Nomads as Agents of Cultural Change: The Mongols and Their Eurasian Predecessors (Perspectives on the Global Past)

Since the first millennium BCE, nomads of the Eurasian steppe have played a key role in world history and the development of adjacent sedentary regions, especially China, India, the Middle East, and Eastern and Central Europe. Although their more settled neighbors often saw them as an ongoing threat and imminent danger—“barbarians,” in fact—their impact on sedentary cultures was far more complex than the raiding, pillaging, and devastation with which they have long been associated in the popular imagination. The nomads were also facilitators and catalysts of social, demographic, economic, and cultural change, and nomadic culture had a significant influence on that of sedentary Eurasian civilizations, especially in cases when the nomads conquered and ruled over them. Not simply passive conveyors of ideas, beliefs, technologies, and physical artifacts, nomads were frequently active contributors to the process of cultural exchange and change. Their active choices and initiatives helped set the cultural and intellectual agenda of the lands they ruled and beyond. This volume brings together a distinguished group of scholars from different disciplines and cultural specializations to explore how nomads played the role of “agents of cultural change.” The beginning chapters examine this phenomenon in both east and west Asia in ancient and early medieval times, while the bulk of the book is devoted to the far flung Mongol empire of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. This comparative approach, encompassing both a lengthy time span and a vast region, enables a clearer understanding of the key role that Eurasian pastoral nomads played in the history of the Old World. It conveys a sense of the complex and engaging cultural dynamic that existed between nomads and their agricultural and urban neighbors, and highlights the non-military impact of nomadic culture on Eurasian history. Nomads As Agents of Cultural Change illuminates and complicates nomadic roles as active promoters of cultural exchange within a vast and varied region. It makes available important original scholarship on the new turn in the study of the Mongol empire and on relations between the nomadic and sedentary worlds. Navigating the Spanish Lake examines Spain's long presence in the Pacific Ocean (1521-1898) in the context of its global empire. Building on a growing body of literature on the Atlantic world and indigenous peoples in the Pacific, this pioneering book investigates the historiographical "Spanish Lake" as an artifact that unites the Pacific Rim (the Americas and Asia) and Basin (Oceania) with the Iberian Atlantic. Incorporating an impressive array of unpublished archival materials on Spain's two most important island possessions (Guam and the Philippines) and foreign policy in the South Sea, the book brings the Pacific into the prevailing Atlanticentric scholarship, challenging many standard interpretations. By examining Castile's cultural heritage in the Pacific through the lens of archipelagic Hispanization, the authors bring a new comparative methodology to an important field of research. The book opens with a macrohistorical perspective of the conceptual and literal Spanish Lake. The chapters that follow explore both the Iberian vision of the Pacific and indigenous counternarratives; chart the history of a Chinese mestizo regiment that emerged after Britain's occupation of Manila in 1762-1764; and examine how Chamorros responded to waves of newcomers making their way to Guam from Europe, the Americas, and Asia. An epilogue analyzes the decline of Spanish influence against a backdrop of European and American imperial ambitions and reflects on the legacies of archipelagic Hispanization into the twenty-first century. Specialists and students of Pacific studies, world history, the Spanish colonial era, maritime history, early modern Europe, and Asian studies will welcome Navigating the Spanish Lake as a persuasive reorientation of the Pacific in both Iberian and world history. "Did China drive or resist the early wave of globalization? Some scholars insist that China contributed nothing to the rise of the global economy that began around 1500. Others have placed China at the center of global integration. Neither side, though, has paid attention to the complex story of China's maritime policies. Drawing on sources from China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, and the West, this important new work systematically explores the evolution of imperial Qing maritime policy from 1684 to 1757 and sets its findings in the context of early globalization. Gang Zhao argues that rather than constrain private maritime trade, globalization drove it forward, linking the Song and Yuan dynasties to a dynamic world system. As bold Chinese merchants began to dominate East Asian trade, officials and emperors came to see private trade as the solution to the daunting economic and social challenges of the day. The ascent of maritime business convinced the Kangzi emperor to open the coast to international trade, putting an end to the tribute trade system. Zhao's study details China's unique contribution to early globalization, the pattern of which differs significantly from the European experience. It offers impressive insights into the rise of the Asian trade network, the emergence of Shanghai as Asia's commercial hub, and the spread of a regional Chinese diaspora. To understand the place of China in the early modern world, how modernity came to China, and early globalization and the rise of the Asian trade network, The Qing Opening to the Ocean is essential reading."--Jaquette "Did China drive or resist the early wave of globalization? Some scholars insist that China contributed nothing to the rise of the global economy that began around 1500. Others have placed China at the center of global integration. Neither side, though, has paid attention to the complex story of China's maritime policies. Drawing on sources from China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, and the West, this important new work systematically explores the evolution of imperial Qing maritime policy from 1684 to 1757 and sets its findings in the context of early globalization. Gang Zhao argues that rather than constrain private maritime trade, globalization drove it forward, linking the Song and Yuan dynasties to a dynamic world system. As bold Chinese merchants began to dominate East Asian trade, officials and emperors came to see private trade as the solution to the daunting economic and social challenges of the day. The ascent of maritime business convinced the Kangzi emperor to open the coast to international trade, putting an end to the tribute trade system. Zhao's study details China's unique contribution to early globalization, the pattern of which differs significantly from the European experience. It offers impressive insights into the rise of the Asian trade network, the emergence of Shanghai as Asia's commercial hub, and the spread of a regional Chinese diaspora. To understand the place of China in the early modern world, how modernity came to China, and early globalization and the rise of the Asian trade network, The Qing Opening to the Ocean is essential reading."--Jacket. Acknowledgments (pp. vii-viii) Notes on Dates and Transliterations (pp. ix-x) One Introduction: Nomadic Culture (pp. 1-9) Michal Biran Two Steppe Land Interactions and Their Effects on Chinese Cultures during the Second and Early First Millennia BCE (pp. 10-31) Gideon Shelach-Lavi Three The Scythians and Their Neighbors (pp. 32-49) Anatoly M. Khazanov Four From Steppe Roads to Silk Roads: Inner Asian Nomads and Early Interregional Exchange (pp. 50-87) William Honeychurch Five The Use of Sociopolitical Terminology for Nomads: An Excursion into the Term Buluo in Tang China (pp. 88-118) İsenbike Togan Six Population Movements in Mongol Eurasia (pp. 119-151) Thomas T. Allsen Seven The Mongols and Nomadic Identity: The Case of the Kitans in China (pp. 152-181) Michal Biran Eight Persian Notables and the Families Who Underpinned the Ilkhanate (pp. 182-213) George Lane Nine The Mongol Empire and Its Impact on the Arts of China (pp. 214-227) Morris Rossabi Ten The Impact of the Mongols on the History of Syria: Politics, Society, and Culture (pp. 228-251) Reuven Amitai Eleven The Tatar Factor in the Formation of Muscovy’s Political Culture (pp. 252-270) István Vásáry Twelve Mongol Historiography since 1985: The Rise of Cultural History (pp. 271-282) David Morgan Bibliography (pp. 283-330) Contributors (pp. 331-334) Index (pp. 335-349) Introduction: nomadic culture / Michal Biran -- Steppe land interactions and their effects on Chinese cultures during the second and early first millennia BCE / Gideon Shelach-Lavi -- The Scythians and their neighbors / Anatoly Khazanov -- From steppe roads to silk roads: inner Asian nomads and early interregional exchange / William Honeychurch -- The use of sociopolitical terminology for nomads: an excursion into the term buluo in Tang China / Isenbike Togan -- Population movements in the Mongolian era / Thomas T. Allsen -- The Mongols and nomadic identity: the case of the Kitans in China / Michal Biran -- Persian notables and the families which underpinned the Ilkhanate / George Lane -- The Mongol empire and its impact on the arts of China / Morris Rossabi -- The impact of the Mongols on the history of Syria: politics, society, and culture / Reuven Amitai -- The Tatar factor in the formation of Muscovy's political culture / Istvan Vasary -- Mongol historiography since 1985: the rise of cultural history / David Morgan The Chinese private maritime trade and global integration Reconsidering overseas trade : the Chinese intellectual response to the emerging global economy The northeast Asian trade network, the Manchu, pro-commerce tradition, and the 1684 open-door trade policy Enriching the state by cherishing private trade : the Kangxi emperor and the 1684 open trade policy Separating trade from tribute : Kangxi ends the tribute trade system The establishment of the Qing maritime customs system and the growth of private trade Economic interest, security concern, and the tribute system : Kangxi's response to Tokugawa Japan's license system The Kangxi emperor bans trade with Southeast Asia Western merchants, local interests, and Christian penetration : a new interpretation of the Canton system. Brings together a distinguished group of scholars from different disciplines and cultural specializations to explore how nomads played the role of ""agents of cultural change"". The comparative approach of this study, encompassing both a lengthy time span and a vast region, enables a clearer understanding of the key role that Eurasian pastoral nomads played in the history of the Old World. The Lake Before The Nineteenth Century: A Macrohistorical Perspective -- Defending The Lake: Eighteenth-century Exploration -- Arming Chinese Mestizos In Manila: The Real Príncipe Of Tondo -- Colonizing The Marianas: Spain's Pacific Empire On Local And Global Scales. Rainer F. Buschmann, Edward R. Slack Jr., James B. Tueller. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.