Team Members: ______Block: ______
South and Southeast Asia: Trial Objectives Economics and cross-cultural interactions
Instructions: The following primary and secondary sources are designed to provide your legal firm with the information needed to formulate arguments that will show that the societies you represent have met and exceeded the challenges posed by the following five questions. Use your time wisely and provide responses with proof that your culture has shown the best answers to these questions on earth for this time period. Be aware that other trial teams have access to this information as well and will be looking for weaknesses in your arguments. Be prepared to defend your assertions.
1. How is economic prosperity and opportunity distributed amongst the population in this society? Is economic prosperity dependent on exploitation of certain segments of this society or is it based on individual initiative? Why is this beneficial in either case?
2. What is more important; internal trade or external trade and contact? What kinds of items are they trading?
Does economic expansion depend on aggression towards other cultures or does it rely on peaceful interactions? What are the advantages of either?
Objective: What is more important; internal trade or external trade and contact? What kinds of items are they trading? Does economic expansion depend on aggression towards other cultures or does it rely on peaceful interactions? What are the advantages of either?
1. How did the Indians utilize cotton to expand into other economic markets? ______
Objective: How is economic prosperity and opportunity distributed amongst the population in this society? Is economic prosperity dependent on exploitation of certain segments of this society or is it based on individual initiative? Why is this beneficial in either case? How does this agricultural production for a market resource help the individual Indian farmers? ______
“Southernization (the movement of culture and trade to the Indian Ocean) was the result of developments that took place in many parts of southern Asia, both on the Indian subcontinent and in Southeast Asia. By the time of the Gupta kings, several of its constituent parts already had a long history in India. Perhaps the oldest strand in the process was the cultivation of cotton and the production of cotton textiles for export. Cotton was first domesticated in the Indus River valley sometime between 2300 and 1760 B.C.E., and by the second millennium B.C.E., the Indians had begun to develop sophisticated dyeing techniques. During these early millennia Indus River valley merchants are known to have lived in Mesopotamia, where they sold cotton textiles. In the first century C.E. Egypt became an important overseas market for Indian cottons. By the next century there was a strong demand for these textiles both in the Mediterranean and in East Africa, and by the fifth century they were being traded in Southeast Asia. The Indian textile trade continued to grow throughout the next millennium. Even after the arrival of European ships in Asian ports at the turn of the sixteenth century, it continued unscathed. According to one textile expert, “India virtually clothed the world” by the mid-eighteenth century.”
-(Secondary Source) Lynda Norene Shaffer, “Southernization,” Journal of World History 5 (Spring 1994): 1-21.
Objective: What is more important; internal trade or external trade and contact? What kinds of items are they trading?
Does economic expansion depend on aggression towards other cultures or does it rely on peaceful interactions? What are the advantages of either?
3. What role did Malaysian sailors play in establishing the vast Indian Ocean trade network? ______
“Indian voyages on the Indian Ocean were part of a more general development, more or less contemporary with the Mauryan Empire, in which sailors of various nationalities began to knit together the shores of the ‘Southern Ocean’, a Chinese term referring to all the waters from the South China Sea to the eastern coast of Africa. During this period there is no doubt that the most intrepid sailors were the Malays, peoples who lived in what is now Malaysia, Indonesia, the southeastern coast of Vietnam, and the Philippines.
Sometime before 300 B.C.E. Malay sailors began to ride the monsoons, the seasonal winds that blow off the continent of Asia in the colder months and onto its shores in the warmer months. Chinese records indicate that by the third century B.C.E. ‘Kunlun’ sailors, the Chinese term for the Malay seamen, were sailing north to the southern coast of China. They may also have been sailing west to India, through the straits now called Malacca and Sunda. If so they may have been the first to establish contact between India and Southeast Asia.
Malay sailors had reached the eastern coast of Africa at least by the first century B.C.E., if not earlier…Some evidence also suggests that Malay sailors had settled in the Red Sea area. Indeed, it appears that they were the first to develop a long-distance trade in a southern spice. In the last centuries B.C.E., if not earlier, Malay sailors were delivering cinnamon from South China Sea ports to East Africa and the Red Sea.
By about 400 C.E. Malay sailors could be found two-thirds of the way around the world, from Easter Island to East Africa.”
-(Secondary Source) Lynda Norene Shaffer, “Southernization,” Journal of World History 5 (Spring 1994): 1-21.
Objective: What is more important; internal trade or external trade and contact? What kinds of items are they trading?
Does economic expansion depend on aggression towards other cultures or does it rely on peaceful interactions? What are the advantages of either?
4. What geographic feature does the Srivijaya Empire hold that would allow it to benefit greatly in the Indian Ocean trade? ______
5. Why is Srivijaya’s position in the Indian Ocean a major advantage to its trading potential? ______
Objective: What is more important; internal trade or external trade and contact? What kinds of items are they trading? Does economic expansion depend on aggression towards other cultures or does it rely on peaceful interactions? What are the advantages of either?
6. Describe the way in which the Srivijaya Empire used diplomacy and cultural understanding to develop an exclusive trade relationship with the powerful Tang Dynasty in China? ______
“Due to the importance of Palembang as a cultural and trade center, wealth began to accumulate. Eventually, Palembang supplanted Vyadhapura of Funan as the new entrepôt between China and India. There were two primary reasons behind this shift. Foremost, the traders of Palembang began to control the Straits of Malacca. They were the first port to do so, but not the last. With the control of the Straits of Malacca, all trade between the East and West was channeled through their hands. The other reason for Palembang’s emergence as an international entrepôt had to do with China. In terms of trade, the Western market was still weak due to wars in and around the Mediterranean. Rome was collapsing and had yet to be replaced by anything comparable. On the other hand, the Chinese market was expanding due to a flourishing economy resulting from peace and internal consolidation that occurred during the Tang dynasty. Sensitive to possibilities, the traders from the East Indies were interested in capturing the growing Chinese market. That was where the money was to be made.
As a warrior culture, the Chinese ruling class was not supposed to engage in trade. Further, the Chinese considered themselves the center of the civilized world. As evidence, there is no word for China in Chinese. Instead they call themselves the Middle Kingdom. What this meant was that traders from other kingdoms and cultures were meant to visit China - not the other way around.
In the Chinese imperial mind, the rest of the world consisted of vassal states that were meant to pay tribute. As matter of interest, this condition persisted into the modern era up until the 20th century. The Chinese were not meant to explore and trade. They were so superior that they were brought tribute and gave out presents. Hence at this point in history, the Chinese were not traders although they supplied manufactured goods to traders. Shanghai and Taiwan then, as now, were trading ports where huge volumes of merchandise changed hands. The main difference was that all the traders were foreign 'barbarians' because the Chinese were not allowed by custom to leave China.
The Austronesian sailors from the Southeast Asians islands, who had spent millennia on the sea, were glad to provide this function to China. They sailed into Chinese ports with foreign goods to supply the Chinese appetite. While there, they purchased Chinese goods for resale in their ports to Indian merchants. To accommodate this big customer and capture her exclusive trade rights, the entrepôt of Palembang in Sumatra pledged obeisance to China as a vassal state. This meant that her foreign trade was treated as tribute, and the goods they received in exchange were merely considered imperial presents. By stroking the Chinese imperial ego, the Palembang traders, like the Funanese before them, were able to dominate that enormous market. To further sweeten the pot and attract the Chinese pilgrims, Palembang began to stress China’s Mahayana Buddhism over Hinduism.
With this mass infusion of funds being funneled into Sumatra, a great Empire began to form. Based in Palembang, it was called the Srivijaya Empire. It began in the 7th century and lasted into the 13th century. It laid many foundations for the politics and religion in Southeast Asia. This Palembang/Srivijaya Empire, as it is sometimes called, eventually grew to have a loose control over the islands of Java and Sumatra, as well as the Malay Peninsula. However, they ruled by prestige rather than by military power. In this manner, Palembang became the entrepôt between India and China.”
-(Secondary Source) The Rise and Fall of Southeast Asia’s Empires, Don Jehman Jr., Self-Published, 2013.
Objective: What is more important; internal trade or external trade and contact? What kinds of items are they trading?
Does economic expansion depend on aggression towards other cultures or does it rely on peaceful interactions? What are the advantages of either?
7. Define what a Mandala state or Empire is.
______
8. Describe the method the Srivijaya Empire used to establish trade rights with China. ______
9. What method did the Srivijaya use to maintain a peaceful trade zone in the eastern Indian Ocean regions? How is this more effective than sheer military might? ______
“In order to understand the political organization of the Srivijaya Empire, we need to first explore what it means to be a mandala kingdom or empire. Modern nation states are based upon clearly defined property boundaries. Real estate is of primary importance in terms of tax collection as well as property rights. Each modern country has clearly defined borders with a clearly defined citizenry. Alternately, the mandala states of East and Southeast Asia have no specific territory, as their influence emanates from the center. Rather than defending the perimeter, the idea is to strengthen the center.
The mandala political organization doesn’t require strict boundaries. Instead power emanates from the center. This power is based upon military and cultural prestige. The country is defined by the capital. The spheres of influence are determined by the vassal states on the perimeter that pay tribute to the king or emperor in the center. In return for tribute, the supreme ruler provides military protection and certain privileges, primarily concerning trade.
In the case of the Srivijaya Empire, they were provided with exclusive trading rights with the Chinese Empire in exchange for becoming one of her vassal states. In such a way, the Srivijaya Empire was part of the Chinese Empire in terms of the organization. Similarly, the kingdom of Funan was provided trade privileges when they pledged obeisance and tribute to China.
Cooperating with China also created the entrepôt port of Palembang and the Srivijaya Empire. This was another kingdom with vassal states, which were also rewarded for cooperating. Although the Srivijaya Empire had an Indianized political structure, it was a Chinese style mandala empire.
“Cooperate and you will be rewarded,” seemed to be the mantra that Srivijaya used with its vassal islands. The Arab historians don’t ever mention piracy in their trading ventures in the East Indies during these times. It seems that then as now that cultures that depend on trade realize that safety is good for all. The positive side of trade is that it thrives on peace.
This maritime empire seems to have had only a limited army. They based their empire on positive reinforcement - through cultivation of business contacts, rather than the negative reinforcement of domination by military prowess.
Because power emanates in concentric circles from the center, there is a fluid, rather than fixed, field of power. This means that if the center is weak, the boundaries of influence collapse. Vice versa when the center is strong, the boundaries expand. This organization applies to the religious sphere as well as the political. Under the political system, the theoretical boundaries are continually shifting depending on who gives the best deal and has the most prestige, rather than on who has the biggest army.
Why this huge difference between Southeast Asian politics and the rest of the world? Why was military might needed to resolve conflicts on the Eurasian land-mass? Or why wasn’t it necessary in the island cultures of Southeast Asia? Were these people just more peaceful than most?
It probably had more to do with the geography of the region. Military domination of the sea was extremely difficult at this time. There was no equivalent to the military technology of bronze combined with the chariot and horse. Bronze technology allowed the complete domination of one culture by another in the land-based cultures. Because military domination was impossible in these island kingdoms, the cultures instead relied upon cooperation and bribery.”
-(Secondary Source) The Rise and Fall of Southeast Asia’s Empires, Don Jehman Jr., Self-Published, 2013.
Objective: How is economic prosperity and opportunity distributed amongst the population in this society? Is economic prosperity dependent on exploitation of certain segments of this society or is it based on individual initiative? Why is this beneficial in either case?
10. How did the development of the spice trade show individual initiative in the economic system of South and Southeast Asia? ______
“Not until the latter part of the fourth century, at about the same time as the new all-sea route (to China) began to direct commercial traffic through the Java Sea, did the fine spices – cloves, nutmeg, and mace – begin to assume importance on international markets. These rare and expensive spices came from the Moluccas, several island groups about a thousand miles east of Java. Cloves were produced on about five minuscule islands off the western coast of Halmahera; nutmeg and mace came from only a few of the Banda Islands, some ten island with a total area of seventeen square miles, located in the middle of the Banda Sea. Until 1621 these Malaccan islands were the only places in the world able to produce cloves, nutmeg, and mace in commercial quantities. The Malaccan producers themselves brought their spices to the international markets of the Java Sea ports and created the market for them.”
-(Secondary Source) Lynda Norene Shaffer, “Southernization,” Journal of World History 5 (Spring 1994): 1-21.
Objective: What is more important; internal trade or external trade and contact? What kinds of items are they trading? Does economic expansion depend on aggression towards other cultures or does it rely on peaceful interactions? What are the advantages of either?
11. What types of items were the Indians producing and what markets were they involved in? ______
12. How much autonomy did local villages have in India in determining taxation for local purposes? How would this lend itself to the stability of the empire? ______
“Hoysala Empire was a prominent South Indian empire that ruled most of the modern day between the 10th and the 14th centuries.
The Hoysala administration supported itself through revenues from an agrarian economy. The kings gave grants of land as rewards for service to beneficiaries who then became landlords to tenants producing agricultural goods and forest products. The highlands with its temperate climate were suitable for raising cattle and the planting of orchards and spices. Paddy and corn were staple crops in the tropical plains. The Hoysalas collected taxes on irrigation systems including tanks, reservoirs with sluices, canals and wells which were built and maintained at the expense of local villagers.