China - History Lab

Slavery in the Mesopotamian and ancient world

ad_hlab_min — Thu, 01 Dec 2022 12:41:10 +0000

Probably began with the sedentarization of man, and therefore with the birth of agriculture. Slavery was present in the ancient Mesopotamian civilizations of the Assyrians, Sumerians and Babylonians, in the Near Eastern civilizations of the Hittites and Jews, and in Egypt, India and China. In fact, slavery requires large lands to be exploited, economic surpluses and a high population density. It is because of these factors that it started in the Neolithic period, and in particular around 11,000 years ago.

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Zheng He

ad_hlab_min — Thu, 01 Dec 2022 12:41:03 +0000

Zheng He is a 15th-century Chinese admiral. Known for having commanded one of the largest fleets in history, his name is linked to a hypothesis, later denied, about the discovery of the Americas by the Chinese. He was born in 1371 in the Mongolian province of Yunnan, from a Muslim family. Ten years later the Chinese empire occupies the province, and young Zheng He is captured. He grows up at court as a royal eunuch. He is playmate and advisor to Prince Zhu Di, the future Yongle Emperor. In 1402 Yongle came to power. A period of political and cultural growth begins for the Ming dynasty. With the aim of extending China’s influence beyond its borders, Yongle has a massive imperial fleet built. Zheng He is named admiral.
At the command of about 300 ships, with 28 thousand men under his orders, he enters history for the 7 great oceanic expeditions that he leads between 1405 and 1433. The first three expeditions are intended to expand the Chinese sphere of influence in the basin of the Indian Ocean. Zheng He lands in Malaysia, India and Ceylon, now Sri Lanka. The admiral is distinguished by the skill with which he manages diplomatic relations, while not giving up more drastic means in case of difficulty. During the second expedition, he forcibly quells a revolt in Ceylon and takes Alagonakkara, king of the island, prisoner. With the fourth and fifth expeditions, Zheng He goes further west. He leads the fleet towards the Persian Gulf and Arabia, until it touches the coasts of East Africa.
After visiting Mecca, the crew arrives in present-day Kenya. In exchange for porcelain and silk, Zheng He brings specimens of zebras and giraffes home, as evidenced by drawings of the time. The sixth expedition is the best known. The imperial fleet leaves again for Arabia and Africa, to accompany the foreign emissaries back to their lands. Then he returns to China. However, there is another version of the story: in 2002, former British naval officer Gavin Menzies claims that Zheng He, circumnavigating Africa, landed in America before Christopher Columbus. The proof would be the discovery of a map of the time.

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Travels of Ibn Battuta

ad_hlab_min — Thu, 01 Dec 2022 12:41:03 +0000

Considered one of the greatest travelers of the fourteenth century, for thirty years, he explored Africa, the Middle East, Asia and China. He was a Moroccan historian and jurist. Leaving Tangier at the age of 21 to make the hajj (pilgrimage) to Mecca, he then decided to continue his journey (rihla) covering about 120,000 kilometers and reaching over 40 then unknown countries.

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The Silk Road

ad_hlab_min — Thu, 01 Dec 2022 12:40:53 +0000

The historian Alessandro Barbero tells us about the world of commerce at the time of the silk road: that set of caravan routes and trade routes that connected East Asia, and in particular China, to the Near East and the Mediterranean basin.

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Letter of the Venerable Servant of God Don Juan de Palafox y Mendoza to the Supreme Pontiff Innocent X

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:33:40 +0000

To defend the expulsion of the Jesuits, in addition to the traditional accusations, others related to the relaxation of their obligations in the conversion of the human groups where they were stationed were adduced. In this case, Palafox criticises the absence of Jesuit martyrs in their evangelising work in China. The fact that they did not suffer persecution and martyrdom was proof that they were not fulfilling the profile of the great evangelisers, who, in the face of the incomprehension and hostility of their hearers, had been glorified with martyrdom in the manner of Jesus. Behind this type of accusation, other accusations were included in the argument against Jesuit work, in this case the relaxation of evangelising obligations. According to these accusations, the Jesuits had allowed an atmosphere of heresy in which the Chinese continued to make their sacrifices with the approval of the order, and even syncretisms appeared in which the Christian God and Belial were worshipped.

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