1. Empires: China and Portugal
Caravans and Galleons
Tutor: Giorgio Riello
Week 5
Wednesday 31 October 2007
Empires: China and Portugal

2. Outline A. China B. Portugal Outlines of the Chinese Empire
Approaches to Chinese History
Themes
central government and local elites
empire and foreign relations
B. Portugal
Chronology of Empire building
Estado da India
The Weaknesses of the Eastado
The ‘relational logic’ of the Portuguese Empire
Comparisons across the Portuguese Empire

3. A. China

4. A1. Political outlines of the Chinese Empire
In 1300 the Empire is in disarray. Run over by Mongols, who founded a strong state, but could not manage the maintenance of the civil state.
Reunified under Zhu Yuanzhang, who established the Ming dynasty in 1368.
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 High Qing flourishing: siku quanshu and Gujin tushu jicheng: encyclopedia of all gathered knowledge.
Relationship with British turned sour post 1800

5. A2. Approaches to Chinese History
Voltaire

6. Hegel

7. Max Weber

8. Karl
Wittfogel

9. 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, (1964)
- Others have been critical of this position. See Benjamin Elman, A Cultural History of Civil Examinations in Late Imperial China.

10. 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

11. B. Portugal

12. B1. Chronology of Empire Building
a. North Africa

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

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

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

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

24. B3. The Weaknesses of the Estado
1. The Crown power was complemented by the interests of the church, merchants and patronage
2. Portugal had little means to impose its will and had to recur to ‘negotiation’ with local rulers
3. inability to translate economic and commercial success into something that was politically stable.
Historiography:
- recent scholarship emphasises both strengths and weaknesses of the Portuguese empire
- old scholarship (during the Salazar dictatorship) put the problem in terms of ‘exceptionalism’ of the Portuguese experience

25. B4. The Relational Logic of the Portuguese Empire
“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.