1. EC120 week 06, topic 5, slide 0 Trade and technology: an Asian perspective Topics: Islam and Ottoman Empire India China Elsewhere in Asia Summing up

2. EC120 week 06, topic 5, slide 1 Islam and the Ottoman Empire By 18C Islam had spread beyond Ottoman Empire into SE Asia Ottoman empire slowly declined from mid 17C but survived to 1922 Strengths: unified, centralised, militaristic power-base External threats: increasing competition from bordering states Internal threats: gradual disintegration of territorial control

3. Ottoman Empire: economic strengths & weaknesses In early centuries (strengths): –Conduit for goods and ideas from East to West: –Source of ideas and technologies Later centuries (weaknesses): –Increased competition in trade –Resource constraints & sparse population –Oppressive taxation –Reluctance to adopt new technologies EC120 week 06, topic 5, slide 2

4. EC120 week 03, topic 2, slide 3 Ottoman Empire: long slow decline Even before 1683, signs of weakness began to emerge Sources of decline –Political weakness –Political maladministration –Social rigidities –Contempt of foreign ideas

5. Indian subcontinent Political and social institutions Mughal domination for 2+ centuries Fragility & instability but rigid social structures persisted Trade and industry Mostly village agriculture, with some urban centres Production based on labour intensive technology (low wages) EC120 week 06, topic 5, slide 4

6. EC120 week 03, topic 2, slide 5 India: stagnation in the Mughal empire Economic instability and stagnation in the Mughal empire: Mughal emperors failed to provide effective governance Uncertain and arbitrary tax burden on the peasantry –Blunted incentives for economic improvement Mughal impositions became self-defeating

7. India: transition to colonial rule External pressures initially limited to trading ports Portuguese displaced by British & French British domination by late 18C, via East India Company EIC expanded trade with Britain and China Imposed effective state bureaucracy: tax collection, law and order; disciplined military EC120 week 06, topic 5, slide 6

8. EC120 week 06, topic 5, slide 7 China overview from c1500 Contrasting pattern of economic progress and stagnation: Instability from 15C and 16C, reinforced rigid authoritarianism, intensified central control, high taxation Official policy became more inward looking Overland caravan trade routes stagnate European incursions from1520s, especially from late 18C Persistent instability & decline from late 18 C

9. EC120 week 06, topic 5, slide 8 China: patterns of change Despite political upheavals, trade seems to have thrived: –Official trade highly regulated, informal trade flourished –Foreign intervention to impose free(er) trade Trade patterns, emphasis on high value/weight goods: –Exports: silk, porcelain and, especially, tea –Imports: silver, opium, European manufactures

10. EC120 week 06, topic 5, slide 9 China: growth and stagnation Evidence of Chinese economic decline? Conventional view: decline began long before 1800 –Supported by evidence, albeit sparse, on wage rates Revisionist, `California school’: decline was from c1800 –Challenges evidence & argues that Chinese decline resulted from chance European advantages

11. EC120 week 06, topic 5, slide 10 Elsewhere in Asia (too briefly) Russia and China: expanded overland trade late 17C Japan (Tokugawa Shogunate, 1603 – Meiji Restoration, 1868) –Rapid industrialisation but only after 1868 SE Asian archipelago: from 17C the scene of European rivalry

12. EC120 week 06, topic 5, slide 11 Summing up (to late 18th century) After c1500, long-distance overseas trade in high value/weight items comes to dominate –But it’s a long, slow and uneven process of expansion Diverse trajectories across Asia Agriculture remains the main economic activity throughout Asia