Hansen/Curtis, Voyages in World History, 1e, Ch 19

Summary

By the late eighteenth century, Asia was the scene of expanding empires, including Qing [CHING] China, Russia, and Britain. Only Tokugawa [TOKE-oo-GAH-wah] Japan built no empire, focusing instead on maintaining stability and security.

• What were the main policies used by Qing emperors to build and maintain their empire in East and Central Asia?

The Qing dynasty's Manchu [MAN-chew] identity helped them to control an immense empire. Emperors presented themselves as Confucian sages while staffing the imperial bureaucracy with scholar-officials. At the same time, however, the Manchu elite retained their separate ethnic identity. Their Han Chinese subjects were only part of a culturally diverse empire. All these people paid tribute to the Qing, who developed a flexible system for accommodating diverse peoples within their empire.

• What factors drove Russian imperial expansion in the eighteenth century?

In the later eighteenth century Russian leaders continued Peter the Great's imperial project. Westward expansion brought Baltic regions and Poland into the empire. Aggression against the Ottoman Empire added new territories in the Caucasus Mountains and around the Black Sea. The empire also grew across Siberia to the Pacific, bringing rich resources and vast economic potential. Through eastward expansion Russia hoped to forestall invasion from Central Asia, control the profitable fur trade, and establish Russian as a major power in Asia and Europe.

• What were the principle causes of the decline of Mughal [MOO-gall] power, and how were the British able to replace them the dominant power in South Asia?

The Mughals governed diverse peoples, though Islam set them apart from most of their subjects. Unlike his predecessors, Aurangzeb [aw-rong-ZEB] promoted Islam at the expense of other religions. In doing so he stiffened regional resistance to Mughal authority, resistance that commercial expansions had already strengthened. Aurangzeb managed to keep restive local rulers in check, but his successors rapidly lost control of the empire. The main beneficiary of Mughal decline was the British East Indian Company which, after the Battle of Plassey, took over much of North India's wealth. The British Parliament then intervened to separate Company commercial activities from governmental administration. Against its inclinations, the British government became embroiled in Indian affairs, making the Mughals' land-based realm part of Britain's maritime empire.

• In comparison with the Qing, Russian and British empires, what were some unique features of early modern Japanese history?

The isolationism of the Tokugawa shoguns was a major exception to the rule of expanding empires in eighteenth century Asia. Their seclusion edicts paralleled their domestic policies, emphasizing order, stability, and hierarchy. Still, Tokugawa society was exceptionally dynamic, characterized by economic and demographic growth, urbanization, and cultural creativity.

In spite of Qing, Russian, and British expansion in eighteenth century Asia, many people lived outside large states in regions where political control was unclear. That would change in the later nineteenth century when even more powerful and aggressive imperial forces would spread their rule across the globe.