Empires: China and Portugal Galleons and Caravans Tutor: Giorgio Riello Week 9. Wednesday 3 December 2009 Empires: China and Portugal

Table 1. Mega-Empires in the Historical Record Date (peak) Empire name World region Area (million sq km) 1380 Mali Africa 1.10 1400 Mamluk 2.10 1270 Mongol Central Asia 24.00 1310 Golden Horde 6.00 1350 Chagatai 3.50 1405 Timurid 4.40 1450 China-Ming East Asia 6.50 1790 China-Manchu 14.70 1480 Lithuania-Poland Europe 1683 Ottoman 5.20 1800 Russia 15.50 1290 Khmer Southeast Asia 1.00 1312 Delhi South Asia 3.20 1690 Mughal 4.00 1760 Maratha 2.50 Il-Khanid Southwest Asia 3.75 Peter Turchin, ‘A theory for formation of large Empires’, Journal of Global History, 4/2 (2009), pp. 202-3.

A1. Political outlines of the Chinese Empire In 1300 the Empire is in disarray. Run over by Mongols. Reunified under the Ming dynasty in 1368 (see Tim Brook’s Confusion of Pleasures) Reorganisation of society, with strong focus on the state. Return to agrarian empire. Late Ming cultural and economic flourishing Qing invasion and establishment of Manchu rule in 1644. High Qing flourishing: siku quanshu and Gujin tushu jicheng: encyclopedia of all gathered knowledge. (See Craig Clunas’s Superfluous Things) Relationship with British turned sour post 1800

A1. Political outlines of the Chinese Empire In 1300 the Empire is in disarray. Run over by Mongols. Reunified under Zhu Yuanzhang, who established the Ming dynasty in 1368 (see Tim Brook’s Confusion of Pleasures) Reorganisation of society, with strong focus on the state. Return to agrarian empire. Late Ming cultural and economic flourishing Qing invasion and establishment of Manchu rule in 1644. High Qing flourishing: siku quanshu and Gujin tushu jicheng: encyclopedia of all gathered knowledge. (See Craig Clunas’s Superfluous Things) Relationship with British turned sour post 1800

A2. Approaches to Chinese History Voltaire

Hegel

Max Weber

Karl Wittfogel

A3. Themes in the History of the Chinese empire The nature of the central government initial importance given to the despotic nature of the Chinese state. later importance to civil service as a meritocracy: ‘enlightened’ civil servants. See Ho Ping-ti’ The Ladder of Success in Imperial China: Aspects of Social Mobility, 1368-1911 (1964) - Others have been critical of this position. See Benjamin Elman, A Cultural History of Civil Examinations in Late Imperial China.

A3. Themes in the History of the Chinese empire Empire and foreign relations official pattern: trade was restricted by the tribute system or to specific places in the south but vibrant regional and interregional trade - and great deal of illegal activities

B. Portugal

B1. Chronology of Empire Building a. North Africa

B1. Chronology of Empire Building a. North Africa b. The Atlantic Islands

B1. Chronology of Empire Building a. North Africa b. The Atlantic Islands c. Brazil

B1. Chronology of Empire Building a. North Africa b. The Atlantic Islands c. Brazil d. Central Africa

B1. Chronology of Empire Building a. North Africa b. The Atlantic Islands c. Brazil d. Central Africa e. Asia

B2. The Crisis of the Estado Expansion of the Safavid and Moghul empires (loss of Hormuz 1621) 2. The Dutch republic takes over Northeast Brazil, El Mina, Luanda in central Africa and Malacca in 1640 3. loss of key nodes of exchange in the Indian Ocean (advantage of the Dutch and English) Final decline of the Estado between 1650 and 1740

No. of Portuguese migrating to the colonies B3 The Relational Logic of the Portuguese Empire What sort of Empire was this? “The Portuguese empire was a vast, global administrative and economic system that linked continents, peoples, and economic organisations in a network of exchange” (S.B. Schwarz, ‘The Economy of the Portuguese Empire’, p. 19).   1. The Empire stretching over Asia, Africa and America had some common features: - Portuguese population moved to all of these areas Period No. of Portuguese migrating to the colonies 1415-1500 50,000 1500-1580 180,000 1580-1640 360,000 1640-1700 150,000 1700-1760 600,000

B3 The Relational Logic of the Portuguese Empire What sort of Empire was this? “The Portuguese empire was a vast, global administrative and economic system that linked continents, peoples, and economic organisations in a network of exchange” (S.B. Schwarz, ‘The Economy of the Portuguese Empire’, p. 19).   1. The Empire stretching over Asia, Africa and America had some common features: - Portuguese population moved to all of these areas - the Portuguese mixed with local populations - there was an active willingness to convert people. 2. An overlap between its formal structure and its informal one. 3. This was as much a centralised empire as an empire of links 4. An example of the relational logic is the Dutch challenge both in the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic.

Conclusion China was a land empire with a strong bureaucratic system. It was marked by discontinuities (changes of dynasties). --- case of ‘mirror Empire’ theory proposed by Peter Turchin. Portugal developed (and lost) an empire over a shorter period. This was a maritime, not a land empire, characterised by trade and the exploitation of resources. It was administered flexibly from a weak and distant centre --- case of ‘colonial empire’.