Vietnam

A Brief History By Tim Lambert

http://www.localhistories.org/viethist.html

Ancient Vietnam

About 2,000 years ago people in North Vietnam began growing rice in the Red River Valley. To

irrigate their crops they built dykes and dug canals. They were forced to work together and so an

organised kingdom emerged called Van Lang. However in the 2nd century BC the Chinese conquered

the area.

The Chinese ruled northern Vietnam for more than 1,000 years and Chinese civilization had a

great impact on the Vietnamese.

However in South Vietnam there was Indian influence. From the 1st century to the 6th century

AD the southernmost part of Vietnam was part of a state called Funan.

In the middle of Vietnam an Indian influenced state called Champa arose in the 2nd century AD.

In North Vietnam the people resented Chinese rule and in 40 AD the Trung sisters led a

rebellion. They formed an independent state. However in 43 AD the Chinese crushed the rebellion and

the sisters killed themselves. The Chinese continued to rule North Vietnam until the 10th century.

Finally in 938 a leader named Ngo Quyen defeated the Chinese at the battle of Bach Dang River and

North Vietnam became an independent state.

In the 13th century the Mongols invaded Vietnam three times. In 1257 and 1284 they captured

the capital but each time they soon withdrew. Then in 1288 the Vietnamese leader Tran Hung Dao

routed the Mongols at the Bach Dang River.

However in the early 15th century China tried to regain control of North Vietnam. In 1407 they

occupied the country but their rule was resisted. In 1418 Le Loi began the Lam Son Uprising. By 1428

the Chinese were driven out and Le Loi became the Emperor Le Thai To. Under his successors the

central Vietnamese state of Champa became a vassal state of North Vietnam.

However in the early 16th century the power of the Le dynasty declined. During the 17th and

18th centuries two rival families effectively held power, the Trinh in the north and the Nguyen in the

south. The Nguyen family conquered the Mekong Delta from the Khmer Empire.

In the 1770s a rebellion began in the town of Tay Son. Three brothers called Nguyen led it.

Gradually they took territory from the Nguyen lords in the south and the Trinh lords in the north. By

1786 they were in control of the whole of Vietnam and one brother, Nguyen Hue made himself

Emperor Quang Trung. In 1788 the Chinese intervened in Vietnam but the Vietnamese routed them at

Dong Da.

However a Nguyen lord named Nguyen Anh escaped. He raised an army and from 1789 he

pushed back the rebels. Nguyen Anh took Hanoi in 1802 and made himself Emperor Gia Long. Under

him Vietnam became a strong united kingdom.

Meanwhile the Portuguese reached Vietnam by sea in 1516. In their wake came missionaries,

first Dominicans then Jesuits and the Roman Catholic Church made some headway in Vietnam.

http://www.vietventures.com/vietnam/history_vietnam.asp

BRIEF HISTORY OF VIETNAM:

The Vietnamese first appeared in history as one of many scattered peoples living in what is

now South China and Northern Vietnam just before the beginning of the Christian era.

According to local tradition, the small Vietnamese kingdom of Au Lac, located in the heart of

the Red River valley, was founded by a line of legendary kings who had ruled over the ancient

kingdom of Van Lang for thousands of years. Historical evidence to substantiate this tradition

is scanty, but archaeological findings indicate that the early peoples of the Red River delta area

may have been among the first East Asians to practice agriculture, and by the 1st century BC

they had achieved a relatively advanced level of Bronze Age civilization.

INDEPENDENCE:

The Trung sisters' revolt was only the first in a series of intermittent uprisings that took place

during a thousand years of Chinese rule in Vietnam. Finally, in 939, Vietnamese forces under

Ngo Quyen took advantage of chaotic conditions in China to defeat local occupation troops and

set up an independent state. Ngo Quyen's death a few years later ushered in a period of civil

strife, but in the early 11th century the first of the great Vietnamese dynasties was founded.

Under the astute leadership of several dynamic rulers, the Ly dynasty ruled Vietnam for more

than 200 years, from 1010 to 1225. Although the rise of the Ly reflected the emergence of a

lively sense of Vietnamese nationhood, Ly rulers retained many of the political and social

institutions that had been introduced during the period of Chinese rule. Confucianism continued

to provide the foundation for the political institutions of the state. The Chinese civil service

examination system was retained as the means of selecting government officials, and although

at first only members of the nobility were permitted to compete in the examinations, eventually

the right was extended to include most males. The educational system also continued to reflect

the Chinese model. Young Vietnamese preparing for the examinations were schooled in the

Confucian classics and grew up conversant with the great figures and ideas that had shaped

Chinese history. Vietnamese society, however, was more than just a pale reflection of China.

Beneath the veneer of Chinese fashion and thought, popular mostly among the upper classes,

native forms of expression continued to flourish. Young Vietnamese learned to appreciate the

great heroes of the Vietnamese past, many of whom had built their reputation on resistance to

the Chinese conquest. At the village level, social mores reflected native forms more than

patterns imported from China. Although to the superficial eye Vietnam looked like a "smaller

dragon," under the tutelage of the great empire to the north it continued to have a separate

culture with vibrant traditions of its own.

THE ECONOMY UNDER THE LY DYNASTY:

Like most of its neighbors, Vietnam was primarily an agricultural state, its survival based

above all on the cultivation of wet rice. As in medieval Europe, much of the land was divided

among powerful noble families, who often owned thousands of serfs or domestic slaves. A

class of landholding farmers also existed, however, and powerful monarchs frequently

attempted to protect this class by limiting the power of feudal lords and dividing up their large

estates. The Vietnamese economy was not based solely on agriculture. Commerce and

manufacturing thrived, and local crafts appeared in regional markets throughout the area.

Vietnam never developed into a predominantly commercial nation, however, or became a

major participant in regional trade patterns.

TERRITORIAL EXPANSION:

Under the rule of the Ly dynasty and its successor, the Tran

(1225-1400), Vietnam became a dynamic force in

Southeast Asia. China's rulers, however, had not abandoned

their historic objective of controlling the Red River delta,

and when the Mongol dynasty came to power in the 13th

century, the armies of Kublai Khan attacked Vietnam in an

effort to reincorporate it into the Chinese Empire. The

Vietnamese resisted with vigor, and after several bitter

battles they defeated the invaders and drove them back across the border. While the

Vietnamese maintained their vigilance toward the north, an area of equal and growing concern

lay to the south. For centuries, the Vietnamese state had been restricted to its heartland in the

Red River valley and adjacent hills. Tension between Vietnam and the kingdom of Champa, a

seafaring state along the central coast, appeared shortly after the restoration of Vietnamese

independence. On several occasions, Cham armies broke through Vietnamese defenses and

occupied the capital near Hanoi. More frequently, Vietnamese troops were victorious, and they

gradually drove Champa to the south. Finally, in the 15th century, Vietnamese forces captured

the Cham capital south of present-day Da Nang and virtually destroyed the kingdom. For the

next several generations, Vietnam continued its historic "march to the south," wiping up the

remnants of the Cham Kingdom and gradually approaching the marshy flatlands of the Mekong

delta. There it confronted a new foe, the Khmer Empire, which had once been the most

powerful state in the region. By the late 16th century, however, it had declined, and it offered

little resistance to Vietnamese encroachment. By the end of the 17th century, Vietnam had

occupied the lower Mekong delta and began to advance to the west, threatening to transform

the disintegrating Khmer state into a mere protectora.

THE LE DYNASTY:

The Vietnamese advance to the south coincided with new challenges in the north. In 1407

Vietnam was again conquered by Chinese troops. For two decades, the Ming dynasty attempted

to reintegrate Vietnam into the empire, but in 1428, resistance forces under the rebel leader Le

Loi dealt the Chinese a decisive defeat and restored Vietnamese independence. Le Loi mounted

the throne as the first emperor of the Le dynasty. The new ruling house retained its vigor for

more than a hundred years, but in the 16th century it began to decline. Power at court was

wielded by two rival aristocratic clans, the Trinh and the Nguyen. When the former became

dominant, the Nguyen were granted a fiefdom in the south, dividing Vietnam into two separate

zones. Rivalry was sharpened by the machinations of European powers newly arrived in

Southeast Asia in pursuit of wealth and Christian converts.

By the late 18th century, the Le dynasty was near collapse. Vast rice lands were controlled by

grasping feudal lords. Angry peasants-led by the Tay Son brothers-revolted, and in 1789

Nguyen Hue, the ablest of the brothers, briefly restored Vietnam to united rule. Nguyen Hue

died shortly after ascending the throne; a few years later Nguyen Anh, an heir to the Nguyen

house in the south, defeated the Tay Son armies. As Emperor Gia Long, he established a new

dynasty in 1802.

https://vietnamesetypography.com/history/

A Brief History of Vietnamese Writing

From 207 B.C. to 939 A.D., the rule of several Chinese dynasties had a profound influence on the

Vietnamese literature and language. As a result, the official Vietnamese language was originally

written in Classical Chinese (chữ Nho) before the development of native Vietnamese script (chữ Nôm)

and the adoption of the Latin alphabet (Quốc Ngữ).1

CHỮ NHO

Starting in the ninth century, under the control of the Chinese, all government and official documents

in Vietnam were written in Chinese ideographs called chữ Nho (scholars’ script), also referred to

as chữ Hán(Han script). Even after Vietnam declared its independence in 939, chữ Nho was a common

written language among scholars and in official papers until the beginning of the twentieth century.

Today, chữ Nho is still used on calligraphic banners for special occasions such as festivals, funerals,

Lunar New Year (Tết), and weddings. Although chữ Nho was held in high regard—because being chữ

Nho literacy was the key to power, wealth, and prestige—Vietnamese scholars wanted to develop their

own writing system very early on called chữ Nôm.2

The example of chữ Nho (above) means “superior” or “high-class.”

CHỮ NÔM

Chữ Nôm is a writing system in Vietnamese based on Chinese ideographs. Even though there is no

known record of when the Vietnamese began creating a system to write their own language, chữ

Nôm was well established by the eleventh century. Due to its complex use of Chinese characters to

form Vietnamese phonemic values, chữ Nôm was much more difficult to learn. Only a few dozen

Vietnamese around the world today can read chữ Nôm, and publications written in Nôm characters are

rare. Only small samples were found in Quốc-âm Thi-Tập (Collected Poems in Native Words) written

by Vietnam’s national hero Nguyễn Trãi (1389–1442) and the poetry of famed female poet Hồ Xuân

Hương (1592–1788). 3

In the example above, the Chinese characters 天 (top left), which means heaven, and 上 (bottom

left), which means above, are combined to make the Nôm character 𡗶 (right), which means sky.

QUỐC NGỮ

The Romanization of the Vietnamese writing system began in the seventeenth century when

Catholic missionaries needed to transcribe religious texts for their new converts. As chữ Nôm was used

only by the elite and privileged, the missionaries wanted to introduce religious texts to a broader

population, including lower-class people who would not have been able to read Nôm ideographs.

Alexandre de Rhodes, a French Jesuit missionary and a lexicographer, learned Vietnamese at an

astonishing speed. He mastered the language within six months and laid down the groundwork for the

Romanized writing system known as Quốc Ngữ (national language). Unlike chữ Nôm, which required

extensive study and practice to master, the new Latin-based writing system was much more direct,

approachable, and accessible. Vietnamese people could learn to read and write their own language in a

few weeks instead of years.

Even though Quốc Ngữ made it possible to spread literacy and education to a large population, it

didn’t become the official writing system until the early twentieth century under French colonial rule

(1864–1945). The rise of Latin-based writing system opened the door to print publications. On April

15, 1865, Gia Định Báo (嘉定報), the first newspaper in Vietnam, published its first issue in Quốc

Ngữ. 4 Today, Quốc Ngữ, also known as chữ phổ thông (standard script), is the official orthography of

Vietnam.Gia Định Báo was the first Vietnamese newspaper established in 1865 (http://goo.gl/v1rLVe).

Korea http://www.ancient.eu/Korea/

The Unified Silla Kingdom (668- 935 CE) was the first dynasty to rule over the whole of the Korean

peninsula. There was a state in the north at this time, Balhae (Parhae), but most of its territory was in

Manchuria and so the majority of historians do not consider it a Korean state proper.

The state began a slow decline from the 8th century CE, largely due to the rigidity of its class

structure, still based on the bone rank system, the strict social classification of entitlements and

obligations. Not only did the lack of opportunity to rise above the class of one's birth create a

stagnation of ideas and innovations but the aristocracy began, too, to resent the power of the king. At

the other end of the social ladder, the peasantry grew more and more resentful of the incessant taxes

levied upon them. On top of that, local landed aristocrats became ever more difficult to control from

the capital. The state was falling apart from within.

The Korean states, traditionally practitioners of shamanism, adopted first Confucianism, then

Taoism and Buddhism from China, with Korea making the latter the official state religion from the

4th century CE. Confucian principles were followed in the state administration and were an essential

part of entrance exams to positions within that system. Buddhism was the strongest faith, though, and

temples and monasteries sprang up everywhere. The Buddhist temple-monasteries, with their landed

estates, royal patronage, and exemption from tax, became wealthy and the whole religious apparatus

rivalled that of the state itself. Many such monasteries even had their own armed forces recruited from

warrior-monks and the general populace. Buddhism was practised not only by the elite families, which

often sent a son to study at a monastery and become a monk, but also by the lower classes.

High-fired grey stoneware was produced in great quantities from the Three Kingdoms period.

Ceramics were decorated with incisions, applying additional clay pieces, and cutting away the clay to

create a latticework effect. The most famous Korean ceramics from any period, though, are the pale

green celadons produced in the Goryeo kingdom. Also known as greenware, these have a smooth glaze

and typically have fine inlaid designs (sanggam), especially Buddhist motifs such as the lotus flower,

cranes, and clouds. Celadons were first introduced into Korea from China during the 9th century CE,

but Korean potters became so skilled at their manufacture that their wares were exported back to China

and, even today, Korean celadons are amongst the most prized ceramics in the world.

Tomb-painting is best seen in the tombs of Goguryeo. Over 80 of them have chambers decorated

with brightly painted scenes of everyday life, portraits of the occupants, and mythical creatures. The

paintings were made by applying the paint either directly onto the stone wall or onto a lime plaster

base.

http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/History_of_Korea

The Korean kingdoms competed with each other both economically and militarily. While

Goguryeo and Baekje had great power for much of the era, defeating Chinese invasions several times,

Silla's power gradually extended across Korea, eventually establishing the first unified state to cover

most of Korean peninsula by 668. Historians often call this period Unified Silla. Soon after the fall of

Goguryeo, former Goguryeo general Dae Joyeong led a group of Koreans to eastern Manchuria,

founding Balhae (698 C.E. - 926 C.E.) as the successor to Goguryeo. After Balhae fell in 926, the

Crown Prince led most his people into absorption by Goryeo.

Unified Silla fell apart in the late ninth century, giving way to the tumultuous Later Three

Kingdoms period (892-936), which ended with the establishment of the Goryeo Dynasty. During the

Goryeo period, courts codified laws, the government introduced a civil service system, and Buddhism

flourished. In 1238, the Mongolian Empire invaded, the two sides signed a peace treaty after nearly 30

years of war.

In 1392, the general Yi Seong-gye established the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910) after a coup.

King Sejong(1418-1450) promulgated Hangul, the Korean alphabet, as an alternative to Chinese

characters, previously the only system of writing. This period husbanded many cultural and

technological advances. Between 1592-1598, Japan invaded Korea, but the Korean Navy, led by

Admiral Yi Sunsin eventually repelled with support from Korean resistance armies and Chinese aid. In

the 1620s and 1630s, Joseon suffered invasions by the Manchu Qing Dynasty.

Korea 500-1000

https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ht/06/eak.html

This resource has a ton art pieces on it with descriptions and key events.

Through a series of military and political moves, the kingdom of Silla (57 B.C–676 A.D.)

achieves dominance over most of the Korean peninsula by the end of the seventh century. Its campaign

of unification begins with the defeat of the Kaya Federation in 562; after an alliance with the

Chinese Tang (618–906) court, it succeeds in conquering the kingdoms of Paekche in 660 and Koguryô

in 668. By 676, Silla forces Chinese troops to withdraw into Manchuria, and for the first time in history

the peninsula comes under the sway of a single Korean government. In the succeeding Unified Silla

period (676–935), Korean culture flourishes, creating a political and cultural legacy that will be handed

down to subsequent rulers of the country.

Consolidation of the three kingdoms under a single absolute ruler leads to an increase in the

wealth of the aristocracy, whose status is secured by a rigid hereditary class system. Kyôngju, the

capital of Unified Silla, is a prosperous metropolis with magnificent palaces and imposing Buddhist

temples. Officially sanctioned as the state religion, Buddhism exerts a profound influence on the arts;

some of the most refined and sophisticated

Buddhist art and architecture in East Asia is produced in Korea during this period. The Unified

Silla court maintains close relations with Tang China through trade and diplomatic exchanges.

Throughout this period, Korea continues to play a crucial role in the transmission of technology and

ideas to Japan.Beset by power struggles between the court and the aristocracy, Unified Silla declines in

the late eighth century. The rise of local military garrisons and landed gentry, coupled with increasing

unrest among the common people, lead to a deterioration of the social fabric and the establishment of

competing regional states. In 918, Wang Kôn (877–943), a high-ranking military official, reunites the

country under the new Koryô dynasty (918–1392).

Korea 1000-1500

https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ht/07/eak.html

This resource has a ton art pieces on it with descriptions and key events.

Some of the most outstanding achievements in Korean art and culture date to the Koryô dynasty

(918–1392), which rules the peninsula for nearly 500 years. Buddhism, even more lavishly patronized

by the court and aristocracy during this period than in the preceding Unified Silla period (676–935), is

a major creative force in the arts, exemplified in part by the proliferation of temple complexes in the

new capital Songdo (modern Kaesông) and elsewhere in the peninsula, with their elaborate stone

pagodas, exquisite paintings, stone and gilt bronze sculptures, and refined ritual objects in lacquer,

ceramic, and bronze. The production of elegant green-glazed ceramic ware, highly praised by

contemporaneous Chinese and later known and appreciated in the West as celadon ware, represents the

outstanding achievement of Koryô potters. The invention and use of cast-metal movable type in Korea

in the early thirteenth century predates by two centuries Gutenberg’s invention of metal movable type

in Europe.

Relations between the Koryô court and the mainland are not always friendly. In the northern part

of the peninsula, Koryô engages in border struggles with northern China’s conquerors, the Khitan and

Jurchen tribes, and suffers three invasions by the Khitan between 993 and 1018. Between 1231 and

1257, Korea is ravaged by invasions by the Mongols, who will rule China under the Yuan

dynasty (1271–1368). By the mid-fourteenth century, the Mongol Yuan dynasty begins to lose control

in China, and in 1368 is ousted by the Chinese rebel leader Zhu Yuanzhang, founder of the Ming

dynasty(1368–1644). In 1388, a weakened and divided Koryô court sends a military expedition to

invade Manchuria, in response to a Ming government declaration that it intends to claim Koryô’s

northeastern territory. One of the expedition commanders, Yi Sông-gye (1335–1408), who favors a

pro-Ming policy, leads his troops back to the capital and seizes control of the government. In 1392,

having consolidated his power, he founds a new dynasty, Chosôn (1392–1910).

Japan

https://www.ancient.eu/japan/

The Asuka Period covers 538 to 710 CE. The name derives from the capital at that time, Asuka,

located in the northern Nara prefecture. In 645 CE the capital was moved to Naniwa, and between 694

and 710 CE it was at Fujiwarakyo. Now we see the first firmly established historical emperor (as

opposed to legendary or mythical rulers), Emperor Kimmei, who was 29th in the imperial line (r. 531-

539 CE to 571 CE). The most significant ruler was Prince Shotoku who was regent until his death in

622 CE. Shotoku is credited with reforming and centralising government on the Chinese model by,

amongst other things, creating his Seventeen Article Constitution, rooting out corruption and

encouraging greater ties with China.

The next major political event of the Asuka period occurred in 645 CE when the founder of the

Fujiwara clan, Fujiwara no Kamatari, staged a coup which took over power from the then dominant

Soga clan. The new government was remodelled, again along Chinese lines, in a series of lasting

reforms, known as the Taika Reforms, in which land was nationalised, taxes were to be paid in kind

instead of labour, social ranks were recategorised, civil service entrance examinations were introduced,

law codes were written, and the absolute authority of the emperor was established. Kamatari was made

the emperor’s senior minister and given the surname Fujiwara. This was the beginning of one of

Japan's most powerful clans who would monopolise government until the 12th century CE.

Emperor Temmu (r. 672-686 CE) pruned the extended royal family so that only direct

descendants could claim any right to the imperial throne in a move which would create more rival clan

groups. Temmu selected Fujiwarakyo as the first proper Japanese capital which had a palace in the

Chinese style and streets laid out in a regular grid pattern.

Perhaps the most significant development of the Asuka Period was not political but religious,

with the introduction of Buddhism to Japan sometime in the 6th century CE, traditionally in 552 CE. It

was officially adopted by Emperor Yomei and further encouraged by Prince Shotoku who built several

impressive temples such as Horyuji. Buddhism was generally welcomed by Japan's elite as it helped

raise Japan's cultural status as a developed nation in the eyes of their powerful neighbours Korea and

China.

Shotoku had sent official embassies to the Sui court in China from c. 607 CE and they continued

throughout the 7th century CE. However, relations with Japan's neighbours were not always amicable.

The Silla kingdom overran its neighbour Baekje in 660 CE with the help of a massive Chinese Tang

naval force. A rebel Baekje force persuaded Japan to send 800 ships to aid their attempt to regain

control of their kingdom, but the joint force was defeated at the Battle of Baekgang in 663 CE. The

success of the Unified Silla Kingdomresulted in another wave of immigrants entering Japan from the

collapsed Baekje and Goguryeo kingdoms.

The arts, meanwhile, flourished and have given rise to an alternative name, the Suiko Period

(552-645 CE) after Empress Suiko (r. 592-628 CE). Literature and music following Chinese models

were actively promoted by the court and artists were given tax reliefs.

The Nara Period covers 710 to 794 CE and is so called because the capital was at Nara

(Heijokyo) during that time and then moved briefly to Nagaokakyo in 784 CE. The capital was built on

the Chinese model of Chang-an, the Tang capital and so had a regular and well-defined grid layout, and

public buildings familiar to Chinese architecture. A sprawling royal palace, the Heijo, was built and

the state bureaucracy was expanded to some 7,000 civil servants. The total population of Nara may

have been as high as 200,000 by the end of the period.

Control of the central government over the provinces was increased by a heightened military

presence throughout the islands of Japan, and Buddhism was further spread by Emperor Shomu’s (r.

724-749 CE) project of building a temple in every province, a plan that raised taxation to brutal levels.

Major temples were built at Nara, too, such as the Todaiji(752 CE) with its Great Buddha Hall, the

largest wooden building in the world containing the largest bronze sculpture of the Buddha in the

world. Shinto was represented by, amongst others, the Kasuga Taisha shrine in the forests outside the

capital (710 or 768 CE) and the Fushimi Inari Taisha shrine (711 CE) near Kyoto.

The ordinary populace did anything but flourish. Agriculture still depended on primitive tools,

not enough land was prepared for crops, and irrigation techniques were insufficient to prevent frequent

crop failures and outbreaks of famine. Thus, most peasants preferred the greater security of working for

landed aristocrats. On top of these woes, there were smallpox epidemics in 735 and 737 CE, which

historians calculate reduced the country’s population by 25-35%.

The court, besides facing these natural disasters, was low on funds after too many landed

aristocrats and temples were given exemption from tax. Nara, too, was beset by internal conflicts for

favours and positions amongst the aristocracy and politics was being unduly influenced by the

Buddhist temples dotted around the city. Consequently, Emperor Kammu (r. 781-806 CE) changed

the capital yet again, a move which heralded the next Golden period of Japanese history.

The Heian Period covers 794 to 1185 CE and is named after the capital during that time,

Heiankyo, known today as Kyoto. The new capital was laid out on a regular grid plan. The city had a

wide central avenue and, like Nara before it, architecture followed Chinese models, at least for public

buildings. The city had palaces for the aristocracy, and a large pleasure park was built south of the

royal palace (Daidairi). No Heian buildings survive today except the Shishin-den (Audience Hall),

which was burnt down but faithfully reconstructed, and the Daigoku-den (Hall of State), which

suffered a similar fate and was rebuilt on a smaller scale at the Heian Shrine. From the 11th century CE

the city’s longtime informal name meaning simply 'the capital city' was officially adopted: Kyoto. It

would remain the capital of Japan for a thousand years.

Kyoto was the centre of a government which consisted of the emperor, his high ministers, a

council of state, and eight ministries, which, with the help of an extensive bureaucracy, ruled over

some 7,000,000 people spread over 68 provinces. The vast majority of Japan’s population worked the

land, either for themselves or the estates of others. Burdened by banditry and excessive taxation,

rebellions were not uncommon. By the 12th century CE 50% of land was held in private estates

(shoen), and many of these, given special dispensation through favours or due to religious reasons,

were exempt from paying tax, causing a serious dent in the state’s finances.

In foreign affairs, after 838 CE Japan became somewhat isolationist without any necessity to

defend its borders or embark on territorial conquest. However, sporadic trade and cultural exchanges

continued with China, as before. Goods imported from China included medicines, worked silk fabrics,

books, ceramics, weapons, and musical instruments while Japan sent in return pearls, gold dust,

amber, raw silk, and gilt lacquerware. Monks, scholars, students, musicians, and artists were sent to

see what they could learn from the still more advanced culture of China.

The period is noted for its cultural achievements, which included the creation of a Japanese

writing (kana) using Chinese characters, mostly phonetically, which permitted the production of the

world’s first novel, the Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu (c. 1020 CE), and several noted diaries

(nikki) written by court ladies, including The Pillow Book by Sei Shonagon (c. 1002 CE). Another

important work was the 905 CE Kokinshu poem anthology.

Visual arts were represented by screen paintings, hand scrolls of pictures and text (e-maki), and

fine calligraphy. Painters and sculptors continued to use Buddhism as their inspiration, but gradually, a

more wholly Japanese approach expanded the range of subject matter in art to ordinary people and

places. A Japanese style, Yamato-e, developed in painting particularly, which distinguished it from

Chinese works. It is characterised by more angular lines, the use of brighter colours and greater

decorative details.

All of this artistic output at the capital was very fine, but in the provinces, new power-brokers

were emerging. Left to their own devices and fuelled by blood from the minor nobility two important

groups evolved: the Minamoto and Taira clans. With their own private armies of samurai they became

important instruments in the hands of rival members of the Fujiwara clan’s internal power struggle,

which broke out in the 1156 CE Hogen Disturbance and the 1160 CE Heiji Disturbance.

The Taira eventually swept away the Fujiwara and all rivals, but in the Genpei War (1180-1185

CE), the Minamoto returned victorious, and at the war’s finale, the Battle of Dannoura, the Taira

leader, Tomamori, and the young emperor Antoku committed suicide. The Minamoto clan leader

Yoritomo was shortly after given the title of shogun by the emperor, and his rule would usher in the

medieval chapter of Japanese history with the Kamakura Period (1185-1333 CE), also known as the

Kamakura Shogunate, when Japanese government became dominated by the military.

Japan 500-1000

https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ht/06/eaj.html

This resource has a ton art pieces on it with descriptions and key events.

The introduction of Buddhism to the Japanese archipelago from China and Korea in the sixth

century causes momentous changes amounting to a fundamentally different way of life for the

Japanese. Along with the foreign faith, Japan establishes and maintains for 400 years close connections

with the Chinese and Korean courts and adopts a more sophisticated culture. This new culture is

essentially Chinese and includes literature, philosophy, art, architecture, science, medicine, and

statecraft. Most important is the introduction of the Chinese writing system, revolutionizing Japan,

which heretofore had no writing system of its own, and ushering in the country’s historical period.

During the peaceful and prosperous Heian period, Japanese civilization reaches its maturity, as

imported continental influences are absorbed and adapted to native preferences and as interest in

maintaining official ties with the mainland wanes. Encouraged by the imperial family and the powerful

Fujiwara clan, who reign as imperial regents from the late ninth to the end of the eleventh century,

literature, painting, music, and the decorative arts reach a peak of aesthetic and technical sophistication

and a distinctive national style emerges. The poems, illustrated narrative handscrolls, and Buddhist

images of the Heian era, which tend to appeal to or express human emotions, are visually rich and

decorative, and have a highly refined style.

Japan 1000-1500

https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ht/07/eaj.html

This resource has a ton art pieces on it with descriptions and key events.

While enjoying a lifestyle of material wealth and cultural elegance in the capital Heian-kyo, the

imperial court’s political authority enters a period of decline. Provincial governors gradually amass

greater military and economic strength. In the second half of the twelfth century, several devastating

wars hasten the transfer of hegemony from the aristocracy to two rival military clans, the Taira and the

Minamoto. When Minamoto Yoritomo (1147–1199) succeeds in defeating his Taira rivals in 1185, he

establishes a military regime at Kamakura, his clan’s provincial power base.

Ironically, the Minamoto shoguns suffer a fate similar to that of the Heian emperors—within a

few generations they are weakened by the growing power of ally clans, in particular their relatives

through marriage, the Hojo. Eventually the Minamoto are supplanted by another military dynasty, the

Ashikaga, who establish their base in Kyoto in 1336.

Beginning in the thirteenth century, the meditative Zen school of Buddhismtakes root in Japan,

brought to the country in part by Chinese monks fleeing the Mongol invasion. Enthusiastically received

in Japan, Zen becomes the most prominent form of Buddhism in the country between the fourteenth

and sixteenth centuries.

India

http://www.ancient.eu/india/

The empire declined slowly under a succession of weak rulers until it collapsed around 550 CE. The

Gupta Empire was then replaced by the rule of Harshavardhan (590-647) who ruled the region for 42

years. A literary man of considerable accomplishments (he authored three plays in addition to other

works) Harshavardhan was a patron of the arts and a devout Buddhist who forbade the killing of

animals in his kingdom but recognized the necessity to sometimes kill humans in battle. He was a

highly skilled military tactician who was only defeated in the field once in his life. Under his reign, the

north of India flourished but his kingdom collapsed following his death. The invasion of the Huns had

been repeatedly repelled by the Guptas and then by Harshavardhan but, with the fall of his kingdom,

India fell into chaos and fragmented into small kingdoms lacking the unity necessary to fight off

invading forces.

In 712 CE the Muslim general Muhammed bin Quasim conquered northern India, establishing

himself in the region of modern-day Pakistan. The Muslim invasion saw an end to the indigenous

empires of India and, from then on, independent city states or communities under the control of a city

would be the standard model of government. The Islamic Sultanates rose in the region of modern-day

Pakistan and spread north-west. The disparate world views of the religions which now contested each

other for acceptance in the region and the diversity of languages spoken, made the unity and cultural

advances, such as were seen in the time of the Guptas, difficult to reproduce. Consequently, the region

was easily conquered by the Islamic Mughal Empire. India would then remain subject to various

foreign influences and powers (among them the Portuguese, the French, and the British) until finally

winning its independence in 1947 CE.

http://www.culturalindia.net/indian-history/

The fifth century saw the unification of India under Ashoka, who had converted to Buddhism,

and it is in his reign that Buddhism spread in many parts of Asia. In the eighth century Islam came to

India for the first time and by the eleventh century had firmly established itself in India as a political

force. It resulted into the formation of the Delhi Sultanate, which was finally succeeded by the Mughal

Empire, under which India once again achieved a large measure of political unity.

India 500-1000

https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ht/06/sss.html

This resource has a ton art pieces on it with descriptions and key events.

The religion that we now call Hinduism begins to take recognizable shape in this period, and is

patronized by the dynamic regional kingdoms—Pallava, Pandya, Chalukya, and Chola—that rise up in

the wake of Gupta power. Temples are the focal point of both religious and social life, as regional

rulers construct massive temple complexes that attest to the divine origins of their power on earth.

Buddhism and Jainism also thrive. Tamil, used as a literary language from the beginning of the first

millennium, is the primary medium of the early bhakti (devotional) poets of the south. These poets

represent the beginnings of a powerful pan-Indian social and cultural orientation that transforms Indian

religions into the next millennium.

India 1000-1500

https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ht/07/sss.html

This resource has a ton art pieces on it with descriptions and key events.

Central India remains contested by various major powers—each developing a distinctive but

related artistic style—until the ascendancy of Turkish–Central Asian dynasties at the end of the period.

Buddhism, once a powerful religious and cultural force in the South, disappears in all but Sri Lanka,

where it flourishes into the modern period. The Deccan is absorbed into the Muslim cultural sphere

under the Delhi Sultanate, and then independent rulers. Vijayanagar remains independent, entering into

complex alliances with the various Deccan powers until it is overcome by them in 1565.