East Asia andthe World:Contact and Cross-CulturalInfluences, 1200-1800

East Asia and Long-Distance Trading Systems

The Silk Road

The Indian Ocean Trade

The Pacific Trade

The Indian Ocean Region, 1300s-1800

. Third largest ocean

. Bordered by diverse environments

. No single dominant political power

. World’s richest commercial zone

Goods of the Indian Ocean Trade

Clockwise from top left:Chinese porcelain bowl(Ming Dynasty); Arab Traders and African Slaves at a Yemeni market(14th c.); Chinese silk;Nutmeg and mace

Ships of the Indian Ocean Trade

Clockwise fromtop left: DutchGalleons (17th c.);Replica of theCaravel SantaMaria (15th c.);Arab Dhow;Replica of a Chinese merchantJunk (17th c.)

‘Treasure ship’ of Zheng He’s ‘ fleet drawn to scale with the Santa Maria

Early Chinese Gunpowder Technologies

“Fire Arrows,” 13th century Cannon, late 14th century

The Mongols Spread the Power of Gunpowder

Clockwise from top left:Genghis Khan (Temujin) (1167?-1227); MongolArmy lays siege to CentralAsian city (from a 14th-c.Persian manuscript);the extent of the Mongol empire by the death of Genghis,1227

“I am saddened to hear…of your illness. I had looked forward to your visit to our province as I had heard about your person and about the fact that through your suggestion the governor-general [of Goa] had sent me some guns. It was unfortunate that they were lost…during the voyagefrom Malacca, but I owe you an expression of gratefulness just as if they had arrived. I have not had the fortune of obtaining these guns, and I have not abandoned the hope to procure some. My faith in God and the protection I have extended to Christians and Portuguese in my province should sufficiently indicate that I am the servant and friendof the king of Portugal…Therefore I hope that you will write a letter to the governor and inform him that I am entitled to be given guns as presents…If I succeed in defending my province and enabling it to prosper, the church, missionaries, Christians, as well as all the Portuguese who come will prosper”

Letter from the Japanese Lord of Bungo to the PortugueseDom Belchior Carneiro and the Jesuits in Macao (1568)

Illustration for the entry“Maize” from a late 16th-century English botanical manual

South American potatotypes (contemporaryillustration)

American CropsCome to East Asia

The Italian Jesuit missionary Matteo Ricci (1552-1610) (left) with one of his Chinese disciples

St. Philip of Jesus(Mexican painting,late 1700s)

Christianityin East Asia

Isolation orEngagement, or Both?

Nagasaki harbor, Japan, 17th centuryNote the Europeanships in the centerand left, with Japanese shipsat the bottom.The Dutch trading post at Deshima Islandis located on thefar left.