Cross-Cultural Encounters in Modern World History, 1453-Present

231 Pages·2019·11.385 MB·English

by  Jon Thares Davidann, Marc Jason Gilbert

Cross-Cultural
Encounters in Modern
World History,
1453–Present
One of the hallmarks of world history is the ever-increasing ability of humans
to cross cultural boundaries. Taking an encounters approach that opens up
history to different perspectives and experiences, Cross-Cultural Encounters
in Modern World History, 1453–Present examines cultural contact between
people from across the globe between 1453 and the present.
The book examines the historical record of these contacts, distilling
from those processes patterns of interaction, different peoples’ perspectives,
and the ways these encounters tended to subvert the commonly accepted
assumptions about differences between peoples in terms of race, ethnicity,
nationhood, or empire. This new edition has been updated to employ current
scholarship and address recent developments, as well as increasing the treat -
ment of indigenous agency, including the major role played by Polynesians
in the spread of Christianity in Oceania. The final chapter has been updated
to reflect the refugee crisis and the evolving political situation in Europe
concerning its immigrant population.
Supported by engaging discussion questions and enlivened with the
voices and views of those who were and remain directly engaged in the process
of cross-cultural exchange, this highly accessible volume remains a valuable
resource for all students of world history.
Jon Thares Davidann, Ph.D., is professor of history at Hawai’i Pacific
University. He has published many books, including The Limits of Westerniza-
tion(2018). Davidann has given invited lectures internationally and he recently
founded History Lens, a history video podcast on ThinkTech Hawaii.
Marc Jason Gilbert is the holder of an endowed Chair in World History
at Hawai’i Pacific University. He is a past president of the World History Asso-
ci ation, co-author of World Civilizations: The Global Experience, author of
South Asia in World History, and editor of the e-journal, World History
Connected.
Taylor & Francis
Taylor & Francis Group
http:/taylorandfrancis.com
Cross-Cultural
Encounters in Modern
World History,
1453–Present
Second edition
Jon Thares Davidann
and Marc Jason Gilbert
RO Routledge
UTLEDG Taylor & Francis Group
E
NEW YORK AND LONDON
Second edition published 2019
by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
and by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2019 Taylor & Francis
The right of John Thares Davidann and Marc Jason Gilbert to be identified as authors of this
work has been asserted by them in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any
form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented,
including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks,
and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
[First edition published by Pearson Education, Inc. 2013]
[First edition reprint published by Routledge 2016]
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record has been requested for this book
ISBN: 978-1-138-30309-6 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-138-30310-2 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-0-429-42585-1 (ebk)
Typeset in Garamond
by Florence Production Ltd, Stoodleigh, Devon, UK
CONTENTS
List of figures viii
List of maps x
Preface to the Second Edition xi
PART A
Introduction: cross-cultural encounters and hybrid culture 1
PART B
Encounters in the age of exploration 11
1 Power and unpredictability, conquistadors, and native peoples:
conquest of the Americas 13
“Indios” 14
European and Native American perceptions 14
Columbus and the route to Asia 17
Columbus and the Taino 19
Cortés, Aztecs, and Conquest of Mexico 25
The Aztecs 26
Native American responses 30
Fighting for the Native Americans: Las Casas 31
Conclusion 33
Questions for discussion 34
2 Europeans on the margin: missionaries and indigenous response
in East Asia 35
Cultural conversion in China: Matteo Ricci 38
Chinese-Jesuit dialog 43
Japan and the Jesuits 45
Conclusion 53
Questions for discussion 53
3 Empires of difference: the Ottoman model of a multicultural state 55
Outsiders in the Ottoman Empire 57
The aman 57
The millet system 58
Trade and commerce 59
Imperial power, imperial diversity 60
Obstacles to toleration 61
Trade 62
Prisoners and slaves 63
Pilgrims and missionaries 63
Cosmopolitan ports of call: Salonica and Algiers 64
The Ottoman encounter with “Orientalism” 68
Conclusion 70
Questions for discussion 71
v
vi Contents
PART C
Encounters—middle ground successes and failures 73
4 Cultures in competition: Native American encounters with Europeans 75
European and Native American perceptions 77
New England Native Americans and land 79
Impact of the fur trade 82
The middle ground 83
The Catawba 86
Native Americans and the U.S. government 89
Conclusion 90
Questions for discussion 90
5 From first contact to entanglement: Polynesian encounters with
Euro-Americans 92
Polynesia at the time of its contact with the West 94
The West at the time of the first contact with Polynesia 97
Castaways 104
Local agency and the spread of Christianity 106
Self-strengthening 107
Conclusion 111
Questions for discussion 112
6 On the frontiers of central Asia: Russia, China and steppe empires
in Eurasia 114
The Mongols 116
The Russian Empire and the peoples of the steppe 117
Raiding and slaves 120
Diplomacy and conquest 121
Missionary activity 126
China, Russia, and Mongolia 127
Conclusion 131
Questions for discussion 131
PART D
Imperialism and nationalism in the modern world 133
7 Altered states: British imperialism and the rise of Indian nationalism 135
Britain discovers India 135
The Orientalists 138
The Bengal renaissance 141
Remaking a civilization 143
The war of 1857 and its aftermath 147
Racism and the rise of Indian nationalism 149
Conclusion 153
Questions for discussion 154
8 The Japanese in East Asia: a non-western empire and nationalist
reactions 156
Acquiring an empire 157
Japanese policy in Taiwan 158
Contents vii
Japanese encounter with indigenous peoples 162
Japan in Korea 164
Japan in Manchuria and China 168
Far Eastern games 170
The Sino-Japanese war and the rape of Nanjing 171
Conclusion 173
Questions for discussion 174
9 Mapping Africa: European perceptions and African realities 175
Impact of the colonial encounter 178
European perceptions 182
Christianity in Africa 183
African perceptions 183
Christianity and conquest 186
Islam in Africa 188
Rise of nationalism and decolonization 190
Conclusion 192
Questions for discussion 193
PART E
Twentieth century challenges 195
10 Testing the limits of multiculturalism: immigration into Europe in
the twentieth and twenty-first century 197
Conflicts 202
Law and sex 204
Extremes: Islamophobia and anti-Semitism 206
Non-Muslim immigrant experiences 209
Conclusion 210
Questions for discussion 212
Index 213
FIGURES
1.1 The great Aztec city-state of Tenochtitlan was established on an
island in the midst of a large lake 29
1.2 This sixteenth-century print portrays Aztecs suffering from
smallpox during the Cortés invasion (1518–1519) 31
1.3 The contact between Europeans, Africans, and Native Americans
eventually produced large numbers of castas, people considered
to be of mixed racial origin 32
2.1 Jesuits in Chinese dress at the emperor’s court 40
2.2 In this late sixteenth-century portrait, Hideyoshi (1536–1598)
grasps the sword that catapulted him to power and exudes the
discipline and self-confidence that made possible his campaigns
to unify Japan 51
3.1 Interior of a Turkish Caffinet in Constantinople 58
3.2 View of Istanbul from the Galata Bridge, c. 1890s 59
3.3 Salonica in 1913 during Greek Occupation 69
4.1 English Presbyterian missionary John Eliot addresses a gathering
of Algonquians 78
4.2 Father Saint Jean de Brebeuf (1593–1649) 87
5.1 This European painting shows Captain Cook and his officers
participating in a Hawaiian ceremony 100
5.2 Image of King Kal¯akaua, who brought back the Hula and other
traditional Hawaiian practices in the 1880s 108
5.3 Queen Lili‘uokalani in later life 109
6.1 This sketch shows a Mongol household on the move 118
7.1 Sir Thomas Roe was just one of many supplicants for the favor
of Mughal Emperor Jahangir in 1615 137
7.2 A “sati” portrayed by an Indian artist as a mark of honor rather
than a horror, as usually portrayed by British illustrators 145
7.3 Indian soldiers, or sepoys, made up a large portion of the rank
and file troops in the armies of British India 146
7.4 In 1931, Mahatma Gandhi returned to Great Britain for the first
time since his student days in 1915 152
8.1 This Japanese woodblock demonstrates their awareness of the
transforming modernization taking place in Japanese society at
the end of the nineteenth century 158
8.2 This photo and its caption reflect Japan’s belief that its aboriginal
Taiwanese subjects were primitive and in need of its civilizing
influence 161
8.3 Japanese Machine-gunners in front of Chosen Bank in Korea
during Korean rebellion 167
viii
Figures ix
8.4 As Chinese resistance to Japanese invasion in 1937 and 1938
stiffened, the invading armies resorted to random, mass
executions to cow Chinese soldiers and civilians into submission 172
9.1 The size of African cities and the power of African rulers often
impressed European observers 176
9.2 As this political cartoon of a vicious snake with Leopold II’s
head squeezing the life out of a defenseless African villager
illustrates, an international campaign developed in the 1890s in
opposition to the brutal forced-labor regime in what had
become the Belgian king’s personal fiefdom in the Congo
after 1885 179
9.3 Like the missionaries, the ruling classes of Europe believed that
the Christianization of Africans would make them easier to
rule over 182
9.4 Kwame Nkrumah became an important nationalist leader in
Africa but brought significant ideas about Pan-Africanism from his
education in the United States 192
10.1 Two girls, Irish and Bengali, stop for a rest during playtime at
Kingsmead School 198
10.2 Young German skinhead gives a Nazi salute at a right-wing
demonstration 200