000 square miles.
 Only 11% of the land can be used for farming.
The Rise of the Japanese State
The Yamato
 Organized into clans led by local rulers
 Considered the ancestors of the Japanese
 Eventually one Yamato clan became more powerful than the rest.
 Prince Shotoku began to centralize the Yamato government, based on the
example of the Tang Dynasty.
Nara Period
 Time after Prince Shotoku’s death
 A Yamato ruler remained the “emperor”
 But the Fujiwara clan was starting to gain more and more control.
 Called the Nara Period, because that’s where the capital city was located.
The Heian Period
 The capital moved to Heian (present day Kyoto)
 “Emperor” was then just a title, with no real political control.
 The Fujiwara clan had all of the real power.
 Japan became decentralized again
 Powerful clan members started hiring samurai to protect them.
Bushido: The way of the warrior
Rise of The Kamakura Shogunate
 By the 12th century the fighting among the nobles had caused nonstop civil war.
 Minamoto Yoritomo eventually defeated enough of his rivals to claim sole power.
 He established a new system called the shogunate, with the emperor as the
figurehead and the shogun (general) as the one really in charge.
 The capital was moved to the same place as modern day Tokyo
Decline of the Kamakura Shogunate
 The system worked from 1192 to 1333
 In 1281 Kublai Khan and 150,000 Mongols tried to attack Japan.
 They were famously prevented from conquering Japan when the fleet was
destroyed by a giant typhoon.
 But fighting with the Mongols still weakened the stability of the Shogunate.
Fall of the Shogunate
 In 1333 the Ashikaga family overthrew the Shogunate government.
 Throughout early Japanese history, aristocratic families would find ways to avoid
paying taxes, and this would make centralized control impossible to maintain.
 These “daimyo” continued to rely on the samurai for protection.
Onin War
 The Onin War, a huge civil war, tore Japan apart from 1467 to 1477
 Eventually everything remotely like a government just completely broke down.
 By 1500 Japan was in complete chaos.
 The different armies passed through cities burning them to the ground and
terrorizing civilians.
50 Minute Tour of the History of India
Before the Guptas in India
 Two major empires rose to unify the region that would become India
o Mauryan Empire (326 BC – 184 BC)
o Kushan Empire (30 AD – 360 AD)
Mauryan Empire (326 BC – 184 BC)
 India’s recorded history at this time pretty much ignored Alexander the Great's
attempts to conquer the region in 326 B.C
 But, cultural diffusion between India and Greek art, architecture, language and
coinage was evident during the Mauryan Empire.
Rise of Mauryan Empire
 Alexander the Great died in 323 BC without ever conquering the Indian
subcontinent.
 As the Greek Empire retreated from South Asia, King Chandragupta took control
over Magadha and conquered his way well into Afghanistan.
Reasons: King Chandragupta Maurya’s Success and the Mauryan Rise
1. Farming and trade around Ganges River
2. Iron deposits in Magadha
3. Kautilya, the Brahman author of the Arthashastra (Science of Material Gain)
4. Very organized, highly structured government—excellent control over tax
collection.
5. Large standing army
6. Well developed system of espionage
Emperor Ashoka
 Ashoka renounced war and adopted a policy of nonviolence
 He promoted religious and cultural tolerance.
 Also personally worked to spread the teachings of Buddhism. He is famous for
his public inscriptions.
 Called his message of peace and love Dharma
 The Mauryan Empire reached its height of prosperity during the reign of
Emperor Ashoka
Decline and Fall of Mauyan Empire
 Ashoka died in 232 BC
 During the last half of Ashoka’s reign, there were no military campaigns
 The military became weak from lack of practice.
 After Ashoka, there wasn’t another strong Mauyan leader.
The Kushan Empire (30 AD – 360 AD)
 The Kushan Kingdom was the meeting point of trade among the Indian, Persian,
Chinese, and Roman empires and controlled a critical part of the Silk Road.
 Kanishka, who reigned for two decades starting around A.D. 78, was the most
noteworthy Kushana ruler. He converted to Buddhism and convened a great
Buddhist council in Kashmir.
 The Kushans were patrons of Gandharan art, (a combination of Greek and Indian
styles) and Sanskrit literature.
 They declared a new era called Shaka in 78 AD, and this calendar was formally
adopted by India in 1957. It is still in use today.
Kushan Empire’s Decline
 After the death of Vasudeva I in 225 AD, the Kushan empire split into western
and eastern halves.
 The remnants of the Kushan empire were ultimately wiped out in the 5th century
by the invasions of the Huns, and later the expansion of Islam.
The Gupta Dynasty (320-550)
 Under Chandragupta I (320 AD -335 AD), empire was revived in the north.
 First conquered Magadha, set up his capital where the Mauryan capital had
stood
 Chandragupta revived many of Ashoka's principles of government.
 Chandragupta’s son Samudragupta (335-376), and later his grandson,
Chandragupta II (376-415), extended the kingdom into an empire over the whole
of the north and the western Deccan Plateau.
 This period is regarded as the golden age of Indian culture.
 Continued expansion of Buddhism
Accomplishments of the Guptas
-Mathematics
 Invented a numeral system.
 Developed a concept of negative numbers.
 Calculated square root of 2
 Developed table of sines.
 Computed value of Pi.
-Astronomy
 Identified seven planets.
 Determined that planets and moon reflect sun's light.
 Understood daily rotation of earth on its axis.
 Predicted eclipses.
 Developed theory of gravity.
-Medicine
 Understood importance of spinal cord.
 Knew how to set bones.
 Performed plastic surgery.
 Practiced sterilization of wounds
Fall of the Guptas
 Beginning in the 400's AD, the Huns began to put pressure on the Guptas.
 In 480 they conquered the Guptas and took over northern India.
 Western India was overrun by 500
 The last of the Gupta kings died in 550.
After the Fall of the Guptas
 Buddhism was interpreted in different ways in India
 Theravada  understanding of one’s self is the key to Nirvana. (strict)
 Mahayana  Nirvana can be achieved through devotion to Buddha. Buddha is a
divine figure. (less strict)
 Then Hinduism gained popularity
as Hinduism gained popularity
 Theravada Buddhism almost disappeared
 Mahayana Buddhism was absorbed by Hinduism.
 The introduction of Islam completed the decline of Buddhism in India.
The Eastward Expansion of Islam
 Islam reached South Asia after the fall of the Gupta Empire
 After the Gupta Empire, there was no centralized power in the region.
 The Indian subcontinent was divided into over 70 separate powers that were in
constant conflict.
Early Islamic States Near India
 Arab armies reached India in the 700s AD
 Mamluk Turkish soldiers established the Islamic state Ghazni in what would be
Afghanistan.
 Mahmud of Ghazni succeeded as Ghazni ruler after his father died in 997 AD
 Attacked the nearby Hindu kingdoms and by Mahmud’s death in 1030 the Ghazni
took over the Indus Valley.
Sultanate of Delhi
 By 1200 a Muslim state called the “Sultanate of Delhi” had taken all of northern
India.
 During the 1300s, the Sultanate of Delhi reached across the Deccan Plateau.
 Soon after, 1369, Timur Lenk took control over the Mogul state in Samarkand
and aggressively began to expand the territory
Fall of the Sultanate of Delhi
 Timur Lenk attacked Delhi in 1398 and completely destroyed it.
o After killing 100,000 Hindu captives
 The last dynasty of the Sultanate was the Lodi dynasty
 The last Lodi ruler, Ibrahim Lodi, was hated by his court and subjects
 Alam Khan sent an invitation to Babur, the ruler of Kabul, to conquer Delhi.
Islam and Indian Society
 Muslim rulers in India saw themselves as foreign conquerors
 They kept themselves strictly separate from the Hindu population
 They were generally intolerant of Hinduism, and destroyed many Hindu temples
 Conflict between Indian Muslims and Hindus continues to the present day.
The Land and People of Southeast Asia
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Region between China and India
Malay Peninsula
Archipelago including Indonesia and the Philippines
“Melting pot” of Chinese, Indian, indigenous culture
Geographical Barriers
 Oceans
 Mountains
 Valleys
 All resulted in the development of many distinct cultures and languages
 Southeast Asia was never unified under one single central government
The Formation of States
 Between 500 and 1500 AD
 Adopted and adapted government models from India and China
 Changed these government models to fit their local needs.
Vietnam
 China conquered Vietnam in 111 BC
 Tried to make it part of China, but the people were just too hard to control
 In the 10th century Vietnam overthrew the Chinese
 They adopted a Confucian centralized government and the merit-based civil
service exam
Angkor (Khmer) Kingdom
 Jayavarman established the Kingdom of Angkor in what would be Cambodia in
the 9th century.
 United the Khmer people and declared himself a “god-king”
 Most powerful kingdom on the Southeast Asian mainland until the Thai arrived
North of them
 The Thai destroyed Angkor’s capital city in 1432
Thailand
 In the 6th century the Thai people were on the frontiers of China.
 The Mongol expansion caused the Thai to move southward during the 11th and
12th centuries.
 Conquered Angkor
 Converted to Buddhism
 Adopted Indian style government
Burma
 Burmans migrated from Tibet in the 7th century AD to avoid the Chinese
invasion.
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Started out as pastoralists, became agriculturalists
In the 11th century they founded the Kingdom of Pagan
Pagan controlled much of the Indian Ocean trade for the next 200 years
The Mongols caused the Pagan decline in the 13th century.
The Malay World
 The economy of the people of the Malay Peninsula and Indonesian archipelago
was connected to trade on the Indian Ocean between the Indian Kingdoms and
East Asia.
 The Srivijaya dominated and depended on the trade through the Strait of
Malacca in the 8th century.
 The Kingdom of Sailendra (on the island of Java) developed an economy based
on farming.
Majapahit
 13th century became the largest Kingdom in the area
 Included most of the archipelago and some of the mainland
 Controlled the east Indian Ocean and South China Sea trade for the next 200
years.
Melaka
 Islamic state that emerged after the Muslim conquest of northern India.
 Muslim merchants moved from India to settle around the Indian Ocean
 Settled in Melaka, which became a trading rival to Majapahit
 Eventually the entire region was absorbed by the Sultanate of Melaka.
Economic Forces
-Agricultural Economies
 Vietnam
 Angkor
 Pagan
 Sailendra
-Trade Based Economies
 Srivijaya
 Sultanate of Melaka
 Majapahit
Growth of Indian Ocean and South China Sea Trade
 Trade expanded after the emergence of centralized states in Southeast Asia
 Muslim conquest of India caused a rise in demand for spices like cloves, pepper,
nutmeg, and cinnamon.
 Then, as Europe and China both became more wealthy trade in spices and
woods like teak and sandalwood increased.