East Asia
● Japans Tokugawa Shogunate
○ Rejected globalization, however, did not entirely reject regional trade
○ Robust agricultural production
■ New strains of rice led to population growth
○ Many people used Japanese-imported tobacco, which led to its similar use to tea.
○ Economy
■ Close ties with rural and urban economies
● The government would step in when locals do things like
deforestation that caused mass flooding.
■ No large-scale industrialization, however, a big focus on boutique goods
○ Culture
■ Major cities became marketplaces/cultural centers
● Kyoto was a significant part of this
■ Lisuarly activities
● Poetry and literature were huge
○ Highest rates of literacy
● Vices were rampant
○ gambling, drinking, and sex work in licensed cities
● Kabuki Theater
○ Plays that offer attractive windows into gender/sexuality
○ First was created to advertise female sex work who were
actresses
■ This caused social unrest, which caused them not to
be allowed to work, so they allowed only men to do
it
■ This did not work, so they only allowed a select
group of males
Ming to Qinq
● Ming China
○ Currency
■ Precious metals were losing value, so they changed to paper currency
● They created a lot of inflation
■ Solved this by implementing silver
● 90% of taxes by 1570 were paid in silver
○ This was a law
● Standardized prices along the vast Ming empire
● However, they had very little silver
○ They have to bring in silver from Spain
○ Galleon Trade
■ Silk and porcelain for Spanish (American Silver)
● China began to create porcelain for Europeans
○ Using Latin and displaying the Virgin Mary on it
○ The Ming state did not borrow money, leading to high taxation, which caused
problems among the working class.
○ Ming and American staple crops
■ The Ming dynasty began using American crops, which led to deforestation
to make way for these crops to grow. This led to flooding, which became
out of control.
● Ming China Crises
○ Structural problems
■ Corruption leads to taxes not coming to the state
■ The employer was isolated to the state, making it difficult for the empire
to govern the state.
○ Weak military
■ Bad leadership led to military revolts
○ Climate catastrophes
■ Manchuria was particularly hard hit by these famines
■ The Little Ice Age caused these
○ Weak leadership
■ The emperors circled through many high leadership roles quickly, leading
to structural problems with the leadership.
○ Silver Trade
■ In 1639, the Japanese stopped their trade with Europe and China, keeping
their silver to themselves.
■ Spain weakened and cracked down on silver smuggling to China because
they wanted it for themselves.
● Manchi Rebels
○ The rebels stopped paying taxes and began declaring war on the Ming because of
the fallout during the effects of the Little Ice Age.
China and Japan Big Picture
● We can see the increase in powerful sovereign states with governed persons
● China embrace
Joint Stock Companies
How the Joint Stock Companies Transform Capitalism
● Joint Stock company
○ Each member owns shares of capital, pools the capital, and minimizes individual
risk.
■ The early ones we look at are run by boards of directors
○ The time these became popular was during the time of mercantilism
○ Overseas colonies are a critical factor in the rise
○ Colonialism and the rise of joint stock companies
■ Colonies should export more wealth than they import
● Colonies were expected to only trade with the companies in which
their colonizers presided (monopolies)
○ 17th-century Asian powers dominated Indian Ocean Trade
○ During the early years of joint stock companies Europeans were limited to trading
posts, and Asian societies benefited initially more than Europeans did
■ Example: textiles demand boosted
○ By 1700, Europeans were favored
■ When companies fell apart in the Indies, the Dutch or the British
consolidated power
Dutch East India Company
● Dutch traveled through the Spice Islands in 1590s
● Dutch traders in 1598, war broke out between Dutch and Spanish/Porugesse
○ Incentivized the Dutch to start focusing on going for the Spanish/Portuguese trade
● Dutch had low interest rates, which led to them being able to borrow more money than
others
● Dutch also allowed shares to be bought and sold (an early precursor to the stock
exchange)
● Dutch government persuaded merchants to stop using Spanish/Portuguese trade by
stopping the spice trade
● VOC charter
○ They had the right to wage war, arrest people, etc
■ Armed trading
○ They had the powers of a government
○ They made new laws to justify informal colonial expansion
○ This leads to a Eurocentric International Law
■ Still, see the effects today
● Key items
○ Spices, coffee, tea,
● The company aimed to secure both trade monopolies and monoscines (one buyer)
● Aimed to fix prices
● Took less aggressive measures on powers like England/China than Portuguese/Spanish
● Cost of doing business
○ Warships, military-trained men
● VOC militaristic turn (20 years into the VOC)
○ Jan Pieterzoon Coen: trade isn't possible without war, and war isn't possible
without trade
○ Local leaders who did not honor contracts were pursued with military force
○ 1617 English ships and local leaders (Jakarta) blockaded VOC access to ports
○ The VOC then seized it and renamed it Batavia
○ VOC did not aim to replace local leadership fully but rather to bend them entirely
to the interest of the Dutch
○ The Dutch before long displaced the Portuguese from everywhere except Goa in
the Indian Ocean.
■ In 1622, VOC partnered with the English to get the Portuguese out of the
Straits of Hormuz.
■ Sometimes partnered with local leaders
■ 1641 took Malacca from the Portuguese to expand the spice trade
■ 1638, the VOC started a series of wars on Sri Lanka, and by 1658, they
ousted them completely
● VOC then enslaved locals and cut out local middlemen
○ Armed trading
■ Advancing economic interests through force
○ Dutch trade with Japan, and they were the only Europeans to be able to
● VOC collapse
○ Corruption
■ They exploited employees
● High mortality rates
■ Changes to trade
● Less demand for goods in Southeast Asia
○ Dutch didn't do well in the war versus the British
■ Undermined their naval power
English East India Company
● Started in 1599 and got a royal charter in 1600
○ Queen Elizabeth wanted to do this to displace the Spanish and Portuguese Rivals.
● EIC successfully displaced Spainssh/Portuguese in the Indies and the Arabian peninsula
● Between 1613 and 1617, the Dutch had almost twice as many ships
● EIC operated on a factory system
○ Left behind representatives
● British looked to monopolize trade by securing trading posts
○ 1615 conquered Surat, Madras 1639, Bombay 1668, Calcutta/Bengal 1690
● After conflicts with the Mughal empire, the company paid a fine and was able to establish
a base of operation near Bengal
● By the 16th Century, they had nearly two dozen forts
● Similar to VOC, the EIC made an aggressive turn
○ Began war with the Mughals in the 1680s, which initially did not go very well
○ By the 18th century, the Mughal Empire was exploited by the EIC to secure a
tax-free trade monopoly
○ 1757, the governor of EIC, Robert Clive, conquered the state of Bengal overnight
■ The EIC was able to collect taxes and had the state power to tax people by
1765
● Bengal Famine
○ EIC control of many places had negatives like this
○ Famine started with a series of droughts in 1768
○ EIC made this worse by forcing the collection of taxes regardless of whether or
not you were able to pay
○ Hoarded the rice for the military
○ Exported grains and did not care about local Benglis
○ It is estimated that 10 million of the 30 million population died
● EIC skewed trade so that it was only as accessible as the British allowed it to be
● British did not look to displace Mughal practices. Instead, they ruled through the local
leaders, using them as puppets
● Britain established a monopoly on opium, which helped it influence trade with China
● India's economy suffered from the EIC
○ India started exporting raw cotton
■ Contributed to a trade imbalance
● EIC collapse
○ The EIC had a rebellion in which it defeated the rebels, but the crown thought that
it was more important to focus on direct rule.
Origins of Capitalism
● Historians and economists debate the start of capitalism
● The role of joint stock companies played a significant role in the growth of capitalism
○ They were a vital part of the spread of capitalism
○ They allowed companies to become more prominent than most could imagine
■ Pooling money and minimizing individual risk
○ These companies started other companies like banks, insurance companies, and
stock exchanges.
■ Not just growing joint stock companies but bringing in new industries and
businesses
● These companies relied on extensive communications networks and overseas trade.
● They began to move away from the old trading model
○ More of the world was being brought under a Eurocentric model
●
One of the reasons Europeans enjoyed such dominance in trade was their exploitation of cheap
labor.
Collapse of the Mughals
Recap of Gunpowder Empires
● Babur Mughal founder
○ They expanded a lot because they allowed many cultures they conquered to
flourish even under his rule.
● Akbar
○ One of the wealthiest empires
Collapse of the Mughals
● The empire reached its territorial peak under Emperor Aurangzeb
○ Aggressive military campaigns
○ Changed Mughal policies
■ Suppressed things like alcohol, prostitution
○ Reimposed the tax on Hindus
○ Motivated his expansionist policies but created many enemies due to these
policies
○ Dynasty's last effective leader
● Weaknesses of Mughals
○ The things that helped them build the huge empire came to be weaknesses
■ Gunpowder weapons: the weapons failed to keep up with the times,
becoming inefficient
● The thing that made them powerful first was gunpowder
■ High taxation of the state angered a lot of peasants, and a heavy focus on
luxury cost the wealth not trickling down, leading to the peasants
becoming angry.
● When Mughal leaders raised taxes, people suffered.
■ The bureaucracy that kept it afloat was plagued with corruption
● Became harder for the central state to extract things from the
empire
■ Succession issues
● Leaders often had very short reigns, causing many problems with
laws. Short turnover leads to instability.
■ Rebellions that occur
● With the appearance of Seekism, they began rebelling against them
in 1710
● Local leaders also became more independent of the Mughal
empire, not seeing a need for the heavy rule of the Mughals
Mughals Collapse
● This led to many different people trying to gain control of local rulers, and VOC sought
to gain a lot of power from them.
Safavids Collapse
● Shah Abbas
○ Successful leaders wanted to centralize power
○ Pressed into Afghanistan, defeating Mughals and local leaders
○ Less religious coexistent
○ Reached their peak under him
■ Were mainly in Iran
● After he died in 1629, issues came up
○ Leadership issues
■ Generally less competent
○ The design of centralizing land to the state
■ This requires many people to lead, and this breeds corruption
○ Crossroads of Global Trade
■ Many people would cut through the Safavids, which initially helped, but
the goods flowed away due to a lack of demand, leading to the Safavids
losing money.
○ Europeans found other sources of silk.
■ So much of the Safavid economy was pegged to silk
○ Safavid military diminished
■ The leaders were focused on trying to convert people, which caused many
rebellions. Without a strong military, they became unsuccessful.
Safavid Collapse players
● Afghan leaders started rebelling against the Safavids
● Russia, under Peter the Great, began attacking Safavid positions
● Nader Shah
○ Turkoman military commander
■ He began pushing everyone who was in play in the Safavid Empire out
● Even a little bit of the Ottomans
Ottomans
● Large territorial empire
● Rivals of the Safavids and Europeans
● Ottoman state during the fall of safavids and the mughal collapse transformed
● Had an elite core of Janisarrys (their military)
● European military changed techniques and became bigger in size
○ A shift towards having a huge army occurred in the world
● Ottomans shifted to having a focus on a massive amount of troops that had gunpowder
weapons
○ They employed peasants as temporary troops and did not enjoy the same
privileges as janissary
○ Many in the 1590s rebelled because they did not want their guns to be taken away
■ Ottomans would appease to these local leaders by giving them land etc
● However, this angered the Jannisarys, who got made, and in 1602,
the Janisarrys killed the Ottoman sultan because of things like this
● Ottomans peaked right before their siege of Vienna in 1683, but the rest of Europe fought
against them because of Europeans' fear of Islamic powers
● The Ottomans then retreated to Serbia, which led to other countries taking advantage of
this and had to eventually sign a treaty in 1699 that gave up a lot of their power in central
Europe
● After this defeat, the Sultan was executed
● Losing Vienna was a big moment in history but was not inevitable
○ European powers had to pool together to help defeat the Ottomans
○ It is a turning point that could have had other endings
The Enlightenment
Enlightenment
● A firm belief in and a desire to spread universal beliefs, principles and frameworks
around the world
● Also presumed to enact laws that go beyond the natural world
○ International laws
○ Freedom law
● Enlightenment got us closer to the modern world: nation-states and capitalism.
○ Sovereignty, science, technology
● The homogenization of the globe starts with the enlightenment
● Europeans thought that not only that their ideas were the best and better intrinsically than
everyone but they thought they had cracked the code for international law
● Science was not meant to re
Global Piracy
Barbary Pirates
● Mediteranen Sea
○ 1500s to ninthenth century
● Took off during the Spanish reconquiesta
● Crossed the mediterranean
● Crosiars
○ Supposed to be hired to be mercenaries
Barbabry pirates interacted with empires and forced people to think about maritime law
