Countries of Asia and Africa in the late Middle Ages. Asian countries in the Middle Ages

In the Middle Ages, large state formations existed not only in Europe. They were also on other continents, with the exception of Australia and Antarctica. Moreover, these states were very strong and powerful. In terms of their resources and scientific achievements, they were far superior to European states involved in endless civil strife.

The largest states in Asia, America, Africa

The medieval states of Asia, Africa and America had little interaction with each other and were very original. Historically, it was Asia that became the cradle of civilization. Therefore, developed countries have existed there since ancient times. The largest medieval states of these regions should be specified in more detail:

The Chinese empire flourished in Asia, and the Indian states were famous for their wealth. It was to the east that Europeans strove to gain access to these riches;
In Africa, the most developed were the Muslim states of the northern part of the continent. In Egypt, the Mamluk power emerged, which was not yet annexed to the Turkish Empire. In western North Africa, Morocco existed under the rule of Muslim sultans. Egypt fought the Crusaders for centuries. And Morocco ruled most of Spain. The Moors were only driven out at the end of the 15th century;
The largest medieval states in America were the empires of the Incas, Mayans and Aztecs. They existed in different eras and were very distant from each other geographically. However, these civilizations achieved great success in science, metallurgy, and construction.

The fate of the medieval states of Asia, Africa, America

The first to die were the states of America, which were destroyed by the Spanish conquistadors. These are the Aztec and Inca empires. The Maya state had already ceased to exist by that time.

Gradually, Europeans colonized Indian states and began to exert significant influence on weakened China. And already in modern times, Egypt and Morocco actually lost their independence.

European expansion began at the end of the 15th century during the Age of Discovery and continued for several centuries.

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The question of the correctness of the term “Middle Ages” in relation to Asia, Africa and Latin America. East: feudalism and " A"Ziat way of production"

The term “Middle Ages” is used to designate the period in the history of the Eastern countries of the first seventeen centuries of the new era. The natural upper limit of the period is considered to be the 16th - early 17th centuries, when the East became the object of European trade and colonial expansion, which interrupted the course of development characteristic of Asian and North African countries. Geographically, the Medieval East covers the territory of North Africa, the Near and Middle East, Central and Central Asia, India, Sri Lanka, Southeast Asia and the Far East.

The transition to the Middle Ages in the East in some cases was carried out on the basis of already existing political entities (for example, Byzantium, Sasanian Iran, Kushano-Gupta India), in others it was accompanied by social upheavals, as was the case in China, and almost everywhere the processes were accelerated thanks to participation of “barbarian” nomadic tribes in them. During this period, hitherto unknown peoples such as Arabs, Seljuk Turks, and Mongols appeared and rose to prominence in the historical arena during this period. New religions were born and civilizations arose on their basis.

The countries of the East in the Middle Ages were connected with Europe. Byzantium remained the bearer of the traditions of Greco-Roman culture. The Arab conquest of Spain and the Crusaders' campaigns in the East contributed to the interaction of cultures. However, for the countries of South Asia and the Far East, acquaintance with Europeans took place only in the 15th-16th centuries.

Among the factors causing the “lag” of Eastern societies, the following stand out:

1) the preservation, along with the feudal structure, of the extremely slowly disintegrating primitive communal and slave relations;

2) the stability of communal forms of living, which restrained the differentiation of the peasantry;

3) the predominance of state property and power over private land ownership and the private power of feudal lords; the undivided power of the feudal lords over the city, weakening the anti-feudal aspirations of the townspeople.

Re-odization of the history of the medieval East

I-VI centuries AD - transitional period of the emergence of feudalism;

VII-X centuries - the period of early feudal relations with its inherent process of naturalization of the economy and the decline of ancient cities;

XI-XII centuries - pre-Mongol period, the beginning of the heyday of feudalism, the formation of the estate-corporate system of life, cultural takeoff;

XIII centuries - the time of the Mongol conquest, which interrupted the development of feudal society and reversed some of them;

XIV-XVI centuries - the post-Mongol period, which is characterized by a slowdown in social development and the conservation of a despotic form of power.

Asian mode of production (German: Asiatische Produktionsweise) (ASP) - in Marxism - a special mode of production and the corresponding socio-economic formation, identified on the basis of studying the nature of social relations primarily in Egypt and China. Currently, this concept is rejected by historians .

Lack of private ownership of the means of production;

State exploitation of the actual owners of the land (communal peasantry);

The presence of a ruling class of exploiting officials, built on the hierarchical principle of subordination;

Despotic form of government.

State and society in medieval Asia: general and special

One of the main differences in land relations between Western Europe and Asian civilizations of the Middle Ages was the existence in the latter of state ownership of land. The supreme owner of all lands was the state represented by the supreme ruler.

A classic example of the dominance of state ownership of land is China. Back in the early Middle Ages, a state allotment system was established there. On behalf of the state (emperor), all able-bodied peasants were allocated approximately equal plots of land (these plots were redistributed from time to time). For the use of land, peasants had to perform duties in favor of the state - give part of the harvest to the treasury and work a certain number of days in government work. Numerous officials also received large plots of land along with the peasants who worked on them. The peasants who worked on these lands gave part of the harvest not to the state, but to the owner of the land. The possessions of officials were not property - they were given for the duration of their service.

With such a system of land relations, peasants provided with their labor both individual representatives of the elite of society (nobility, officials), and its entirety in the person of state power, which controlled the income from peasant plots. Over time, most of the land passed into the hands of large landowners, but the imperial government obliged the peasants who cultivated these lands to give part of their harvest not only to the landowner, but also to the state treasury. Thus, in this case, the state played the role of the main distributor of income.

In medieval China, as in other Asian countries, there was no feudal fiefdom in its classic Western European form. As a rule, there was no division of land into lordly and peasant ploughing, and there was practically no corvee labor. Large landowners actually had not so much the right to the land as the right to receive part of the income from the peasants who worked it.

In the Arab Caliphate, the caliph was considered the supreme owner of the land. Communal peasants living on state lands paid taxes to the treasury for their use. A significant part of the lands with peasants was granted to warriors with the rights of iqta. Iqta was a temporary possession given for the period of service. Owners of iqta received the right to collect taxes from peasants in their own favor.

This form of conditional land ownership reached its peak in the Ottoman Empire. For their service, Turkish soldiers received from the authorities hereditary land plots with local peasants - timars. At the same time, timars were considered hereditary only if the owner’s heir continued military service.

The owners of the Timars, Iktas, like large landowners in China, did not have immunity rights to the same extent as Western European feudal lords. For example, iqta owners did not have the right to judge their peasants; this was done by judges appointed by the authorities. China and Islamic states did not know such relations of suzerainty-vassalage as in Western European society. The supreme overlord for everyone was the ruler of the state (emperor, caliph, sultan).

Slightly different relations developed in Japan after the collapse of the state allotment system that prevailed there in the early Middle Ages. From the 10th century In Japan, private estates predominated. They were in hereditary ownership, their owners arrogated to themselves broad rights of immunity, including prohibiting government officials from entering their possessions. Owners of small estates became vassals of large landowners. Military servicemen (samurai), who received allotments from the princes, also became their vassals, and their main duty was to faithfully serve their lord.

In a number of Asian civilizations, a unique hierarchy of society has developed. In China it was much more ramified and strict than in Europe: a lower-ranking official could only address his superior (there were nine ranks of officials), peasants could only address their elder, etc. This was justified by Confucianism with its idea of subordination of the younger to the elder, the lower to the higher. In India and in the Middle Ages, the division into castes remained. Belonging to one caste or another was hereditary; it determined a person’s occupation and his place in society. The highest castes were the brahmans and warrior-landowners, followed by the castes of merchants, artisans, and farmers. Transitions from one caste to another were prohibited. Strict norms of relations were observed both between castes and within them. All this was justified by the Hindu religion.

In China, in the Middle Ages, a complex but effective state apparatus was created that controlled the life of the population in all spheres and at all levels. It was strictly centralized, headed by the emperor - the mediator between Heaven and the earthly world. Chambers, departments, and departments were responsible for collecting taxes, maintaining order, implementing standards of conduct, legal proceedings, etc. The work of all officials was controlled by a special chamber of inspectors, subordinate only to the emperor and their superiors.

A feature of the state structure of the Arab Caliphate was the merging of religious and political principles in it. The Caliph was both the supreme temporal ruler and the spiritual ruler of all Muslims. All Muslims were considered to belong to the ummah - a religious community led by a caliph. Only they had full rights. Non-Muslims had their rights reduced, for example, they paid a higher land tax and a special tax for not being Muslims; they were usually not allowed to hold government positions.

In medieval Islamic states, the monarch had complete power over all subjects, especially in the Ottoman Empire. The Sultan could take the life of any of his subjects at his whim, regardless of whether it was the first minister or a simple peasant. With the same ease, the Sultan could appoint any person to the most important government positions. In general, in Turkey, nobility and nobility of origin were not given such importance as in Europe.

Political history of India inVI-XIIcenturiesInternal structure of the state and society

Rajput period (VII-XII centuries)., in IV-VI centuries. AD On the territory of modern India, a powerful Gupta empire emerged. The Gupta era, perceived as the golden age of India, gave way in the 7th-12th centuries. period of feudal fragmentation. At this stage, however, the isolation of regions of the country and the decline of culture did not occur due to the development of port trade. The tribes of the conquering Hephthalite Huns who came from Central Asia settled in the north-west of the country, and the Gujarats who appeared with them settled in Punjab, Sindh, Rajputana and Malva. As a result of the merger of alien peoples with the local population, a compact ethnic community of Rajputs emerged, which in the 8th century. began expansion from Rajputana into the rich regions of the Ganges Valley and Central India. The most famous was the Gurjara-Pratihara clan, which formed a state in Malva. Here the most striking type of feudal relations with a developed hierarchy and vassal psychology arose.

In the VI-VII centuries. In India, a system of stable political centers is emerging, fighting each other under the banner of different dynasties - North India, Bengal, Deccan and the Far South. Outline of political events of the 8th-10th centuries. began the struggle for the Doab (between the Jumna and Ganga rivers). In the 10th century The leading powers of the country fell into decline and were divided into independent principalities. The political fragmentation of the country turned out to be especially tragic for Northern India, which suffered in the 11th century. regular raids by the troops of Mahmud Ghaznavid (998-1030), the ruler of a vast empire that included the territories of the modern states of Central Asia, Iran, Afghanistan, as well as Punjab and Sind.

The socio-economic development of India during the Rajput era was characterized by the growth of fiefs. The richest among the feudal lords, along with the rulers, were Hindu temples and monasteries. If initially they were granted only uncultivated lands and with the indispensable consent of the community that owned them, then from the 8th century. Increasingly, not only lands were transferred, but also villages, the inhabitants of which were obliged to bear a service in kind in favor of the recipient. However, at this time the Indian community was still relatively independent, large in size and self-governing.

City life, which had come to a standstill after the 6th century, began to revive only towards the end of the Rajput period. Old port centers developed faster. New cities arose near the castles of the feudal lords, where artisans settled to serve the needs of the court and the landowner's troops. The development of urban life was facilitated by increased exchange between cities and the emergence of groupings of artisans by caste. Just as in Western Europe, in the Indian city the development of crafts and trade was accompanied by the struggle of citizens against the feudal lords, who imposed new taxes on artisans and merchants. Moreover, the lower the class position of the castes to which artisans and traders belonged, the higher the tax.

At the stage of feudal fragmentation, Hinduism finally prevailed over Buddhism, defeating it by the force of its amorphousness, which perfectly corresponded to the political system of the era.

The era of the Muslim conquest of India. Delhi Sultanate (XIII - early XVI centuries) In the XIII century. In the north of India, a large Muslim state, the Delhi Sultanate, is established, and the dominance of Muslim military leaders from the Central Asian Turks is finally formalized.

Sunni Islam becomes the state religion, and Persian is the official language. Accompanied by bloody strife, the Gulam, Khilji, and Tughlaqid dynasties successively replaced in Delhi. The Sultans' troops carried out campaigns of conquest in Central and Southern India, and the conquered rulers were forced to recognize themselves as vassals of Delhi and pay an annual tribute to the Sultan.

The turning point in the history of the Delhi Sultanate was the invasion of Northern India in 1398 by the troops of the Central Asian ruler Timur (another name is Tamerlane, 1336-1405). The Sultan fled to Gujarat. An epidemic and famine began in the country. Left by the conqueror as governor of Punjab, Khizr Khan Sayyid captured Delhi in 1441 and founded a new Sayyid dynasty.

Representatives of this and the Lodi dynasty that followed it already ruled as governors of the Timurids. One of the last Lodi, Ibrahim, seeking to exalt his power, entered into an irreconcilable struggle with the feudal nobility and Afghan military leaders. Ibrahim's opponents turned to the ruler of Kabul, Timurid Babur, with a request to save them from the tyranny of the Sultan. In 1526, Babur defeated Ibrahim at the Battle of Panipat, marking the beginning of the Mughal Empire, which lasted almost 200 years.

During the reign of the Delhi Sultanate, Europeans began to penetrate India.

In 1498, under Vasco da Gama, the Portuguese first reached Calicat on the Malabar coast of western India. As a result of subsequent military expeditions - Cabral (1500), Vasco de Gama (1502), d'Albuquerque (1510-1511) - the Portuguese captured the Bijapur island of Goa, which became the support of their possessions in the East. The Portuguese monopoly on maritime trade undermined India's trade ties with countries of the East, isolated the interior regions of the country and delayed their development. This also led to wars and the destruction of the population of Malabar. Gujarat was also weakened.

Only the Vijayanagar Empire remained in the 14th-16th centuries. powerful and even more centralized than the previous states of the south. The Maharaja was considered its head, but all real power belonged to the State Council, the Chief Minister, to whom the provincial governors were directly subordinate.

State lands were distributed as a conditional military grant - amaram. A significant part of the villages were in the possession of Brahman collectives - sabhas. Large communities disintegrated. Their possessions narrowed to the lands of one village, and community members increasingly began to turn into insufficient tenants and sharecroppers. In the cities, the authorities began to delegate the collection of duties to the feudal lords, which strengthened their undivided dominance here.

With the establishment of the power of the Delhi Sultanate, in which Islam was a forcibly imposed religion, India found itself drawn into the cultural orbit of the Muslim world. However, despite the bitter struggle between Hindus and Muslims, long-term cohabitation led to the mutual penetration of ideas and customs.

India in the era of the Mughal Empire (XVI-XVIII centuries)1 The final stage of the medieval history of India was the rise in its north at the beginning of the 16th century. the new powerful Muslim Mughal Empire, which in the 17th century. managed to subjugate a significant part of South India. The founder of the state was the Timurid Babur (1483-1530). The power of the Mughals in India strengthened during the half-century reign of Akbar (1452-1605), who moved the capital to the city of Agra on the Jumna River, conquered Gujarat and Bengal, and with them access to the sea. True, the Mughals had to come to terms with the rule of the Portuguese here.

Crafts flourished during this period, especially the production of fabrics, which were valued throughout the East, and in the region of the southern seas, Indian textiles acted as a kind of universal equivalent of trade. The process of merging the upper merchant stratum with the ruling class begins. Money people could become ja-girdars, and the latter could become owners of caravanserais and trading ships. Merchant castes are emerging, playing the role of companies.

Delhi Sultanate and its internal structure

Aibek and his successors, a significant part of whom also belonged to the Ghulams, ruled until 1290 (Ghulam dynasty). During this time, the Muslim Turks strengthened their power in the Sultanate. Islamic warriors received conditional possessions in the form of iqta, and the most literate and experienced Muslims from among the Khorasans, mainly Persians, were placed at the head of the administration. A significant part of Indian lands was given to Muslim clerics and mosques in the form of waqfs. Indian princes had to submit to the Muslims, recognize themselves as their vassals and pay them tribute.

The Ghulam dynasty was replaced by another in 1290. Ala ad_din Khilji (1296-1316) from the Turkic Khilji tribe managed to inflict a decisive defeat on the Mongols, who for several decades sought to penetrate India, but never succeeded. Having put an end to the threat of the Mongol invasion, Ala ad_din made a number of successful campaigns against the Deccan and even in South India, annexing the lands he conquered to the sultanate. According to some reports, these campaigns brought the Sultan 20 thousand horses, 312 elephants, 2,750 pounds of gold and a large number of precious stones as trophies.

In order to strengthen the central power in the empire he created, Ala ad_din undertook a number of important reforms, the essence of which boiled down to the confiscation of the maximum possible amount of land to the treasury fund and an attempt to transfer the army, iktadars, to in-kind and monetary allowances from the treasury. To achieve this, food prices, primarily grain, were strictly regulated. All these measures, however, could only give temporary results, but they aroused discontent and resistance from various sections of the population and were canceled soon after the death of Ala ad_din.

In 1320, another native of the Ghulams came to power in the sultanate, founding the Tughlaq dynasty, which ruled the country until 1414. Muhammad Tughlaq (1325-1351) managed for some time to restore the empire that had disintegrated after the death of Ala addin, but not for long.

All of his lands were officially declared the property of the state, and a significant part of them - escheated, belonging to destroyed opponents and some others - began to belong directly to the treasury. chinese feudalism ottoman sultanate

These were lands of the Khass or Khalise category, the rent_tax from which went directly to the treasury and was used at the discretion of the center administration. Another, also significant part of state lands was distributed to soldiers, officials, clergy and some others. These were mainly service plots of the iqta type, given for conditional holding.

The Iqtadars or muktas who received these lands were primarily Muslims, who made up the mercenary army of the sultans, although partly, as mentioned, among them were the Rajputs who served the sultans and their vassal princes. Iqtas were not hereditary possessions, so legally the state had the right to take them away, replacing them with another form of salary, which is what Ala ad_din tried to do.

The main form of land use in the sultanate remains communal. But in accordance with the generally stricter control, the head of the community almost officially became something like an official responsible for taxes and order and for this had the right to a tax-free community plot. The community remained mainly Indian-Hindu, although in some areas of the country, especially in the north (the territories of modern Pakistan and Bangladesh), many peasant villages with a Muslim population appeared, which in structural terms were noticeably different from traditional Hindu ones, primarily due to the lack of caste ties or a sharp change their character. But the tax rate has changed.

Taxes, which were calculated in the Sultanate according to the usual Muslim standard, now consisted of kharaj and poll tax for non-Muslim jizia, and in general they became much heavier than before. In contrast to the pre-Islamic 1/6 of the income, now peasants often paid 1/4, even 1/3, and at times, as under Alaaddin, even half.

It is also important to take into account that economic policies and tax rates favorable to Muslims contributed to the conversion of the local population to Islam. However, the strength of the Hindu-caste society turned out to be so great that decisive changes in favor of Islam as a religion did not occur in India, occupied by Muslim rulers. India basically remained Indian-Hindu, and the problem of rivalry and interaction between Hinduism and Islam became very acute from the time of the Sultanate, and later, during the reign of the Great Mughals, it became even more acute.

The political-administrative organization of the sultanate was typically Islamic. The highest power and the last word always belonged to the ruler himself. His closest assistant and head of the executive branch was the Grand Wazir, who supervised the work of a number of departments, primarily the military and financial ones.

The judiciary was, as usual, in the hands of the Muslim clergy, although in cases involving Hindus, customary Hindu law was also taken into account. The Sultanate was divided into governorships, headed by governors-wali, who were usually appointed from among the relatives or closest associates of the Sultan.

The governors were responsible for collecting taxes and maintaining order, had at their disposal a mercenary army supported by local taxes (iqta), and were generally quite independent. Sometimes, as in the case of Bengal, this independence bordered on autonomy, and sometimes even led to political independence.

Each viceroyalty was divided into districts headed by officials subordinate to the center. The functions of these officials included monitoring the correct compliance with all local tax and financial policies. The entire apparatus of power, like almost the entire army, consisted of Muslims. There were also many Muslims in the cities, where a considerable number of artisans and traders, especially from among the lower castes, converted to Islam and where many Muslim merchants from other countries always lived.

China during the Tang Dynasty: State and Society

Tang Dynasty (June 18, 618 – June 4, 907 AD) was a Chinese imperial dynasty founded by Li Yuan. His son, Emperor Li Shimin, after the final suppression of peasant uprisings and separatist feudal forces, began to pursue progressive policies. The era of the Tang Dynasty is traditionally considered in China to be the period of the highest power of the country; China during this period was ahead of the rest of the modern countries of the world in its development.

Upon coming to power in 618 AD. The Tang Dynasty began one of the best periods in Chinese history. The active and humane nature of the reign of the founders of the dynasty, Gao-Tzu and his son Tai-Tsung, made it possible to restore the empire.

The western regions were annexed to China's dominions. Persia, Arabia and other West Asian states sent their embassies to the imperial court. In addition, the borders in the North-East of the country were expanded; Korea was annexed to the imperial possessions. In the south, Chinese rule over Annam was restored.

Relations were maintained with other countries in Southeast Asia. Thus, the territory of the country in size became almost equal to the territory of China during the heyday of the Han Dynasty.

History of the Tang Dynasty : The Chinese Tang Dynasty was founded by Li Yuan, a large landowner originally from the northern borders of China, inhabited by the Tabgach people - sinicized descendants of the Toba steppe people. Li Yuan, together with his son Li Shi-min, prevailed in the civil war, the reason for which was the harsh and reckless policy of the last emperor of the Sui dynasty, Yang-di, and soon after his death in 618 ascended the throne in Chang'an under the dynastic named after Gaozu.

Subsequently, Gao-Tzu was removed from power by Li Shimin, but the Tang dynasty founded by him survived and was in power until 907 with a short break in 690-705 (the reign of Empress Wu Zetian, separated into a special Zhou dynasty).

Li Yuan went down in history under the posthumous name Gao-Zong, and ruled under the name Wu-di. He was a talented feudal lord and commander who loved hunting, magnificent performances and horse riding. It is said that he won his beautiful wife by competing in archery and hitting the target - both eyes of a painted peacock.

Under Emperor Gaozu, the capital was moved to Daxing, renamed Chang'an in honor of the nearby ancient capital of the Celestial Empire. The emperor spent about 10 years achieving peace with neighboring states and within the country. Gradually, thanks to reasonable diplomatic measures, he was able to win over the rebels and defeated enemy troops.

The restoration of currency circulation and the examination system continued; trade became tightly controlled by the central government. One of the main achievements of Emperor Gao-Tzu was the creation of a new code of laws, numbering 502 articles. These laws, which were based on the yin-yang philosophy, the theory of the five primary elements and Confucian principles, lasted until the 14th century and became the model for the legal systems of Japan, Vietnam and Korea.

Gao-Tzu had three sons, the eldest of them was declared heir, however, his son Li Shimin, who took an active part in actions aimed at suppressing rebellions within the country, was aiming for the throne.

Having learned that the brothers were trying to turn their father against him, he took decisive action and announced their illegal relationship with concubines from the imperial harem. The brothers went to the palace to justify themselves to Gao-Tzu, but Li Shimin and his supporters were waiting for them at the gate.

Li Shimin pierced the heir with an arrow, and the second brother was killed by his men. The emperor, having learned about what had happened, gave up his throne to his son and left to live out his life in the rural wilderness. Li Shimin ordered the execution of ten of his brothers' children to get rid of possible opponents.

In 626, the most powerful emperor of the Tang dynasty subsequently ascended the throne, receiving the throne name Taizong. This great leader is still considered an example of the Confucian ideal of a ruler who championed the interests of the peasants, merchants, intelligentsia and landowners.

The emperor managed to surround himself with wise and devoted officials, free from corruption. Officials slept in shifts to be at the emperor's disposal at any time of the day. If history is to be believed, the emperor worked tirelessly, hanging countless reports from his subjects on the walls of his bedroom and studying them at night.

Thrift, military and local government reforms, an improved transportation system, and developed agriculture brought prosperity to the entire country. The Tang Empire became a confident and stable state, significantly ahead of other countries of this period in development. Chang'an turned into a real cosmopolitan city, hosting numerous embassies.

Development of culture and folk crafts : Culture and art reached unprecedented heights and were distinguished by luxury and sophistication. The famous porcelain, jewelry, furniture decorated with paintings and mother-of-pearl inlays, painting and poetry of the Tang era became an example of the highest skill of Chinese artists, poets and artisans.

Agriculture, trade, and handicrafts flourished. Weaving and pottery production, shipbuilding and metallurgy developed. A developed transport system contributed to the prosperity of trade, and close economic ties were established with Japan, India, Korea, Persia and Arabia. It was during this era that tea became a key element of Chinese culture.

Also during the Tang Dynasty in China, Chinese art and literature flourished. Most Tang emperors actively patronized poetry, theatrical art and music, and many themselves showed creative abilities.

Famous poets of the Tang Dynasty include Chen Zian, Li Bo, Dufu, Bo Juyi, Li Shangyin and Du Mu. Han Yu and Liu Zongyuan took the initiative to create works in the ancient Chinese literary language, which greatly influenced other dynasties. The calligraphy of Yan Zhenqing, the painting of Yan Liben, Wu Daozi and Wang Wei, as well as cave temple art gained fame. Printing and gunpowder were invented.

Mongol conquest and Yuan dynasty in China. China during the Ming Dynasty

Yuan Dynasty in China : Despite long and persistent resistance, for the first time in its history, all of China found itself under the rule of foreign conquerors. Moreover, it became part of the gigantic Mongol Empire, which covered the territories adjacent to China and extended all the way to Western Asia and the Dnieper steppes.

Claiming the universal and even universal character of their power, the Mongol rulers gave it the Chinese name Yuan, meaning “the original creation of the world.” Breaking with their nomadic past, the Mongols moved their capital from Karakorum to Beijing.

The new government was faced with the difficult task of establishing itself on the throne in a country of an ancient culture alien to the Mongols, which for centuries had been creating experience in state building in the conditions of agricultural civilization.

The Mongols, who conquered their great neighbor with fire and sword, found a difficult inheritance. The former Middle Empire, and especially its northern part, experienced a deep decline caused by the disastrous consequences of the invasion of nomads. The very development of once prosperous China was reversed.

The country's economy collapsed. The fields were desolate and the cities depopulated. Slave labor became widespread.

Under these conditions, the ruling circles of the Yuan Empire inevitably faced the question of a strategy for relations with the conquered Chinese ethnic group.

The gap in cultural traditions was so great that the first natural impulse of the Mongol shamanists was to turn the incomprehensible world of sedentary civilization into a huge pasture for livestock.

Genghis Khan's adviser, a Khitan by birth, Yelu Chutsai, and then Khubilai's Chinese assistants convinced the emperors of the Yuan dynasty that traditional Chinese methods of governing their subjects could provide significant benefits to the Khan's court. And the conquerors became interested in learning all the known ways in China to streamline relations with various categories of the population.

However, the Mongolian elite had a long learning curve. The political climate of the Yuan Empire was influenced by two leading trends that were increasingly revealing themselves. The desire to learn the vital experience of Chinese politicians was hampered by distrust of their subjects, whose way of life and spiritual values were initially incomprehensible to the Mongols. All their efforts were aimed at not dissolving into the mass of the Chinese, and the main dominant policy of the Yuan rulers was the policy of establishing the privileges of the Mongolian ethnic group.

Yuan legislation divided all subjects into four categories based on ethnic and religious principles.

The first group consisted of the Mongols, who were in charge of almost the entire administrative apparatus and command of the troops. The Mongolian elite literally controlled the life and death of the entire population.

Suffice it to mention that 5 thousand European Christians settled in Beijing. In 1294, the papal ambassador, monk Giovanni Monte Corvino, remained at the Yuan court until the end of his life, and in 1318-1328. The Italian missionary traveler Odarico di Pardenone (1286-1331) lived in China.

The Venetian merchant Marco Polo (c.1254-1324) was especially famous. He arrived in the Far East for trading purposes and for a long time held a high position under Kublai. The Chinese political elite was removed from the helm of government. Thus, the Uzbek Ahmed was in charge of finances, Nasper Addal and Masargiya served as military leaders. Although, compared to the Mongols, foreigners occupied a lower position in the social structure of society, they, like representatives of the dominant ethnic group, enjoyed special protection from the authorities and had their own courts.

The lowest, fourth, category of the free population were residents of the South of China (nan ren).

The original population of the Middle Empire was subjected to all sorts of restrictions. People were forbidden to appear on the streets of the city at night, to organize any kind of gatherings, to study foreign languages, or to study the art of war. At the same time, the very fact of dividing the single Han ethnic group into northerners and southerners had the goal of driving a wedge between them and thereby strengthening the invaders’ power.

Concerned primarily with streamlining relations with the Chinese majority, the Mongols adopted the Chinese model of social development, in particular traditional ideas about the essence of the power of the emperor as the bearer in a single person of all management functions: political, administrative, legal.

A special group of departments created in this regard consisted of 15 institutions serving the needs of the imperial court and the capital.

The main governing body of the Mongols became the traditional imperial council - the cabinet of ministers with six departments attached to it, dating back to the Sui era. The censorship, originally used in China to supervise officials, has become a powerful means of combating centrifugal tendencies in the country.

But the basis of the power of the Mongols remained their advantage in the military field: they secured leading positions in the management of military affairs (Shumiyuan) and in the main military department of armaments.

Essentially, only the capital, the city of Dadu (modern Beijing), and the northeastern borders of the Yuan state, adjacent to the capital region, were under the control of the central government. The remaining territory was divided into eight provinces.

As the power of the Mongol khans stabilized and strengthened over China and, in this regard, the need for new areas of management and administrative apparatus arose, the process of their partial restoration began.

Trying to win over Chinese intellectuals and extinguish anti-Mongol sentiments among them, the Yuan authorities in 1291 issued a decree on the establishment of public schools and academies (shuyan), which determined the principles for recruiting their personnel and their promotion through the ranks.

The policy of the Mongolian rulers in the field of state building and education, and in particular in relation to the Chinese institute of examinations, especially clearly reflected the confrontation between the Chinese and Mongolian principles, the way of life of the two ethnic groups, the culture of farmers and nomads, which actually did not stop throughout the entire Yuan period. In the conditions of the initial defeat of Chinese culture, a tendency towards a noticeable restoration and even triumph of its positions was increasingly revealed. Indicative, in particular, is the establishment of Mongolian schools on the Chinese model and the education of Mongolian youth in them on Chinese classical books, albeit translated into Mongolian.

China during the Ming Dynasty (1368--1644 ): Having ascended the throne, Zhu Yuan-chang did a lot to strengthen the central government. The essence of his agrarian policy, in particular, boiled down to increasing the share of peasant households in the wedge of ming-tian lands and strengthening strict control over the distribution of state-owned lands guan-tian. Distribution of land to the landless and land-poor, resettlement of peasants to empty lands, creation of various kinds of specialized, i.e. treasury-sponsored settlements, both military and civilian, and finally, the creation of all-Chinese tax and land registries.

A fixed taxation with relatively low taxes was introduced, and some categories of households were sometimes exempt from taxes altogether, as had happened before. The service system was universal, but was implemented one by one, as needed, according to allocation.

Zhu Yuan-chang's agricultural policies were successful and contributed to the creation of a strong, centralized empire. Zhu Di restored the central government apparatus, which had fallen into some decline, built by his father according to classical Confucian-Tang.

Having successfully expelled the Mongols from the territory of the empire (they were pushed back to the north, where they then began to actively develop the steppes of modern Mongolia), the Ming army carried out several successful military operations in the south, in the region of Vietnam. In addition, the Chinese fleet, led by Zheng He, from 1405 to 1433 made several prestigious naval expeditions to the countries of Southeast Asia, to India and even to the east coast of Africa

In Ming times, when trade flourished, these kinds of considerations dominated and at one time almost led China to dramatic events. At the turn of the XIV-XV centuries. An official message was sent to the greatest conqueror Tamerlane himself, inviting him to pay his respects to the Chinese emperor. Having received such a proposal and indignant at the impudence of its authors, the ruler of half the world began to prepare for a punitive campaign against China, and only the unexpected death of Timur in 1405 saved the empire, which had just recovered from the rebellion of the appanage princes, from the planned invasion.

In general, during the first century of its existence, the Ming dynasty pursued successful policies, both internal and external. There were, of course, some hiccups. Thus, in 1449, one of the Mongol khans, the leader of the Oirat tribe Esen, managed to make a successful expedition deep into China right up to the walls of Beijing. But this was only an episode; practically nothing threatened the capital of Ming China, as did the empire as a whole. However, from the end of the 15th century. The country's situation became much worse: China, as was typical for the second half of the dynastic cycle, began to slowly but surely enter a period of protracted crisis. The crisis was general and comprehensive, and it began, as usual, with changes in the economy and social structure of the country, although it manifested itself most clearly in the field of domestic politics.

It all started, as has happened more than once, with the complication of agrarian problems. The population grew, the number of peasants who did not have land or had it in insufficient quantities increased. In parallel with this, the usual process of absorption of the Min-Tian peasant lands was going on: the rich little by little bought up or took away the lands of the ruined peasants for debts, who then either left their homes or remained on them in a new social capacity as tenants.

A kind of vicious circle was created. During the years of previous dynasties (Tang, Song), this circle was broken through decisive reforms. The Ming Dynasty was unable to do this, because the demand for reform met with stiff opposition from the court. This, in fact, was the essence of the protracted crisis that dominated Ming China for almost a century and a half and ultimately led to the death of the dynasty.

The Ming emperors after Zhu Di, with rare exceptions such as Wan Li, who restored the Great Wall, were mostly weak rulers. Affairs at their courts were usually run by temporary workers from among the relatives of the empresses and eunuchs - a picture very similar to the one that was one and a half millennia earlier at the end of the Han.

More than once or twice, another influential official submitted a report to the emperor with denunciations and demands for reforms and at the same time prepared for death, expecting an order from the emperor to hang himself (the symbol of this was usually sending a silk cord to the culprit). The power of eunuchs and temporary workers was overthrown only in 1628. But it was too late. The country at this time was engulfed in the flames of another powerful peasant uprising, led by the peasant Li Tzu-cheng.

China during the Song period. Jurchen and Southern Song Empire

The Sung authorities failed to return the lands seized by the Khitans, and the new state was inferior in size to the Tang Empire. But the policy of the founder of the House of Song and his descendants was aimed at strengthening all-Chinese power and at eradicating the centrifugal tendencies on the ground that were clearly manifested in the previous Tang era. This focus on the internal problems of the life of the state, figuratively called “strengthening the trunk and weakening the branches,” contributed to the fact that the Song Empire was prosperous.

Mindful of the disastrous end of their predecessors, the rulers of the Song dynasty took measures to centralize the country from the very beginning. To this end, they first of all abolished the previous administrative units, headed by all-powerful military governors, and introduced a new administrative division: now all regions were subordinate directly to the emperor. The highest administrative units, including large cities, became provinces, divided into regions, districts and districts. In addition, military districts (the seat of military authorities) and inspections were allocated in areas of salt mining and metal smelting.

The redistribution of rights and responsibilities within central bodies, especially by reducing the powers of the emperor's closest advisers - the Tsaixiangs - also contributed to the strengthening of autocratic power. For better supervision of all officials, the importance of the control bodies of the Inspection Chamber and the Censorate was increased.

The political system of the Song Empire was based on political foundations inherited from the previous dynasty, and the new government, seeking to strengthen its position, traditionally turned to the sources of Confucianism, giving its interpretation to its primordial wisdom. By decree of the emperor, Confucius was canonized, temples were built in his honor, and his descendants, as the most respected subjects, enjoyed honor and various benefits.

The situation was also difficult in the army, which consisted mainly of mercenaries. It was dispersed throughout the country, but reported directly to the emperor. The “army of the forbidden city” was stationed in the capital, gathered there to guard the son of Heaven.

Garrisons were formed in the provinces and districts, the commanders of which were subordinate to local authorities. The troops were characterized by low discipline and poor training, and weapons were often lacking. The borders of the empire were guarded by small military units.

The decline in the combat effectiveness of the army was facilitated by the infringement of the rights of the command stratum and the contemptuous attitude of civilians towards the military.

As for the situation in China in the 11th century, instability within the country, at the imperial court and locally developed against the backdrop of general dissatisfaction with the authorities’ policies towards their northern neighbors.

The Song government, completely occupied with internal problems, had difficulty ensuring the defense of its borders and pursued a passive foreign policy. The first Sung emperor considered the most important thing to be the establishment of peaceful relations with such a dangerous enemy as the Khitans.

In the first quarter of the 11th century. The Khitans managed to capture the north of Hebei and firmly establish themselves on the Liaodong Peninsula, severing the connection between China and Korea. In 1024, a new agreement was concluded, according to which the Song Empire pledged to annually pay 300 thousand pieces of silk fabric and 200 thousand liang of silver.

Situation in the village : The agricultural policy of the Song government was also marked by a tendency towards weakening statehood. It became increasingly difficult to streamline the collection of tax revenues to replenish the state treasury. In the social life of China X-XI centuries. significant changes have occurred. Officially, in Song times, agrarian relations were still regulated by the decree of Yang Yan (780). In other words, land tax was paid to the treasury twice a year, most often in kind (rice, millet, wheat, hemp and silk fabrics), and the rate of taxation depended on the area and was calculated in proportion to the size of land ownership.

However, this most important part of the peasantry for the treasury - independent landowners - was decreasing, and at the same time, as was typical for the dynastic cycle, the tendency to strengthen large land ownership was growing. Its expansion occurred through the development of virgin lands and wastelands, plowing of plots in hard-to-reach mountainous areas, but mainly through the seizure and purchase of plots of small owners.

Officials of all ranks and ranks, merchants, rich townspeople and wealthy peasants, military men and moneylenders took part in the redistribution of possessions. Large tracts of land were owned by strong houses - from among influential dignitaries and major officials. The source of expansion of their possessions were grants from the emperor, as well as seizures of state lands (guantian). There was a strong reduction in the area of state-owned lands, the possessions of the emperor's relatives, military settlements, "official" lands given for feeding to officials, as well as lands of temples, public barns and educational ones.

Particularly destructive were emergency levies for military needs and in case of natural disasters. For every occasion, for example, when purchasing agricultural implements, land, or when renovating homes, indirect taxes had to be paid. There were also numerous poll taxes, paid in rice and money.

An additional reason for the deterioration of the situation of large sections of the population, including landowners, was the state monopoly on salt, wine, yeast, vinegar and especially tea. The duties of servicing government institutions were extremely difficult: peasants were forced to be messengers, porters, guards, watchmen, and servants accompanying transport. Even the peasants who had lost their land were burdened by the same fiscal obligations.

The peasants plundered estates, destroyed the houses of local officials, took away grain reserves, money, food, clothing from the rich, and divided all this among the poor. The rebels were also joined by traders who suffered from the dominance of the state monopoly on the production and trade of tea. In 994, in Sichuan, the rebels proclaimed the state of Great Shu, and by the summer of that year they had strengthened themselves in most of the province. But by the end of 995, the government suppressed the main centers of the uprising.

In the second quarter of the 11th century. the center of the rebel struggle moved to the north. A new phenomenon in the life of China was the uprising of townspeople. In 1043 in Shandong, soldiers from units sent to pacify it, as well as residents of small towns, joined the peasant uprising. The rebels led by Wang Lun occupied several counties. The townspeople and some provincial officials, together with the district troops, went over to the side of the rebels. Only with great effort was the uprising suppressed.

The Beizhou rebels repelled the assault of the regular army for 66 days. However, in the spring of 1048 the uprising was suppressed, and its Leader Wang Jie was quartered. The city itself was renamed Enzhou in order to forever erase the memory of the uprising.

New trends in economic development XI - XIII centuries The Song period became a milestone in the cultural (in the broad sense of the word) rise of the country. In prosperous agriculture, in the evolution of the urban organism, the expansion of the cultural horizon, enriched in many ways by knowledge about the surrounding world, was clearly manifested. Not only did innovations appear in all spheres of life, but there was also a tendency to shift the center of development to the south of the Yangtze.

At first, the North dominated economically. Even at the beginning of the reign of the Song dynasty, the authorities carried out a number of incentive measures here - plowing virgin lands, digging wells, and planting forests to mitigate the consequences of natural disasters. Seed selection and plant crossings were also encouraged.

All achievements in agriculture were associated with traditional agriculture - fields were plowed with plows or hoes, rarely using mules and even less often - horses (mainly in military affairs). The hydraulic wheels - at least where there was no strong water flow - were driven by feet. The progressive development of agriculture was also evidenced by the trend of gradual expansion of arable land as the South was intensively developed.

The expansion of the cultivated area took place taking into account continuously changing weather conditions. Natural disasters (floods and droughts) were a constant occurrence, and the Harvest largely depended on irrigation construction. Starting already in the 11th century. To irrigate fields, a lifting wheel was used everywhere, the design of which was constantly being improved. It was during the Song era that new varieties of millet, wheat, and soybeans appeared. Particularly significant was the spread of a high-yielding variety of rice brought to China from the South Vietnamese state of Thampa (Champa, in the territory of modern Vietnam). Sugar cane plantings have expanded significantly in the south. The introduction and further spread of these new crops for China summed up the fruits of its cultural interaction with other countries. Tea began to be cultivated more than in the previous era. At first it was known only in the coastal regions of Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian, and at the turn of the XII-XIII centuries. has already begun to grow everywhere in the south of the country. In the 11th century Cotton crops were brought to China from Central Asia and the Indian Ocean islands.

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Features of the development of Eastern countries in the Middle Ages

Arab Caliphate

Features of the development of Eastern countries in the Middle Ages

The term “Middle Ages” is used to designate the period in the history of the Eastern countries of the first seventeen centuries of the new era. The natural upper limit of the period is considered to be the 16th – early 17th centuries, when the East became the object of European trade and colonial expansion, which interrupted the course of development characteristic of Asian and North African countries. Geographically, the Medieval East covers the territory of North Africa, the Near and Middle East, Central and Central Asia, India, Sri Lanka, Southeast Asia and the Far East.

The formation of medieval societies of the East was characterized by the growth of productive forces - iron tools spread, artificial irrigation expanded and irrigation technology was improved; the leading trend of the historical process both in the East and in Europe was the establishment of feudal relations. Different results of development in the East and West by the end of the 20th century. were determined by the lesser degree of its dynamism.

Among the factors causing the “lag” of eastern societies, the following stand out: the preservation, along with the feudal structure, of primitive communal and slave relations that were extremely slowly disintegrating; the stability of communal forms of living, which restrained the differentiation of the peasantry; the predominance of state property and power over private land ownership and the private power of feudal lords; the undivided power of the feudal lords over the city, weakening the anti-feudal aspirations of the townspeople.

Re-odization of the history of the medieval East. WITH Taking into account these features and based on the idea of the degree of maturity of feudal relations in the history of the East, the following stages are distinguished:

I-VI centuries AD – transitional period of the emergence of feudalism;

VII-X centuries – the period of early feudal relations with its inherent process of naturalization of the economy and the decline of ancient cities;

XI-XII centuries – pre-Mongol period, the beginning of the heyday of feudalism, the formation of the estate-corporate system of life, cultural takeoff;

XIII centuries - the time of the Mongol conquest, which interrupted the development of feudal society and reversed some of them;

XIV-XVI centuries – the post-Mongol period, which is characterized by a slowdown in social development and the conservation of a despotic form of power.

Eastern civilizations. The Medieval East presented a motley picture in terms of civilization, which also distinguished it from Europe. Some civilizations in the East arose in ancient times; Buddhist and Hindu - on the Hindustan Peninsula, Taoist-Confucian - in China. Others were born in the Middle Ages: Muslim civilization in the Near and Middle East, Hindu-Muslim in India, Hindu and Muslim in Southeast Asia, Buddhist in Japan and Southeast Asia, Confucian in Japan and Korea.

India (VII – XVIII centuries)

Rajput period (VII-XII centuries) . As was shown in Chapter 2, in the IV-VI centuries. AD On the territory of modern India, a powerful Gupta empire emerged. The Gupta era, perceived as the golden age of India, gave way in the 7th-12th centuries. period of feudal fragmentation. At this stage, however, the isolation of regions of the country and the decline of culture did not occur due to the development of port trade. The tribes of the conquering Hephthalite Huns who came from Central Asia settled in the north-west of the country, and the Gujarats who appeared with them settled in Punjab, Sindh, Rajputana and Malva. As a result of the merger of alien peoples with the local population, a compact ethnic community of Rajputs emerged, which in the 8th century. began expansion from Rajputana into the rich regions of the Ganges Valley and Central India. The most famous was the Gurjara-Pratihara clan, which formed a state in Malva. Here the most striking type of feudal relations with a developed hierarchy and vassal psychology arose.

In the VI-VII centuries. In India, a system of stable political centers is emerging, fighting each other under the banner of different dynasties - North India, Bengal, Deccan and the Far South. Outline of political events of the 8th-10th centuries. began the struggle for the Doab (between the Jumna and Ganga rivers). In the 10th century The leading powers of the country fell into decline and were divided into independent principalities. The political fragmentation of the country turned out to be especially tragic for Northern India, which suffered in the 11th century. regular troop raids Mahmud Ghaznavid(998-1030), ruler of a vast empire that included the territories of the modern states of Central Asia, Iran, Afghanistan, as well as Punjab and Sind.

At the stage of feudal fragmentation, Hinduism finally prevailed over Buddhism, defeating it by the force of its amorphousness, which perfectly corresponded to the political system of the era.

The era of the Muslim conquest of India. Delhi Sultanate(XIII – early XVI centuries) In the 13th century In the north of India, a large Muslim state, the Delhi Sultanate, is established, and the dominance of Muslim military leaders from the Central Asian Turks is finally formalized. Sunni Islam becomes the state religion, and Persian is the official language. Accompanied by bloody strife, the Gulam, Khilji, and Tughlaqid dynasties successively replaced in Delhi. The Sultans' troops carried out campaigns of conquest in Central and Southern India, and the conquered rulers were forced to recognize themselves as vassals of Delhi and pay an annual tribute to the Sultan.

The turning point in the history of the Delhi Sultanate was the invasion of Northern India in 1398 by the troops of the Central Asian ruler Timur(another name is Tamerlane, 1336-1405). The Sultan fled to Gujarat. An epidemic and famine began in the country. Left by the conqueror as governor of Punjab, Khizr Khan Sayyid captured Delhi in 1441 and founded a new Sayyid dynasty. Representatives of this and the Lodi dynasty that followed it already ruled as governors of the Timurids. One of the last Lodi, Ibrahim, seeking to exalt his power, entered into an irreconcilable struggle with the feudal nobility and Afghan military leaders. Ibrahim's opponents turned to the ruler of Kabul, Timurid Babur, with a request to save them from the tyranny of the Sultan. In 1526, Babur defeated Ibrahim at the Battle of Panipat, marking the beginning Mughal Empire, which existed for almost 200 years.

The system of economic relations underwent some, although not radical, changes in the Muslim era. The state land fund is significantly increasing due to the possessions of the conquered Indian feudal families. The main part of it was distributed as conditional service awards - iqta (small plots) and mukta (large “feedings”). Iqtadars and muktadars collected taxes from the granted villages for the benefit of the treasury, part of which was used to support the family of the holder, who supplied the warrior to the state army. Private landowners who managed estates without government interference included mosques, owners of property for charitable purposes, custodians of sheikhs' tombs, poets, officials and merchants. The rural community remained as a convenient fiscal unit, although the payment of the poll tax (jiziah) fell on the peasants, most of whom professed Hinduism, as a heavy burden.

By the 14th century Historians attribute a new wave of urbanization to India. Cities became centers of crafts and trade. Domestic trade was primarily oriented towards the needs of the capital's court. The leading item of import was the import of horses (the basis of the Delhi army was cavalry), which were not bred in India due to the lack of pastures. Archaeologists find treasures of Delhi coins in Persia, Central Asia and the Volga.

During the reign of the Delhi Sultanate, Europeans began to penetrate India. In 1498, under Vasco da Gama, the Portuguese first reached Calicat on the Malabar coast of western India. As a result of subsequent military expeditions - Cabral (1500), Vasco de Gama (1502), d'Albuquerque (1510-1511) - the Portuguese captured the Bijapur island of Goa, which became the mainstay of their possessions in the East. The Portuguese monopoly on maritime trade undermined India's trade ties with countries of the East, isolated the deep regions of the country and delayed their development. This also led to wars and the destruction of the population of Malabar. Gujarat was also weakened. Only the Vijayanagar Empire remained powerful in the 14th-16th centuries and even more centralized than the previous states of the south. Its head was considered a maharaja, but all the real power belonged to the state council, the chief minister, to whom the governors of the provinces were directly subordinate. State lands were distributed as conditional military grants - amars. A significant part of the villages were in the possession of Brahman collectives - sabhas. Large communities disintegrated. Their possessions narrowed to lands of one village, and community members increasingly began to turn into incomplete tenants and sharecroppers. In the cities, the authorities began to delegate the collection of duties to the feudal lords, which strengthened their undivided dominance here.

India in the era of the Mughal Empire (XVI-XVIII centuries .) 1 The final stage of the medieval history of India was the rise in its north at the beginning of the 16th century. the new powerful Muslim Mughal Empire, which in the 17th century. managed to subjugate a significant part of South India. The founder of the state was Timurid Babur(1483-1530). Mughal power in India strengthened during half a century of rule Akbar(1452-1605), who moved the capital to the city of Agra on the Jumna River, conquered Gujarat and Bengal, and with them access to the sea. True, the Mughals had to come to terms with the rule of the Portuguese here.

During the Mughal era, India entered the stage of developed feudal relations, the flourishing of which paralleled the strengthening of the central power of the state. The importance of the main financial department of the empire (divan), responsible for monitoring the use of all suitable land, increased. The state's share was declared to be a third of the harvest. In the central regions of the country under Akbar, peasants were transferred to a cash tax, which forced them to join market relations in advance. All conquered territories were transferred to the state land fund (khalisa). Jagirs were distributed from it - conditional military awards, which continued to be considered state property. Jagirdars usually owned several tens of thousands of hectares of land and were obliged to support military detachments with this income - the backbone of the imperial army. Akbar's attempt to abolish the jagir system in 1574 ended in failure. Also in the state there was private land ownership of feudal zamindars from among the conquered princes, who paid tribute, and small private estates of Sufi sheikhs and Muslim theologians, inherited, and free from taxes - suyurgal or mulk.

Crafts flourished during this period, especially the production of fabrics, which were valued throughout the East, and in the region of the southern seas, Indian textiles acted as a kind of universal equivalent of trade. The process of merging the upper merchant stratum with the ruling class begins. Money people could become jagirdars, and the latter could become owners of caravanserais and trading ships. Merchant castes are emerging, playing the role of companies. Surat, the main port of the country in the 16th century, became the place where a layer of comprador merchants (that is, associated with foreigners) emerged.

In the 17th century the importance of the economic center passes to Bengal. The production of fine textiles, saltpeter and tobacco is developing here in Dhaka and Patna. Shipbuilding continues to flourish in Gujarat. A new major textile center, Madras, emerges in the south. Thus, in India in the 16th-17th centuries. The emergence of capitalist relations is already observed, but the socio-economic system of the Mughal Empire, based on state ownership of land, did not contribute to their rapid growth.

During the Mughal era, religious disputes intensified, on the basis of which broad popular movements were born, and the religious policy of the state underwent major turns. So, in the 15th century. In Gujarat, the Mahdist movement arose among Muslim cities of trade and craft circles. In the 16th century The ruler's fanatical adherence to orthodox Sunni Islam resulted in powerlessness for Hindus and persecution of Shiite Muslims. In the 17th century oppression of Shiites, destruction of all Hindu temples and use of their stones to build mosques Aurangzeb(1618-1707) caused a popular uprising, the anti-Mogul movement.

So, medieval India represents a synthesis of the most diverse socio-political foundations and religious traditions. ethnic cultures. Having melted within itself all this multitude of principles, by the end of the era it appeared before the amazed Europeans as a country of fabulous splendor, beckoning with wealth, exoticism, and secrets. Within it, however, processes began that were similar to the European ones inherent in the New Age. A domestic market was formed, international relations developed, and social contradictions deepened. But for India, a typical Asian power, the strong constraint on capitalization was the despotic state. With its weakening, the country becomes easy prey for European colonialists, whose activities interrupted the natural course of the country's historical development for many years.

China (III – XVII centuries)

The era of fragmentation (III-VI centuries). With the fall of the Han Empire at the turn of the 2nd-3rd centuries. A change of eras is taking place in China: the ancient period of the country's history ends and the Middle Ages begin. The first stage of early feudalism went down in history as the time Three Kingdoms(220-280). Three states emerged on the territory of the country (Wei in the north, Shu in the central part and Wu in the south), the type of power in which was close to a military dictatorship.

But already at the end of the 3rd century. Political stability in China is again lost, and it becomes easy prey for the nomadic tribes that poured in, mainly settling in the northwestern regions of the country. From that moment on, for two and a half centuries, China was divided into northern and southern parts, which affected its subsequent development. The strengthening of centralized power occurs in the 20s of the 5th century. in the south after the founding of the Southern Song Empire here and in the 30s of the 5th century. – in the north, where it intensifies Northern Wei Empire in which the desire to restore a unified Chinese statehood was more strongly expressed. In 581, a coup d'etat took place in the north: the commander Yang Jian removed the emperor from power and changed the name of the state of Sui. In 589, he subjugated the southern state and, for the first time after a 400-year period of fragmentation, restored the political unity of the country.

Political changes in China III-VI centuries. are closely related to fundamental shifts in ethnic development. Although foreigners had penetrated before, it was in the 4th century. becomes a time of massive invasions, comparable to the Great Migration of Peoples in Europe. The Xiongnu, Sanbi, Qiang, Jie, and Di tribes that came from the central regions of Asia settled not only on the northern and western outskirts, but also on the Central Plain, mixing with the indigenous Chinese population. In the south, the processes of assimilation of the non-Chinese population (Yue, Miao, Li, Yi, Man and Yao) proceeded faster and less dramatically, leaving significant areas uncolonized. This was reflected in the mutual isolation of the parties, and also in the language, two main dialects of the Chinese language emerged. The northerners called only themselves the inhabitants of the middle state, that is, the Chinese, and the southerners were called the people of Wu.

The period of political fragmentation was accompanied by a noticeable naturalization of economic life, the decline of cities and a reduction in monetary circulation. Grain and silk began to serve as a measure of value. An allotment system of land use (zhan tian) was introduced, which affected the type of organization of society and the method of managing it. Its essence consisted in assigning to each worker, assigned to the class of personally free commoners, the rights to receive a plot of land of a certain size and establishing fixed taxes on it.

The allotment system was opposed by the process of growth of private land plots of the so-called “strong houses” (“da jia”), which was accompanied by the ruin and enslavement of the peasantry. The introduction of the state allotment system and the struggle of the authorities against the expansion of large private land ownership lasted throughout the medieval history of China and affected the formation of the country’s unique agrarian and social system.

The process of official differentiation proceeded on the basis of the decomposition and degeneration of the community. This was expressed in the formal unification of peasant farms into five-yard and twenty-five-yard farms, which were encouraged by the authorities for tax benefits. All disadvantaged layers in the state were collectively called “mean people” (jianren) and contrasted with “good people” (liangming). A striking manifestation of social changes was the increasing role of the aristocracy. Nobility was determined by belonging to old clans. Nobility was fixed in the lists of noble families, the first general register of which was compiled in the 3rd century. Another distinctive feature of public life in the 3rd-6th centuries. there was an increase in personal relationships. The principle of the personal duty of the younger to the elder took a leading place among moral values.

Imperial period (of course VI-XIII bb ) During this period, the imperial order was revived in China, the political unification of the country took place, the nature of the supreme power changed, the centralization of management increased, and the role of the bureaucratic apparatus increased. During the reign of the Tang dynasty (618-907), the classical Chinese type of imperial government took shape. The country experienced revolts by military governors, a peasant war of 874-883, a long struggle with the Tibetans, Uighurs and Tanguts in the north of the country, and military confrontation with the southern Chinese state of Nanzhao. All this led to the agony of the Tang regime.

In the middle of the 10th century. From the chaos, the state of Later Zhou was born, which became the new core of the country's political unification. The reunification of the lands was completed in 960 by the founder of the Song Dynasty Zhao Kuanyin with the capital Kaifeng. In the same century, the state appeared on the political map of northeastern China Liao. In 1038, the Tangut Empire of Western Xia was proclaimed on the northwestern borders of the Song Empire. From the middle of the 11th century. Between the Song, Liao and Xia, an approximate balance of power is maintained, which at the beginning of the 12th century. was disrupted with the emergence of a new, rapidly growing state of the Jurchens (one of the branches of the Tungus tribes), formed in Manchuria and proclaiming itself in 1115 the Jin Empire. It soon conquered the Liao state and captured the Song capital along with the emperor. However, the brother of the captured emperor managed to create the Southern Song Empire with its capital in Lin'an (Hangzhou), which extended influence to the southern regions of the country.

Thus, on the eve of the Mongol invasion, China again found itself split into two parts: the northern, including the Jin Empire, and the southern territory of the Southern Song Empire.

The process of ethnic consolidation of the Chinese, which began in the 7th century, already at the beginning of the 13th century. leads to the formation of the Chinese people. Ethnic self-awareness manifests itself in the identification of the Chinese state, opposed to foreign countries, in the spread of the universal self-name “Han Ren” (Han people). The population of the country in the X-XIII centuries. amounted to 80-100 million people.

In the Tang and Song empires, management systems developed that were perfect for their time, which were copied by other states. Since 963, all military units of the country began to report directly to the emperor, and local military officials were appointed from among the civil servants of the capital. This strengthened the emperor's power. The bureaucratic apparatus grew to 25 thousand. The highest government institution was the Department of Departments, which headed the six leading executive authorities of the country: Officials, Taxes, Rituals, Military, Judicial and Public Works. Along with them, the Imperial Secretariat and the Imperial Chancellery were established. The power of the head of state, officially called the Son of Heaven and the Emperor, was hereditary and legally unlimited.

Economy of China VII-XII centuries. based on agricultural production. The allotment system, which reached its apogee in the VI-VIII centuries, by the end of the X century. disappeared. In Song China, the land tenure system already included a state land fund with imperial estates, large and medium-sized private land ownership, small peasant land ownership and estates of state land holders. The taxation procedure can be called total. The main thing was a two-time land tax in kind, amounting to 20% of the harvest, supplemented by fishing taxes and workings. To record taxpayers, household registers were compiled every three years.

The unification of the country led to a gradual increase in the role of cities. If in the 8th century. There were 25 of them with a population of about 500 thousand people, then in the X-XII centuries, during the period of urbanization, the urban population began to make up 10% of the total population of the country.

Urbanization was closely linked to the growth of handicraft production. Particularly developed in the cities were such areas of government craft as silk weaving, ceramic production, woodworking, paper making and dyeing. The form of private craft, the rise of which was restrained by the powerful competition of state-owned production and the comprehensive control of imperial power over the city economy, was the family workshop shop. Trade and craft organizations, as well as shops, represented the main part of the city's craft. The technique of the craft gradually improved, its organization changed, and large workshops appeared, equipped with machines and using hired labor.

The development of trade was facilitated by the introduction at the end of the 6th century. standards of weights and measures and the issue of copper coins of a set weight. Tax revenues from trade have become a significant source of government revenue. Increased metal mining allowed the Song government to issue the largest amount of specie in the history of the Chinese Middle Ages. Foreign trade intensified in the 7th-8th centuries. The center of maritime trade was the port of Guangzhou, connecting China with Korea, Japan and coastal India. Overland trade followed the Great Silk Road through Central Asia, along which caravanserais were built.

In the Chinese medieval society of the pre-Mongol era, the demarcation went along the lines of aristocrats and non-aristocrats, the service class and commoners, free and dependent. The peak of influence of aristocratic clans falls on the 7th-8th centuries. The first genealogical list of 637 recorded 293 surnames and 1654 families. But already by the beginning of the 11th century. the power of the aristocracy weakens and the process of merging with the official bureaucracy begins.

The “golden age” of bureaucracy was the time of the Song. The service pyramid consisted of 9 ranks and 30 degrees, and belonging to it opened the way to enrichment. The main channel of penetration among officials was state exams, which contributed to expanding the social base of service people.

About 60% of the population were peasants who legally retained rights to the land, but actually did not have the opportunity to freely dispose of it, leave it uncultivated or abandon it. From the 9th century There was a process of disappearance of personally inferior classes (jianren): state serfs (guanhu), state-owned artisans (gun) and musicians (yue), private and dependent landless workers (butsoi). A special stratum of society was made up of members of Buddhist and Taoist monasteries, which numbered in the 20s of the 11th century. 400 thousand people.

Cities in which a lumpen layer appears become centers of anti-government uprisings. The largest movement directed against the arbitrariness of the authorities was the uprising led by Fan La in the southeastern region of China in 1120-1122. On the territory of the Jin Empire until its fall in the 13th century. National liberation detachments of the “red jackets” and “black banner” operated.

In medieval China, there were three religious doctrines: Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism. During the Tang era, the government encouraged Taoism: in 666, the sanctity of the author of the ancient Chinese treatise, the canonical work of Taoism, was officially recognized Lao Tzu(IV-III centuries BC), in the first half of the 8th century. Taoist Academy established. At the same time, the persecution of Buddhism intensified and Neo-Confucianism was established, which claimed to be the only ideology that substantiated the social hierarchy and correlated it with the concept of personal duty.

So, by the beginning of the 13th century. in Chinese society, many features and institutions are consolidated, which will subsequently undergo only partial changes. The political, economic and social systems are approaching classical models, changes in ideology lead to the advancement of neo-Confucianism.

China V era of Mongol rule. Yuan Empire (1271-1367) The Mongol conquest of China lasted almost 70 years. In 1215 it was taken. Beijing, and in 1280 China was completely under the control of the Mongols. With the accession of the Khan to the throne Khubilai(1215-1294) the Great Khan's headquarters was moved to Beijing. Along with it, Karakorum and Shandong were considered equal capitals. In 1271, all the possessions of the Great Khan were declared the Yuan Empire according to the Chinese model. Mongol rule in the main part of China lasted a little over a century and is noted by Chinese sources as the most difficult time for the country.

Despite its military might, the Yuan Empire was not distinguished by its internal strength; it was shaken by civil strife, as well as the resistance of the local Chinese population, and the uprising of the secret Buddhist society “White Lotus”.

A characteristic feature of the social structure was the division of the country into four categories unequal in rights. The Chinese of the north and the inhabitants of the south of the country were considered, respectively, third- and fourth-class people after the Mongols themselves and people from the Islamic countries of western and central Asia. Thus, the ethnic situation of the era was characterized not only by national oppression by the Mongols, but also by the legalized opposition between the northern and southern Chinese.

The dominance of the Yuan Empire rested on the power of the army. Each city contained a garrison of at least 1000 people, and in Beijing there was a Khan's guard of 12 thousand people. Tibet and Koryo (Korea) were vassals of the Yuan palace. Attempts to invade Japan, Burma, Vietnam and Java, undertaken in the 70-80s of the 13th century, did not bring success to the Mongols. For the first time, Yuan China was visited by merchants and missionaries from Europe, who left notes about their travels: Marco Polo (about 1254-1324), Arnold from Cologne and others.

Mongol rulers, interested in receiving income from the conquered lands, from the second half of the 12th century. They increasingly began to adopt traditional Chinese methods of exploiting the population. Initially, the taxation system was streamlined and centralized. The collection of taxes was removed from the hands of local authorities, a general census was carried out, tax registers were compiled, and a per capita and land grain tax and a house tax levied on silk and silver were introduced.

The current laws established a system of land relations, within which private lands, state lands, public lands and appanage plots were allocated. A stable trend in agriculture since the beginning of the 14th century. there is an increase in private land holdings and an expansion of rental relations. The excess of the enslaved population and prisoners of war made it possible to widely use their labor on state lands and on the lands of soldiers in military settlements. Along with slaves, state-owned lands were cultivated by state tenants. Temple land ownership spread more widely than ever before, replenished both through state donations and through purchases and direct seizure of fields. Such lands were considered eternal possession and were cultivated by the brethren and tenants.

City life began to revive only towards the end of the 13th century. The register lists of 1279 included about 420 thousand craftsmen. Following the example of the Chinese, the Mongols established a monopoly right of the treasury to dispose of salt, iron, metal, tea, wine and vinegar, and established a trade tax of one thirtieth of the value of the goods. Due to the inflation of paper money at the end of the 13th century. exchange in kind began to dominate in trade, the role of precious metals increased, and usury flourished.

From the middle of the 13th century. becomes the official religion of the Mongol court Lamaism – Tibetan variety of Buddhism. A characteristic feature of the period was the emergence of secret religious sects. The former leading position of Confucianism was not restored, although the opening in 1287 of the Academy of the Sons of the Fatherland, the forge of the highest Confucian cadres, testified to the acceptance by Kublai Khan of the imperial Confucian doctrine.

Ming China (1368-1644). Ming China was born and died in the crucible of the great peasant wars, the events of which were invisibly orchestrated by secret religious societies such as the White Lotus. During this era, Mongol rule was finally eliminated and the foundations of economic and political systems were laid that corresponded to traditional Chinese ideas about ideal statehood. The peak of the power of the Ming Empire occurred in the first third of the 15th century, but by the end of the century negative phenomena began to increase. The entire second half of the dynastic cycle (XVI - first half of the XVII centuries) was characterized by a protracted crisis, which by the end of the era had acquired a general and comprehensive character. The crisis, which began with changes in the economy and social structure, manifested itself most visibly in the field of domestic politics.

First Emperor of the Ming Dynasty Zhu Yuanzhang(1328-1398) began to pursue far-sighted agricultural and financial policies. He increased the share of peasant households in the land wedge, strengthened control over the distribution of state-owned lands, stimulated military settlements protected by the treasury, resettled peasants to empty lands, introduced fixed taxation, and provided benefits to low-income households. His son Zhu Di tightened the police functions of the authorities: a special department was established, subordinate only to the emperor - Brocade Robes, denunciation was encouraged. In the 15th century Two more punitive detective institutions appeared.

The central foreign policy task of the Minsk state in the XIV-XV centuries. was to prevent the possibility of a new Mongol attack. There were military clashes. And although peace was concluded with Mongolia in 1488, raids continued into the 16th century. From the invasion of the country by Tamerlane's troops, which began in 1405, China was saved by the death of the conqueror.

In the 15th century the southern direction of foreign policy is intensifying. China interferes in Vietnamese affairs and seizes a number of regions of Burma. From 1405 to 1433 seven grandiose expeditions of the Chinese fleet under the leadership of Zheng He(1371 – about 1434). In different campaigns he led from 48 to 62 large ships alone. These voyages were aimed at establishing trade and diplomatic relations with overseas countries, although all foreign trade was reduced to the exchange of tribute and gifts with foreign embassies, and a strict ban was imposed on private foreign trade activities. Caravan trade also acquired the character of embassy missions.

Government policy regarding domestic trade has not been consistent. Private trading activities were recognized as legal and profitable for the treasury, but public opinion considered them unworthy of respect and requiring systematic control by the authorities. The state itself pursued an active internal trade policy. The treasury forcibly purchased goods at low prices and distributed products of state-owned crafts, sold licenses for trading activities, maintained a system of monopoly goods, maintained imperial shops and planted state “trading settlements”.

During this period, the banknote and small copper coins remained the basis of the country's monetary system. The ban on the use of gold and silver in trade, although weakened, was, however, rather slow. More clearly than in the previous era, the economic specialization of the regions and the tendency to expand government crafts and trades are indicated. During this period, craft associations gradually began to acquire the character of guild organizations. Written statutes appear within them, and a wealthy stratum emerges.

From the 16th century Europeans begin to enter the country. As in India, the championship belonged to the Portuguese. Their first possession on one of the southern Chinese islands was Macau (Macao). From the second half of the 17th century. the country is flooded by the Dutch and British, who assisted the Manchus in conquering China. At the end of the 17th century. In the suburbs of Guangzhou, the British founded one of the first continental trading posts, which became a center for the distribution of English goods.

During the Ming era, Neo-Confucianism occupied a dominant position in religion. From the end of the 14th century. the desire of the authorities to place restrictions on Buddhism and Taoism can be traced, which led to the expansion of religious sectarianism. Other striking features of the country's religious life were the Sinicization of local Muslims and the spread of local cults among the people.

The growth of crisis phenomena at the end of the 15th century. begins gradually, with the gradual weakening of imperial power, the concentration of land in the hands of large private owners, and the aggravation of the financial situation in the country. The emperors after Zhu Di were weak rulers, and all affairs at the courts were run by temporary workers. The center of political opposition was the chamber of censors-prosecutors, whose members demanded reforms and accused the arbitrariness of temporary workers. Activities of this kind met with severe rebuff from the emperors. A typical picture was when another influential official, submitting an incriminating document, was simultaneously preparing for death, expecting a silk cord from the emperor with the order to hang himself.

The turning point in the history of Ming China is associated with the powerful peasant uprising of 1628-1644. headed by Li Zichen. In 1644, Li's troops occupied Beijing, and he declared himself emperor.

The history of medieval China is a motley kaleidoscope of events: frequent changes of ruling dynasties, long periods of domination of conquerors, who, as a rule, came from the north and very soon dissolved among the local population, having adopted not only the language and way of life, but also the classical Chinese pattern of governing the country, which took shape in the Tang and Song eras. Not a single state of the medieval East was able to achieve such a level of control over the country and society as was in China. Not the least role in this was played by the political isolation of the country, as well as the ideological conviction that dominated among the administrative elite about the chosenness of the Middle Empire, the natural vassals of which were all the other powers of the world.

However, such a society was not free from contradictions. And if the motivating motives of peasant uprisings were often religious and mystical beliefs or national liberation ideals, they did not at all cancel, but on the contrary, were intertwined with the demands of social justice. It is significant that Chinese society was not as closed and rigidly organized as, for example, Indian society. The leader of a peasant uprising in China could become an emperor, and a commoner who passed state exams for an official position could begin a dizzying career.

Japan (III – XIX centuries)

era kings of Yamato. Birth of the state (III-ser.VII). the core of the Japanese people formed on the basis of the tribal federation of Yamato (as Japan was called in ancient times) in the 3rd-5th centuries. Representatives of this federation belonged to the Kurgan culture of the early Iron Age.

At the stage of formation of the state, society consisted of consanguineous clans (uji) that existed independently on their own land. A typical clan was represented by its head, priest, lower administration and ordinary free persons. Adjacent to it, without entering it, were groups of semi-free (bemin) and slaves (yatsuko). The first in importance in the hierarchy was the royal clan (tenno). Its isolation in the 3rd century. became a turning point in the political history of the country. The tenno clan ruled with the help of advisers, lords of districts (agata-nushi) and governors of regions (kunino miyatsuko), the same leaders of local clans, but already authorized by the king. Appointment to the post of ruler depended on the will of the most powerful clan in the royal circle, which also supplied the royal family with wives and concubines from among its members. From 563 to 645 the Soga clan played such a role. This period of history was called the Asuka period after the name of the residence of the kings in the Yamato province.

The internal policy of the Yamato kings was aimed at unifying the country and at formalizing the ideological basis of autocracy. An important role in this was played by the “Legs of 17 Articles” created in 604 by Prince Setoku-taishi. They formulated the main political principle of the supreme sovereignty of the ruler and the strict subordination of the younger to the elder. Foreign policy priorities were relations with the countries of the Korean Peninsula, which sometimes reached the point of armed clashes, and with China, which took the form of ambassadorial missions and the goal of borrowing any suitable innovations.

Socio-economic system of the III-VII centuries. enters the stage of decomposition of patriarchal relations. Communal arable lands, which were at the disposal of rural households, begin to gradually fall under the control of powerful clans, competing with each other for initial resources; land and people. Thus, the distinctive feature of Japan was the significant role of the tribal feudalizing nobility and the tendency, more pronounced than anywhere else in the Far East, to privatize land holdings with the relative weakness of the power of the center.

In 552, Buddhism came to Japan, which influenced the unification of religious, moral and aesthetic ideas.

Fujiwara era (645-1192). The historical period following the era of the Yamato kings covers the time, the beginning of which falls on the “Taika coup” in 645, and the end - on 1192, when military rulers with the title of shogun1 stood at the head of the country.

The entire second half of the 7th century passed under the motto of Taika reforms. State reforms were designed to reorganize all spheres of relations in the country according to the Chinese Tang model, to seize the initiative of private appropriation of the country's initial resources, land and people, replacing it with the state. The central government apparatus consisted of the State Council (Dadjokan), eight government departments, and a system of main ministries. The country was divided into provinces and districts, headed by governors and district chiefs. An eight-rank system of clan titles with the emperor at the head and a 48-rank ladder of court ranks were established. Since 690, population censuses and land redistributions began to be carried out every six years. A centralized army recruitment system was introduced, and weapons were confiscated from private individuals. In 694, the first capital city of Fujiwarakyo was built, the permanent seat of the imperial headquarters (before that the headquarters was easily moved).

Completion of the medieval Japanese centralized state in the 8th century. was associated with the growth of large cities. In one century, the capital was transferred three times: in 710 to Haijokyo (Nara), in 784 to Nagaoka and in 794 to Heiankyo (Kyoto). Since the capitals were administrative, and not trade and craft centers, after the next transfer they fell into disrepair. The population of provincial and district cities did not, as a rule, exceed 1000 people.

Foreign policy problems in the 8th century. recede into the background. The awareness of the danger of invasion from the mainland is fading. In 792, universal conscription was abolished and the coast guard was abolished. Embassies to China are becoming rare, and trade is beginning to play an increasingly important role in relations with the Korean states. By the middle of the 9th century. Japan is finally moving to a policy of isolation, leaving the country is prohibited, and the reception of embassies and ships is stopped.

The formation of a developed feudal society in the 9th-12th centuries. was accompanied by an increasingly radical departure from the classical Chinese model of government. The bureaucratic machine turned out to be permeated through and through with family aristocratic ties. There is a tendency towards decentralization of power. The Divine Tenno was already reigning rather than actually ruling the country. There was no bureaucratic elite around him, because a system for the reproduction of administrators based on competitive exams was not created. From the second half of the 9th century. the power vacuum was filled by representatives of the Fujiwara clan, who actually began to rule the country in 858 as regents under young emperors, and from 888 as chancellors under adults. The period of the middle of the 9th - first half of the 11th century. is called “the time of the reign of regents and chancellors.” Its heyday occurred in the second half of the 10th century. with representatives of the houses of Fujiwara, Michinaga and Yorimichi.

At the end of the 9th century. the so-called “state-legal system” (ritsuryo) is formalized. The personal office of the emperor and the police department, directly subordinate to the emperor, became the new highest state bodies. The broad rights of governors allowed them to strengthen their power in the province so much that they could contrast it with the imperial one. With the decline in the importance of county government, the province becomes the main link in public life and entails the decentralization of the state.

The population of the country, predominantly engaged in agriculture, numbered in the 7th century. about 6 million people, in the 12th century. – 10 million. It was divided into full-fledged (ryomin) and incomplete (semmin) paying taxes. In the VI-VIII centuries. The allotment system of land use prevailed. The peculiarities of irrigated rice cultivation, which was extremely labor-intensive and required the personal interest of the worker, determined the predominance of small-scale labor free farming in the production structure. Therefore, slave labor was not widely used. Full-fledged peasants cultivated state land plots subject to redistribution once every six years, for which they paid a tax in grain (in the amount of 3% of the officially established yield), fabrics and performed labor duties.

Domain lands during this period did not represent a large master's farm, but were given to dependent peasants for cultivation in separate fields.

Officials received allotments for the duration of their positions. Only a few influential administrators could use the allotment for life, sometimes with the right to transfer it by inheritance for one to three generations.

Due to the subsistence nature of the economy, government departments predominantly had access to the few urban markets. The functioning of a small number of markets outside the capitals was faced with the absence of professional market traders and the shortage of peasant handicraft products, the bulk of which were confiscated in the form of taxes.

A feature of the country's socio-economic development in the 9th-12th centuries. there was destruction and complete disappearance of the allotment farming system. They are being replaced by patrimonial estates, which had the status of “granted” to private individuals (shoen) by the state. Representatives of the highest aristocracy, monasteries, noble houses that dominated the districts, and the hereditary possessions of peasant families applied to government bodies for recognition of their newly acquired possessions as shoen.

As a result of socio-economic changes, all power in the country since the 10th century. began to belong to noble houses, owners of shōen of various sizes. The privatization of land, income, and positions was completed. To settle the interests of opposing feudal groups in the country, a single class order is created, to designate which a new term “imperial state” (ocho kokka) is introduced, replacing the previous regime – “rule of law” (ritsuryo kokka).

Another characteristic social phenomenon of the era of the developed Middle Ages was the emergence of the military class. Having grown out of detachments of vigilantes used by shōen owners in internecine struggles, professional warriors began to turn into a closed class of samurai warriors (bushi). At the end of the Fujiwara era, the status of the military rose due to social instability in the state. In the samurai environment, a code of military ethics arose, based on the main idea of personal loyalty to the master, up to the unconditional readiness to give his life for him, and in case of dishonor, to commit suicide according to a certain ritual. This is how samurai turn into a formidable weapon for large farmers in their struggle with each other.

In the 8th century Buddhism became the state religion, quickly spreading among the top of society, not yet finding popularity among the common people, but supported by the state.

Japan during the era of the first Minamoto shogunate (1192-1335) In 1192, there was a sharp turn in the historical fate of the country; Minamoto Yerimoto, the head of an influential aristocratic house in the northeast of the country, became the supreme ruler of Japan with the title of shogun. The city of Kamakura became the headquarters of his government (bakufu). The Minamoto shogunate lasted until 1335. It was a time of prosperity for Japan's cities, crafts and trade. As a rule, cities grew around monasteries and headquarters of large aristocrats. At first, Japanese pirates contributed to the flourishing of port cities. Later, regular trade with China, Korea and the countries of Southeast Asia began to play a role in their prosperity. In the 11th century there were 40 cities in the 15th century. – 85, in the 16th century. – 269, in which corporate associations of artisans and traders (dza) arose.

With the coming to power of the shogun, the country's agrarian system changed qualitatively. Small samurai became the leading form of land ownership, although large feudal estates of influential houses, the emperor and the all-powerful Minamoto vassals continued to exist. In 1274 and 1281 The Japanese successfully resisted the invading Mongol army.

From the successors of the first shogun, power was seized by the house of Hojo's relatives, called Shikken (rulers), under whom a semblance of an advisory body appeared from the highest vassals. Being the support of the regime, vassals carried out hereditary security and military services, were appointed to the position of administrators (jito) in fiefdoms and state lands, and military governors in the province. The power of the bakufu military government was limited only to military-police functions and did not cover the entire territory of the country.

Under the shoguns and rulers, the imperial court and the Kyoto government were not eliminated, because military power could not rule the country without the authority of the emperor. The military power of the rulers was significantly strengthened after 1232, when the imperial palace attempted to eliminate the power of the shikken. It turned out to be unsuccessful - the troops loyal to the court were defeated. This was followed by the confiscation of 3,000 shōen belonging to court supporters.

Second Ashikaga Shogunate (1335-1573) The second shogunate in Japan arose during long-term strife between the princes of noble houses. Over the course of two and a half centuries, periods of civil strife and the strengthening of centralized power in the country alternated. In the first third of the 15th century. the position of the central government was the strongest. The shoguns prevented the military governors (shugo) from increasing their control over the provinces. To this end, bypassing the shugo, they established direct vassal ties with local feudal lords, obliging the shugo of the western and central provinces to live in Kyoto, and from the southeastern part of the country - in Kamakura. However, the period of centralized power of the shoguns was short-lived. After the murder of shogun Ashikaga Yoshinori in 1441 by one of the feudal lords, an internecine struggle unfolded in the country, which developed into the feudal war of 1467-1477, the consequences of which affected the whole century. The country is entering a period of complete feudal fragmentation.

During the years of the Muromachi shogunate, a transition took place from small and medium-sized feudal landownership to large-scale ones. The system of fiefdoms (shoen) and state lands (koryo) is in decline due to the development of trade and economic ties, which destroyed the closed boundaries of feudal estates. The formation of compact territorial possessions of large feudal lords - principalities - begins. This process at the provincial level also followed the growth of the holdings of military governors (shugo ryokoku).

During the Ashikaga era, the process of separating crafts from agriculture deepened. Craft guilds now arose not only in the capital region, but also on the periphery, concentrating in the headquarters of military governors and the estates of feudal lords. Production focused exclusively on the needs of the patron gave way to production for the market, and the patronage of powerful houses began to consist of providing a guarantee of monopoly rights to engage in a certain type of production activity in exchange for the payment of sums of money. Rural artisans move from a wandering to a sedentary lifestyle, and specialization in rural areas arises.

The development of crafts contributed to the growth of trade. Specialized trade guilds emerged, separated from the craft guilds. From the transportation of tax revenue products, a layer of Toimaru merchants grew, which gradually turned into a class of intermediary merchants who transported a wide variety of goods and engaged in usury. Local markets were concentrated in the areas of harbors, ferries, postal stations, and shoen borders and could serve an area with a radius of 2-3 to 4-6 km.

The capitals of Kyoto, Nara and Kamakura remained the centers of the country. According to the conditions of their emergence, cities were divided into three groups. Some grew out of postal stations, ports, markets, and customs posts. The second type of cities arose around churches, especially intensively in the 14th century, and, like the first, had a certain level of self-government. The third type were market settlements at military castles and headquarters of provincial governors. Such cities, often created at the will of the feudal lord, were under his complete control and had the least mature urban features. The peak of their growth occurred in the 15th century.

After the Mongol invasions, the country's authorities set a course to eliminate the country's diplomatic and trade isolation. Having taken measures against Japanese pirates attacking China and Korea, the bakufu restored diplomatic and trade relations with China in 1401. Until the middle of the 15th century. the monopoly of trade with China was in the hands of the Ashikaga shoguns, and then began to go under the auspices of large merchants and feudal lords. Silk, brocade, perfume, sandalwood, porcelain and copper coins were usually brought from China, and gold, sulfur, fans, screens, lacquerware, swords and wood were sent. Trade was also carried out with Korea and the countries of the South Seas, as well as with the Ryukyu, where a unified state was created in 1429.

The social structure during the Ashikaga era remained traditional: the ruling class consisted of the court aristocracy, the military nobility and the top clergy, the common people - from peasants, artisans and merchants. Until the 16th century The classes-estates of feudal lords and peasants were clearly established.

Until the 15th century, when there was a strong military government in the country, the main forms of peasant struggle were peaceful: escapes, petitions. With the growth of principalities in the 16th century. An armed peasant struggle also arises. The most widespread type of resistance is the anti-tax struggle. 80% of peasant uprisings in the 16th century. took place in the economically developed central regions of the country. The rise of this struggle was also facilitated by the onset of feudal fragmentation. Mass peasant uprisings took place in this century under religious slogans and were organized by the neo-Buddhist Jodo sect.

Unification of the country; Tokugaev shogunate. Political fragmentation put the task of unifying the country on the agenda. This mission was carried out by three outstanding political figures of the country: Oda Nobunaga(1534-1582), Toyotomi Hijoshi(1536-1598) and Tokugawa Ieyasu(1542-1616). In 1573, having defeated the most influential daimyo and neutralized the fierce resistance of the Buddhist monasteries, Oda overthrew the last shogun of the house of Ashikaga. By the end of his short political career (he was assassinated in 1582), he had gained control of half the provinces, including the capital Kyoto, and introduced reforms that contributed to the elimination of fragmentation and the development of cities. The patronage of Christians who appeared in Japan in the 40s of the 16th century was determined by the irreconcilable resistance of Buddhist monasteries to the political course of Oda. In 1580, there were about 150 thousand Christians in the country, 200 churches and 5 seminaries. By the end of the 17th century. their number increased to 700 thousand people. Not least of all, the growth in the number of Christians was facilitated by the policy of the southern daimyo, who were interested in possessing firearms, the production of which was established in Japan by Portuguese Catholics.

The internal reforms of Oda's successor, a native of the peasantry, Toyotomi Hijoshi, who managed to complete the unification of the country, had the main goal of creating a class of serviceable taxpayers. The land was assigned to peasants who were able to pay state taxes, and government control over cities and trade was strengthened. Unlike Oda, he did not provide patronage to Christians, carried out a campaign to expel missionaries from the country, persecuted Japanese Christians - he destroyed churches and printing houses. This policy was not successful, because the persecuted took refuge under the protection of the rebellious southern daimyos who had converted to Christianity.

After the death of Toyotomi Hijoshi in 1598, power passed to one of his associates, Tokugawa Izyasu, who in 1603 proclaimed himself shogun. Thus began the last, third, longest (1603-1807) Tokugawa shogunate.

One of the first reforms of the Tokugawa house was aimed at limiting the omnipotence of the daimyo, of whom there were about 200. For this purpose, daimyo hostile to the ruling house were dispersed territorially. Crafts and trade in cities under the jurisdiction of such tozama were transferred to the control of the center along with the cities.

The Tokugawa agrarian reform once again secured peasants to their lands. Under him, classes were strictly demarcated: samurai, peasants, artisans and merchants. Tokugawa began to pursue a policy of controlled contact with Europeans, singling out the Dutch among them and closing the ports to all others and, above all, missionaries of the Catholic Church. European science and culture that came through Dutch merchants received the name Dutch science (rangakusha) in Japan and had a great influence on the process of improving the economic system of Japan.

The 17th century brought political stability and economic prosperity to Japan, but already in the next century an economic crisis began. The samurai found themselves in a difficult situation, deprived of the necessary material support; peasants, some of whom were forced to go to the cities; daimyo, whose wealth was noticeably declining. True, the power of the shoguns still continued to remain unshakable. A significant role in this was played by the revival of Confucianism, which became the official ideology and influenced the way of life and thoughts of the Japanese (cult of ethical standards, devotion to elders, family strength).

The crisis of the third shogunate became clear in the 30s. XIX century The weakening of the power of the shoguns was primarily taken advantage of by the tozama of the southern regions of the country, Choshu and Satsuma, who grew rich through the smuggling of weapons and the development of their own, including the military industry. Another blow to the authority of the central government was dealt by the forced “opening of Japan” by the United States and European countries in the mid-19th century. The emperor became the national-patriotic symbol of the anti-foreign and anti-shogun movement, and the center of gravity of all the rebellious forces of the country was the imperial palace in Kyoto. After a short resistance in the fall of 1866, the shogunate fell, and power in the country was transferred to the 16-year-old emperor Mitsuhito (Meiji) (1852-1912). Japan has entered a new historical era.

So, the historical path of Japan in the Middle Ages was no less intense and dramatic than that of neighboring China, with which the island state periodically maintained ethnic, cultural, and economic contacts, borrowing from a more experienced neighbor models of political and socio-economic structure. However, the search for one’s own national path of development led to the formation of a unique culture, regime of power, and social system. A distinctive feature of the Japanese path of development was the greater dynamism of all processes, high social mobility with less profound forms of social antagonism, and the nation’s ability to perceive and creatively process the achievements of other cultures.

Arab Caliphate (V – XI centuries AD)

On the territory of the Arabian Peninsula already in the 2nd millennium BC. lived Arab tribes that were part of the Semitic group of peoples. In the V-VI centuries. AD Arab tribes dominated the Arabian Peninsula. Part of the population of this peninsula lived in cities, oases, and was engaged in crafts and trade. The other part roamed the deserts and steppes and was engaged in cattle breeding. Trade caravan routes between Mesopotamia, Syria, Egypt, Ethiopia, and Judea passed through the Arabian Peninsula. The intersection of these paths was the Meccan oasis near the Red Sea. In this oasis lived the Arab tribe Quraysh, whose tribal nobility, using the geographical location of Mecca, received income from the transit of goods through their territory.

Besides Mecca became the religious center of Western Arabia. An ancient pre-Islamic temple was located here Kaaba. According to legend, this temple was erected by the biblical patriarch Abraham (Ibrahim) with his son Ismail. This temple is associated with a sacred stone that fell to the ground, which has been worshiped since ancient times, and with the cult of the god of the Qureish tribe Allah(from Arabic ilah - master).

In the VI century. n, e. in Arabia, due to the movement of trade routes to Iran, the importance of trade decreases. The population, having lost income from the caravan trade, was forced to seek sources of livelihood in agriculture. But there was little land suitable for agriculture. They had to be conquered. This required strength and, therefore, the unification of fragmented tribes, who also worshiped different gods. The need to introduce monotheism and unite the Arab tribes on this basis became increasingly clear.

This idea was preached by adherents of the Hanif sect, one of whom was Muhammad(c. 570-632 or 633), who became the founder of a new religion for the Arabs - Islam. This religion is based on the tenets of Judaism and Christianity: belief in one God and his prophet, the Last Judgment, reward after death, unconditional submission to the will of God (Arabic: Islam-submission). The Jewish and Christian roots of Islam are evidenced by the names of prophets and other biblical characters common to these religions: biblical Abraham (Islamic Ibrahim), Aaron (Harun), David (Daud), Isaac (Ishak), Solomon (Suleiman), Ilya (Ilyas), Jacob (Yakub), Christian Jesus (Isa), Mary (Maryam), etc. Islam shares common customs and prohibitions with Judaism. Both religions prescribe the circumcision of boys, prohibit depicting God and living beings, eating pork, drinking wine, etc.

At the first stage of development, the new religious worldview of Islam was not supported by the majority of Muhammad's fellow tribesmen, and primarily by the nobility, as they feared that the new religion would lead to the cessation of the cult of the Kaaba as a religious center, and thereby deprive them of income. In 622, Muhammad and his followers had to flee persecution from Mecca to the city of Yathrib (Medina). This year is considered the beginning of the Muslim calendar. The agricultural population of Yathrib (Medina), competing with the merchants from Mecca, supported Muhammad. However, only in 630, having gathered the required number of supporters, he was able to form military forces and capture Mecca, the local nobility of which was forced to submit to the new religion, especially since they were satisfied that Muhammad proclaimed the Kaaba the shrine of all Muslims.

Much later (c. 650) after the death of Muhammad, his sermons and sayings were collected in a single book Koran(translated from Arabic means reading), which became sacred to Muslims. The book includes 114 suras (chapters), which set out the main tenets of Islam, prescriptions and prohibitions. Later Islamic religious literature is called sunnah. It contains legends about Muhammad. Muslims who accepted the Koran and Sunnah began to be called Sunnis, and those who recognized only one Koran - Shiites. Shiites recognize as legitimate caliphs(viceroys, deputies) of Muhammad, spiritual and secular heads of Muslims only his relatives.

The economic crisis of Western Arabia in the 7th century, caused by the movement of trade routes, the lack of land suitable for agriculture, and high population growth, pushed the leaders of the Arab tribes to seek a way out of the crisis by seizing foreign lands. This is reflected in the Koran, which says that Islam should be the religion of all peoples, but for this it is necessary to fight the infidels, exterminate them and take their property (Koran, 2: 186-189; 4: 76-78, 86).

Guided by this specific task and the ideology of Islam, Muhammad's successors, the caliphs, began a series of conquests. They conquered Palestine, Syria, Mesopotamia, and Persia. Already in 638 they captured Jerusalem. Until the end of the 7th century. The countries of the Middle East, Persia, the Caucasus, Egypt and Tunisia came under Arab rule. In the 8th century Central Asia, Afghanistan, Western India, and North-West Africa were captured. In 711, Arab troops led Tariqa swam from Africa to the Iberian Peninsula (from the name of Tariq came the name Gibraltar - Mount Tariq). Having quickly conquered the Pyrenees, they rushed to Gaul. However, in 732, at the Battle of Poitiers, they were defeated by the Frankish king Charles Martel. By the middle of the 9th century. The Arabs captured Sicily, Sardinia, the southern regions of Italy, and the island of Crete. At this point, the Arab conquests stopped, but a long-term war was waged with the Byzantine Empire. The Arabs besieged Constantinople twice.

The main Arab conquests were carried out under the caliphs Abu Bekr (632-634), Omar (634-644), Osman (644-656) and the Umayyad caliphs (661-750). Under the Umayyads, the capital of the caliphate was moved to Syria to the city of Damascus.

The victories of the Arabs and their seizure of vast areas were facilitated by many years of mutually exhausting war between Byzantium and Persia, disunity and constant hostility between other states that were attacked by the Arabs. It should also be noted that the population of the countries captured by the Arabs, suffering from the oppression of Byzantium and Persia, saw the Arabs as liberators who reduced the tax burden primarily for those who converted to Islam.

The unification of many formerly separate and warring states into a single state contributed to the development of economic and cultural communication between the peoples of Asia, Africa and Europe. Crafts and trade developed, cities grew. Within the Arab Caliphate, a culture quickly developed, incorporating Greco-Roman, Iranian and Indian heritage. Through the Arabs, Europe became acquainted with the cultural achievements of the eastern peoples, primarily with achievements in the field of exact sciences - mathematics, astronomy, geography, etc.

In 750, the Umayyad dynasty in the eastern part of the caliphate was overthrown. The Abbasids, descendants of the Prophet Muhammad's uncle, Abbas, became caliphs. They moved the capital of the state to Baghdad.

In the western part of the caliphate, Spain continued to be ruled by the Umayyads, who did not recognize the Abbasids and founded the Cordoba Caliphate with its capital in the city of Cordoba.

The division of the Arab Caliphate into two parts was the beginning of the creation of smaller Arab states, the heads of which were the rulers of the provinces - emirs.

The Abbasid Caliphate waged constant wars with Byzantium. In 1258, after the Mongols defeated the Arab army and captured Baghdad, the Abbasid state ceased to exist.

The Spanish Umayyad Caliphate also gradually shrank. In the 11th century As a result of internecine struggle, the Cordoba Caliphate broke up into a number of states. The Christian states that arose in the northern part of Spain took advantage of this: the Leono-Castilian, Aragonese, and Portuguese kingdoms, which began to fight the Arabs for the liberation of the peninsula - reconquista. In 1085 they recaptured the city of Toledo, in 1147 Lisbon, and in 1236 Cordoba fell. The last Arab state on the Iberian Peninsula - the Emirate of Granada - existed until 1492. With its fall, the history of the Arab caliphate as a state ended.

The caliphate as an institution for the spiritual leadership of the Arabs and all Muslims continued to exist until 1517, when this function passed to the Turkish Sultan, who captured Egypt, where the last caliphate, the spiritual head of all Muslims, lived.

The history of the Arab Caliphate, dating back only six centuries, was complex, controversial and at the same time left a significant mark on the evolution of human society on the planet.

The difficult economic situation of the population of the Arabian Peninsula in the VI-VII centuries. in connection with the movement of trade routes to another zone, it became necessary to search for sources of livelihood. To solve this problem, the tribes living here took the path of establishing a new religion - Islam, which was supposed to become not only the religion of all peoples, but also called for the fight against infidels (non-believers). Guided by the ideology of Islam, the caliphs carried out a broad policy of conquest, turning the Arab Caliphate into an empire. The unification of formerly scattered tribes into a single state gave impetus to economic and cultural communication between the peoples of Asia, Africa and Europe. Being one of the youngest in the east, occupying the most offensive position among them, having absorbed the Greco-Roman, Iranian and Indian cultural heritage, the Arab (Islamic) civilization had a huge influence on the spiritual life of Western Europe, posing a significant military threat throughout the Middle Ages .

The emergence and spread of Islam. INVII V. V Arabia gave birth to the third world religion in terms of time of origin - after Buddhism (5th century BC) and Christianity (1st century BC). Its name is “Islam” - means “submission to God,” and the name “Muslim” adopted in Europe comes from the Arabic “Muslim” - “submissive to God.” Before the adoption of Islam, Arabs worshiped different gods, but the main shrine for all Arabs was the Kaaba - a temple in the city Mecca, in the corner of which there was a black stone embedded. Every year, thousands of Arabs flocked to Mecca from all over the peninsula to worship the black stone. Rich merchants who held power in Mecca benefited greatly from these visits.

The founder of Islam was a resident of Mecca, Muhammad (570-632). He called on all Arabs to abandon the worship of numerous gods, to believe in only one God - Allah and that Muhammad is his prophet. This sermon displeased the Meccan merchants, who feared that Muhammad's preaching would affect visits to the Kaaba. Muhammad and his followers had to flee to the trading city of Yathrib (later called Medina, i.e. “City of the Prophet”), which rivaled Mecca. This event, called “hijra” in Arabic, i.e. “migration,” became the starting point of the Muslim calendar (622). In subsequent years, most Arab tribes converted to Islam. Muhammad and his followers triumphantly returned to Mecca. The Kaaba became the main sanctuary of Muslims. The victory of Islam over more ancient beliefs led to the unity of the Arab tribes and the creation of a state. The final unification of Arabia occurred soon after the death of Muhammad (632). Then the sacred

the book of Islam is the Koran (in Arabic - “that which is read”). It contains the speeches of Muhammad recorded by his companions. For Muslims, the Koran is the direct speech of Allah addressed to Muhammad, and through him to all people. Most of the Qur'an is written in verse; this book is the main source of doctrine, contains instructions, rules of conduct, prohibitions, etc. Five main duties of Muslims: the belief that Allah is the only deity, and Muhammad is his messenger, prayer, fasting in the month of Ramadan, hajj - pilgrimage to Mecca and a visit to the Kaaba, a tax on property and income, which is distributed among the poor. The duties of a believer include jihad, which means giving all one’s strength and capabilities for the triumph of Islam, up to and including a “holy war” against non-Muslims (called ghazavat). Islam arose under the influence of Judaism and Christianity. God, according to Islam, sent his messengers to people - Moses, Jesus, who carried the word of God. However, people forgot what they taught. Therefore, Allah sent Muhammad to the people to guide them on the righteous path. This was God's last warning to people, after which the end of the world would come.

After the death of Muhammad, the state was headed by caliphs (in Arabic - “deputy, successor”), who were initially elected by the community of believers from the companions of the prophet. In a short time, the first caliphs created a large army, the main force of which was the cavalry. Quite quickly, the Arabs conquered Syria, Palestine, Iraq, Egypt, North Africa, Iran, Armenia, part of Georgia, and Spain. By 750, the possessions of the caliphate (Arab state) stretched from the shores of the Atlantic Ocean to the borders of India and China. The capital of the caliphate was initially Mecca, then Damascus in Syria. The reason for the victories was, on the one hand, Islam, which united the Arabs, and on the other hand, the fact that the main opponents of the Arabs - Byzantium and the Persian kingdom - were long-time rivals and exhausted each other in mutual wars; the population was ruined by taxes and did not provide serious support to the Arabs. resistance. During the conquests, Islam became a world religion.

The Arab Caliphate gradually formed into a huge “world power”, uniting a number of

countries of Asia, Africa and Europe. These countries were inhabited by peoples with different historical backgrounds, with dissimilar lifestyles and beliefs, languages and customs. The supreme owner of all lands of the caliphate was the state. There were several categories of land ownership, which were divided into taxable communal lands and conditional land tenures received by soldiers for their service. In the second half of the USH - IX centuries. The Arab Caliphate was experiencing a crisis caused by the internal political struggle for power among the descendants of Muhammad, significant social stratification and the unequal position of Muslims of non-Arab origin. As a result, by the end of the 9th century, the caliphate broke up into a number of independent states.

As a result of the Arab conquests, a civilization arose that absorbed the achievements of Byzantine, Iranian, Central Asian, Indian, Transcaucasian and Roman cultural traditions. Arab astronomy, medicine, algebra, philosophy, undoubtedly, were an order of magnitude higher than European science of that time. The field irrigation system and some agricultural crops were borrowed by Europeans from the Arabs. The mature classical literary Arabic language and writing based on the Arabic alphabet became widespread. Many cities of the caliphate became the largest scientific and cultural centers of the Middle Ages. The cities of Baghdad, Basra, Damascus, Jerusalem, Mecca, Medina, Bukhara, Samarkand, Alexandria, Cordoba and others admired for their architecture and were famous throughout the world as the largest centers of handicraft production and trade.

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ASIA AND AFRICA COUNTRIES IN THE LATE MIDDLE AGES

Kaliningrad 2010

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. ASIA AND AFRICA COUNTRIES IN THE LATE MIDDLE AGES

The uneven development of various countries in Asia and Africa increased sharply in the 16th and first half of the 17th centuries. In some of these countries—China, India, Japan—against the background of the emerging process of disintegration of feudal relations, the beginnings of capitalist relations arose. But there were also areas on the Asian and African continents where the process of disintegration of the primitive communal system was still underway or where the previously class society had not yet freed itself from the dominance of tribal institutions. However, the further development of even the most advanced countries of Asia and Africa was hampered by internal and external reasons.

Agriculture and cattle breeding, being the basis of the economy, remained in the 16th and 17th centuries. almost at the same level. The area under cultivation and the network of artificial irrigation expanded, but there were no significant new technical improvements. Manual labor and high farming skills remained the decisive factors of production. In some countries, such as China, human labor often replaced the draft power of livestock.

One of the main reasons for the slow development of the productive forces was the strengthening of feudal exploitation, which had been steadily occurring for many centuries. Documents, chronicles, and records of contemporaries indicate an increase in state taxes and levies or an increase in rent. However, the nature of medieval sources does not yet make it possible to calculate the quantitative increase in the rate of exploitation.

The main form of alienation of surplus product continued to be food rent; labor and cash rent only accompanied her. But it was the product rent that opened up more and more opportunities to alienate, along with the surplus, part of the product of the peasant’s necessary labor, which in turn led to a deterioration in economic conditions.

K. Marx wrote about product rent: “The latter can reach such proportions that it poses a serious threat to the reproduction of working conditions, the means of production themselves, makes the expansion of production more or less impossible and forces the direct producer to be content with the physically necessary minimum of subsistence.” Marx also emphasized the direct consequence of this phenomenon, which entails the stagnation of society: “...this form could not be more suitable to serve as the basis of stagnant social relations, as is observed, for example, in Asia.”

A direct form of increased exploitation was an increase in taxes. This process can be most clearly traced in the Chinese official historical chronicles, where decrees on new taxes added to previously existing ones are systematically found. In India, at the same time as taxes were raised, sharecropping expanded, with the peasant forced to give away an ever-increasing share of the harvest; in the 17th century this share exceeded half of the total harvest. The interference of feudal lords and officials in the life of communities or rural organizations, the establishment of various additional duties - all this had a negative impact on the peasant economy.

Subsistence farming dominated in the village, and the connection with the market, although growing, was still insignificant. Partial distribution of money rent and payment of taxes in money became a means of intensifying exploitation. The peasant was deceived by market traders and wholesalers - buyers of raw materials, cheated by money changers and officials - tax collectors; Fluctuations in food prices or changes in the exchange rate of silver, banknotes, etc. most of all also affected the position of the peasants. The exploitation of the peasant masses was aggravated by the activities of usurious capital, which had taken root in the Asian countryside: unable to pay interest, the peasants fell into bondage, became poor, and went bankrupt. Feudal state monopolies on vital products, primarily salt, complemented the difficulties of rural life.

The ruin of the peasants opened up opportunities for the seizure of their land by representatives of the village elite and wealthy townspeople, who turned this land into private property. But this process was not most characteristic of the countries of Asia and Africa in the late Middle Ages. Much more often, lands that were previously considered state or communal lands were seized by large feudal lords. The latter sought by all means to enlarge their possessions. At that time in India, the jagirs of some feudal lords reached 100 thousand hectares of land. In China, imperial relatives, large feudal lords, and influential dignitaries “absorbed” thousands and millions of mu of land, regardless of whether it was state or private. In Iran, most of the land that belonged to the state or the shah was in the possession of large feudal lords. The enormous income of the feudal lords of the Ottoman Empire, received from the collection of rent-tax, reached hundreds of thousands of akche. In Japan, after the establishment of the Tokugawa regime, most of the land was assigned to the largest feudal lords (daimyo). In some of the listed countries, such possessions were temporary and were not inherited (for example, in the Mughal state).

Emphasizing the general trend in the late Middle Ages, we note the strengthening of large feudal land ownership, in whatever forms it occurred. The tendency to create small privately owned farms was much weaker. The nobility constantly increased its already enormous possessions, which were the support of the feudal system. In large feudal farms in some countries, further enslavement of peasants took place - in the Ottoman Empire, in Japan. In China, on the contrary, the expulsion of peasants from the land took on widespread proportions; there were many tramps, beggars, dying of hunger.

In the later Middle Ages, urban production became economically more advanced and various technical improvements appeared. Methods for mining and smelting ores and processing metals have improved significantly. Some types of production used water power, such as making paper or driving mills and churns. Weaving machines were improved and their design became more complex. During the construction of palaces, temples, mosques, tombs and fortress walls, various lifting structures were used, and the buildings were richly decorated with colored tiles, majolica, carved marble and wood carvings.

The craftsmen of the East continued to be famous for the production of luxury items, the finest patterned fabrics, richly decorated bladed weapons, porcelain dishes and amazingly beautiful artistic crafts, leather processing, and carpet weaving. The superbly built ships sailed under ancient straight sails, inferior in speed and maneuverability to the caravels and brigs of Western countries. Such large countries as China and Japan, Iran and India, back in the 16th century. They used imported firearms, but meanwhile gunpowder was invented in China, and the Europeans adopted the method of producing cannons from the Arabs. The significant successes of handicraft production in the countries of Asia and Africa, achieved due to the abundance of labor and its cheapness, ensured a high level of surplus product. All this did not require the use of mechanisms.

In large cities, especially those associated with sea and land trade, mainly foreign, large workshops and manufactories arose, where the division of labor in the production process reached great detail. The emergence of manufactories contributed to a significant increase in labor productivity and responded to an increase in market demand. In manufactories and workshops, the use of hired labor expanded, although small artisans continued to play a decisive role in production.

In many countries, a territorial division of labor has emerged. Goods made in one city or region were known throughout the country, they were bought far from the place of production, they were famous outside the country - Indian fabrics, Iranian carpets, Chinese porcelain, etc.

Merchant and usurious capital showed great activity in crafts and in the organization of manufactories. Production remained subordinate to the interests of its representatives. But the latter, even in the field of domestic and foreign trade operations, could not act with any freedom - the dominant position belonged to large feudal lords (Japan) or a feudal state organization (China), which controlled the activities of merchants, entrepreneurs, guild and guild organizations.

Internal customs, various restrictions, heavy taxes, labor duties, bans on foreign trade, and the assignment of artisans and craftsmen to places of work hindered the development of urban production, market expansion, and the use of labor released from agriculture. State-owned enterprises limited the capabilities and capacity of the emerging market in advanced countries. All this hindered the development of trade and entrepreneurial activity and the accumulation of capital, especially since part of the income of entrepreneurs and merchants ended up in the pockets of large feudal lords, officials and the treasury. The life, activities, property and rights of merchants and entrepreneurs were not secured by medieval legislation and depended entirely on the arbitrariness of those in power. Therefore, representatives of the wealthy part of the townspeople sought connections with large feudal lords, courts of sovereigns, influential officials, and bought themselves various privileges and ranks. Often they invested their money not in trade and entrepreneurship, but in the acquisition of land holdings, which reflected a kind of merging of trading capital with the feudal elite. This situation contributed to the political limitations of the city elite and the extreme moderation of its demands.

The problem of the emergence of the bourgeois class in the countries of Asia and Africa has still been little studied, but socio-economic conditions and the characteristics of feudal relations created serious obstacles to the formation of new classes.

Among the important reasons that hindered the development of new production relations within feudal society, one should point out invasions and conquests. The consequences of the destructive campaigns of Genghis Khan and his successors, which stopped the development of many peoples of Asia, were not eliminated in the late medieval period, and in the XV-XVII centuries. The conquest of India by Afghan, Tajik, and Turkic troops took place, the Turks subjugated the countries of the Middle East and North Africa to the Ottoman Empire, and the Manchu invasion of China, Korea, and Mongolia began. The conquerors turned out to be mostly backward peoples who attacked countries with highly developed field cultivation and developed urban culture. Such invasions entailed massive destruction of productive forces, the death of people or their enslavement, the establishment of national oppression and the further growth of feudal exploitation.

The great geographical discoveries and the beginning of colonialism had a great influence on the course of the history of Asian and African countries. The pursuit of gold attracted Western European merchants and sailors to the shores of Africa. The Portuguese were the first to go in search of the “land of gold”. In 1460, Portuguese ships entered the Gulf of Guinea. In 1487, the Portuguese Bartolomeu Dias circumnavigated the southern tip of Africa, and in 1488, on the way back, he discovered the Cape of Good Hope. In 1498, an expedition sent from Lisbon under the leadership of Vasco da Gama continued the path of Diaz and arrived at the city of Calicut on the Malabar coast of India. The sea route to the East around Africa was opened. Then the Portuguese began to penetrate the countries of Southeast Asia, China and Japan.

According to the papal bulls of 1494 and the Treaty of Tordesillas concluded between Portugal and Spain, this entire vast region of our planet was recognized as the sphere of activity of Portugal. But soon after the opening of the sea route to South Asia, the Dutch, British and French began to penetrate there.

The activities of the colonialists were helped by the Jesuit order created in 1534 by the Catholic Church. Jesuit missionaries penetrated into newly discovered countries and settled in places where neither warriors, nor sailors, nor merchants could reach. Preaching Christianity, the Jesuits subjugated influential people and rulers, sold various goods, primarily firearms, collected information, studied the country in which they lived, and created outposts of colonial penetration.

A major role in the expansion of colonial possessions through violence, extortion, robbery and unequal exchange belonged to the East India Companies. In 1600 the English East India Company arose, in 1602 the Dutch one. The French created several organizations, which later also merged into the East India Company. All these companies enjoyed the right of monopoly trade, carried out colonial enslavement, participated in wars or led them themselves, and created colonial empires.

Colonial policy had a dual impact on countries around the world. Colonial robbery became one of the factors in the initial accumulation of capital and accelerated capitalist development in Western Europe. K. Marx wrote: “The colonial system contributed to the accelerated growth of trade and shipping. “Monopoly societies” (Luther) were powerful levers for the concentration of capital. The colonies provided a market for rapidly emerging manufactures, and monopoly possession of this market ensured enhanced accumulation. Treasures obtained outside Europe through direct robbery, enslavement of natives, and murders flowed into the metropolis and were converted into capital.”

Marx’s lines about the colonial policy of Western countries are full of deep indignation: “The discovery of gold and silver mines in America, the eradication, enslavement and burial alive of the native population in mines, the first steps towards the conquest and plunder of the East Indies, the transformation of Africa into a reserved hunting ground for blacks - - such was the dawn of the capitalist era of production.” “The history of the Dutch colonial economy,” Marx further writes, “and Holland was an exemplary capitalist country of the 17th century, gives us an unsurpassed picture of betrayals, bribery, murder and meanness.”

Colonialism had a negative impact on the countries of Asia and Africa, which became the target of robbery and siphoning off funds. The system of extremely heavy exploitation that developed during the development of feudal relations was supplemented by direct colonial robbery and further intensification of the exploitation of the working masses.

As for the large feudal lords and local rulers, they often entered into agreements with the colonialists, seeking their share of the colonial plunder. They have repeatedly betrayed the interests of their countries and their people for the sake of profit. They entered into deals for the supply of products, valuables and slaves, forced peasants to give up their usual occupations and cultivate crops needed for colonial trade. The former land trade routes and especially sea routes came under the control of the colonialists, and their ships dominated the sea. All this caused damage to the eastern merchants. Representatives of the rapidly developing countries of Western Europe supported the most reactionary elements of feudal society in Asia and Africa. Through their activities they suppressed the beginnings of a new way of life and preserved the dominance of the most stagnant forms of feudalism.

Colonial empires gradually subjugated India and Indonesia. The rulers of China, Japan, and Korea, fearing a similar fate, closed or almost closed Europeans’ access to their countries, thereby depriving their economies of profitable foreign relations. The Safavid government of Iran entered into unfavorable and unequal agreements with the Europeans. The peoples that were part of the Ottoman Empire were subjected to a regime of capitulations. In Africa, the Portuguese managed to establish their forts on the Atlantic coast and send expeditions along the rivers into the interior of the mainland in pursuit of gold and slaves, ivory and spices.

Human hunting and the slave trade became especially widespread when cheap labor was needed on the lands of the American continent. The dominant position in the slave trade among the Portuguese was successfully challenged by Holland, and then France and England. The peoples and tribes of Africa lost their main workforce, became poorer, their culture and their state formations gradually fell into decay. K. Marx wrote about the colonialists: “Devastation and depopulation followed everywhere they set foot.”

The sharp increase in the exploitation of peasants, the suppression of the activity of merchants and entrepreneurs, the concessions of local authorities to the colonialists while simultaneously strengthening feudal institutions - all this led to an intensification of the class struggle in the countries of the East.

The tension of the situation found its expression in political life and in the ideological sphere. Progressive people sought reforms and even tried to create the first political associations. Both purely political reform groups and, more often, various religious sects were created. Scientists criticized medieval scholasticism and mysticism. Materialist philosophies and “free-thinking” theories spread. In fiction, medieval morals were ridiculed.

In the armed uprisings of the people, peasant uprisings still played the main role, but miners, salt workers, various urban elements, or even people from the ruling class often took part in them. History also notes purely urban uprisings. Some of them, such as the uprisings in the Mughal Empire at the beginning of the 16th century, took the form of heresies. In Japan, the struggle of the peasants in some areas took place under the cover of Christian ideology. In Iran, major uprisings of the peasant masses arose as protests of various sects and religious movements. In the 16th century There were uprisings of the urban poor and artisans in the Ottoman Empire. Peasant movements in China developed in the 17th century. into a grandiose peasant war, in which various social strata took part. The rebels did not put forward religious slogans.

Anti-feudal movements, achieving significant but always temporary successes, could not seriously shake the foundations of feudal society. Feudal relations, combined with remnants of patriarchal institutions and the slave system, continued to exist in Asia and Africa for a long time in the era of modern and recent human history.

Bibliography:

1. History of Asian and African countries in the Middle Ages. Part 1. M.: Moscow University Publishing House. 1987.