Was Asia prepared for the "arrival of the West"?

China:

  1. Had a history of foreign interaction for centuries, not a "hermit nation." 
  2. Foreign policy eventually included accommodation of foreign powers, but not prepared for demands Western nations placed on the Qing (1644-1911) court.

 

Japan & Korea:

  1. Openness (in Japan) replaced by isolation,
  2. Each position had its own rational.

Southeast Asia:

1.     No single experience describes the effects of Western contact in this region.  Westerners first arrived as traders and were accommodated in established trading patterns. 

2.     When colonization efforts started, domestic conditions produced differing responses.  The general trend of anti-imperialism did not arrive until the 20th century.

Hanseatic League: a commercial alliance of medieval northern European port cities engaged in foreign trade.  In the 14th century the League had monopolized Baltic Sea trade.  However, by the 16th century internal disagreement among its members and the advances of Dutch and English maritime ability curtailed the League’s influence.

 

In 1493, Pope Alexander VI (r.1492–1503), split the map of the world into equal parts for Portugal and Spain to share in its territorial and spiritual appropriation.

 

Vasco da Gama (ca. 1469-1524) famous Portuguese navigator who found safe passage around Africa Cape of Good Hope to arrive in Calicut, India on May 20, 1498.  When negotiations with the Muslim ruler did not go well, da Gama returned with a war party in 1502,and laid siege to the city to force favourable trade concessions.  He dies during his last Indian voyage. 

 

Portuguese (pursuing spices) captured spice-trading Malacca in 1511. In 1535 Portuguese explorers arrived at the Bay of Tourane (Da Nang). This site became the primary Western trading port Faifo (Hoi An). Portuguese established themselves in Macao by 1557. Proceeded to send tribute to the Chinese Ming (1368-1644) court.

 

Early 17th-century twice-annual runs from Acapulco to Manila by the "Manila Galleon" filled with New World silver.