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5. Political Transformations

Asian Empires

Chinese pushed deep into central Eurasia

Turko-Mongol invaders from Central Asia created Mughal Empire

bringing much of Hindu South Asia within a single Muslim-ruled political system

Ottoman Empire brought different rule

Muslim rule to largely Christian population in southeastern Europe

Turkish rule to largely Arab populations in North Africa and Middle East

differences from Europe’s American colonies

did not have global reach, worldwide impact; regional rather than global in scope

did not have same devastating and transforming impact on conquered peoples; not being exposed to new diseases

nothing approaching catastrophic population collapse of Native American peoples

did not transform imperial homeland as fundamentally

reflect energies and vitality of respective civilizations in early modern ear

gave rise to profoundly important cross-cultural encounters with legacy echoing for many centuries

Making China an Empire

15th: declined opportunity to construct maritime empire in Indian Ocean with withdrawal of Zheng He’s fleet

17th-18th: built another kind of empire on northern and western frontier

vastly enlarged territorial size of country

incorporated number of non-Chinese peoples

Qing/Manchu dynasty

foreign and nomadic origin (Manchuria, north of Great Wall)

violent Manchu takeover (part of General Crisis) facilitated by widespread famine, peasant rebellions from Little Ice Age

sought to maintain ethnic distinctiveness by forbidding intermarriage

rulers mastered Chinese language, Confucian teachings

used Chinese bureaucratic techniques

Reasons

for centuries, China interacted with nomadic peoples inhabiting dry and lightly populated regions

Mongolia

Xinjiang

Tibet

trade, tribute, warfare ensured these ecologically, culturally different worlds were well-known to Chinese

authority in area was intermittent and actively resisted

early modern era: Qing dynasty undertook 80-year military effort (1680-1760) that put those regions solidly under its control

due to security concerns, not economic need

late 17th: Zunghars (substantial state among western Mongols) revived memories of earlier Mongol conquest

expansion viewed as defensive necessity

eastward movement of Russians also potentially threatening

increasing tensions, skirmishes, battles

resolved diplomatically with Treaty of Nerchinsk (1689) that marked boundary between Russia and China

China as an empire

Qing dynasty campaigns against Zunghar Mongols (despite being undertaken by non-Chinese Manchus) marked evolution of China into Central Asian empire

Chinese had seldom thought of selves as imperial power

spoke of “unification” of peoples of central Eurasia within Chinese state

historians seen similarities between Qing expansion and other early modern empire building, with differences too

Similarities

Qing dynasty takeover of central Eurasia was a conquest

used China’s more powerful military technology and greater resources

ruled separately from rest of China through new office: Court of Colonial Affairs

used local notables to govern region as inexpensively as possible

Mongol aristocrats

Muslim officials

Buddhist leaders

sometimes officials abused authority

demanded extra taxes or labor service from local people

earned hostility

sometimes officials imitated Chinese ways

wore peacock feathers

decorated hats with gold buttons

adopted much-resented Manchu hairstyle

Differences

did not seek to assimilate local people into Chinese culture

considerable respect for Mongolian, Tibetan, Muslim cultures

noble rank, Buddhist monks, those associated with monasteries excused from taxes and labor service

area not flooded with Chinese settlers

parts of Mongolia: Qing authorities sharply restricted entry of Chinese merchants and other immigrants

effort to preserved area as source of recruitment for Chinese military

feared “soft” and civilized Chinese ways might erode fighting sprit of Mongols

Long-term significance

tremendous

greatly expanded territory of China

added small but important minority of non-Chinese people to empire’s vast population

borders of contemporary China essentially those created during Qing dynasty

some of those people (esp. Tibet, Xinjiang) retained older identities and now have actively sought greater autonomy or even independence from China

transformed Central Asia

for centuries: cosmopolitan crossroads of Asia

hosted Silk Roads

welcomed all major world religions

generated enduring encounter between steppe nomads and settled farmers

became backward and impoverished region known to 19th and 20th observers

land-based commerce took backseat to oceanic trade

indebted Mongolian nobles lost land to Chinese merchants

nomads (no longer able to herd) fled to urban areas, many reduced to begging

incorporation of inner Eurasia into Russian and Qing empires eliminated nomadic pastoralists (strongest alternative to settled agricultural society)

Mughal Empire: Muslims, Hindus

Mughal Empire hosted further phase in long interaction of Islamic and Hindu cultures in South Asia

product of Central Asian warriors

Muslim, Turkic

claimed descent from Chinggis Khan and Timur

brutal conquests in 16th provided India with rare period of relative political unity (1526-1707)

Mughal emperors exercised fragile control over diverse and fragmented subcontinent

long divided into bewildering variety of small states, principalities, tribes, castes, sects, ethnolinguistic groups

sight of highly significant encounter between Muslims and Hindus

began as experiment in multicultural empire-building

ended in growing antagonism between Hindus and Muslims

Akbar

r. 1556-1605

most famous emperor

recognized central division within Mughal India: religion

ruling dynasty, 20% of population were Muslim

rest practiced some form of Hinduism

acted deliberately to accommodate Hindu majority

married several of Hindu Rajputs of northwestern India’s princesses, did not require them to convert

incorporated substantial number of Hindus into political-military elite of empire

supported building of Hindu temples as well as mosques, palaces, forts

also softened some Hindu restrictions on women

encouraged remarriage of widows

discouraged child marriages and sati (widow follows husband to death by throwing self on pyre)

some elite women able to exercise political power

imposed policy of toleration

restrained more militantly Islamic ulama (religious scholars)

removed special tax (jizya) on non-Muslims

constructed House of Worship where he presided over intellectual discussion with representatives of many religions

Muslim

Hindu

Christian

Buddhist

Jewish

Jain

Zoroastrian

created own state cult

religious faith aimed at Mughal elite

drew of Islam, Hinduism, Zoroastrianism

emphasized loyalty to emperor

overall style of Mughal Empire: blended elite culture in which both Hindus and Muslims could feel comfortable

Persian artists, writers welcomed

Hindu epic Ramayana translated into Persian

various Persian classics translated into Hindi, Sanskrit

downplayed distinctly Islamic identity for Mughal Empire in favor of cosmopolitan, hybrid Indian-Persian-Turkic culture

Reversal

Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi (1564-1624, philosopher) strongly objected to cultural synthesis

claimed to be “renewer” of authentic Islam

warship of saints, sacrifice of animals, support for Hindu religious festivals represented impure intrusions of Sufi Islam or Hinduism

believed it was primarily women who introduced these deviations

duty of Muslim rulers to impose sharia (Islamic law), enforce jizya, remove non-Muslims from high office

emperor Aurangzeb (r. 1658-1707) reversed Akbar’s policy of accommodation, sought to impose Islamic supremacy

outright forbade Hindu practice of Sati

music, dance banned at court

previously-tolerated vices like gambling, drinking, prostitution, narcotics suppressed

dancing girls ordered to get married or leave empire

some Hindu temples destroyed, jizya reimposed

“censors of public morals” enforced Islamic law

Opposition movements

due to religious polities and interoperable demands for taxes to support wars of expansion

antagonized Hindus

some were self-consciously Hindu movements

fatally fractured Mughal Empire, especially after Aurangzeb’s death

opened way for British takeover in later 18thy

Ottoman Empire: Muslims, Christians

creation of Turkic warrior groups

aggressive raiding of agricultural civilizations sometimes legitimized in Islamic terms as jihad

began around 1300 from base area in northwestern Anatolia

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