jeudi 20 mars 2014

HISTORY OF ASIA



history of Asia

Asia does not constitute a unit from a historical point of view: there was not one, but Asian civilizations. Oldest are located at the Middle East, in India, in China and in Japan.
FIRST SETTLEMENTS
If it is in Africa that were born the first ancestors from the man, one also finds in Asia  of very old traces of humanity:  Homo erectus  was discovered on the island of Java (the man of Java), another in China (the man of Peking). At the Neolithic period (between 10 000 and 3300 before J-C), Asia knows a considerable evolution in the history of humanity:  agriculture appears in the Middle East  (between the valleys of the Tiger and Euphrate, in an area called the fertile crescent). The first Asian civilizations are thus agricultural. They  sedentary  and are gathered in  cities.
BIRTH OF GREAT ASIAN CIVILIZATIONS
Three great places of civilization play an essential role in the history of Asia: the Middle East (with Mésopotamie), the Indian peninsula and China. The first civilizations which develop to with it contribute to the rise of the continent by their trade and cultural. But especially, they diffuse their models in the surrounding areas.
The Middle East, cradle of the history
In the Middle East, Mésopotamie  profits from the water of two large rivers ( the Tiger  and Euphrate). It is in this area that civilizations of Sumer then of Akkad  develop agriculture  then, towards 3300 before J-C,  invent the writing  (this event marks the passage of prehistory to the history). From 2000 before J-C, Mésopotamie is dominated by the kingdoms of Babylon, Assyrie and Chaldée.
Later, Perses of  the dynasty of Achéménides  melt a vast empire (the Empire perse), which extends from the Mediterranean to the border of India. Under the reign of large kings (like Cyrus the Large one and Darios the Large one), it becomes the most powerful kingdom of its time. In 330 before J-C, the Empire perse succumbs to the attacks of the troops of Alexandre the Large one. Nearly 100 years after the death of Alexandre, Parthes (directed by the dynasty of  Arsacides, then that of  Sassanides) restore the power of the Empire perse to  the vii E century after J-C.
Old India
In India, towards 2500 before J-C, of large cities are born along the river Indus, such Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa. This  age of Indus  declines starting from  the xviii E century before J-C, with the arrival of nomads from Central Asia,  the Aryan ones. Those, which reign on India between 1500 and 300 before J-C, practise a religion resting on  the division of the company in castes: hindouism. Another great religion, rested by Buddha, is born towards 500 before J-C:  Buddhism.
At the end of the iv E century before J-C, a vast empire is founded by  the dynasty of Maurya. They spread Buddhism, which gains the south of the Indian peninsula and the remainder of Asia. The dynasty of Maurya disappears to  the II E century before J-C Bientôt, another dynasty gives a great economic advancement and cultural to India, that of  Gupta  (towards 320-540 after J-C).
Ancient China
The third great Asian civilization of Antiquity is in  China. Reigning to the II E  and I er millenia before J-C, the first two Chinese dynasties (Shang and Zhou) also develop around a river,  Huang He  (the "Jaune river"). It is during this period that two large wise (Confucius and Lao-tseu) works out each one a philosophy which will influence the Chinese intellectual life:  Confucianism  and  taoism.
Reigning during 400 years starting from the end of  the III E century before J-C, the sovereigns of  the Han dynasty  undertake the construction of roads, ports and  the Large Wall. They extend their influence in Asia of South-east (Viêt Nam, Kampuchea, Korea, etc).
GREAT UPHEAVALS OF THE MIDDLE AGES
Invasions of Huns
As from the first centuries of our era, these large poles of civilization undergo the attacks of warlike wandering people. China of Han succumbs the first to the attacks of Xiongnu (parents of Huns), and the country is divided into a multitude of kingdoms starting from the beginning of  the III E century. It finds its unit only under the Tang dynasty, to  the vii E century. In India, the Gupta sovereigns are beaten by Huns to  the VI E century, and several kingdoms are constituted in the south as in north.
In this part of Asia, the dominations Indian and Chinese are in competition. Thus  the Khmers of Kampuchea, who melt the city of Angkor Vat, are subject to the influence of India. The Vietnameses undergo for their part that of China.
The expansion of Islam
In the Middle East, Islam is spread thanks to the military victories of the Arabs, parties of Arabia to  the vii E century. They melt in Damas  the dynasty of Omeyyades, then in Baghdad that of  Abbassides. Once the territories corresponding to Iraq and conquered Iran, Islam is not only any more the religion of the Arabs, but becomes also that of Perses. It continues to extend in north from India (where a sultanate is founded in Delhi at the beginning of  the xiii E century) and to Indonesia. Two religions coexist then in India: hindouism and Islam. Buddhism disappears from this area, but it was definitively established in China and Asia of South-east.
Mongolian invasions
To the xiii E century, under the impulse of  Gengis Khan  and his descendants, the Mongols seize the north of China, then break on the Central Asia. They conquer most of India (where they melt later the Empire moghol  in Delhi). In China,  Kubilaï Khan  seizes the South, directed by the Song dynasty. It founds a brilliant court which the Venetian explorer Marco Polo comes to visit. It drives out the Thais towards Kampuchea, who take the place of the Khmers there. A last Mongolian jolt traverses Asia to  the xiv E century with the conquests of  Tamerlan, but its victories appear of short duration.
ASIA OF  The XVI E  TO  The XIX E CENTURY
To the xvi E century, on the continent torn by the Mongolian conquests, of great political sets constitute themselves: Perse of Safavides, India of Large Moghols, China of the Ming dynasties, then Qing (a dynasty mandchoue), etc.
The Empire ottoman
In Minor Asia, Turks, called  Ottomans, seized into 1453 Constantinople, which they re-elected Istanbul. Until the beginning of  the xx E century, the Empire ottoman dominates the Middle East.
European colonization
Starting from the xvi E century, the first European ships arrive to India, then to China. Very quickly, the Spaniards melt of the colonies in the Philippines, the Dutchmen in Indonesia, the English in India and the French in Indo-China.
During all the xix E century, Asia is the prey of the European competitions. For example, Afghanistan is the object of a fight between the Russians and the English. But it is especially China which is coveted. All the European powers are present there.
The particular case of Japan
Japan, which is an archipelago, knows a singular history. With the Middle Ages, the capacity of the emperor ( the tenno) is weakened with the profit of great noble families (Fujiwara, Minamoto and especially Ashikaga), which occupy the function of head of the government:  the shogun. The competitions between these great families give place to wars, during which the samouraïs  are illustrated  (a class of warriors). Starting from  the xvii E century, Japan folds up on itself and firm its borders the abroads. The last shogun loses the capacity in 1867. The following year, the Meiji emperor  undertakes a deep reform of the institutions of the country, which adopts the European economic model.He also launches Japan to the conquest of the Asian continent, in order to establish colonies to with it. In 1905, when it gains the war which opposes it to Russia, Japan is the first Asian country to have overcome a European nation.
This victory has a deep repercussion in Asia, in particular in China where a revolution, launched by Sun Yat-SEN, reverses the last emperor of China (Puyi) and founds a republic in 1912.
ASIA SINCE  The XX E CENTURY
The process of independence
At the end of the First World War (1914-1918), the countries of Asia start to claim their independence, which they gradually obtain and by different means. Thus, India, which belongs to the British and fought at their sides during the war, claims more autonomy. These claims of independence are incarnent in the person of  Mohandas Gandhi, which takes the head of a non-violent movement. The post-war period is also marked by  the disappearance of the Empire ottoman, in 1923. Turkey succeeds to him. Its leader, Mustafa Kemal, undertake a vast modernization of the country while taking as a starting point the the European model.
The Second World war (1939-1945) mark a turning in the history of Asia. Japan manages to occupy the possessions French, British and Dutch, which reveals sudden with the colonized populations the weakness of these countries. With their entry in war, the United States reinforces their presence in this area and triumphs over Japan by releasing  the atomic bomb over Hiroshima  in August 1945. The Americans support the claims of independence of the colonized countries and force the old colonial powers to be withdrawn. India  —from which a part, directed by Moslems, becomes Pakistan — reaches independence in 1947, Indonesia in 1949 and Indo-China (Viêt Nam, Laos, Kampuchea) in 1954. As for China, directed by  Mao Zedong, it becomes a communist State in 1949 and is isolated from the world.
Asia in the heart of the cold war
The Asian countries then become one of the grounds on which the cold war  is held  opposing the United States and the USSR. The United States makes the war in the North Korea, supported by China ( the war of Korea, 1950-1953), and in Viêt Nam ( the war of Viêt Nam, 1959-1975). The Middle East is also a place of conflict between Americans and Soviets, by the means of Israel, defended by the United States, and of the Arab countries, supported by the USSR.
More and more of country of Asia however refuse to belong to a camp or the other. This leads to the creation of  the movement of the non-aligned country, at the time of the conference of Bandung (in Indonesia) in 1955.
Asia today
The end of the cold war, in 1989, does not regulate however the problem of the conflicts in Asia. Covetousness for  the immense oil richnesses  of the continent thus generates the war of the Gulf in 1990-1991, after the invasion of Koweït by Iraq de Saddam Hussein. The bursting of the USSR, in 1991, is followed several conflicts in the new States of Central Asia (Ossétie, Haut-Karabagh, etc). The Russians themselves fight in the Caucasus against Tchétchènes. India and Pakistan do not manage to solve their disagreement about the frontier area of the Cashmere. However, in Asia of South-east, Kampuchea tries to turn the page of Communism after the génocide of the Kampuchean population perpetrated by the Khmer Rouges in the years 1970.
Asia is also marked by  the rise of a fanaticism islamist, appeared with the revolution carried out by the ayatollah Khomeiny in Iran in 1979. This power extremist extends from the Middle East as far as Indonesia, while being on by Afghanistan, where the United States intervenes militarily in 2001. The conflict between Israel and the Palestinians continue in spite of attempts at negotiation of peace. In 2003, the Middle East is again the theatre of a war, with the American intervention in Iraq and the fall of Saddam Hussein.
To the beginning of the xxi E century, Asia offers a very contrasted image. On the one hand, it seems one of the principal hearths of war and instability in the world. In addition, it shelters also the country which knows the strongest economic growth of the world: China is essential today like the principal actor of the area, and the world.



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