Book contents
- How the East Was Won
- LSE International Studies
- How the East Was Won
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Maps
- Preface and Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- 1 From the Rise of the West to How the East Was Won
- 2 The Eurasian Transformation
- 3 The Rise of Asia’s Terrestrial Empires
- 4 European Infiltration and Asian Consolidation in Maritime Asia, 1600–1700
- 5 The Great Asian Divergence
- 6 The East India Company and the Rise of British India, 1740–1820
- 7 Crises of Empire and the Reconstitution of International Orders in South and East Asia, 1820–1880
- Conclusion
- References
- Index
2 - The Eurasian Transformation
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 October 2021
- How the East Was Won
- LSE International Studies
- How the East Was Won
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Maps
- Preface and Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- 1 From the Rise of the West to How the East Was Won
- 2 The Eurasian Transformation
- 3 The Rise of Asia’s Terrestrial Empires
- 4 European Infiltration and Asian Consolidation in Maritime Asia, 1600–1700
- 5 The Great Asian Divergence
- 6 The East India Company and the Rise of British India, 1740–1820
- 7 Crises of Empire and the Reconstitution of International Orders in South and East Asia, 1820–1880
- Conclusion
- References
- Index
Summary
This chapter examines the Eurasian Transformation as a catalyst for the rise of the Asian and Western empires that together reshaped Asia during the early modern period. Specifically, I aim to understand how the Eurasian Transformation made it possible for ‘barbarians’ to establish primacy over pre-existing international systems in South and East Asia, despite their limited numbers and stigmatised status. I begin by offering a synoptic overview of Eurasia at c. 1500. I next introduce the Eurasian Transformation, a unique conjunction of military, economic, cultural and administrative macro-processes that together made new forms of empire-building possible from this time on. I conclude by considering the Eurasian Transformation’s diverse impacts on Eurasia’s sedentary power centres, and on the liminal ‘barbarian’ actors populating Eurasia’s land and sea frontiers.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- How the East Was WonBarbarian Conquerors, Universal Conquest and the Making of Modern Asia, pp. 62 - 87Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2021