I've never studied asian history before, let alone mongolian. first, i cannot express how amusing it is to me some asian terms/names for things. say for instance, Lamas, are Religious Mongolian Teachers. who knew?
among many Mongol tidbits, i gathered the significance of the Mongols and C. Khan thusly:
the Mongols, and many other such peoples,
were pastoral nomads who disdained farming while centering their economic lives
around their herds of animals. Normally they did not construct elaborate cities,
enduring empires, or monumental works of art, architecture, and written literature.
*The Mongols left an indelible mark on the historical development of the entire
Afro-Eurasian hemisphere, and particularly on the agricultural civilizations with
which they so often interacted.* (p.522)
For all of its size and fearsome reputation, the Mongol Empire left a surprisingly
modest cultural imprint on the world it had briefly governed. Unlike the Arabs, the
Mongols bequeathed to the world no new religion or civilization. Whereas the
Islamic community offered a common religious home for all converts—conquerors
and conquered alike—the Mongols never tried to spread their own faith among subject
peoples. (p. 530)
In a similar fashion, the Turkish people and Ottoman Empires, spread and delivered Islam to many corners of Asia. Not only did Turkic peoples become Muslims themselves, but they carried Islam
to new areas as well.Their invasions of northern India solidly planted Islam in that
ancient civilization. In Anatolia, formerly ruled by Christian Byzantium, they brought
both Islam and a massive infusion of Turkic culture, language, and people, even as
they created the Ottoman Empire (p. 527)
But let me not ignore Mother Africa. The prestige and the military success of the Masai encouraged agricultural societies to borrow elements of Masai culture, such as hairstyles, shield decorations,
terms referring to cattle, and the name for their high god. Farming societies also adopted elements of Masai military organization, the long Masai spear, and the practice of drinking cow’s milk before battle.12 Peaceful interaction and mutual dependence as well as conflict and hostility characterized the relationship of nomadic herders and settled farmers in East Africa, much as it did in Eurasia. (p.529)
as for the World of the 15th century, i had no idea China did their own Columbus thing. so interesting, how throughout history, similar things happen all over the world in different places, without ever communicating with each other!
the fifteenth century, during which both zheng he and Columbus undertook their momentous expeditions, proved in retrospect to mark a major turning point in the human story.At the time, of course, no one was aware of it. No one knew in 1405 that the huge armada under Zheng He’s command would be recalled in 1433, never to sail again.And no one knew in 1492 that Columbus’s minuscule fleet of three ships would utterly transform the world, bringing the people of two “old worlds” and two hemispheres permanently together, with enduring consequences for them all.The outcome of the processes set in motion by those three small ships included the Atlantic slave trade, the decimation of the native population of the Americas, the massive growth of world population, the Industrial Revolution, and the growing prominence of Europeans on the world stage. But none of these developments were even remotely foreseeable in 1492. Thus the fifteenth century, as a hinge of major historical change, provides an occasion for a bird’s-eye view of the world through a kind of global tour.This excursion around the world will serve to briefly review the human saga thus far and to establish a baseline from which the transformations of the modern era might be measured.
p(569, 571)
Map 13.3 Africa in the Fifteenth Century
By the 1400s, Africa was a virtual museum of political and cultural diversity, encompassing large empires, such as Songhay; smaller kingdoms, such as Kongo; city-states among the Yoruba, Hausa, and Swahili peoples; village-based societies without states at all, as among the Igbo; and nomadic pastoral peoples, such as the Fulbe. Both European and Chinese maritime expeditions touched on Africa during that century, even as Islam continued to find acceptance in the northern half of the continent.
The most striking difference in these two cases lay in the sharp contrast between China’s decisive ending of its voyages and the continuing, indeed escalating, European effort, which soon brought the world’s oceans and growing numbers of the world’s people under its control. This is the reason that Zheng He’s voyages were so long neglected in China’s historical memory. They led nowhere, whereas the initial European expeditions, so much smaller and less promising, were but the first steps on a journey to world power. But why did the Europeans continue a process that the Chinese had deliberately abandoned?
p. (583)
Europe had no unified political authority with the
power to order an end to its maritime outreach. Its system of competing states, so
unlike China’s single unified empire, ensured that once begun, rivalry alone would
drive the Europeans to the ends of the earth.Beyond this,much of Europe’s elite had an
interest in overseas expansion. Its budding merchant communities saw opportunity
for profit; its competing monarchs eyed the revenue that could come from taxing
overseas trade or from seizing overseas resources; the Church foresaw the possibility
of widespread conversion; impoverished nobles might imagine fame and fortune
abroad. In China, by contrast, support for Zheng He’s voyages was very shallow in
official circles, and when the emperor Yongle passed from the scene, those opposed
to the voyages prevailed within the politics of the court.
Finally, the Chinese were very much aware of their own antiquity, believed strongly in the absolute superiority of their culture, and felt with good reason that, should they desire something from abroad, others would bring it to them. Europeans too believed themselves unique, particularly in religious terms as the possessors of Christianity, the “one true religion.” In material terms, though, they were seeking out the greater riches of the East, and they were highly conscious that Muslim power blocked easy access to these treasures and posed a military and religious threat to Europe itself. All of this propelled continuing European expansion in the centuries that followed.
(p.584)
all in all, i wish we had more time to really read the whole text at a slower pace. alas, that is the curse of summer courses ;)
among many Mongol tidbits, i gathered the significance of the Mongols and C. Khan thusly:
the Mongols, and many other such peoples,
were pastoral nomads who disdained farming while centering their economic lives
around their herds of animals. Normally they did not construct elaborate cities,
enduring empires, or monumental works of art, architecture, and written literature.
*The Mongols left an indelible mark on the historical development of the entire
Afro-Eurasian hemisphere, and particularly on the agricultural civilizations with
which they so often interacted.* (p.522)
For all of its size and fearsome reputation, the Mongol Empire left a surprisingly
modest cultural imprint on the world it had briefly governed. Unlike the Arabs, the
Mongols bequeathed to the world no new religion or civilization. Whereas the
Islamic community offered a common religious home for all converts—conquerors
and conquered alike—the Mongols never tried to spread their own faith among subject
peoples. (p. 530)
In a similar fashion, the Turkish people and Ottoman Empires, spread and delivered Islam to many corners of Asia. Not only did Turkic peoples become Muslims themselves, but they carried Islam
to new areas as well.Their invasions of northern India solidly planted Islam in that
ancient civilization. In Anatolia, formerly ruled by Christian Byzantium, they brought
both Islam and a massive infusion of Turkic culture, language, and people, even as
they created the Ottoman Empire (p. 527)
But let me not ignore Mother Africa. The prestige and the military success of the Masai encouraged agricultural societies to borrow elements of Masai culture, such as hairstyles, shield decorations,
terms referring to cattle, and the name for their high god. Farming societies also adopted elements of Masai military organization, the long Masai spear, and the practice of drinking cow’s milk before battle.12 Peaceful interaction and mutual dependence as well as conflict and hostility characterized the relationship of nomadic herders and settled farmers in East Africa, much as it did in Eurasia. (p.529)
as for the World of the 15th century, i had no idea China did their own Columbus thing. so interesting, how throughout history, similar things happen all over the world in different places, without ever communicating with each other!
the fifteenth century, during which both zheng he and Columbus undertook their momentous expeditions, proved in retrospect to mark a major turning point in the human story.At the time, of course, no one was aware of it. No one knew in 1405 that the huge armada under Zheng He’s command would be recalled in 1433, never to sail again.And no one knew in 1492 that Columbus’s minuscule fleet of three ships would utterly transform the world, bringing the people of two “old worlds” and two hemispheres permanently together, with enduring consequences for them all.The outcome of the processes set in motion by those three small ships included the Atlantic slave trade, the decimation of the native population of the Americas, the massive growth of world population, the Industrial Revolution, and the growing prominence of Europeans on the world stage. But none of these developments were even remotely foreseeable in 1492. Thus the fifteenth century, as a hinge of major historical change, provides an occasion for a bird’s-eye view of the world through a kind of global tour.This excursion around the world will serve to briefly review the human saga thus far and to establish a baseline from which the transformations of the modern era might be measured.
p(569, 571)
Map 13.3 Africa in the Fifteenth Century
By the 1400s, Africa was a virtual museum of political and cultural diversity, encompassing large empires, such as Songhay; smaller kingdoms, such as Kongo; city-states among the Yoruba, Hausa, and Swahili peoples; village-based societies without states at all, as among the Igbo; and nomadic pastoral peoples, such as the Fulbe. Both European and Chinese maritime expeditions touched on Africa during that century, even as Islam continued to find acceptance in the northern half of the continent.
The most striking difference in these two cases lay in the sharp contrast between China’s decisive ending of its voyages and the continuing, indeed escalating, European effort, which soon brought the world’s oceans and growing numbers of the world’s people under its control. This is the reason that Zheng He’s voyages were so long neglected in China’s historical memory. They led nowhere, whereas the initial European expeditions, so much smaller and less promising, were but the first steps on a journey to world power. But why did the Europeans continue a process that the Chinese had deliberately abandoned?
p. (583)
Europe had no unified political authority with the
power to order an end to its maritime outreach. Its system of competing states, so
unlike China’s single unified empire, ensured that once begun, rivalry alone would
drive the Europeans to the ends of the earth.Beyond this,much of Europe’s elite had an
interest in overseas expansion. Its budding merchant communities saw opportunity
for profit; its competing monarchs eyed the revenue that could come from taxing
overseas trade or from seizing overseas resources; the Church foresaw the possibility
of widespread conversion; impoverished nobles might imagine fame and fortune
abroad. In China, by contrast, support for Zheng He’s voyages was very shallow in
official circles, and when the emperor Yongle passed from the scene, those opposed
to the voyages prevailed within the politics of the court.
Finally, the Chinese were very much aware of their own antiquity, believed strongly in the absolute superiority of their culture, and felt with good reason that, should they desire something from abroad, others would bring it to them. Europeans too believed themselves unique, particularly in religious terms as the possessors of Christianity, the “one true religion.” In material terms, though, they were seeking out the greater riches of the East, and they were highly conscious that Muslim power blocked easy access to these treasures and posed a military and religious threat to Europe itself. All of this propelled continuing European expansion in the centuries that followed.
(p.584)
all in all, i wish we had more time to really read the whole text at a slower pace. alas, that is the curse of summer courses ;)
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