East in the Middle Ages in history. The World History

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States of the East in the Middle Ages

1 .

2 . India

2.1 The development of feudal relations in the VII-XII centuries.

2.2 Forms of feudal exploitation

2.3 Caste structure of Indian medieval society

2.4 Hinduism is the religion of India's feudal society

2.5 Formation of the Delhi Sultanate

2.6 Government of the Delhi Sultanate

2.7 External and internal position of the Delhi Sultanate during its heyday

2.8 Decline of the Delhi Sultanate

2.9 Power of the Great Mongol (XVI-XVII centuries). Shah Akbar's reforms

2.10 Organized invasion by European trading companies

2.11 Culture of India

3 . China

3.1 Tang Empire

3.2 Peasant war in the ninth century.

3.3 Song empire

3.4 Mongol conquests

3.5 Liberation of China from Mongol rule

3.6 Features of the economic development of medieval China

3.7 Culture

4 . Japan

4.1 Beginning of samurai rule

4.2 Taira dictatorship

4.3 Shogunate and Kamakura period

4.4 Culture of the Kamakura period

4.5 Development of samurai rule

4.6 Restoration of Kenmu and War of the Two Dynasties

4.7 Second shogunate and Muromachi period

4.8 Socio-economic development

4.9 Culture of the Muromachi period

4.10 Own and alien in the civilization of Japan

5 . Arab Caliphate

5.1 Nature and occupations of the population of Arabia

5.2 Social structure and beliefs of the Arabs

5.3 The need for Arab unification and the role of Islam

5.4 Rise of Islam and the role of Muhammad

5.5 Basic duties of a Muslim

5.6 Arab conquests and reasons for their success

5.7 Attitude of the Arabs towards the conquered peoples

5.8 Features of the feudal system in the Middle East

5.9 Administration of the Arab Caliphate

5.10 The collapse of the Arab state and its causes

5.11 Culture of the Arab Caliphate

6 . General characteristics of the civilization of the medieval East

Bibliography

1 . The main features of the development of the countries of the East in the Middle Ages

With the growth and development of productive forces: iron tools, irrigation, feudal relations were strengthened. But this transition from primitive communal and slaveholding relations was slower than in Europe. State ownership of land limited the power of the feudal lords. The state organization arose here before the beginning of the formation of private rights to land plots. The state became a hypertrophied general community. But such a huge community could not influence its head every day, as an elder in a village. The patriarch moved away from the people, forced to resort to the help of servants. But such a patriarch was not limited by anything except tradition. Surrounded by servants, distant and separated from the people, the patriarch also moved away from traditions. The end result is despotism. Private ownership of land, which nevertheless formed from grants, thus developed only among those close to power, that is, among the highest stratum of the ruling class. The property of the rest was rare, incomplete, subject to arbitrariness, which negatively affected the economic initiative and also led to stagnation.

In Europe, the Middle Ages is a synonym for "feudalism", it is the period between antiquity and capitalist relations. And in the East there was no antiquity. Eastern civilization developed unevenly:

periods of prosperity alternated with periods of decline. Therefore, it is difficult to strictly define the boundaries of the Middle Ages in the East. The Middle Ages for the civilization of the East are considered to be the first 17 centuries of a new era.

In the history of the East, the following stages are distinguished:

I-VI in. AD - transitional period of the birth of feudalism;

VII-X centuries - the period of early feudal relations, natural exchange and the decline of ancient cities;

XI-XII centuries - pre-Mongolian period, the beginning of the heyday of feudalism, the development of cultures

XIII centuries - the time of the Mongol conquest, which interrupted the development of feudal society;

XIV-XVI centuries - post-Mongolian period, slowdown in social development, despotic form of power.

Geographically Medieval East includes territories:

North Africa, Near and Middle East, Central and Middle Asia, India, Sri Lanka, Southeast Asia and the Far East. east feudal sultanate samurai

The medieval East was distinguished from Europe by the presence of different civilizations.

Some civilizations in the East arose in antiquity;

Buddhist and Hindu I am on the Hindustan Peninsula,

Taoist-Confucian- in China.

Others were born in the Middle Ages:

Muslim civilization in the Near and Middle East,

indo-muslim- in India,

Hindu and Muslim- in the countries of Southeast Asia,

Buddhist I am in Japan and Southeast Asia,

Confucian- in Japan and Korea

The medieval East was for Europeans a symbol of wealth and luxury. The standard of living there, until the end of the 18th century, was significantly higher than in the West, the cities outnumbered European cities in their numbers. In the large cities of the East, handicrafts developed, reaching a very high level for the Middle Ages. Europe bought silk, porcelain, weapons, spices in the East.

Meanwhile, the life of the medieval East was restless.

Old empires collapsed and new states arose in their place. Hordes of nomads destroyed the ancient centers of culture, threatening the very existence of civilization. If Western Europe by the XII century. basically freed from this danger, then in the East for a long time after the struggle continued with the nomads.

The East was by no means a single whole: a huge abyss separated nomadic tribes and sedentary cultures, the historical paths of ancient civilizations (Indian and Chinese) and younger ones that appeared by the 6th-7th centuries were different. n. e. (Arabic and Japanese).

Before considering these civilizations separately, you can

identify common features:

The state is the supreme owner of the land.

Whoever has power has property;

The basis of society and the state is the rural community;

Private property plays only an auxiliary role, and

the state is dominant;

The presence of large cities, which previously played the role of administrative,

religious centers, as well as centers of international trade.

In all the states of the East, the economic system was organized according to the following scheme: those who cultivated the land were united in communities. The communities had the right to cultivate the land and use all the necessary resources for farming: water, forest, suburbs, etc. But the right to own and dispose of land and its resources was in the hands of the state apparatus. Therefore, the community paid tax to the state,

And the state built canals, roads, bridges, temples, etc. The state apparatus had access to the distribution of manufactured products and, accordingly, received their share in ownership. The higher the position held by a person in the state apparatus, the greater the share he received. Therefore, we say that the peculiarity of Eastern civilization was the presence of the power of property.

The more efficiently the state apparatus worked, the more regularly and in sufficient volume taxes were collected. The state was strong and powerful. Its power increased from the productivity of the peasant or artisan. But the life of the whole society was disrupted: revolt, famine, destruction of states, and so on. Two main reasons destroyed the state: when unreasonable rulers overestimated the amount of taxes, rebellions occurred or nomadic raids destroyed the traditional system of life.

2. India

2.1 The development of feudal relations inVII- XIIcenturies

It follows from the documents of the early Middle Ages that Maharajas - princes distributed the land belonging to rural communities to individuals, temples and priests - Brahmins. In addition, land was given on the condition of service. But still, in the initial period of the early Middle Ages, most of the land in India belonged to the princes themselves.

There were rural communities, consisting of a group of small and large patriarchal families. Each family had a hereditary share of arable land and ran an independent economy on it.

Every rural community in India had artisans and communal servants, blacksmiths, carpenters, potters, barbers, laundresses, watchmen and shepherds. They received support from the community in the form of a certain share of the harvest. Some categories of artisans and servants, in addition, received small plots of land from the community and ran their own households on them.

The elder was the head of the community. He was both a judge and a military leader in the event of an attack. He and the clerk of the community had additional allotments of land, larger farms, and they resorted to exploiting the labor of either their own community members or newcomers. This created the opportunity for the emergence of petty feudal lords.

2.2 Forms of feudal exploitation

The dominant forms of feudal exploitation of peasants - community members were food rent and labor service(work on the construction of irrigation facilities, fortresses, palaces, temples, bridges and roads). The feudal lords took special requisitions for cattle, for looms, for presses for squeezing vegetable oil, for the right to build a house, for wedding and other family celebrations. Local authorities collected funds from the peasants for the maintenance of public buildings, for paying for the local administrative and police apparatus, for religious festivals, and so on. However, in the presence of irrigated agriculture, which provided at least two harvests per year, part of the peasants got the opportunity to have a surplus in excess of the necessary product, which was sold in the markets.

Despite the resistance of the peasants, in the economically developed regions of India, the bulk of the community members already in the 7th century. was feudal headandthe real peasantry.

To meet their needs, the feudal lords settled artisans in the cities. The feudal lords especially encouraged the production of luxury goods, which they not only consumed themselves, but also sold. Craftsmen produced the finest cotton and silk fabrics, carpets, jewelry made of gold, silver and precious stones, artistic items made of ivory, lacquer and valuable species of Indian trees. Artisans also made weapons, leather goods, palanquins, horse and elephant decorations, etc. Artisans were united in professional castes of weavers, jewelers, shoemakers, gunsmiths, wood carvers, etc.

Each caste was headed by a foreman and a caste council, who monitored the implementation of caste rules both in production and in everyday life, punishing their violators with fines and even expulsion from the caste. All these caste organizations were subject to feudal lords and on the basis of mutual responsibility were responsible for the payment of taxes.

2.3 Caste structure indusyian medieval society

In ancient times there were four large groups - varnas.

Brahmins andkshatriyas- higher ruled and fought

ATaishyaandsudras- the lower ones worked in the fields and in the workshops.

In the Middle Ages inarns began to be divided into professions or occupations.

Brahmins- pharmacists, doctors, teachers, etc.

Toshatriand- warriors, officials, etc.

The Europeans called these groups castes. By the X century. the number of castes increased to several thousand. Each caste had its own special signs, rituals, decorations, rules of conduct. One could look for a bride or groom only in one's own caste, and raise children only according to the traditions and customs of the caste. Castes were divided into lower and higher. There was also a special caste of "untouchables".

Representatives of the higher castes could not even be near the lower ones, much less take food or water from their hands. It was believed that even the shadow of the "Untouchables" could "desecrate" the higher ones. Only representatives of the higher ones could read and listen to sacred texts. Those who violated these customs and traditions were severely punished.

Representatives of different castes united in communities who were the backbone of Indian society. They provided him with internal stability. Between different castes there was an exchange of products and services. The community decided all the issues itself: it chose the council, judges, payment of taxes, allocated people for public works. Those who violated the rules of life in the community could be punished - expelled from the community.

Fromnotes of a Chinese traveler xuan Zang (7th century)

Butchers, fishermen, scavengers, medicine men, laundresses, itinerant performers, gravediggers, executioners and the like live outside the mountains.aboutYes. On the streets, these people either do not appear at all, or keep to the left side until they reach the right place. Their dwellings are surrounded by walls and located outside the city.

2.4 Hinduism is the religion of the feudal society of India

There were several religions in medieval India. Based on dreinher religion in the 1st millennium AD. Hinduism was formed. In the first place came the worship of three gods: Vishnu, Shiva and Brahmi. Temples were built in their honor and rich sacrifices were made. In honor of the gods Vishnu and Shiva, the princes erected majestic temples, placed their images there, and hundreds of Brahmin priests served the gods as living earthly rulers. On special days, the priests held festivities, which gathered many thousands of people from all over the state.

The Brahmins created a doctrine according to which all other deities, in whatever form they revered, were only the incarnation of Vishnu and Shiva. As a result, the trend towards the development of a single religious system resulted in a combination of various, often conflicting religious beliefs and rites. the totality of which is called Hinduism.

Hindus believed in the transmigration of souls after death. If a person lived with dignity, then in the next life he could be reborn in a higher caste, otherwise he was reborn in a lower one or became an animal, plant, stone. Hindus deified animals. Especially cows. They were forbidden to be killed. Hindus also worshiped the sacred river Ganges.

The second religion of India was Buddhism, which arose here in the VI century. BC. The Buddha taught that the whole life of a person is suffering, and therefore his soul must be freed from everything earthly and strive for supreme peace. He urged to forget about riches, pleasures, to speak only the truth and not to kill living beings. From the 5th century Buddhism in India is in decline, but is rapidly spreading in China, Japan, Korea, Mongolia, and countries of Southeast Asia. Buddhism has become another world religion along with Christianity and Islam.

With the advent of the Muslim conquerors in India, Islam. In addition to the religions mentioned, hundreds of local cults were spread in India.

2.5 Formation of the Delhi Sultanate

in India, under the rule of the Gupta dynasty in the 4th-6th centuries, there was a state of the Guptas. The reign of the Guptas entered the history of India as a golden age, when the main canons of national literature, fine arts, architecture and philosophy were developed. But

due to the raids of the Huns at the end of the VI century. it ceased to exist.

In the 7th century in India, there were about 70 principalities, the rulers of which were rajas and maharajas, who fought among themselves.

Neighbors - Muslims sought to subjugate India. The country has experienced many raids and robberies. The invaders took huge wealth out of India and took tens of thousands of Indians into slavery. Many cities were reduced to ruins. The richest temples of the country were completely plundered and destroyed.

The fragmented Indian principalities could not resist these invasions, and gradually a large state headed by Muslim conquerors established itself in the north of India, which was called Delhithsultanate.

The beginning of the existence of the Delhi Sultanate was laid in 1206, when the commander of one of the Muslim rulers declared himself a sultan, making the city of Delhi his capital. Gradually, the power of the sultans extended to the whole of North and Central India, and at times they also captured South India. A significant part of Indian lands was distributed between Muslim warriors and mosques. The Indian princes had to obey the Muslims. The supreme power in the state belonged to the Sultan. Justice was administered by the Muslim clergy. The entire state apparatus, like the army, consisted of Muslims. Muslims were freed from taxes.

During the period of the Delhi Sultanate in India, the construction of Muslim religious buildings began - mosques, minarets, mausoleums and madrasahs. The existence of the Delhi Sultanate, the emergence of the ruling class of Muslim feudal lords, the long cohabitation and mutual influence of Hindus and Muslims prepared the emergence of a new powerful Muslim empire in northern India - the Mughal empire.

2.6 State structure of the Delhi Sultanate

To suppress the exploited peasantry, seize new territories, and also to protect their possessions from external enemies in the Delhi Sultanate under Balban, strong state apparatus and a huge standing army of mercenaries. The full power was concentrated in the hands of the Sultan. His closest assistant was the chief vizier. The territory of the Delhi Sultanate was divided into several areas, which were ruled by members of his family and the highest Muslim nobility.

They collected land tax and other fees and suppressed popular indignations with the help of mercenary troops. The governors disposed of the income from their regions, but sent tribute to the Sultan's treasury. They actually were independent rulers. Muslim feudal lords, in order to strengthen their positions, encouraged the conversion of the Hindus to Islam.

They provided Muslims with special advantages in holding high positions in the army and in the administrative apparatus, they gave tax breaks and a number of other smaller privileges.

2.7 External and internal position of the Delhi Sultanate during the periodits heyday

The danger from the Mongol khans was so great in the second half of the 13th century that the Delhi sultans were forced to stop their offensive against the not yet conquered territories of India. In addition to external enemies, the sultans had to constantly fight against large feudal lords. However, the maintenance of the mercenary troops required large funds and depleted the Sultan's treasury.

To replenish the treasury of the Sultan increased taxes, taking away half the crop from the peasants. The Sultan in these years reached the pinnacle of his power. However, the exorbitant exploitation of the peasants eventually led to the fact that they began to flare up peasant uprisings. During this turmoil, many of the conquered principalities fell away from Delhi. The peasants were brought to complete ruin. Famine began in the country, farmers abandoned their land and fled to the forests.

2.8 Decline of the Delhi Sultanate

The aggressive policy undermined the internal power of the state, which began to fall apart. At the end of the XIV century. The Delhi Sultanate occupied a smaller territory than at the beginning of the 13th century. He already had to fight off the invasion of powerful neighbors that appeared after the collapse of the Sultanate. Constant warfare weakened and ruined the Sultanate and its neighbors. This was taken advantage of Mongols who began to carry out systematic raids into northern India, plundering cities and populations. In 1398 he sent his campaign to India Timur. The main goal of his campaign was robbery, and not the annexation of India to his possessions. The 120,000-strong army of Timur passed through the cities of Northern India with fire and sword. Although Timur was a Muslim, he did not particularly understand who came across his path - a Hindu or a Muslim. The city of Delhi, which surrendered to the mercy of the victors, also became the object of robbery and murder. When Timur went back to Central Asia, he took with him a huge number of captives, especially artisans. Timur's capital Samarkand was largely built up by the hands of captured Indians. The areas that this tough conqueror passed through were turned into a desert. From 1413 the Delhi Sultanate ceased beingsaboutto act like a big and strong power. Northern India broke up into a number of principalities. Their rulers set many duties for their subjects. The peasants were obliged to hand over almost half of the harvest, to work on the construction of roads, bridges, temples, palaces and fortresses. They were obliged to monitor canals, dams and reservoirs. In addition, the peasants paid taxes for livestock, for looms, for squeezing vegetable oil, for permission to build a hut, for a wedding feast, and much more. Urban craftsmen were subjected to no less cruel exploitation.

After the campaigns of Timur and the internecine struggle between two dozen states that arose after the collapse of the Delhi Sultanate, India found itself weakened and unprotected from the threat of European penetration.

2.9 Power of the Great Mongol (XVI- XVIIcenturies). RefoRmy Shah Akbar

In 1526 India in the Middle Ages turned into a power of the Great Maboutgoals which lasted for about 200 years. India became the Mughal power thanks to Muhammad Babur, who came from the country of Mogolistan, respectively, all the inhabitants of this country were called Mughals.

Babur ruled for a short time. In 1530 he died and bequeathed all of medieval India to his son Humayun. But he did not rule for long - during one of the descents along the marble stairs in the palace, he fell and broke his neck. His 13-year-old son Akbar ascended the throne. The Mughal dominions at the beginning nearly half a century of rule(from 1556 to 1605) did not extend beyond the two rivers of the Ganges and Jamna. At the end of his reign, only the very south of the Hindustan peninsula remained outside the boundaries of the Mughal state.

Akbar can rightfully be considered one of the most prominent people of the Middle Ages. He expanded the borders of the state, established the economy in the country, but his greatest achievement was the religious reform. Akbar was wise beyond his years and understood that in order to avoid unrest and uprisings, it is necessary to equalize all religious communities. He abolished the tax that was levied on all non-Muslims, built many prayer houses. For half a century of his reign, Akbar carried out a series of reforms with the aim of centralizing state power, strengthening the power of the empire and developing trade.

The population of the Mughal Empire was multilingual, was at different levels of social development, was divided by caste barriers. But most lived in the narrow world of the rural community. All rights and obligations were inherited from father to son. That's why the rural community was very stable and was the basis of medieval Indian society.

However, India in the Middle Ages was famous not only for wars. At that time, art and aesthetics were developing very seriously. One of Akbar's heirs was the famous Shah Jahan, who immortalized himself with love for his beautiful wife Mumtaz-i-Mahal. Shah Jahan was very fond of his Persian beauty and when she died in 1630, Shah, heartbroken, ordered to build a tomb for his wife on the river bank, which he called the Taj Mahal - the Crown of the Palace.

In 1656, the emperor fell seriously ill, and another struggle for the throne began and Aurangzeb, who was an adherent of Islam and fought in every possible way against other religions in Medieval India, ascended the throne. He ordered the destruction of many Hindu temples, banned dancing and music. Everything that Akbar erected with such efforts, Aurangzeb destroyed. There were uprisings and wars. Particularly noticeable in the history of medieval India was the uprising of the Murathas - the indigenous population of India, professing Hinduism. They rose up to liberate the country from the Mughals. They suddenly attacked the Mughal settlements and detachments, defeated them, took the booty and immediately disappeared.

In 1674, Shivaji, the ruler of the Marathas, founded his own independent state, crowned in the city of Pune.

The great Mogul Aurangzeb ruled on the throne for 49 years. All these years, he was hated not only by Hindus, but also by his own entourage. Every day there were uprisings that had to be suppressed, every day someone's blood was shed, and only on his deathbed at 89, Aurangzeb admitted that life had been lived in vain.

After his death, the Mughal Empire collapsed. The next three rulers of Medieval India were puppets in the hands of wealthy feudal lords, the country was once again weakened by internecine wars. The time was approaching for the transformation of India into an English colony, but this is a completely different story.

2.10 Organized invasion of European trading companies

In the XVI century. The Mughal empire is penetrated by European trading companies, which successfully establish themselves in India. These companies were engaged not only in trade, but also in politics, which was the beginning of the colonial conquest of India. Especially zealous the British with their West Indian companiei.

Amsterdam merchants united at the beginning of the 17th century. AT East India Company, which received from the hands of the queen a monopoly not only on all trade with the East, but also the right to enter into alliances and agreements, declare and wage war, execute and pardon the local population.

Holland teamed up with England in the fight against colonial rule Spain and Portugal.

driving out the Portuguese, Dutch merchants established a brutal control over trade. Forced low prices and lack of supply of rice to the islands doomed the local population to starvation and extinction. In 1621, the uprising of the aborigines of Banda Island was crushed by the Dutch. Of the 115,000 inhabitants, only 300 escaped. In fact, an entire nation ceased to exist.

To organize the production of local agricultural products on the depopulated islands, the Dutch even used plantation slavery. But only by the middle of the XVII century. The Dutch managed to finally gain a foothold in Indonesia and the islands adjacent to it.

Along the coast, there were a number of port cities, where merchants gathered with a wide variety of goods, of which gold, silver and horses were the most valuable. Cotton fabrics, spices, ivory, precious stones and valuable tree species were exported. In addition to handicrafts, rice, dyes, and especially a lot of spices were exported from India. Overseas merchants generously paid for all goods in gold and silver. In India, stocks of these precious metals were formed.

2.11 Culture of India

The most famous cultural monuments of the early Middle Ages are located in Adzhanin and Ellora. Adzhania became famous mainly for wall paintings of Buddhist monasteries. The temple complexes of Ellora are known for their sculpture, which has occupied a dominant place in the decoration of temples since the early Middle Ages.
In the south of India in the X-XII centuries. bronze sculpture is spreading. Among the statues and figurines of Hindu deities, the main place is occupied by the image of God Shiva. He appears as the many-armed Natarajan, the god of dance.

Since the beginning of our era, the decimal system has been used in India. Mathematicians used fractions, calculated the area and volume of figures. Aryabhata calculated the number Pi and suggested that the earth is a ball rotating around its axis. Doctors, having studied the internal structure of a person, could perform up to 200 operations.

The architecture of the country was remarkable for its amazing diversity. At first xpawe carved in the rocks. They have been built for centuries. Their walls were painted with frescoes. From the 7th c. Hindu temples began to be built in the form of towers. Their walls were covered with reliefs, statues and stone carvings.

From the 13th century Muslim motifs appeared in the art of India - mausoleums, mosques, palaces were built. They did not have statues, but these buildings were striking in the clarity of lines. The Taj Mahal in Agra is especially famous. Under the Mughals, painting flourished, especially the art of book miniatures.

The conquest of Northern India in the X-XII centuries. Muslims brought new to India cultural traditions of Central Asia, the Near and Middle East. In India, structures with arches, domes and vaults began to be built. New types of buildings also appeared (mosques, minarets, mausoleums).

India's contribution to science is also great. Thus, the creation of a decimal number system became extremely important. Indian scientists have created a table to calculate the location of the planets. The scientist and astronomer Arnabhata suggested that the Earth is a sphere and rotates around its axis. Many astronomical works of Indian scientists were translated into Arabic. Thanks to this, the ideas embodied in these works penetrated into other countries.

findings

The formation of Muslim states on the territory of India - the Delhi Sultanate (1206-1526) and the Mughal Empire (1526 - XVIII century) - made changes in the socio-economic and political life of India. In this era, centralization increased, the bureaucracy strengthened, great opportunities opened up for the development of feudal relations, since a significant part of state lands was given to soldiers and officials for service, and the tax collection system became more perfect. However, the foundation of Indian civilization turned out to be quite strong: as soon as the Muslim states disintegrated, a return to the previous forms of life began. And the Indian community played a significant role here, penetrating the entire social structure of India (professional corporations of merchants and artisans in the cities were a kind of variation of the rural community). Giving greater internal stability to civilization, the community remained a force that restrained and hindered the development of Indian society.

So, medieval India personifies the synthesis of the most diversebdifferent socio-political foundations, religious traditions. ethnice sky cultures. Having melted all this many beginnings within herself, by the end of the era she appeared before the astonished Europeans as a country of aocular splendor, beckoning to itself with wealth, exoticism, secrets.

Inside it, however, began processes similar to European ones, inherent in the New Age. The internal market was formed, international relations developed, social contradictions deepened.

But for India, a typical Asian power, the despotic state was a strong deterrent to capitalization. With its weakening, the country becomes an easy prey for European colonialists, whose activities interrupted the natural course of the country's historical development for many years.

It cannot be said that the East in the Middle Ages "froze", stopped in its development. Changes took place in many areas of the life of Eastern civilizations: tools of production were gradually improved, cities grew, trade relations strengthened and expanded, new trends appeared in philosophy and literature. But in general, the pace of development of the East was slower than that of the West. Historians explain this by the fact that Eastern civilizations were focused on repetition, on the constant reproduction of old, established forms of statehood, social relations, and ideas. Tradition put up solid barriers, holding back change. The development of Eastern societies took place within the civilizational tradition. Therefore, Eastern civilizations are called traditional.

The collapse of the Mughal Empire coincided with the beginning of thein European colonization of India and adjacent regions of Asia. Colonial expansion, which resulted in the breakdown of the traditional structure of Indian society, ended the era of Middle Ages. dera in the history of India.

3. China

In 246 BC all of China was united under. the power of the only All-China Empire Qin. The borders themselves, the names of the former kingdoms, were liquidated. To protect the country from nomadic raids, the emperor began the construction of the Great Wall of China. it was built from rammed earth, bricks and stone blocks.

the great Wall of China stretched for thousands of kilometers (6,450 km). Height walls reached from 6.5 to 10 m, width 5.4 m, so that two oncoming chariots could pass on it, there are viewing slots and loopholes in the wall. Every 2.5 km there were sentry towers. Warriors lived in the tower below, and on the top floor they carried out their service. They had brushwood ready for the fire. If the soldiers noticed danger, they immediately kindled a fire. Us about In the neighboring towers, seeing this sign, they also set fire to brushwood. So the signal came to a place where a large detachment was in full combat readiness. He immediately hurried to about power.

The extreme cruelty of Qin Shihuang-di made his name hated in the country. The patience of the people has come to an end. Armed with sticks and hoes, people gathered in detachments. The frightened emperor committed suicide.

As a result of popular uprisings, the Dynasty came to power Han who ruled China from 207 BC before 220 AD The ruler made some concessions to the people: he canceled the bloody laws, stopped the great construction projects. Many people were freed and turned into slaves for debt. For peasants, the land tax was reduced by 20 times. The people were given protected forests, parks and reservoirs of the Qin ruler.

As soon as the Khanyokrepla dynasty, its rulers began wars of conquest against the steppe nomads - the Huns, as well as against the mountain tribes of Indochina. As a result, a route was laid from China through Central Asia and Persia to the Mediterranean Sea, which was later called Great Shelpath. Silk, porcelain and other handicrafts of high quality were brought from China to the West along this route.

In the opposite direction, horses, woolen products, purple fabrics, glass, and jewelry were imported. Thanks to this route, alfalfa, beans, pomegranates, grapes, nuts, and saffron were brought to China.

However, the conduct of broad campaigns of conquest requiredlarge funds. Taxes and duties reached enormous proportions. In 184 AD A major peasant uprising broke out in China. The royal soldiers drowned him in blood. The division of power began between the winners. Their civil strife ended with the death (collapse) of the Han Empire. AD 220 it broke up into three kingdoms.

With the fall of the Han Empire at the turn of II-III centuries. In China, there is a change of eras: the ancient period of the country's history ends and the Middle Ages begins.

On the territory of the country there were three states, the power in which, by type, approached a military dictatorship. But already at the end of the III century. political stability in China is once again being lost, and it becomes an easy prey for the nomadic tribes that rushed here.

From that moment on, for two and a half centuries, China was divided into northern and southern part, which affected its subsequent development.

Its essence consisted in assigning to each commoner the rights to receive a piece of land of a certain size and establishing fixed taxes from 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.

There was a decomposition and rebirth of the community. All the inferior strata in the state were collectively referred to as the "vile people" (jianzhen) and were opposed to the "good people" (liangmin).

At the beginning of the IV century. hordes of nomads, including the Huns, poured into China from the north. The population fled from the areas occupied by foreign barbarians, and in the north of the country many small states created by the invaders arose. They quickly became sinicized, adopting the local culture, customs and management system.
In 581, a coup d'état took place in the north: the commander Yang Jian removed the emperor from power, subjugated the southern state and, for the first time after a 400-year period of fragmentation, restored the political unity of the country. The dynasty ruled Sui. However, as a result of the peasant uprising, the dynasty Sui was overthrown.

3.1 Tang Empire

In 618, the dynasty came to power Tan, reinvigorated the central government. Its first rulers, Li Yuan and Li Shimin, pursued a sufficiently sensible policy that ensured the flourishing of China. The new rulers redistributed the land. Through the hard work of millions of peasants, the devastated lands turned into fertile fields that brought large harvests. A well-thought-out tax system provided the state with significant profits.

The unification of China made it possible to expand its influence among its neighbors. Many nomads were pacified. The Great Wall of China was fortified. The emperor, the “son of God,” was assisted by an army of officials. The country was united, and the economy began to revive in it. China seized Korea, Vietnam, lands in the West and seized the Great Silk Road, but in 751 China ceded the western lands to the Arabs. However, Chinese merchants continued to trade with Byzantium and Central Asia. The Chinese also traded across the Indian Ocean. By connecting the Yellow River and the Yangtze, the Chinese irrigated vast territories. The land belonged to the emperor, and the peasants, having received the allotment, paid taxes and bore duties - they participated in public works.

3.2 Peasant war in the end of the ninth century

From the second half of the 8th c. the decline of the state begins Tan. The growth of the administrative apparatus increased the costs. The military system was decomposing, the self-will of the nobility grew. In the ninth century peasant uprisings begin. In 874 they escalated into a grandiose peasant war. In 881, the peasant army captured the capital

Having occupied the city, Huang Chao proclaimed himself emperor, abolished taxes, distributed the property of the nobility to the poor. The former emperor invited nomads from the north and in 884 the rebels were defeated. Despite the defeat of the peasants, they managed to alleviate their fate.

Note:

The history of China is characterized by the presence of dynastic cycles. In China, it was a vicious circle. A new dynasty came, distributed land, but large private land ownership (the so-called "strong houses") grew, the revenues of the treasury fell: e the chalky, ruined peasants became tenants of the wealthy landowners. a businessmen who tried to reduce the amount of taxes.

As a result, increased their power and influence in the provinces increased the arbitrariness of the adm and nistration, the authority of the central government fell. And in response, a protest began from below - in the form of uprisings, the participants of which demanded the return of the land and revolted in the principle of equalization.

The newly created dynasty usually began its reign with reforms designed to establish social harmony. Therefore, reforms usually came down to gigantic about mu, within the framework of the entire Celestial Empire, the redistribution of the earth - so that every tr at able-bodied peasant received his plot. Sometimes the government even went to the confiscation of land from wealthy landowners.

Thus, the "equal fields" system, which had always been considered an ideal in China, was restored again. Of course, despite these measures, it was impossible to about everyone to stop the growth of private land ownership and everything went on again on circle.

3.3 Song empire

In k.9 c. weakened by the peasant war, the Tang dynasty was overthrown.

After 50 years of struggle, China was unified in 960 under a dynasty soong. Civil strife began in the country, and a dangerous enemy appeared in the north - the Jurchens. They created the state of Jin and invaded China. The cavalry captured the capital, and the emperor was captured for 30 years.

3.4 conquest mongols

After the signing of the peace, the Chinese again had an enemy, the Mongols.

The collapse of China facilitated the conquest of the country by the Mongols. At the beginning of the XIII century. Genghis Khan created a vast state that included many conquered peoples. Northern China also became part of this power, the conquest of which began in 1211. Under the descendants of Genghis Khan, the southern Chinese state of Song was also conquered (1279).

The dynasty of the Mongol emperors of China was named Yuan. Under the rule of the Mongol dynasty, China was more than a century.

In the Yuan empire, four categories of subjects were distinguished: the Mongols had the greatest privileges, who were assigned not only the command of the troops, but also the leadership of almost all administrative departments. The Chinese were allowed to serve only in secondary positions. As a result, the Mongols never succeeded in establishing a strong and effective political regime in China. The whole territory was divided into provinces, the rulers of which had great independence. The Yuan rulers were also unable to create a regular system of taxation, while costly military campaigns and the cost of maintaining the court devastated the treasury. The threat to the central government was also represented by the Mongol nobility, which had significant military forces and powers.

3.5 freeChina's fall from Mongol rule

The cruel oppression and robbery of the population by the conquerors more than once caused uprisings. In the XIV century. as a result of a powerful popular movement, the power of the Mongols was overthrown. The leader of the uprising was the peasant Zhu Yuanzhang. He was proclaimed the Son of Heaven. He founded a new dynasty Min, which ruled China until 1644. The capital of the new dynasty was first the city of Nanjing, and later it was transferred to the city of Dadu, which received the new official name of Beijing.

Having ascended the throne, Zhu Yuanzhang did a lot to strengthen the central government and the country's economy. The distribution of land to the landless and landless had a beneficial effect on the life of China. Taxes were reduced.

Crafts have made great strides. fabrics and porcelain were the main commodity in China's foreign trade with other countries.

As merchants, most of China's artisans were organized into workshops. The craftsmen carefully kept the secrets and passed them on from generation to generation. So, only two families owned the secret of dressing one of the varieties of silk. For 300 years, they have been married to each other so that this secret does not go beyond their families.
Under the son of Zhu Yuanzhang, the army first expelled the remnants of the Mongols from China, and then conducted a series of successful campaigns against Vietnam. The Chinese fleet made several voyages to the countries of Southeast Asia, to India and even to the east coast of Africa. Foreign trade developed successfully. Trade external relations were formalized in the form of the so-called tributary trade. The gifts of foreign rulers were perceived as the arrival of barbarians with tribute. In return, they rewarded those who arrived. The volume and value of awards and awards were to be as many times greater than the "tribute" as the prestige of the Son of Heaven foamed by the Chinese above the prestige of the ruler who sent the "tribute".

3.6 Features of economic development of medieval China

The appearance of cotton growing led to the fact that along with canvas and silk, cotton fabrics began to be made in the country. Tea was produced in large quantities. Salt mining took on a huge scale. The extraction of iron, silver, copper, and tin has greatly increased. The production of metal tools, weapons, and household items, in particular, polished metal mirrors, which enjoyed great fame far beyond the borders of China, expanded. The production of ceramic products, especially porcelain, increased. Paper was produced in large quantities - from tree bark, rags, hemp - invented back in 105. This production remained a monopoly of China for a long time and was encouraged by the continuously increasing demand for paper not only within the country, but also in neighboring states. From the 7th century book printing began from boards (xylographic method).

Foreign trade took on a wide scope. It was conducted with various countries of Indo-China, the Malay Archipelago (modern Indonesia), with the countries of Central Asia, and through them - with the Persians and Arabs. Through the Persians and Arabs, China traded with Byzantium. Metal products, silk, paper, and porcelain were exported from China. Ivory, some metals, spices and medicinal plants were imported into China. Medieval cities began to develop as centers of crafts and as centers of trade. Small towns arose on the site of markets, periodically arranged in points located between villages. Port cities were especially developed, through which foreign trade was conducted.

The largest city in China was the capital of the empire - Chang'an.

Of the industries, starting from the 11th century, mining has received special development. The extraction of iron and silver increased sharply. The need for iron increased in connection with the development of handicrafts, the spread of iron tools in agriculture, and also in connection with the production of weapons. Silver was needed for the jewelry industry, for foreign trade, and also in order to pay off the conquerors. Salt production also increased.

All these crafts in their overwhelming part developed through the creation of state-owned workshops. Such workshops were arranged in the metallurgical industry, where up to 100 people worked in separate smelters, as well as in the textile industry, where 60-70 people usually worked in workshops. There is, however, information about workshops with 600-700 workers (workshops for the manufacture of certain types of silk fabrics and embroideries, ceramic workshops, workshops in the field of shipbuilding). An important point should be considered the partial use of hired workers in these workshops. This was observed in the enterprises for minting iron coins and for the production of weapons, as well as in winemaking. Payment was given partly in kind, partly in money. There were still such workshops in very few branches of industrial production; the vast majority of the latter continued to develop as guild handicraft production. However, the very fact of the appearance of such workshops, combined with the extensive development of domestic trade and money circulation, is assessed by some researchers of Chinese history as the emergence of conditions that opened up the possibility of further development. cap elementsandtalisma.

3. 7 culture

In the Middle Ages, the culture of China was highly developed. She had a great influence on the culture of Korea, Indochina and Japan.

In China, the transition to the Middle Ages was not accompanied, as in many other countries, by oblivion and loss of the achievements of the ancient period. On the contrary, thanks to perfect writing, scientists, painters, poets, architects were able to pass on their experience to posterity in various manuals and treatises. ToandThai script- the oldest of those that people use to this day. The shape of the hieroglyphs changed. More than one hundred thousand monuments of Chinese writing have been found. The ability to write beautifully - calligraphy - was considered a high art in China. It was in China isobreten paper, and was born typography.

The literature of medieval China is rich in talented works. Many literate people were needed to manage a huge country. Only those who passed difficult exams could become officials and enter a special class of service nobles. Officials were trained in city and special schools.

Rise of the Chinese architecture falls approximately in the 7th–13th centuries. - the reign of dynasties Tan and soong. It was then that many magnificent palaces and temples, appeared in the cities libraries and theaters. At that time it accelerated city building, as a rule, according to the same plan, developed in ancient times. The streets were straight, stretching from one end of the city to the other, intersecting with other equally straight streets. Cities were walled topped with watchtowers. During this period, Chinese architecture appears pagoda- a Buddhist tower-shaped religious building, which was erected in honor of the deeds of saints or famous pilgrims or important events. Pagodas were erected on hills, were visible from afar, personifying the aspiration to the higher world. pagodas of steel symbol of Buddhism. They were built by orders of emperors, nobility, monasteries. The shape of the pagoda appeared as a result of the combination of the architecture of a Chinese watchtower and an Indian temple (where Buddhists originally sent their prayers). They were built of wood, brick, stone or metal. Often these were repositories of Buddhist relics. At the roadside pagodas, torches were lit at night.

Dynasty soong- heyday of Chinese painting and calligraphy. Painters painted pictures with paints or ink on long silk or paper scrolls. In Chinese painting, perspective was used in such a way that a person who looked at a picture felt that he was not the center of the world, but its smallest grain of sand. Therefore, there is no linear perspective in the paintings, there is no single compositional point where all the lines converge. Landscapes VII-VIII centuries. They were written in rich blue, green and white colors, and around the edges they were surrounded by a golden outline.

art crafts

China is famous for manufacturing silks. Clothes and sails were sewn from silk, umbrellas and strings of musical instruments were made. The Chinese have learned to make porcelain from a mixture of special types of clay. Porcelain products were valued unusually expensive in all countries of the then world. Glory to medieval China was also brought products fromcarved lacquer, ceramics, woodewa, stone, bone, clay andresins. The Chinese knew how make bouquets, and therefore the manufacture of vases from a variety of materials and various sizes was common. All medieval art, one way or another, is connected with the religious beliefs of the Chinese and is distinguished by its unique originality.

...

Features of the development of the countries of the East in the Middle Ages

India

China

Japan

Arab Caliphate

7.1. Features of the development of the countries of the East in the Middle Ages

The term "Middle Ages" is used to refer to the period in the history of the countries of the East of the first seventeen centuries of a new era. The natural upper boundary of the period is considered to be the 16th - early 17th centuries, when the East becomes 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 formations (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 due to participation in them "barbarian" nomadic tribes. In the historical arena during this period, such hitherto unknown peoples as the Arabs, the Seljuk Turks, and the Mongols appeared and rose. 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 campaigns of the Crusaders to 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.

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 improved, the leading trend of the historical process both in the East and in Europe was the establishment of feudal relations. Various outcomes of development in the East and West by the end of the 20th century. were due to a lesser degree of its dynamism.

Among the factors causing the "delay" of Eastern societies, the following stand out: the preservation, along with the feudal system, of extremely slowly disintegrating primitive communal and slave-owning relations; the stability of communal forms of community life, which held back 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.

Periodization of the history of the medieval East

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:

1st-6th centuries AD - the transitional period of the birth of feudalism;

7th-10th 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 - before the Mongolian period, the beginning of the heyday of feudalism, the formation of a class-corporate system of life, cultural take-off;

13th century - the time of the Mongol conquest, which interrupted the development of feudal society and reversed some of them;

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

Eastern civilizations

A colorful picture was presented by the Medieval East in terms of civilization, which also distinguished it from Europe. Some civilizations in the East arose in antiquity: 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, Indo-Muslim civilization in India, Hindu and Muslim civilization in the countries of Southeast Asia, Buddhist civilization in Japan and Southeast Asia, Confucian civilization in Japan and Korea.

7.2. India

(VII - XVIII centuries)

Rajput period (7th-12th centuries)

As shown in Chapter 2, in the IV-VI centuries. AD on the territory of modern India has developed

powerful Gupta empire. The Gupta era, perceived as the golden age of India, was replaced in the 7th-12th centuries. period of feudal fragmentation. At this stage, however, the isolation of the regions of the country and the decline of culture did not occur due to the development of port trade. The tribes of the conquering Huns - Ephthalites, 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 Malwa. As a result of the merging of alien peoples with the local population, a compact ethnic community of Rajputs arose, 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 clan - Pratikharov, who formed a state in Malwa. It was here that the most striking type of feudal relations with a developed hierarchy and vassal psychology developed.

In the VI-VII centuries. in India, a system of stable political centers is taking shape, fighting each other under the banner of various dynasties - Northern India, Bengal, the Deccan and the Far South. Canvas of political events of the VIII-X centuries. began the struggle for Doab (between the Jumna and the Ganges). In the tenth century the leading powers of the country fell into decay, 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 military raids Mahmud Ghaznevid(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 Sindh.

The socio-economic development of India during the Rajput era was characterized by the growth of feudal estates. The richest among the feudal lords, along with the rulers, were the Hindu temples and monasteries. If initially only uncultivated lands complained to them and with the indispensable consent of the community that owned them, then from the 8th century. more and more often, not only lands are transferred, but also villages, the inhabitants of which were obliged to bear a natural service in favor of the recipient. However, at this time the Indian community was still relatively independent, large in size and self-governing. A full-fledged community member hereditarily owned his field, although trade operations with land were certainly controlled by the community administration.

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

At the stage of feudal fragmentation, Hinduism finally took over Buddhism, defeating it with the power 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. Muslim state established in northern India . D the Elian Sultanate, the dominance of Muslim commanders from the Central Asian Turks is finally taking shape. Sunni Islam becomes the state religion, and Persian becomes the official language. Accompanied by bloody strife, the dynasties of Gulyams, Khiljis, and Tughlakids were successively replaced in Delhi. The troops of the sultans made aggressive campaigns in Central and South 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. Abandoned by the conqueror as governor of the 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 uncompromising struggle with the feudal nobility and Afghan military leaders. Opponents of Ibrahim 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, thus initiating Mughal Empire, existed for nearly 200 years.

The system of economic relations undergoes some, although not radical, changes in the Muslim era. The state land fund is growing significantly due to the possessions of the conquered Indian feudal families. Its main part was distributed in a conditional official award - iqta (small plots) and mukta (large "feedings"). Iktadars and muktadars collected taxes from granted villages in favor of the treasury, part of which went to the support of the family of the holder who supplied the warrior to the state army. Mosques, owners of property for charitable purposes, keepers of the tombs of sheikhs, poets, officials and merchants were private landowners who managed the estate without state intervention. The rural community survived as a convenient fiscal unit, however, the payment of the poll tax (jizia) fell on the peasants, who mostly professed Hinduism, as a heavy burden.

By the XIV century. historians attribute a new wave of urbanization to India. Cities became centers of crafts and trade. Domestic trade was mainly focused on the needs of the capital's court. The leading import item was the import of horses (the basis of the Delhi army is cavalry), which were not bred in India due to the lack of pastures. Treasures of Delhi coins are found by archaeologists in Persia, Central Asia and on the Volga.

During the reign of the Delhi Sultanate, Europeans began to penetrate India. In 1498, under Vasco da Gama, the Portuguese first reached Calikat 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 backbone of their possessions in the East. The Portuguese monopoly on maritime trade undermined India's trade relations with countries of the East, isolated the interior regions of the country and retarded their development.In addition, wars and the destruction of the population of Malabar led.Gujarat was also weakened.Only the Vijayanagar empire remained in the XIV-XVI centuries powerful and even more centralized than the former states of the south.Its head was considered a maharaja, but all the fullness of real power belonged to the state council, the chief minister, to whom the governors of the provinces were directly subordinate. State lands were distributed in a conditional military award - amara. A significant part of the villages were in the possession of Brahmin collectives - sabkhs. lands of one village, and community members increasingly began to turn into into disadvantaged sharecroppers. In the cities, the authorities began to pay the collection of duties at the mercy of the feudal lords, which strengthened their undivided rule here.

With the establishment of the power of the Delhi Sultanate, in which Islam was a forcefully implanted religion, India was drawn into the cultural orbit of the Muslim world. However, despite the fierce struggle of the Hindus and Muslims, long cohabitation led to the mutual penetration of ideas and customs.

India in the era of the Mongol Empire (XVI-XVIII centuries)

The final stage of the medieval history of India was the rise in its north at the beginning of the 16th century. new powerful Muslim Mughal Empire, which in the XVII century. managed to subjugate a significant part of South India. Timurid was the founder of the state Babur(1483-1530). The power of the Mughals in India was strengthened during the years of rule Akbar(1452-1605), who moved the capital to the city of Agra on the Jamne 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.

"The Mughals in Northern India and Afghanistan were called both the Mongols themselves and the Muslim princes who ruled the lands conquered by the Mongols and intermarried with them. The entire region of Central Asia and Afghanistan was called Mogolistan. Babur came to India from there, therefore he and all those who arrived with him began to be called Mughals, while the Europeans called the ruler Great Moron.

In the Mughal era, India enters a stage of developed feudal relations, the flowering of which went hand in hand with the strengthening of the central power of the state. The importance of the main financial department of the empire (sofa), which is obliged to monitor the use of all suitable lands, has increased. The share of the state was declared a third of the harvest. In the central regions of the country, under Akbar, the peasants were transferred to a cash tax, which forced them to be included in market relations in advance. The state land fund (khalisa) received all the conquered territories. 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 on these incomes - the backbone of the imperial army. Akbar's attempt to liquidate 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 merchant ships. Merchant castes are formed, playing the role of companies. Surat, the main port of the country in the 16th century, becomes the place where a layer of comprador merchants (that is, those associated with foreigners) is born.

In the 17th century the importance of the economic center passes to Bengal. Here, in Dhaka and Patna, the production of fine fabrics, saltpeter and tobacco is developing. Shipbuilding continues to flourish in Gujarat. In the south, a new large textile center Madras is emerging. Thus, in India XVI-XVII centuries. the emergence of capitalist relations is already observed, but the socio-economic structure of the Mughal Empire, based on state ownership of land, did not contribute to their rapid growth.

In the Mughal era, religious disputes are activated, on the basis of which broad popular movements are born, the religious policy of the state undergoes major turns. So, in the XV century. in Gujarat, among the Muslim cities of trade and handicraft circles, the Mahdist movement was born. In the XVI century. the fanatical adherence of the ruler to orthodox Sunni Islam turned into disenfranchisement for the Hindus and the persecution of Shia Muslims. In the 17th century oppression of the Shiites, the destruction of all Hindu temples and the use of their stones for the construction of mosques Aurangzeb(1618-1707) caused a popular uprising, an anti-Mughal movement.

So, medieval India personifies the synthesis of a wide variety of socio-political foundations, religious traditions, and ethnic cultures. Having melted all this many beginnings within itself, by the end of the era, it appeared before the astonished Europeans as a country of fabulous splendor, attracting wealth, exoticism, and secrets. Inside it, however, began processes similar to European ones, inherent in the New Age. The internal market was formed, international relations developed, social contradictions deepened. But for India, a typical Asian power, the despotic state was a strong deterrent to capitalization. With its weakening, the country becomes an easy prey for European colonialists, whose activities interrupted the natural course of the country's historical development for many years.

7.3. China

(III - XVII centuries)

The era of fragmentation - (III-VI centuries)

With the fall of the Han Empire at the turn of the II-III centuries. In China, there is a change of eras: the ancient period of the country's history ends and the Middle Ages begins. The first stage of early feudalism went down in history as the time Troetsarsgvia(220-280). On the

Three states formed on the territory of the country (Wei - in the north, Shu - in the central part and Wu - in the south), the power in which, by type, approached a military dictatorship.

But already at the end of the III century. political stability in China is again being lost, and it becomes an easy prey for the nomadic tribes that poured in here, 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 which the desire to restore a unified Chinese statehood was expressed more strongly. 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 Sui state. In 589, he brought the southern state under his control 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 connected with cardinal shifts in ethnic development. Although foreigners penetrated before, but it was in the 4th century. becomes a time of mass invasions, comparable with the Great Migration of Peoples in Europe. The Xiongnu, Sanpi, Qiang, Jie, 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) were faster and less dramatic, leaving significant areas uncolonized. This was reflected in the mutual isolation of the parties, as well as in the language - there were two main dialects of the Chinese language. The northerners called the inhabitants of the middle state, that is, the Chinese, only themselves, and the southerners called people 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 act 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 way it was managed. Its essence consisted in assigning to each worker, assigned to the estate of personally free commoners, the rights to receive a plot of land of a certain size and establish fixed taxes from 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, the struggle of power against the expansion of large private land ownership lasted throughout the medieval history of China and affected the design of the unique agrarian and social system of the country.

The process of official differentiation proceeded on the basis of the decomposition and degeneration of the community. This found expression in the formal unification of peasant farms into five-yard and twenty-five-yard houses, which were encouraged by the authorities for the purpose of tax benefits. All the inferior strata in the state were collectively referred to as the "vile people" (jianzhen) and were opposed to the "good people" (liangmin). A striking manifestation of social shifts was the increasing role of the aristocracy. Nobility was determined by belonging to the old clans. Generosity 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 III-VI centuries. there was an increase in personal relationships. The principle of the personal duty of the younger to the elder has taken a leading place among moral values.

Imperial period

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 administration intensified, and the role of the bureaucratic apparatus increased. During the years of the Tang Dynasty (618-907), the classical Chinese type of imperial administration took shape. There were revolts of military governors in the country, a peasant war of 874-883, a long struggle with the Tibetans, Uighurs and Tanguts in the north of the country, a military confrontation with the southern Chinese state of Nanzhao. All this led to the agony of the Tang regime.

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

Thus, on the eve of the Mongol invasion, China was again split into two parts - the northern one, which included the Jin empire, and the southern one, the 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-consciousness manifests itself in the singling out of the Chinese state, which opposes foreign countries, in the spread of the universal self-name "han ren" (Han people). The population of the country in the X-XIII centuries. was 80-100 million people.

In the Tang and Song empires, administrative systems perfect for their time were being formed, which were copied by other states. Since 963, all military formations 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 power of the emperor. The bureaucracy grew to 25,000. The highest government institution was the Department of Departments, which headed the six leading executive bodies of the country: Chinov, 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.

The economy of China in the 7th-12th centuries. based on agricultural production. The allotment system, which reached its apogee in the 6th-8th centuries, by the end of the 10th century. disappeared. In Sung China, the land use system already included a state land fund with imperial estates, large and medium-sized private landholdings, small-peasant land ownership, and estates of state land holders. The order of taxation can be called total. The main one was a two-time land tax in kind, amounting to 20% of the harvest, supplemented by a trade tax and working off. Household registers were compiled every three years to account for taxpayers.

The unification of the country led to a gradual increase in the role of cities. If in the eighth 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 account for 10% of the total population of the country.

Urbanization was closely linked to the growth of handicraft production. Such areas of state-owned craft as silk weaving, ceramic production, woodworking, papermaking and dyeing received special development in the cities. A form of private craft, the rise of which was held back by the powerful competition of state-owned production and the imperial power's comprehensive control over the urban economy, was the family workshop. Trade and craft organizations, as well as shops, were the main part of the urban craft. The technique of the craft was gradually improved, its organization changed - large workshops appeared, equipped with machine tools and using hired labor.

The development of trade was facilitated by the introduction at the end of the 6th century. standards of measures and weights and the issuance of a copper coin of a fixed weight. Tax revenues from trade have become a tangible item of government revenue. The increase in metal mining allowed the Song government to issue the largest amount of specie in the history of the Chinese Middle Ages. The intensification of foreign trade fell on the 7th-8th centuries. The center of maritime trade was the port of Guangzhou, linking China with Korea, Japan, and coastal India. Overland trade went along the Great Silk Road through the territory of 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 the influence of aristocratic clans falls on the 7th-8th centuries. The first genealogical list of 637 recorded 293 surnames and 1654 families. But by the beginning of the XI century. the power of the aristocracy is weakening and the process of merging it with the bureaucratic bureaucracy begins.

The "golden age" of officialdom 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 for penetration into the environment of officials was state examinations, which contributed to the expansion of the social base of service people.

About 60% of the population were peasants who legally retained their rights to land, but in fact 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 deprived estates (jianzhen): state serfs (guanhu), state artisans (gun) and musicians (yue), private and dependent landless workers (butsui). A special stratum of society was made up of members of Buddhist and Taoist monasteries, numbering in the 20s of the 11th century. 400 thousand people.

Cities in which the lumpen layer appears become centers of anti-government uprisings. The largest movement against the arbitrariness of the authorities was the uprising led by Fang La in the southeastern region of China in 1120-1122. On the territory of the Jin Empire until its fall in the XIII century. the national liberation detachments of the "red jackets" and the "black banner" operated.

There were three religious doctrines in medieval China: Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism. In the Tang era, the government encouraged Taoism: in 666, the sanctity of the author of an ancient Chinese treatise, the canonical work of Taoism, was officially recognized Lao Tzu(IV-III centuries BC), in the first half of the VIII 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 XIII century. in Chinese society, many features and institutions are becoming complete and fixed, which subsequently will undergo only partial changes. Political, economic and social systems are approaching classical patterns, changes in ideology lead to the promotion of neo-Confucianism.

China in the era of Mongol rule. Yuan Empire (1271-1367)

The Mongol conquest of China lasted almost 70 years. In 1215 Beijing was taken, and in 1280 China was completely in the hands of the Mongols. With the accession to the throne of the Khan Khubilai(1215-1294) the Great Khan's headquarters was moved to Beijing. Along with it, Karakorum and

Shandong. In 1271, all the possessions of the great khan were declared the Yuan empire according to the Chinese model. Mongol domination 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 the military power, the Yuan empire was not distinguished by internal strength, it was shaken by civil strife, as well as the resistance of the local Chinese population, 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, the people of the third and fourth grade after the Mongols themselves and immigrants 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 of 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 Kore (Korea) were in vassal dependence on the Yuan palace. Attempts to invade Japan, Burma, Vietnam and Java, undertaken in the 70-80s of the XIII 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 (circa 1254-1324), Arnold from Cologne and others.

Mongolian rulers, interested in receiving income from the conquered lands, from the second half of the XII century. more and more began to adopt traditional Chinese methods of exploiting the population. Initially, the system of taxation was streamlined and centralized. The collection of taxes was removed from the hands of local authorities, a general census was taken, tax registers were drawn up, poll and land taxes on grain and a household tax levied on silk and silver were introduced.

The current laws determined the system of land relations, within the framework of which private lands, state lands, public lands and specific allotments were allocated. A steady trend in agriculture since the beginning of the XIV century. there is an increase in private land holdings and the expansion of rental relations. The surplus 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 lands were cultivated by state tenants. As never before, temple land ownership spread widely, replenished both by state donations and by purchases and direct seizure of fields. Such lands were considered eternal possession and were cultivated by the brethren and tenants.

Urban life began to revive only towards the end of the 13th century. In the register lists of 1279, there were about 420 thousand craftsmen. Following the example of the Chinese, the Mongols established the monopoly right of the treasury to dispose of salt, iron, metal, tea, wine and vinegar, and established a trade tax in the amount of one-thirtieth of the value of the goods. In connection with the inflation of paper money at the end of the XIII century. natural exchange began to dominate in trade, the role of precious metals increased, and usury flourished.

From the middle of the XIII century. becomes the official religion of the Mongolian 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 Khan Khubilai 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 orchestrated invisibly by secret religious societies like the White Lotus. In this era, the Mongol domination was finally abolished 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 fell on the first third of the 15th century, but by the end of the century, negative phenomena began to grow. 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 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 policy.

First Emperor of the Ming Dynasty Zhu Yuanzhang(1328-1398) began to pursue a far-sighted agrarian and financial policy.

He increased the share of peasant households in the land wedge, strengthened control over the distribution of state lands, stimulated military settlements under the treasury, resettled peasants on empty lands, introduced a fixed taxation, and provided benefits to poor households. His son Zhu Di toughened the police functions of power: a special department was established, subordinate only to the emperor - Brocade robes, denunciation was encouraged. In the XV century. there were two more punitive-detective institutions.

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 no military clashes. And although peace was concluded with Mongolia in 1488, the raids continued even in the 16th century. From the invasion of the country by the troops of Tamerlane, which began in 1405, China was saved by the death of the conqueror.

In the XV century. the southern direction of foreign policy is activated. China interferes in Vietnamese affairs, seizes a number of areas in 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 only. 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, while a strict ban was imposed on private foreign trade activities. Caravan trade also acquired the character of embassy missions.

Government policy regarding internal trade was not consistent. Private trading activity was recognized as legal and profitable for the treasury, but public opinion considered it unworthy of respect and required systematic control by the authorities. The state itself led an active domestic trade policy. The treasury forcibly bought goods at low prices and distributed the products of state crafts, sold licenses for trading activities, maintained a system of monopoly goods, maintained imperial shops and planted state "commercial settlements".

During this period, bank notes 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, but, however, rather slowly. More clearly than in the previous era, the economic specialization of the regions and the trend towards the expansion of state crafts and trades are indicated. Craft associations during this period gradually begin to acquire the character of guild organizations. Written charters appear inside them, a prosperous stratum arises.

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

In the Ming era, neo-Confucianism occupies a dominant position in religion. From the end of the XIV century. the desire of the authorities to put restrictions on Buddhism and Taoism is traced, which led to the expansion of religious sectarianism. Other striking features of the religious life of the country were the Sinification 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 a 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 temporary workers ran all the affairs at the courts. The center of the political opposition was the Chamber of Censors-Procurators, whose members demanded reforms and accused the arbitrariness of the temporary workers. Activities of this kind met with a severe rebuff from the emperors. A typical picture was when another influential official, submitting an incriminating document, was simultaneously preparing for death, waiting for a silk lace from the emperor with an order to hang himself.

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

The history of medieval China is a motley kaleidoscope of events: a frequent change of ruling dynasties, long periods of domination by 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 model of governing the country, which took shape during the Tang and Sung eras. Not a single state of the medieval East could achieve such a level of control over the country and society, which was in China. Not the last role in this was played by the political isolation of the country, as well as the ideological conviction that prevailed among the administrative elite about the chosenness of the Middle Empire, whose natural vassals are all other powers of the world.

However, such a society was not free from contradictions. And if religious and mystical convictions or national liberation ideals often turned out to be the motives for peasant uprisings, they did not in the least cancel, but, on the contrary, intertwined with the demands of social justice. Significantly. that Chinese society was not as closed and rigidly organized as, for example, Indian. The leader of a peasant uprising in China could become an emperor, but a commoner. having passed the state exams for an official position, he could start a dizzying career.

7.4. Japan

(III - XIX centuries)

The era of the Yamato kings. The birth of the state (III-ser. VII centuries)

The core of the Japanese people was formed on the basis of a tribal federation Yamato was called Japan in antiquity) in the III-V 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 freemen. Adjacent to it, without entering it, were groups of semi-free (bemins) and slaves (yatsuko). The first in importance in the hierarchy was the royal clan (tenno). Its selection in the III century. marked a turning point in the political history of the country. The tenno clan ruled with the help of advisers, lords of the districts (agata-nushi) and governors of the regions (kunino miyatsuko), the same leaders of the 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 environment, which also supplied the royal family with wives and concubines from among its members. From 563 to 645 this role was played by the Cora clan. This period of history was called the Asuka period after the name of the residence of the kings in the province of Yamato.

The domestic policy of the Yamato kings was aimed at uniting the country and at formalizing the ideological basis of autocracy. An important role in this was played by the "Statutes of 17 Articles" created in 604 by Prince Shotoku-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, sometimes reaching armed clashes, and with China, which took the form of ambassadorial missions and the goal of borrowing any suitable innovations.

Socio-economic system III-VII centuries. enters the stage of decomposition of patriarchal relations. Communal arable land, which was at the disposal of rural households, began to gradually fall under the control of strong clans, opposing each other for the initial resources: land and people. Thus, the distinctive feature of Japan consisted in the significant role of the tribal feudalizing nobility and, more clearly than anywhere else in the Far East, the tendency 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 and moral and aesthetic ideas.

Fujiwara era

The historical period following the era of the Yamato kings covers the time, the beginning (645-1192) which falls on the "Taika coup" in 645, and the end - in 1192, when the country was headed by military rulers with the title shogun."

1 Shogun - the title of the military-feudal rulers of Japan in 1192-1867, during which the imperial dynasty was deprived of real power. Shogunate - the government of the shoguns in feudal Japan (another name is bakufu).

The entire second half of the 7th century passed under the motto of the Taika reforms. State reforms were called upon 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 apparatus of the central government consisted of the State Council (Dajokan), eight government departments, and a system of main ministries. The country was divided into provinces and counties, headed by governors and county chiefs. An eight-degree system of title families with the emperor at the head and a 48-rank ladder of court ranks were established. Since 690, censuses of the population and redistribution of land began to be carried out every six years. A centralized system of manning the army was introduced, and weapons were confiscated from private individuals. In 694, the first capital city of Fujiwarakyo was built, the permanent place of the imperial headquarters (before that, the place of the headquarters was easily transferred).

Completion of the formation of the medieval Japanese centralized state in the VIII century. associated with the growth of large cities. In one century, the capital was transferred three times: in 710 in Haijokyo (Nara), in 784 in Nagaoka and in 794 in 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 county towns, as a rule, did not exceed 1000 people.

Foreign policy problems in the VIII century. recede into the background. The consciousness of the danger of an invasion from the mainland is fading. In 792, universal military service was abolished. the coast guard is dismantled. Embassies to China become rare, and trade begins to play an increasingly important role in relations with the Korean states. By the middle of the IX century. Japan finally switches to a policy of isolation, it is forbidden to leave the country, and the reception of embassies and courts is stopped.

The formation of a developed feudal society in the IX-XII centuries. was accompanied by an increasingly radical departure from the Chinese classical model of government. The bureaucratic machine was thoroughly permeated with family aristocratic ties. There is a trend towards decentralization of power. The divine tenno already reigned more than actually ruled the country. The bureaucratic elite did not develop around him, because the system of reproduction of administrators on the basis of competitive examinations was not created. From the second half of the ninth century the vacuum of power was filled by representatives of the Fujiwara family, who actually begin to rule the country from 858 as regents for minor emperors, and from 888 as chancellors for adults. The period of the middle of the IX - the first half of the XI century. is called "the time of the reign of regents and chancellors." Its heyday falls on the second half of the 10th century. with representatives of the Fujiwara house, Mitinaga and Yorimichi.

At the end of the ninth century the so-called "state-legal system" (ritsuryo) is being formed. The new supreme state bodies were the personal office of the emperor and the police department, directly subordinate to the emperor. The broad rights of the governors allowed them to strengthen their power in the provinces so much that they could oppose it to 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, mainly engaged in agriculture, numbered in the 7th century. about 6 million people, in the XII century. - 10 million. It was divided into those who paid full rights (ryomin) and those who did not have full rights (semmin). In the VI-VIII centuries. dominated by the allotment system of land use. The peculiarities of irrigated rice growing, which was extremely laborious and required the personal interest of the worker, determined the predominance of small free labor farming in the structure of production. Therefore, the labor of slaves 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 in this period did not represent a large master's economy, but were given to dependent peasants for processing in separate fields.

Officials received allotments for the term of office. 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 natural nature of the economy, access to the few urban markets was predominantly government departments. The functioning of a small number of markets outside the capitals ran into the absence of professional market traders and the lack of peasant trade products, most of which were withdrawn in the form of taxes.

A feature of the socio-economic development of the country in the IX-XII centuries. was the destruction and complete disappearance of the allotment system of management. They are replaced by patrimonial possessions, which had the status of "granted" to private individuals (shoen) from the state. Representatives of the highest aristocracy, monasteries, noble houses that dominated the counties, hereditary possessions of peasant families applied to state bodies for the recognition of newly acquired possessions as shoen.

As a result of socio-economic changes, all power in the country from the 10th century. began to belong to noble houses, owners of shoen of different sizes. The privatization of land, income, positions was completed. To settle the interests of the opposing feudal groups in the country, a single estate order is being created, to designate which a new term "imperial state" (otyo kokka) is introduced, replacing the former regime - "the 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 combatants used by the owners of shoen in internecine struggle, professional warriors began to turn into a closed estate of samurai warriors (bushi). At the end of the Fujiwara era, the status of the armed forces rose due to social instability in the state. In the samurai environment, a code of military ethics arose, based on the main idea of \u200b\u200bpersonal loyalty to the master, up to the unconditional readiness to give his life for him, and in case of dishonor, commit suicide according to a certain ritual. So samurai turn into a formidable weapon of large farmers in their struggle with each other.

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

Japan during the era of the first Minamoto shogunate

In 1192, a sharp turn took place 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 headquarters of his government (bakufu) was the city of Kamakura. The Minamoto Shogunate lasted until 1335. This was the heyday of cities, crafts and trade in Japan. 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 XI century. there were 40 cities, in the XV century. - 85, in the XVI century. - 269, in which corporate associations of artisans and merchants (dza) arose.

With the coming to power of the shogun, the agrarian system of the country changed qualitatively. Small-scale samurai ownership becomes the leading form of land ownership, although large feudal possessions 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 relatives, called Shikkens (rulers), under whom a semblance of an advisory body of higher vassals appeared. Being the mainstay of the regime, the vassals carried hereditary security and military service, were appointed to the position of administrators (dzito) in estates and state lands, military governors in the province. The power of the Bakufu military government was limited only to military and 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 liquidated, because the military power could not govern the country without the authority of the emperor. The military power of the rulers was significantly strengthened after 1232, when an attempt was made by the imperial palace to eliminate the power of the sikken. It turned out to be unsuccessful - the detachments loyal to the court were defeated. This was followed by the confiscation of 3,000 shoen belonging to supporters of the court. Second Shogunate Ashikaga

The second shogunate in Japan arose during the long strife of the princes of noble houses. On the (1335-1573) for 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 XV century. the position of the central government was the strongest. The shoguns prevented the growth of control of military governors (shugo) over the provinces. To this end, bypassing the shugo, they established direct vassal ties with local feudal lords, obligated the shugo-western and central provinces to live in Kyoto, and the south-eastern part of the country - in Kamakura. However, the period of centralized power of the shoguns was short-lived. After the assassination of Shogun Ashikaga Yoshinori in 1441 by one of the feudal lords, an internecine struggle unfolded in the country, which grew into a feudal war of 1467-1477, the consequences of which were felt for a whole century. A period of complete feudal fragmentation begins in the country.

During the years of the Muromachi shogunate, there was a transition from small and medium feudal landownership to large. The system of estates (shoen) and state lands (kore) is falling into decay due to the development of trade and economic ties, which destroyed the closed boundaries of feudal possessions. The formation of compact territorial possessions of large feudal lords - principalities begins. This process at the provincial level also proceeded along the line of growth in the possessions of military governors (shugo ryokoku).

In the Ashikaga era, the process of separating crafts from agriculture deepened. Craft workshops now arose not only in the metropolitan area, but also on the periphery, concentrating in the headquarters of military governors and the estates of feudal lords. Production focused solely on the needs of the patron was replaced by production for the market, and the patronage of the strong houses began to provide a guarantee of monopoly rights to engage in certain types of industrial activity in exchange for the payment of sums of money. Rural artisans are moving from a wandering to a settled way of life, there is a specialization of rural areas.

The development of handicraft contributed to the growth of trade. There are specialized trading guilds, separated from the craft workshops. A stratum of toimaru merchants grew up on the transportation of the products of tax revenues, 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, crossings, post stations, 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 the emergence of the city, they were divided into three groups. Some grew out of post stations, ports, markets, customs gates. The second type of cities arose at temples, especially intensively in the XIV century, and, like the first, had a certain level of self-government. The third type was market settlements at the castles of the military and the 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 was in the 15th century.

After the Mongol invasions, the country's authorities set a course to eliminate the diplomatic and trade isolation of the country. Taking measures against the Japanese pirates who attacked 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, perfumes, sandalwood, porcelain and copper coins were usually brought from China, and gold, sulfur, fans, screens, lacquerware, swords and wood were sent. Trade was also conducted with Korea and the countries of the South Seas, as well as with the Ryukyu, where in 1429 a united state was created.

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

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

Unification of the Tokugawa Shogunate

Political fragmentation put on the agenda the task* of uniting the country. This mission was carried out by three prominent politicians 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 from the Ashikaga house. Towards the end of his short political career (he was assassinated in 1582), he took possession of half the provinces, including the capital Kyoto, and carried out 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 implacable resistance of the 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 XVII century. their number increased to 700 thousand people. Last but not least, the growth in the number of Christians was facilitated by the policy of the southern daimyo, who were interested in owning firearms, the production of which was established in Japan by the Catholic Portuguese.

The internal reforms of Oda's successor, a native of peasants Toyotomi Hijoshi, who managed to complete the unification of the country, had the main goal of creating an estate of serviceable taxpayers. The land was assigned to peasants who were able to pay state taxes, state control over cities and trade was strengthened. Unlike Oda, he did not patronize Christians, campaigned to expel missionaries from the country, persecuted Christian Japanese - destroyed churches and printing houses. Such a policy was not successful, because the persecuted took refuge under the protection of the rebellious southern daimyo 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 in time (1603-1807) Tokugawa shogunate.

One of the first reforms of the Tokugawa house was aimed at limiting the omnipotence of the daimyo, of which there were about 200. To this end, daimyo hostile to the ruling house were geographically dispersed. Craft and trade in the cities under the jurisdiction of such tozama were transferred to the center along with the cities.

The agrarian reform of the Tokugawa once again secured the peasants to their lands. Under him, classes were strictly demarcated: samurai, peasants, artisans and merchants. Tokugawa began to pursue a policy of controlled contacts with the Europeans, singling out the Dutch among them and closing the ports to everyone else, and above all, the missionaries of the Catholic Church. European science and culture, which came through Dutch merchants, received in Japan the name of Dutch science (rangakusha) 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 an economic crisis began in the next century. The samurai found themselves in a difficult situation, having lost the necessary material content; peasants, some of whom were forced to go to the cities; daimyo, whose wealth was noticeably reduced. True, the power of the shoguns still continued to remain unshakable. A significant role was played in this by the revival of Confucianism, which became the official ideology and influenced the way of life and thoughts of the Japanese (the cult of ethical norms, devotion to elders, the strength of the family).

The crisis of the third shogunate became clear from the 30s. 19th century The weakening of the power of the shoguns was primarily used 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 forcible "opening of Japan" by the United States and European countries in the middle of the 19th century. The emperor became the national-patriotic symbol of the anti-foreign and anti-shogun movement, and the imperial palace in Kyoto became the center of attraction for all the rebellious forces of the country. 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 models of political and socio-economic structure from a more experienced neighbor. However, the search for their own national path of development led to the formation of an original culture, a regime of power, and a 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,

the ability of a nation to perceive and creatively process the achievements of other cultures.

7.5. Arab Caliphate

(V - XI centuries. AD)

On the territory of the Arabian Peninsula already in the II 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, engaged in crafts and trade. The other part wandered in the deserts and steppes, 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. This oasis was inhabited by the Arab tribe Qureish, whose tribal nobility, using the geographical position 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. By 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 Kureysh tribe. Allah(from Arabic ilah - master).

In the VI century. n. h. in Arabia, in connection with the movement of trade routes to Iran, the importance of trade falls. The population, which lost income from the caravan trade, was forced to look for sources of livelihood in agriculture. But there was little land suitable for agriculture. They had to be conquered. For this, forces were needed and, consequently, the unification of fragmented tribes, moreover, worshiping different gods. The need to introduce monotheism and unite the Arab tribes on this basis was more and more clearly defined.

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. AT This religion is based on the tenets of Judaism and Christianity: belief in one God and his prophet, the Last Judgment, the afterlife retribution, unconditional obedience to the will of God (Arabic Islam - obedience). The Jewish and Christian roots of Islam are evidenced by the names of the prophets and other biblical characters common to these religions: the biblical Abraham (Islamic Ibrahim), Aaron (Harun), David (Daud), Isaac (Ishak), Solomon (Suleiman), Ilya (Ilyas), Jacob (Yakub), Christian Jesus (Isa), Mary (Maryam) and others. Islam has common customs and prohibitions with Judaism. Both religions prescribe the circumcision of boys, forbid portraying God and living beings, eating pork, drinking wine, etc.

At the first stage of development, a new religious worldview - Islam was not supported by the majority of Muhammad's tribesmen, and first of all 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 their 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 chronology. The agricultural population of Yasri-ba (Medina), competing with merchants from Mecca, supported Muhammad. However, only in 630, having recruited the necessary number of supporters, did he get the opportunity to form military forces and capture Mecca, the local nobility of which was forced to submit to the new religion, all the more it suited them 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 into a single book. Koran(translated from Arabic means reading), which has become 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. AT It contains traditions about Muhammad. Muslims who recognized the Koran and the Sunnah began to be called Sunnis and those who recognize only one Koran, - Shiites. Shiites recognize as legal caliphs(governors, deputies) of Muhammad, spiritual and secular heads of Muslims only of his relatives.

The economic crisis in Western Arabia in the 7th century, caused by the displacement 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 was also reflected in the Koran, which says that Islam should be the religion of all peoples, but for this it is necessary to fight against the infidels, exterminate them and take away 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, launched a series of conquests. They conquered Palestine, Syria, Mesopotamia, Persia. Already in 638 they captured Jerusalem. Until the end of the 7th century under the rule of the Arabs were the countries of the Middle East, Persia, the Caucasus, Egypt and Tunisia. In the 8th century Central Asia, Afghanistan, Western India, Northwest Africa were captured. In 711, Arab troops led by Tariq sailed from Africa to the Iberian Peninsula (from the name of Tariq came the name Gibraltar - Mount Tariq). Having quickly conquered the Iberian lands, 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 IX century. Arabs captured Sicily, Sardinia, the southern regions of Italy, the island of Crete. At this, the Arab conquests stopped, but a long-term war was waged with the Byzantine Empire. Arabs besieged Constantinople twice.

The main Arab conquests were made under the caliphs Abu Bakr (632-634), Omar (634-644), Osman (644-656) and the caliphs from the Umayyad dynasty (661-750). Under the Umayyads, the capital of the Caliphate was moved to Syria in the city of Damascus.

The victories of the Arabs, the capture of vast territories by them were facilitated by the long-term mutually exhausting war between Byzantium and Persia, disunity and constant enmity between other states that were attacked by the Arabs. It should also be noted that the population of the countries occupied by the Arabs, suffering from the oppression of Byzantium and Persia, saw the Arabs as liberators, who reduced the tax burden primarily to those who converted to Islam.

The unification of many former disparate 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, trade developed, cities grew. Within the Arab Caliphate, a culture developed rapidly, incorporating the Greco-Roman, Iranian and Indian heritage. Through the Arabs, Europe got acquainted with the cultural achievements of the Eastern peoples, primarily with the 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 caliphs were the Abbassids, descendants of the uncle of the Prophet Muhammad - Abbas. They moved the capital of the state to Baghdad.

In the western part of the caliphate, in Spain, the Umayyads continued to rule, who did not recognize the Abbasids and founded the Caliphate of Cordoba 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 Abbassid Caliphate waged constant wars with Byzantium. In 1258, after the Mongols defeated the Arab army and captured Baghdad, the Abbassid state ceased to exist.

The Spanish Umayyad Caliphate was also gradually shrinking. In the XI century. As a result of internecine struggle, the Caliphate of Cordoba broke up into a number of states. This was used by the Christian states that arose in the northern part of Spain: the Leono-Castile, Aragonese, Portuguese kingdoms, which began to fight against the Arabs for the liberation of the peninsula - reconquista. AT In 1085 they conquered the city of Toledo, in 1147 - Lisbon, 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 of the spiritual leadership of the Arabs by all Muslims continued to exist until 1517, when this function was transferred to the Turkish sultan, who captured Egypt, where the last caliphate lived - the spiritual head of all Muslims.

The history of the Arab Caliphate, numbering only six centuries, was complex, ambiguous, 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 necessitated the search for sources of livelihood. To solve this problem, the tribes living here embarked on the path of establishing a new religion - Islam, which was supposed to become not only the religion of all peoples, but also called for a fight against infidels (gentiles). Guided by ideology

Islam, the Caliphs carried out a broad policy of conquest, turning the Arab Caliphate into an empire. The unification of the former disparate 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, incorporating the Greco-Roman, Iranian and Indian cultural heritage, the Arab (Islamic) civilization had a huge impact on the spiritual life of Western Europe, representing a significant military threat throughout the Middle Ages. .

Questions for self-examination

1. Give a periodization of the history of the Medieval East, based on the criterion of the degree of maturity of feudal relations.

2. How did land relations develop in India, China, Japan at various stages of feudalism?

3. What changes has the system of economic, political and social relations in these countries undergone from stage to stage of feudalism?

4. Describe the political system of India, China, Japan. What is common and special in each of them?

5. When did urbanization begin in these states and what processes did it accompany?

6. Name the economic and social prerequisites for the unification of Arab tribes and the birth of Islam.

7. List the countries captured by the Arabs in the 7th-9th centuries.

8. Determine the main reasons for the collapse of the Arab Caliphate.

new time

The beginning of the capitalist development of England in the XVI century.

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, Sassanian 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 due to participation in them "barbarian" nomadic tribes. In the historical arena during this period, such hitherto unknown peoples as the Arabs, the Seljuk Turks, and the Mongols appeared and rose. New religions were born and civilizations arose on their basis.

Among the factors causing the "delay" of Eastern societies, the following stand out: the preservation, along with the feudal way of life, of extremely slowly disintegrating primitive communal and slave-owning relations; the stability of communal forms of community life, which held back 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.

Pereodization 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:

1st-6th centuries AD - the transitional period of the birth of feudalism;

7th-10th 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 - the pre-Mongolian period, the beginning of the heyday of feudalism, the formation of a class-corporate system of life, a cultural take-off;

13th century - the time of the Mongol conquest, which interrupted the development of feudal society and reversed some of them;

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

Eastern civilizations. A colorful picture was presented by the Medieval East in terms of civilization, which also distinguished it from Europe. Some civilizations in the East arose in antiquity; 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, Indo-Muslim civilization in India, Hindu and Muslim civilization in the countries of Southeast Asia, Buddhist civilization in Japan and Southeast Asia, Confucian civilization in Japan and Korea.

7.2. India (7th–18th centuries)

Rajput period (7th-12th centuries). As shown in Chapter 2, in the IV-VI centuries. AD The powerful Gupta empire developed on the territory of modern India. The Gupta era, perceived as the golden age of India, was replaced in the 7th-12th centuries. period of feudal fragmentation. At this stage, however, the isolation of the regions of the country and the decline of culture did not occur due to the development of port trade. The conquering tribes of the Huns-Ephthalites 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 Malwa. As a result of the merging of alien peoples with the local population, a compact ethnic community of Rajputs arose, which in the 8th century. began expansion from Rajputana into the rich regions of the Ganges valley and Central India. The Gurjara-Pratihara clan, which formed a state in Malwa, was the most famous. It was here that the most striking type of feudal relations with a developed hierarchy and vassal psychology developed.

In the VI-VII centuries. in India, a system of stable political centers is emerging, fighting each other under the banner of different dynasties - Northern India, Bengal, the Deccan and the Far South. Canvas of political events of the VIII-X centuries. began the struggle for Doab (between the Jumna and the Ganges). In the tenth century the leading powers of the country fell into decay, 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 military raids Mahmud Ghaznevid(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 Sindh.

At the stage of feudal fragmentation, Hinduism finally took over Buddhism, defeating it with the power 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 commanders from the Central Asian Turks is finally taking shape. Sunni Islam becomes the state religion, and Persian becomes the official language. Accompanied by bloody strife, the dynasties of Gulyams, Khiljis, and Tughlakids were successively replaced in Delhi. The troops of the sultans made aggressive campaigns in Central and South 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. Abandoned by the conqueror as governor of the 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 uncompromising struggle with the feudal nobility and Afghan military leaders. Ibrahim's opponents appealed to the ruler of Kabul, the Timurid Babur, with a request to save them from the tyranny of the Sultan. In 1526, Babur defeated Ibrahim at the Battle of Panipat, thus initiating Mughal Empire, existed for nearly 200 years.

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

During the reign of the Delhi Sultanate, Europeans began to penetrate India. In 1498, under Vasco da Gama, the Portuguese first reached Calikat 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 backbone 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 retarded their development.In addition, wars and the destruction of the population of Malabar led.Gujarat was also weakened.Only the Vijayanagar empire remained in the XIV-XVI centuries powerful and even more centralized than the former states of the south.Its head was considered a maharaja, but all the fullness of real power belonged to the state council, the chief minister, to whom the governors of the provinces were directly subordinate. State lands were distributed in conditional military awards - amars. A significant part of the villages were in the possession of Brahmin collectives - sabkhs. lands of one village, and community members increasingly began to turn into into disadvantaged sharecroppers. In the cities, the authorities began to pay the collection of duties at the mercy of the feudal lords, which strengthened their undivided rule 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. new powerful Muslim Mughal Empire, which in the XVII century. managed to subjugate a significant part of South India. Timurid was the founder of the state Babur(1483-1530). The power of the Mughals in India was strengthened during the years of rule Akbar(1452-1605), who moved the capital to the city of Agra on the Jamne 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.

So, medieval India personifies the synthesis of a wide variety of socio-political foundations, religious traditions. ethnic cultures. Having melted all this many beginnings within itself, by the end of the era, it appeared before the astonished Europeans as a country of fabulous splendor, attracting wealth, exoticism, and secrets. Inside it, however, began processes similar to European ones, inherent in the New Age. The internal market was formed, international relations developed, social contradictions deepened. But for India, a typical Asian power, the despotic state was a strong deterrent to capitalization. With its weakening, the country becomes an easy prey for European colonialists, whose activities interrupted the natural course of the country's historical development for many years.

7.3. China (III - XVII centuries)

The era of fragmentation (III-VI centuries). With the fall of the Han Empire at the turn of II-III centuries. In China, there is a change of eras: the ancient period of the country's history ends and the Middle Ages begins. The first stage of early feudalism went down in history as the time three kingdoms(220-280). Three states formed on the territory of the country (Wei in the north, Shu in the central part and Wu in the south), the power in which was close to a military dictatorship.

Political changes in China III-VI centuries. are closely connected with cardinal shifts in ethnic development. Although foreigners penetrated before, but it was in the 4th century. becomes a time of mass invasions, comparable with the Great Migration of Peoples in Europe. The Xiongnu, Sanpi, Qiang, Jie, 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) were faster and less dramatic, leaving significant areas uncolonized. This was reflected in the mutual isolation of the parties, and two main dialects of the Chinese language developed in the language. The northerners called the inhabitants of the middle state, that is, the Chinese, only themselves, and the southerners called people Wu.

Imperialperiod (end VI-XIII centuries ) 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 intensified, and the role of the bureaucratic apparatus increased. During the years of the Tang Dynasty (618-907), the classical Chinese type of imperial administration took shape. There were revolts of military governors in the country, a peasant war of 874-883, a long struggle with the Tibetans, Uighurs and Tanguts in the north of the country, a military confrontation with the southern Chinese state of Nanzhao. All this led to the agony of the Tang regime.

In the middle of the X century. out of chaos, the state of the Later Zhou was born, which became the new core of the political unification of the country. 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, a state appears on the political map of northeastern China. Liao. In 1038, the Western Xia Tangut Empire was proclaimed on the northwestern borders of the Song Empire. From the middle of the XI century. between Song, Liao and Xia, an approximate balance of power is maintained, which at the beginning of the 12th century. was violated with the emergence of a new rapidly growing state of the Jurchens (one of the branches of the Tungus tribes), formed in Manchuria and proclaimed itself in 1115 the Jin Empire. It soon conquered the state of Liao, captured the capital of the Song along with the emperor. However, the brother of the captured emperor managed to create the Southern Song Empire with its capital in Lin'an (Hanzhou), which extended its influence to the southern regions of the country.

Thus, on the eve of the Mongol invasion, China was again split into two parts, the northern one, which included 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-consciousness manifests itself in the singling out of the Chinese state, which opposes foreign countries, in the spread of the universal self-name "Han Ren" (Han people). The population of the country in the X-XIII centuries. was 80-100 million people.

Urbanization was closely linked to the growth of handicraft production. Such areas of state-owned craft as silk weaving, ceramic production, woodworking, papermaking and dyeing received special development in the cities. A form of private craft, the rise of which was held back by the powerful competition of state-owned production and the imperial power's comprehensive control over the urban economy, was the family workshop. Trade and craft organizations, as well as shops, were the main part of the urban craft. Gradually, the technique of the craft improved, its organization changed, large workshops appeared, equipped with machine tools and using hired labor.

China in the era of Mongol rule. Yuan Empire (1271-1367) The Mongol conquest of China lasted almost 70 years. In 1215 he was taken. Beijing, and in 1280 China was completely dominated by the Mongols. With the accession to the throne of the Khan Khubilai(1215-1294) the headquarters of the Great Khan was transferred 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 domination 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.

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 in vassal dependence on the Yuan palace. Attempts to invade Japan, Burma, Vietnam and Java, undertaken in the 70-80s of the XIII 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 (circa 1254-1324), Arnold from Cologne and others.

Ming China (1368-1644). Ming China was born and died in the crucible of the great peasant wars, the events of which were orchestrated invisibly by secret religious societies like the White Lotus. In this era, the Mongol domination was finally abolished 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 fell on the first third of the 15th century, but by the end of the century, negative phenomena began to grow. 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 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 policy.

First Emperor of the Ming Dynasty Zhu Yuanzhang(1328-1398) began to pursue a far-sighted agrarian and financial policy. He increased the share of peasant households in the land wedge, strengthened control over the distribution of state lands, stimulated military settlements under the treasury, resettled peasants on empty lands, introduced a fixed taxation, and provided benefits to poor households. His son Zhu Di toughened the police functions of power: a special department was established, subordinate only to the emperor - Brocade robes, denunciation was encouraged. In the XV century. there were two more punitive-detective institutions.

In the XV century. the southern direction of foreign policy is activated. China interferes in Vietnamese affairs, seizes a number of areas in 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 only large ships. 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, while a strict ban was imposed on private foreign trade activities. Caravan trade also acquired the character of embassy missions.

From the 16th century the penetration of Europeans into the country begins. As in India, the championship belonged to the Portuguese. Their first possession on one of the South Chinese islands was Macau (Maomen). From the second half of the XVII century. the country is flooded by the Dutch and the British, who assisted the Manchus in conquering China. At the end of the XVII century. in the suburbs of Guangzhou, the British founded one of the first continental trading posts, which became the center for the distribution of British goods.

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

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

7.4. Japan (III - XIX centuries)

Epochkings of Yamato. The birth of the state (III-ser.VII). the core of the Japanese people was formed on the basis of the Yamato tribal federation (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, the 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 freemen. Adjacent to it, without entering it, were groups of semi-free (bemins) and slaves (yatsuko). The first in importance in the hierarchy was the royal clan (tenno). Its selection in the III century. marked a turning point in the political history of the country. The tenno clan ruled with the help of advisers, lords of the districts (agata-nushi) and governors of the regions (kunino miyatsuko), the same leaders of the 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 environment, which also supplied the royal family with wives and concubines from among its members. From 563 to 645 such a role was played by the Soga clan. This period of history was called the Asuka period after the name of the residence of the kings in the province of Yamato.

The domestic policy of the Yamato kings was aimed at uniting the country and at formalizing the ideological basis of autocracy. An important role in this was played by the “Statutes 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, sometimes reaching armed clashes, and with China, which took the form of ambassadorial missions and the goal of borrowing any suitable innovations.

Socio-economic system III-VII centuries. enters the stage of decomposition of patriarchal relations. Communal arable land, which was at the disposal of rural households, began to gradually fall under the control of powerful clans, opposing each other for initial resources; land and people. Thus, the distinctive feature of Japan consisted in the significant role of the tribal feudalizing nobility and, more clearly than anywhere else in the Far East, the tendency 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 and 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 - in 1192, when military rulers with the title of shogun1 became the head of the country.

The entire second half of the 7th century passed under the motto of the 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 (Dajokan), eight government departments, and a system of main ministries. The country was divided into provinces and counties, headed by governors and county chiefs. An eight-degree system of title families with the emperor at the head and a 48-rank ladder of court ranks were established. Since 690, censuses of the population and redistribution of land began to be carried out every six years. A centralized system of manning the army was introduced, and weapons were confiscated from private individuals. In 694, the first capital city of Fujiwarakyo was built, the permanent place of the imperial headquarters (before that, the place of the headquarters was easily transferred).

Foreign policy problems in the VIII century. recede into the background. The consciousness of the danger of an invasion from the mainland is fading. In 792, conscription was abolished and the coast guard was abolished. Embassies to China become rare, and trade begins to play an increasingly important role in relations with the Korean states. By the middle of the IX century. Japan finally switches to a policy of isolation, it is forbidden to leave the country, and the reception of embassies and courts is stopped.

The formation of a developed feudal society in the IX-XII centuries. was accompanied by an increasingly radical departure from the Chinese classical model of government. The bureaucratic machine was thoroughly permeated with family aristocratic ties. There is a trend towards decentralization of power. The divine tenno already reigned more than actually ruled the country. The bureaucratic elite did not develop around him, because the system of reproduction of administrators on the basis of competitive examinations was not created. From the second half of the ninth century The vacuum of power was filled by representatives of the Fujiwara family, who actually begin to rule the country from 858 as regents for minor emperors, and from 888 as chancellors for adults. The period of the middle of the 9th - the first half of the 11th century. is called "the time of the reign of regents and chancellors." Its heyday falls on the second half of the 10th century. with representatives of the Fujiwara house, Mitinaga and Yorimichi.

The population of the country, mainly engaged in agriculture, numbered in the 7th century. about 6 million people, in the XII century. – 10 million. It was divided into tax-paying full (ryomin) and non-full (semmin). In the VI-VIII centuries. dominated by the allotment system of land use. The peculiarities of irrigated rice growing, which was extremely laborious and required the personal interest of the worker, determined the predominance of small free labor farming in the structure of production. Therefore, the labor of slaves 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 in this period did not represent a large master's economy, but were given to dependent peasants for processing in separate fields.

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

Japan during the era of the first Minamoto shogunate (1192-1335) In 1192, a sharp turn took place 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 headquarters of his government (bakufu) was the city of Kamakura. The Minamoto Shogunate lasted until 1335. This was the heyday of cities, crafts and trade in Japan. 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 XI century. there were 40 cities, in the XV century. - 85, in the XVI century. - 269, in which corporate associations of artisans and merchants (dza) arose.

Second Ashikaga Shogunate (1335-1573) The second shogunate in Japan arose during the long strife of the princes of noble houses. For 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 XV century. the position of the central government was the strongest. The shoguns prevented the growth of control of military governors (shugo) over the provinces. To this end, bypassing the shugo, they established direct vassal ties with local feudal lords, obliged the shugo-western and central provinces to live in Kyoto, and from the south-eastern part of the country - in Kamakura. However, the period of centralized power of the shoguns was short-lived. After the assassination of Shogun Ashikaga Yoshinori in 1441 by one of the feudal lords, an internecine struggle unfolded in the country, which grew into a feudal war of 1467-1477, the consequences of which were felt for a whole century. A period of complete feudal fragmentation begins in the country.

During the years of the Muromachi shogunate, there was a transition from small and medium feudal landownership to large. The system of estates (shoen) and state lands (koryo) is falling into decay due to the development of trade and economic ties, which destroyed the closed boundaries of feudal possessions. The formation of compact territorial possessions of large feudal lords - principalities begins. This process at the provincial level also proceeded along the line of growth in the possessions of military governors (shugo ryokoku).

The development of handicraft contributed to the growth of trade. There are specialized trading guilds, separated from the craft workshops. On the transportation of products of tax revenues, a layer of toimaru merchants grew up, 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, crossings, post stations, shoen borders and could serve an area with a radius of 2-3 to 4-6 km.

Unification of the country; Shogunate Tokugaev. Political fragmentation put the task of uniting the country on the agenda. This mission was carried out by three prominent politicians 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 from the Ashikaga house. Towards the end of his short political career (he was assassinated in 1582), he took possession of half the provinces, including the capital Kyoto, and carried out 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 implacable resistance of the 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 XVII century. their number increased to 700 thousand people. Last but not least, the growth in the number of Christians was facilitated by the policy of the southern daimyo, who were interested in owning firearms, the production of which was established in Japan by the Catholic Portuguese.

7.5. Arab Caliphate (V-XI centuries AD)

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 Kureysh tribe. Allah(from Arabic ilah - master).

In the VI century. n, e. in Arabia, in connection with the movement of trade routes to Iran, the importance of trade falls. The population, which lost income from the caravan trade, was forced to look for sources of livelihood in agriculture. But there was little land suitable for agriculture. They had to be conquered. For this, forces were needed and, consequently, the unification of fragmented tribes, moreover, worshiping different gods. The need to introduce monotheism and unite the Arab tribes on this basis was more and more clearly defined.

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 dogmas of Judaism and Christianity: belief in one God and his prophet, the Last Judgment, afterlife retribution, unconditional obedience to the will of God (Arabic Islam-obedience). The Jewish and Christian roots of Islam are evidenced by the names of the prophets and other biblical characters common to these religions: the biblical Abraham (Islamic Ibrahim), Aaron (Harun), David (Daud), Isaac (Ishak), Solomon (Suleiman), Ilya (Ilyas), Jacob (Yakub), Christian Jesus (Isa), Mary (Maryam) and others. Islam has common customs and prohibitions with Judaism. Both religions prescribe the circumcision of boys, forbid portraying 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 most of the tribesmen of Muhammad, and first of all 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 their 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 chronology. The agricultural population of Yathrib (Medina), competing with merchants from Mecca, supported Muhammad. However, only in 630, having recruited the necessary number of supporters, did he get the opportunity to form military forces and capture Mecca, the local nobility of which was forced to submit to the new religion, all the more it suited them 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 into a single book. Koran(translated from Arabic means reading), which has become 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 recognized the Koran and the Sunnah began to be called Sunnis but those who recognize only one Quran, Shiites. Shiites recognize as legal caliphs(governors, deputies) of Muhammad, spiritual and secular heads of Muslims only of his relatives.

Guided by this specific task and the ideology of Islam, Muhammad's successors, the caliphs, launched a series of conquest campaigns. They conquered Palestine, Syria, Mesopotamia, Persia. Already in 638 they captured Jerusalem. Until the end of the 7th century under the rule of the Arabs were the countries of the Middle East, Persia, the Caucasus, Egypt and Tunisia. In the 8th century Central Asia, Afghanistan, Western India, North-West Africa were captured. In 711, Arab troops led by Tariq sailed from Africa to the Iberian Peninsula (from the name of Tariq came the name

Introduction

History is a science that studies the past of human society in all its concreteness and diversity, which is known in order to understand its present and future prospects.

History studies the past, its development, patterns and features of evolution (that is, changes, transformations) in specific forms, spatio-temporal dimensions.

The process of historical development of mankind has an objective character. The development of society is influenced by many factors: the level of development of productive forces, production relations and the phenomena corresponding to them (state, law, etc.), geographical environment, population density and growth, communication between peoples, etc. The life of society, its history are manifested in the conscious activity of people, which constitutes the subjective side of the historical process.

Features of the development of civilizations of the East in the Middle Ages

The term "Middle Ages" is used to refer to the period in the history of the countries of the East of the first seventeen centuries of a new era. The natural upper limit of the period is considered to be the 16th - early 17th centuries, when the East becomes the object of European trade and colonial expansion, which interrupted the course of development characteristic of Asian and North African countries.

Rajput period (VII-XII centuries)

At this stage, a system of stable political centers is taking shape in India, fighting each other under the banner of various dynasties - Northern India, Bengal, the Deccan and the Far South. In the tenth century the leading powers of the country fell into decay, 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 Sindh.

Socio-economic development was characterized by the growth of feudal estates. The richest among the feudal lords, along with the rulers, were the Hindu temples and monasteries.

New cities arose near the castles of the feudal lords, where artisans settled, serving the needs of the court and the landowner's troops. The development of urban life was facilitated by the increased exchange between cities and the emergence of groupings of artisans according to castes.

Delhi Sultanate-(XIII - early XVI centuries)

This is the era of the Muslim conquest of India. In the XIII century. in the north, the dominance of Muslim commanders from the Central Asian Turks is finally taking shape. Sunni Islam became the state religion, and Persian became the official language.

The turning point was the invasion of Northern India in 1398 by the troops of the Central Asian ruler Timur (Tamerlane 1336-1405). An epidemic and famine began in the country.

Mosques, owners of property for charitable purposes, keepers of the tombs of sheikhs, poets, officials and merchants were private landowners who managed the estate without state intervention. The rural community survived as a convenient fiscal unit, however, the payment of the poll tax (jizia) fell on the peasants, who mostly professed Hinduism, as a heavy burden.

India in the era of the Mongol Empire (XVI-XVIII centuries)

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, founded by the Timurid Babur (1483-1530). The power of the Mongols in India was 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.

The importance of the main financial department of the empire (sofa), which is obliged to monitor the use of all suitable lands, has increased. The share of the state was declared a third of the harvest. In the central regions of the country, under Akbar, the peasants were transferred to a cash tax. The state land fund (khalisa) received all the conquered territories. Jagirs were heard 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 on these incomes - the backbone of the imperial army. Akbar's attempt to liquidate the jagir system in 1574 ended in failure. Also in the state there was private land ownership of feudal lords - 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.

In India, XVI-XVII centuries. there is the emergence of capitalist relations, but the socio-economic structure of the Mongol Empire, based on state ownership of land, did not contribute to their rapid growth.

So, medieval India personifies the synthesis of a wide variety of socio-political foundations, religious traditions, and ethnic cultures.

The era of fragmentation - (III-VI centuries)

The first stage of early feudalism went down in history as the time of the Three Kingdoms (220-280). Three states developed on the territory of the country (Wei - in the north, Shu - in the central part and Wu - in the south), the power in which, by type, approached a military dictatorship.

But already at the end of the III century. political stability is again lost, and the country becomes an easy prey for the nomadic tribes that have poured in here, mainly settling in the northwestern regions. From that moment on, for two and a half centuries, China was divided into northern and southern parts. In the north, the Northern Wei empire is growing stronger, in which the desire to restore a unified Chinese statehood was more pronounced. In 581, a coup d'état took place there: the commander Yang Jian removed the emperor from power and changed the name of the Sui state. In 589, he brought the southern state under his control and, for the first time after a 400-year period of fragmentation, restored the political unity of the country.

In the south, the processes of assimilation of the non-Chinese population (Yue, Miao, Li, Yi, Man and Yao) were faster and less dramatic, leaving significant areas uncolonized. This was reflected in the mutual isolation of the parties, as well as in the language - two main dialects developed. The northerners called the inhabitants of the middle state, that is, the Chinese, only themselves, and the southerners called people 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. The measure of value was grain and silk.

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.

A striking manifestation of social shifts was the increasing role of the aristocracy. Nobility was determined by belonging to the old clans. Generosity was fixed in the lists of noble families

Imperial period

During the years of the Tang Dynasty (618--907), the classical Chinese type of imperial administration took shape. There were revolts of military governors in the country, a peasant war of 874-883, a long struggle with the Tibetans, Uighurs and Tanguts in the north of the country, a military confrontation with the southern Chinese state of Nanzhao. All this led to the agony of the Tang regime.

The highest government institution was the Department of Departments, which headed the six leading executive bodies of the country: Chinov, 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.

The Chinese economy was based on agricultural production. The unification of the early split country led to a gradual increase in the role of cities. Urbanization was closely linked to the growth of handicraft production. Such areas of state-owned craft as silk weaving, ceramic production, woodworking, papermaking and dyeing received special development in the cities. A form of private craft, the rise of which was held back by the powerful competition of state-owned production and the imperial power's comprehensive control over the urban economy, was the family workshop.

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. Members of Buddhist and Taoist monasteries made up a special stratum of society. Cities in which the lumpen layer appears become centers of anti-government uprisings.

There were three religious doctrines in medieval China: Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism.

China in the era of Mongol rule. Yuan Empire (1271-1367)

The Mongol conquest of China lasted almost 70 years. In 1215 Beijing was taken, and in 1280 China was completely in the hands of the Mongols. With the accession to the throne of Khan Kublai (1215--1294), the Great Khan's headquarters was transferred to Beijing. Along with it, Karakorum and Shandong were considered equal capitals.

In 1271, 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, the people of the third and fourth grade after the Mongols themselves and immigrants 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 of northern and southern Chinese.

The dominance of the Yuan Empire rested on the power of the army. The system of taxation was streamlined and centralized. The collection of taxes was removed from the hands of local authorities, a general census was taken, tax registers were drawn up, poll and land taxes on grain and a household tax levied on silk and silver were introduced.

Temple land ownership was widespread, 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.

In connection with the inflation of paper money at the end of the XIII century. natural exchange began to dominate in trade, the role of precious metals increased, and usury flourished.

From the middle of the XIII century. Lamaism, the Tibetan variety of Buddhism, becomes the official religion of the Mongolian court. 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 Khan Khubilai of the imperial Confucian doctrine.

Ming China 1368--1644

In this era, the Mongol domination was finally abolished and the foundations of economic and political systems were laid that corresponded to traditional Chinese ideas about ideal statehood. The first emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang (1328--1398), began to pursue a far-sighted agrarian and financial policy. He increased the share of peasant households in the land wedge, strengthened control over the distribution of state lands, stimulated military settlements under the treasury, resettled peasants on empty lands, introduced a fixed taxation, and provided benefits to poor households.

Private trading activities were recognized as legal and profitable for the treasury. During this period, bank notes and small copper coins remained the basis of the country's monetary system.

In the Ming era, neo-Confucianism occupies a dominant position in religion. Other striking features of the religious life of the country were the Sinification of local Muslims and the spread of local cults among the people.

The center of the political opposition was the Chamber of Censors-Procurators, whose members demanded reforms and accused the arbitrariness of the temporary workers.

The era of the Yamato kings. The birth of the state (III-ser. VII centuries)

At the stage of formation of the state, society consisted of consanguineous clans (uji) that existed independently on their own land. Appointment to the post of ruler depended on the will of the most powerful clan in the royal environment, which also supplied the royal family with wives and concubines from among its members.

The domestic policy of the Yamato kings was aimed at uniting the country and at formalizing the ideological basis of autocracy. Foreign policy priorities were relations with the countries of the Korean Peninsula, sometimes reaching armed clashes, taking the form of ambassadorial missions and the goal of borrowing any suitable innovations.

Thus, the distinctive feature of Japan consisted in the significant role of the tribal feudalizing nobility and, more clearly than anywhere else in the Far East, the tendency 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 and moral and aesthetic ideas.

Fujiwara era

The central government apparatus consisted of the State Council (Dajokan), eight government departments, and a system of main ministries. The country was divided into provinces and counties, headed by governors and county chiefs. An eight-degree system of title families with the emperor at the head and a 48-rank ladder of court ranks were established. Since 690, censuses of the population and redistribution of land began to be carried out every six years. A centralized army manning system was introduced.

By the middle of the IX century. Japan finally switches to a policy of isolation, it is forbidden to leave the country, and the reception of embassies and courts is stopped. The period of the middle of the IX - the first half of the XI century. is called "the time of the reign of regents and chancellors." Its heyday falls on the second half of the 10th century. with representatives of the Fujiwara house, Mitinaga and Yorimichi.

Another characteristic social phenomenon was the emergence of the military class. In the samurai environment, a code of military ethics arose, based on the main idea of \u200b\u200bpersonal loyalty to the master, up to the unconditional readiness to give his life for him, and in case of dishonor, commit suicide according to a certain ritual. In the 8th century Buddhism becomes the state religion.

Japan during the era of the first Minamoto shogunate

In 1192, Minamoto became the supreme ruler of Japan with the title of shogun, until 1335. This was the heyday of cities, crafts and trade in Japan.

Small-scale samurai ownership becomes the leading form of land ownership, although large feudal possessions 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. The power of the Bakufu military government was limited only to military and police functions and did not cover the entire territory of the country.

The second shogunate in Japan arose during the long strife of the princes of noble houses. For two and a half centuries, periods of civil strife and the strengthening of centralized power in the country alternated.

In the Ashikaga era, the process of separating crafts from agriculture deepened. Rural artisans are moving from a wandering to a settled way of life, there is a specialization of rural areas. There are specialized trade guilds, separated from the craft workshops

According to the conditions of the emergence of the city, they were divided into three groups. Some grew out of post stations, ports, markets, customs gates. The second type of cities arose at temples, especially intensively in the XIV century, and, like the first, had a certain level of self-government. The third type was market settlements at the castles of the military and the 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.

After the Mongol invasions, the country's authorities set a course to eliminate the diplomatic and trade isolation of the country.

Unification of the Tokugawa Shogunate

Political fragmentation put the task of uniting the country on the agenda. This mission was carried out by three prominent politicians of the country: Oda Nobunaga (1534-1582), Toyotomi HiJoshi (1536-1598) and Tokugawa Ieyasu (1542-1616).

The emperor became the national-patriotic symbol of the anti-foreign and anti-shogun movement, and the imperial palace in Kyoto became the center of attraction for all the rebellious forces of the country.

Arab Caliphate (V - XI centuries AD)

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. This oasis was inhabited by the Arab tribe Qureish, whose tribal nobility, using the geographical position of Mecca, received income from the transit of goods through their territory.

In addition, Mecca became the religious center of Western Arabia. Here was located the ancient pre-Islamic temple of the Kaaba. According to legend, this temple was erected by the biblical patriarch Abraham (Ibrahim) with his son Ismail.

The idea of the need to introduce monotheism and unite the Arab tribes on this basis 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 dogmas of Judaism and Christianity: faith in one God and his prophet, the Last Judgment, retribution after death, unconditional obedience to the will of God.

Much later, after the death of Muhammad, his sermons and sayings were collected into a single book, the Koran (translated from Arabic means reading), which became sacred to Muslims. Later Islamic religious literature is called Sunnah. It contains legends about Muhammad. Muslims who recognized the Koran and the Sunnah became known as Sunnis, and those who recognized only one Koran became Shiites. The Shiites recognize only his relatives as legitimate caliphs (deputies, deputies) of Muhammad, spiritual and secular heads of Muslims.

The victories of the Arabs in numerous wars, the seizure of vast territories by them were facilitated by the long-term mutually exhausting war between Byzantium and Persia, disunity and constant enmity between other states that were attacked by the Arabs. It should also be noted that the population of the countries occupied by the Arabs, suffering from the oppression of Byzantium and Persia, saw the Arabs as liberators, who reduced the tax burden primarily to those who converted to Islam.

Crafts, trade developed, cities grew. Within the Arab Caliphate, a culture developed rapidly, incorporating the Greco-Roman, Iranian and Indian heritage.

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 - the emirs.

Guided by the ideology of Islam, the Caliphs pursued a broad policy of conquest, turning the Arab Caliphate into an empire. The unification of the former disparate tribes into a single state gave impetus to economic and cultural communication between the peoples of Asia, Africa and Europe.

General History in Questions and Answers Tkachenko Irina Valerievna

Chapter 6 Features of the development of the countries of the East in the Middle Ages. Arabs in the VI-XI centuries

Features of the development of the countries of the East in the Middle Ages. Arabs in the VI-XI centuries

1. What was India like in the 6th-11th centuries?

India belonged to those countries of ancient civilization where developed feudal relations appeared relatively early. The tribes and peoples of India were at different levels of economic development, which left their mark on the nature and pace of development of feudal society in various parts of the country.

The path of development of feudal landownership in India: the distribution of land by the rulers of principalities. Already in the 7th century. in India there were holdings of land on condition of service. With the termination of service or with the death of their holders, these possessions again returned to the prince.

The dominant type of communities at that time was everywhere the rural community, consisting of a group of small and large patriarchal families. As property inequality grew in the communities, there were more and more families, and they sought to consolidate their economic advantages; these redistributions became more rare.

The main form of feudal exploitation of communal peasants was food rent. In addition to her, community members were imposed labor service, not related to agricultural work. This area included work on the construction of irrigation facilities, fortresses, temples, bridges, roads, work on the estate of a feudal lord, etc.

Product rent, despite the cruel exploitation of the peasants, in the presence of irrigated agriculture created conditions under which a part of the peasants was able to have a certain surplus in excess of the necessary product.

The transition from the slave-owning system to the feudal one took place in the conditions of invasion and raids from Nepal and Tibet, the uprising of peoples and tribes, which led to the death of many ancient cities. But city life did not stop. It was preserved in those points that became the capitals of the feudal principalities, as well as in coastal regions with their foreign trade. The feudal lords settled in such cities artisans who were supposed to satisfy their needs. Especially encouraged the production of luxury goods that were sold. In addition to their main work, urban artisans were also engaged in agriculture. The agrarian character of the Indian city persisted throughout the Middle Ages.

From the 7th century India's foreign trade with other countries gradually began to grow. Merchants visited China and Japan. Arab merchants played an important role as intermediaries in India's trade.

After the fall of the Gupta Empire, North India broke up into many small principalities. At the end of the VI century. in the north of the valley of the Jamna River, the principality of Thanesar began to strengthen. The local prince Harsha, after many wars, managed to unite almost the entire territory of the former Gupta state under his rule. Around 620, he made an attempt to subdue the decan lands. Harsha, as the supreme owner, donated land and distributed it for service. He collected tribute from princes. Otherwise, each principality led an independent life.

A connection was established with China, where Harsha sent an embassy.

At the beginning of the 7th century in the west of the Deccan, a new power was formed. At the head was the Chalukya family. The founder of this state repelled Harsha's invasion of the Deccan.

In India, there was a hierarchy of castes. Castes originated in ancient times, but they took their strict forms precisely in the Middle Ages. No person could be outside the caste. The transition from one caste to another was not allowed. Gradually, caste became the mainstay of routine in the field of production.

Hinduism was the main religious system in India. He united a wide variety of beliefs and cults, ranging from animism, totemism and ending with religions with complex theological teachings. In the vision of the followers of Hinduism, three great gods stand above an infinite number of deities - Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. In their sacrificial rites, the priests "fed" and "drank" the god. The image of the god was rubbed with fragrant oils, temple dancers performed ritual dances to the sounds of music.

People belonging to the lower castes were considered "impure" and had to live separately from those who considered themselves to be "clean" castes.

There were also heretical movements. Their preachers said that in the face of God there are no "clean" and "unclean" castes. In the XII century. a sect of Lingayats was formed, who began to choose priests from members of their sect, regardless of caste. Basava was the founder of this sect.

The nature of the new social relations left its mark on the culture of the Indian people. In ancient times, almost the only building material was wood. Now, in the construction of temples, it is increasingly being replaced by brick and stone. Grandiose buildings are created from these materials. Thus, the height of the central tower of the temple in Tanjore (XI century), built in the form of a 14-storey truncated pyramid, is 61 m.

The literature of this period follows the path of imitation of the classical literature of the 5th-6th centuries. One can note the standardization of poetic forms, the pretentiousness of style. Epic, lyrical and dramatic works were written in Sanskrit.

Indian philosophy continues to develop. Its development proceeds in the form of a further development of the old idealistic systems.

The impetus in the development is given to legal literature.

In the XII century. the first medical treatises were written. The author of a famous treatise on therapy was Chakranandita (XI century).

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