Western Civilization

beginning to appear. Unfortunately for China, this

decline occurred just as Europe was increasing pressure

for more trade. The first conflict had come from the

north, where Russian traders sought skins and furs.

Formal diplomatic relations between China and Russia

were established in 1689 and provided for regular trade

between the two countries.

Dealing with the foreigners who arrived by sea was

more difficult. By the end of the seventeenth century,

the English had replaced the Portuguese as the domi-

nant force in European trade. Operating through the

East India Company, which served as both a trading

unit and the administrator of English territories in

Asia, the English established their first trading post at

Canton (modern Guangzhou) in 1699. Over the next

decades, trade with China, notably the export of tea

and silk to England, increased rapidly. To limit con-

tacts between Europeans and Chinese, the Qing gov-

ernment confined all European traders to a small

island just outside the city walls of Canton and per-

mitted them to reside there only from October

through March.

By the end of the eighteenth century, some British

traders had begun to demand access to other cities

along the Chinese coast and insist that the country be

opened to British manufactured goods. In 1793, a Brit-

ish mission under Lord Macartney visited Beijing to

press for liberalization of trade restrictions. But Em-

peror Qianlong expressed no interest in British prod-

ucts. The Chinese would later pay for their rejection of

the British request (see Chapter 24).

Japan

At the end of the fifteenth century, Japan was at a

point of near anarchy, but in the course of the six-

teenth century, a number of powerful individuals

achieved the unification of Japan. One of them,

Tokugawa Ieyasu (toh-koo-GAH-wah ee-yeh-YAH-soo)

(1543–1616), took the title of shogun (“general”) in

1603, an act that initiated the most powerful and

longest-lasting of all the Japanese shogunates. The

Tokugawa rulers completed the restoration of central

authority and remained in power until 1868.

OPENING TO THE WEST Portuguese traders had landed

on the islands of Japan in 1543, and in a few years,

Portuguese ships began stopping at Japanese ports

on a regular basis to take part in the regional trade

between Japan, China, and Southeast Asia. The first

Jesuit missionary, Francis Xavier, arrived in 1549 and

had some success in converting the local population to

Christianity.

Initially, the Japanese welcomed the visitors. They

were fascinated by tobacco, clocks, eyeglasses, and

other European goods, and local nobles were interested

in purchasing all types of European weapons and arma-

ments. Japanese rulers found the new firearms espe-

cially helpful in defeating their enemies and unifying

the islands.

The success of the Catholic missionaries, however,

provoked a strong reaction against the Westerners.

When the missionaries interfered in local politics, Toku-

gawa Ieyasu, newly come to power, expelled all mission-

aries. Japanese Christians were now persecuted.

The European merchants were the next to go. The

government closed the two major foreign trading posts

on the island of Hirado and at Nagasaki. Only a small

Dutch community in Nagasaki was allowed to remain

in Japan. The Dutch, unlike the Spanish and Portu-

guese, had not allowed missionary activities to inter-

fere with their trade interests. But the conditions for

staying were strict. Dutch ships were allowed to dock

at Nagasaki harbor once a year and could remain for

only two to three months.

The Americas

In the sixteenth century, Spain and Portugal had estab-

lished large colonial empires in the Americas. Portugal

continued to profit from its empire in Brazil. The Span-

ish also maintained an enormous South American

empire, but Spain’s importance as a commercial power

declined rapidly in the seventeenth century because of

South

China

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New Rivals on the World Stage 345
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