18th Century Asia

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    y 1736 96: Manchu china prospers under EmperorQianlong.

    y

    1750: Cultural and artistic peak in Japan.

    y 1757: British take control of Bengal - India.

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    y 1700: The 1700 Cascadia earthquake (magnitude 9) occurs off the coastof the Pacific Northwest; the coast of Japan is struck by a tsunami.

    y 1707: After Aurangzeb's death, the Mughal Empireenters a long declineand the Maratha Empire slowly replaces it.

    y 1707: Mount Fuji erupts in Japan.y 1707: W ar of 27 years between the Marathas and Mughals ends in India.y Great Frost of 1709: Coldest winter in 500 years.y 1709: Hotaki dynasty founded in Afghanistany 1713-1714:Tarabai establishes rival Maratha Empire government

    in Kolhapur againstChattrapati Shahuy 1716:Establishment of the Sikh Confederacy along

    the India Pakistan border.

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    y 1739: Nader Shah defeated the Mughalsat the Battle of Karnal andsacked Delhi

    y 1757: Battle of Plassey signaled the beginning of formal British rulein India after years of commercial activity under the auspices of

    the East India Company.y 1769 1773:The Bengal famine of 1770 killed one third of

    the Bengal population.y 1773: East India Company starts operations in Bengal to

    smuggle Opium into China.y 1778: Ty S n Dynasty established in Vietnam.y 1796 1804: The W hite Lotus Rebellion against the Manchu Dynasty in

    China.

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    Slave trade systemy although the East India Company was not itself engaged in the transatlantic

    slave trade, the link was very close and highly profitable." In fact, in the 18thcentury, the British dominated the Atlantic slave trade transporting moreslaves than all the other European powers combined. The Atlantic slave tradewas hence, a vital contributor to the financial strength of the East IndianTrading Companies.

    y So much so that by the middle of the 17th century, the East India Company wasre-exporting Indian goods to Europe and North Africa and even Turkey!Unsurprisingly, this was to have a severely deleterious effect on the Persians,the Afghans, since much of the revenues of these states came from the Indiatrade. It also seriously impacted the revenues of the Mughals, and while theactivities of the Arab and Gujarati traders were not entirely eliminated, their

    trade was much curtailed, and largely reduced to the inter-Asian trade whichcontinued unabated. In any case, the Mughal state was unable to resistcentrifugal forces and rapidly disintegrated. This left the East India Company with considerably more leverage and encourage it to expand its activities, anddemand even greater concessions from Indian rulers.

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    y The Opium Trade of the 18th century (which eventually led to theOpium W ars) , when the Royal British Navy worked more or less handin hand with the commercial interests of the East India Company,exemplified precisely such a link between war and trade. From theintertwining of war and trade, colonization was only a small step away.

    Plassey was a mark able indicator of a new dynamic in Indo-Britishrelations.y problem for the East India Company was that their profits were in

    direct conflict with those of their British-based competitors. Underthese circumstances, as long as the profit motive was paramount(which it was), the Battle at Plassey, and the Opium W ars could be seenas logical outcomes of circumstances where continued profits by legaland honorable means were simply not possible. But, had the EastCompany comprised of "Gentlemen Traders" as some historians haveclaimed, they could not have switched so easily from trading in IndianTextiles, to trading in Opium for Tea

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    y The socio-economic condition of the eighteenth century India wasinfected by political convulsions and instability. The society in generalretained most of its tradition features but several changes were inducedin the society. The European influence in the Indian society led to thealterations and changes all over India.

    y At the apex of the social order was the emperor, who closely followedby the nobility. Thus the emperor followed by the nobility was at thehem of the society enjoying all the powers and privileges. At the loweststratum of the social order were the majority of the poor. The mass of poor formed the common people, who were mainly the agriculturistsand the artisans. The middle class comprised the small merchants,shopkeepers, lower cadre of employees, town artisans etc. The socialstratification in the eighteenth century India was extremely rigid andthe significant cause behind it was the disparity in the scale of income .

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    y In the eighteenth century society, W omen were given enough place of respect in home and society outside.

    y In the beginning of the eighteenth century, the basic unit of the Indianeconomy was the self-sufficient village economy. The income of the

    government came from the land revenues levied on each land granted.The village communities and the percentage of the land revenuesremained unchanged with the change of the rulers and the dynasties

    y During the 18th century trade thrived, though some Asian countrieswere closed to outsiders. Russian and European countries bought silk,tea and porcelain from China. Indian traded with the world and wasfamous for its handmade textiles, such as PAISLEY which was atraditional Indian pattern. During this period, W estern power becameincreasingly interested in annexing Asian territories for trade purpose.

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    y In the 18th century, Europe ( mainly the Dutch, England, and France) ruled international trade through the web of its internationaltrading companies, thanks to the development of its marine, and itscolonies.

    y In general, the economy during this time was still agriculturally-based.

    France and England shared North America, Spain and Portugal centraland South America and they developed these conquests and theireconomies through agriculture (thanks to slavery) and commerce(slave trade, cotton trade, tobacco, coffee, etc...)China was flourishing too with silk and "China" trade but with no army outside its empire and no colonies.

    y During the 18th century, European rulers were very interested in Asiangoods, including spices, cotton, silk, and tea; the trade worked only oneway however, as Asia wanted no European manufactured goods. Asiabecame a "gold drain" for Europe

    y Trade between Eastern and W estern Europe increased significantly during this time.

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