Imperialism in Asia: Encyclopedia II - Imperialism in Asia - Early European penetration of Asia

Imperialism in Asia - Early European penetration of Asia

Imperialism in Asia - Medieval European exploration of Asia

In the 13th and 14th centuries, a number of Europeans, many of them Christian missionaries, had sought to penetrate China. The most famous of these travelers was Marco Polo. But these journeys had little permanent effect on East-West trade because of a series of political developments in Asia in the last decades of the 14th century, which put an end to further European exploration of Asia. The Yuan dynasty in China, which had been receptive to European missionaries and merchants, was overthrown, and the new Ming rulers were found to be inward oriented and unreceptive to foreign religious proselytism. Meanwhile, Muslim Turks consolidated control over the eastern Mediterranean, closing off key overland trade routes. Thus, until the 15th century, only minor trade and cultural exchanges between Europe and Asia continued at certain terminals controlled by Muslim traders.

Imperialism in Asia - The search for new East-West trade routes

The three existing major routes by which trade flowed from South and East Asia to Europe dated back to Roman times. The northern one cut across Central Asia and the Caspian and Black Seas to Constantinople; the middle route went by sea along the coasts of India and Persia through the Persian Gulf and Euphrates valley to Antioch; and the southern route charted across the Indian Ocean and up the Red Sea to Alexandria in Egypt.

The search by Europeans for new routes began in earnest in the 15th century, a period of rapid growth in the westward flow of commerce and wealth, despite the expansion of the Turks, which greatly hampered the flow of people and capital between East and West. The most important imports into Europe were spices, including cinnamon, cloves, ginger, pepper, and nutmeg, which rapidly became commodities in Europe highly valued primarily as preservatives for foods, and secondarily as condiments. Chinese silk, Indian cotton cloth, and various precious minerals and metals were also commodities in increasingly high demand in Europe.

The Mediterranean carrying trade in oriental goods was in the hands of Venice and other Italian city-states, which wielded an extensive and lucrative monopoly. Since the Arabs held a similar monopoly east of the Mediterranean, South and East Asian goods were sold in Europe for many times the price to produce them in Asia. As the demand for the products of the East increased during the latter half of the 15th century, the rulers of the new nations of Western Europe, particularly Spain and Portugal, following the increasingly influential economic doctrine of mercantilism, became aware that their adverse balance of trade was draining their coined money away to Mediterranean trade monopolies and merchants.

Imperialism in Asia - Oceanic voyages to Asia

Western European rulers determined to find new trade routes of their own. The Portuguese spearheaded the drive to find oceanic routes that would provide cheaper and easier access to South and East Asian goods. This chartering of oceanic routes between East and West began with the unprecedented voyages of Portuguese and Spanish sea captains. Their voyages were influenced by medieval European adventurers, who had journeyed overland to the Far East and contributed to geographical knowledge of parts of Asia upon their return.

In 1488 Bartholomew Diaz rounded the southern tip of Africa under the sponsorship of Portugal's John II, from which point he noticed that the coast swung northeast. Although his crew forced him to turn back, he was pleased with the prospect of soon finding a sea route to India. Later, starting in 1497, Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama made the first open voyage from Europe to India. In 1520 Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese navigator in the service of Spain, found a sea route into the Pacific Ocean.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Early European penetration of Asia", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki