Suleyman

There are two readings and a question for each:

A. An account of Busbecq, an envoy from Charles V to the Sultan’s court:
"Suleiman's daily life in his palace, from levee to couchee, followed a ritual comparable in its detailed precision to that of the French kings at Versailles. When the Sultan rose from his couch in the morning he would be clothed by select members of his household in a caftan, a robe which he would wear only once, with twenty gold ducats in one pocket and a thousand pieces of silver in the other -both robe and unspent cash becoming the perquisites of his chamberlain at the end of the day. His three daily meals were brought to him by long train of pages, to be eaten alone from fine porcelain and silver dishes on a low silver table, with sweetened and perfumed water (seldom wine) to drink, and a doctor standing by his side as a precaution against possible poisoning."
Q. How did the Europeans view Suleiman?



B. An account of a member of Suleiman’s court:
"In all that great assembly no single man owed his dignity to anything but his personal merits and bravery; no one is distinguished from the rest by his birth, and honor is paid to each man according to the nature of the duty and offices which he discharges. There is no struggle for precedence, every man having his place assigned to him by virtue of the function which he performs. The Sultan himself assigns to all their duties and offices, and in doing so pays no attention to wealth or the empty claims of rank, and takes no account of any influence or popularity which a candidate may possess: he only considers merit and scrutinizes the character, natural ability and disposition of each. Thus each man is rewarded according to his deserts, and offices are filled by men capable of performing them."
Q. How did people of his own country view Suleiman? What does this tell us about the government of the Ottomans? How will this give them a strong government?

Alec C wrote...11/23

Today in class we talked about the differences and similarities of Ming China and Tokugawa Japan. We were given some slides from a powerpoint and had to match them with the correct titles. The first slide was the agricultural slide. This said how when the Chinese went through droughts and natural disasters and there was a lack of food, the people higher in the social pyramid would sometimes take advantage of them. In Japan, the rice production was run by the government for a much smoother transaction. The next slide we talked about was the absolutism slide. Both China and Japan had formed bureaucracies(probably not spelled correctly), and they both censored writing, while Japan banned books from the west, china only censored certain readings. The next slide was the sea-based expansion slide. China explored somewhat but then stopped, but Japan slowly stopped all ships from leaving the country at all. The next slide was the global trade slide, which stated that chinese goods like porcelain and silk were in high demand in Europe. The chinese traded for mostly silver and firearms. Japan at first traded for fire arms and designs for weapons, but slowly they stopped global trade until it was confined to one island. The last slide was the gunpowder trade slide. This said how china traded gunpowder for European silver, and the Europeans later introduced firearms using gunpowder to japan, along with plans to build other weaponry. The similarities I found atleast were they both had bureaucracies(again, spelling), they both traded with Europe, at least Japan did at first for firearms, and that they both censored writing. The differences were that China explored for longer then Japan did, China did not isolate itself as Japan did and China had a worse agricultural system then Japan did(atleast in terms of when there was a shortage). The main focus of class today was the differences between Tokugawa Japan and Ming China. I randomely chose the next person and its Nick M

Aron 11/17 and 11/18

Here is my summary of today and yesterdays class. In these classes we learned about Japan in the age of the Tokugawa shogunate. When Japan was in a time of seperated armies led by Daimyos it was very unstable. One group led by Tokugawa Ieyasu rose above the rest. They were able to centralize and stabilize Japan through strict militaristic rule. This became the Tokugawa shogunate, or the group of shoguns ruling different parts of Japan under one head shogun(Tokugawa Ieyasu). The Daimyos of the other groups still had leadership in their areas but had to act upon the shoguns rules.
The shogunate formed a set social structure. The shoguns and Daimyos were at the head, followed by the samurai, and then the farmers, then the traders(merchants , craftsmen etc.). In order for the shoguns to make sure the Daimyos did not gain too much power they ordered them to the capital city, Edo, so that they can watch them and that not all of them were ever together at once. This was called the Alternative attendance policy.
Finally, the Europeans started to arrive in Tokugawa Japan in around the mid 1500s. They traded with Japan introducing firearms and the printing press. They also did missionary work their and tried to convert the Japanese to christianity. This was successful and much of the Japanese population became christian. However, this frightened the shoguns because the people were showing more loyalty to the new faith then to the shoguns. The firearms and new technologies were also threatening because they were much more powerful then the samurai sword. So the Japanese blocked off contact with the rest of the world,not letting foreighners in or Japanese out. But Dutch and China were cool to stay. This was the closed door policy.
The two main things of Tokugawa were unification and isolation of Japan. The next person to go will be Alex C.

Aron

Dan Ma says...11/12/09

Today in class, we had reviewed a variety of topics such as European conquest and the Ming Dynasty. At the beginning of class we quickly went over how the Dutch had conquered the people of Indonesia and that the Dutch had no desire to spread Christianity or any other religion like the Spanish wanted. What they really wanted was economic gain by trading and conquering. We also saw that the Dutch did not form a direct rule on the Indonesians and instead let them govern themselves which is different than the other instances of conquest we have seen.

After Mrs. Separ had checked that most of us (99%) had did our homework, we began to look over it. This assignment was about the conflicts and rivalries between many countries in Europe that eventually led to The Seven Years War (1756-1763). These conflicts between the European countries included fighting over controlling the spice trade from India, fights over the Caribbean sugar islands, contest for territory in North America, and pirates that stole goods from rival ships. This war took place on many fronts such as Europe, India, Caribbean, and North America. An example of rivalries include the British and French battling for leadership and power in the Indian ocean. We also saw that Britian is eventually put in position of dominant world trade after they defeat many battles against the French and other countries.

After going over that, we began to start our topic of the Ming Dynasty. Before we got far into this assignment, we had a rather lengthy and unusual conversation about eunuchs, nuff said. We then had to read through the packet that described many main ideas of the Ming and had to pick out which theme belonged to each paragraph. This passage discussed ideas which included how the Ming Dynasty was originally founded by a peasant that rose to power and he was then eventually named the Hongwu Emperor. He had ruled fairly by trying to improve peasant life and by keeping taxes low. He also viewed that trade is unnecessary and self-sustaining communities is the way to go. We can also see that Confucian views were a major part of the Ming Dynasty too where it influenced the ideas about trade and exploration. This reading also talks about how many great novels and stories were written during this time period and how the Ming went through many currency problems due to inflation and counterfeit coins. Last of all we see that the Chinese were very advanced for their time because of their explorations that started way before the Europeans. However, after their last voyage, they never attempted to explore again due to the lack of desire since they had all the goods they needed in their own country. Confucian views also appeared here because its teachings tell the followers not to leave their home and to take care of the elderly which goes against the ideas of exploration. I hope this sums up our lesson in class and the next person to blog due to a unanimous vote is Aron D.

Elan wrote...11/10/09

This past Monday and Tuesday during class we saw there was a common theme, and it all revolved around Silver. This past weekend for homework we were instructed to read an essay called the “Cycles of Silver: Global Economic Unity through the Mid-Eighteenth Century” by Dennis O. Flynn & Arturo Giráldez. When we entered 9th period we were tested on the information provided by the material we read over the weekend. The test was mainly on how silver impacted different parts of the world during the mid 1500’s to the mid 1700’s. After testing was done we reviewed major years and events that were mentioned in the material. One major year you don’t want to forget is 1571. This was the year the Spanish conquered the Philippines and set up probably the most important trading post called Manila. Manila was great because it set up a short cut for the Americas to China across the Pacific (Acapulco to Manila). At the end of the period we watched the same film that we saw when Ms.Separ was absent, except now we had more of an understanding of what was going on.

During Tuesday’s lesson, for most of the period, we finished watching the rest of the movie. China (which was controlled by the Ming) changed their currency from paper money to silver coins. This created a huge demand for silver, because the Chinese didn’t mine silver, so they had to import it. The rest of the film was mainly about the Portuguese and their trading relationships with China and other places in the world. Two important places you want to be familiar with are, El Mina which was a Mine in West Africa, and Potossí which was another mine on the West coast of South America. These are the two main places the Portuguese mined their silver. The Portuguese use their silver to trade for silk, salt, spices and sugar. The Portuguese also traded with Africa for slaves so they could work in the mines in the Americas. Eventually the value of silver in China fell, because it became saturated. This affected the rest of the world because now places China traded with aren’t getting as much goods as they did before for the same amount of silver. The next person who asked me to choose him for the next blog is Dan Ma.

Dani's blog 11/6/09

To recap on our lesson from Friday, we can notice a gradual change in attitude between both the Portuguese and the Kongolese from the start of their trading relations, up to the the peak of the slave trade. As we already know, the objective of the Portuguese is not to conquor land or establish colonies, their purpose for interacting with Africans is to establish trading posts along the cost. One of those being El Mina; one of the major and most active trading posts along the west cost. Their reason for not yielding colonies is due to their lack of power, if they had more power and control, they could enforce their will over Africans. Therefore, with the consent of local rulers, the Portuguese set up trading posts along the coast.

At these trading posts, many goods such were exchanged; two of the most important being gold and slaves. Trading slaves was nothing new to Africans; it was common for Africans to trade their own people. It was only until later that the people of Kongo were exposed to the unfair treatment Europeans inflicted upon captured slaves.

The King of Kongo was very eager to accept Portugues (western) ideas and culture. The inhabitants of this kingdom were so mesmerized by this unique image, that they borrowed the same ideas. For example, after observing and comprehending the benefits of Christianity, Afonso (the king) converts, and soon makes Christianity the state religion. Also, Afonso learned to speak Portuguese, and he too became a huge advocate of trade. Unlike the situation in Spanish Colonial America, the Portuguese did not force their culture upon the natives. Instead they brainwashed, and pursuaded the king of Kongo embrace European style. The Portugues took a different approach than the spanish. They believed the natives were barbaric savages; however, they also realized if they were taught how to act civilized, it could be accomplished.

For years, the Portuguese and Kongolese lived in harmony. They had a very peaceful and friendly relationship in which the king of Kongo referred to the king of Portugal as his "brother monarch." However, after exporting thousands of coastal Africans to different colonies in the Americas, the Portuguese began moving inland to capture more slaves. However, by doing so, they abducted people of noble families, and other Africans that are not meant to be slaves. Eventually, the slave trade got out of control. This recurring act caused the Kongolese to lose respect for the Portuguese; furthermore, the King of Kongo no longer wanted to trade with Portugal, thus implicating more chaos and conflicts between this trading relationship.

The tolerant method of the Portuguese establishing trading posts is very different than the Spanish. We don't see the Portuguese inflicting brutal acts until later in history, as opposed to the Spanish to immediately place the natives in a subordinate position along with enforcing a labor system that is apalling. This comparison is important to keep in mind when distinguishing the objectives of European countries during exploration, and the search for maritime trade routes.

I hope this summary helps, just to let everyone know, I'm picking the next person at random, so the next one to blog will be Elan.