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World History 2

<OpenstaxParagraph>
	After the fall of the Mongols in China, <OpenstaxTerm>Korea</OpenstaxTerm>ns were divided regarding the nature of their relationship with the Ming dynasty. In the 1380s, Yi Seong-gye and his fellow general Choe Yeong won fame for themselves when they defeated Japanese pirates who were raiding Korea. When the Ming dynasty attempted to annex Korean territory, Choe Yeong declared himself in opposition to the Ming and advised an invasion of China’s Liaodong Peninsula. Yi Seong-gye was chosen to lead the army but instead took the opportunity to seize Korea’s capital and gain control of the government in 1388. In 1392, after ruling for four years through puppet kings, Yi Seong-gye proclaimed himself the head of a new dynasty, the Joseon, named for an earlier Korean dynasty. Ruling as King <OpenstaxTerm>Taejo</OpenstaxTerm>, he declared himself a vassal of the far more powerful Ming dynasty and established friendly relations with China.
</OpenstaxParagraph>
<OpenstaxParagraph>
	Taejo embraced Confucian principles, which, unlike Buddhism, focus on the maintenance of the family and of social hierarchies instead of the well-being of the individual. Korean society was divided into rigidly defined classes. At the top was a ruling class of civil bureaucrats and military officials called the <OpenstaxEm>yangban</OpenstaxEm>, who ruled the country along with the king. Membership in this class depended on doing well on the imperial exams, which were based on knowledge of the Confucian classics, like similar exams in China. As in China, wealthy families and nobility of the former dynasty dominated the exams, because only the men in these families had the time and money to acquire the education necessary to do well. Membership in a <OpenstaxEm>yangban</OpenstaxEm> family also conferred the right to serve on local ruling councils and thus control their affairs. Eventually, membership in the <OpenstaxEm>yangban</OpenstaxEm> became hereditary when only the sons of these families were allowed to take the imperial exams. The <OpenstaxEm>yangban</OpenstaxEm> were supported by the labor of the <OpenstaxEm>sangmin</OpenstaxEm>, indentured servants who worked the land.
</OpenstaxParagraph>
<OpenstaxParagraph>
	Unlike the <OpenstaxEm>yangban</OpenstaxEm>, the <OpenstaxEm>seonbi</OpenstaxEm> were scholarly, highly educated men who devoted themselves to lives of study and served the public without financial reward. They did not covet riches and preferred scholarly pursuits, believing their role was to serve as moral exemplars for the rest of society. They valued integrity above all else and served as advocates of the common people even if that meant risking the displeasure of the king. Even though they came from the same class as the <OpenstaxEm>yangban</OpenstaxEm>, their lack of interest in attaining wealth and power set them apart.
</OpenstaxParagraph>
<OpenstaxParagraph>
	The love of study and learning that characterized the <OpenstaxEm>seonbi</OpenstaxEm> flourished in the reign of King <OpenstaxTerm>Sejong</OpenstaxTerm>, the fourth king of Korea. In 1442, Korean scholars developed a device to accurately gauge rainfall. Scholars also developed a means of measuring the direction and velocity of the wind. An astronomical observatory was constructed, and a variety of sundials and water clocks were invented to measure time (<a href="#fig-00005">Figure 2.22</a>). Triangulation devices and surveying rods were used to measure the elevation of land. Sejong recruited scholars from the institution of research he had founded, known as the Hall of Worthies, to help him develop <OpenstaxTerm><OpenstaxEm>hangul</OpenstaxEm></OpenstaxTerm>, an alphabet that could capture the sounds of Korean speech. <OpenstaxEm>Hangul,</OpenstaxEm> which Sejong introduced in 1446, was intended to be used by common people instead of the Chinese characters with which the elite <OpenstaxEm>yangban</OpenstaxEm> wrote.
</OpenstaxParagraph>
<OpenstaxFigure id="fig-00005" src="https://openstax.org/apps/archive/20240226.174525/resources/220b99356207807ac7e97871b7860cbead543758" alt="This photograph shows a black, celestial globe on display in a museum. Visitors to the museum and other exhibits are visible in the background." mediaType="image/jpg" width="1101" height="826" />
<OpenstaxFigureText width="1101">
	<strong>Figure 2.22</strong> This fifteenth-century celestial globe, used to make astronomical observations, was invented by Jang Yeong-Sil during the reign of Korea’s King Sejong. (credit: “Korean armillary sphere” by Wikimachine/Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain)
</OpenstaxFigureText>
<OpenstaxParagraph>
	After the reign of Sejong, the <OpenstaxTerm>Joseon dynasty</OpenstaxTerm> encountered numerous difficulties. In 1592 and again in 1597, Japan invaded Korea. In the following century, the Manchus attacked Korea several times between 1627 and 1636. In addition to problems caused by attacks from without, great division was created by fights between factions of the <OpenstaxEm>yangban</OpenstaxEm> class. These factions, the Easterners and the Westerners, engaged in violent conflict that persisted from generation to generation.
</OpenstaxParagraph>
<OpenstaxParagraph>
	Beginning in the late seventeenth century, disgust at the conflict among the <OpenstaxEm>yangban</OpenstaxEm> elites led many scholars, officials, and common people to support the <OpenstaxTerm>Silhak</OpenstaxTerm> movement, which promoted the study of the physical sciences and technology in order to solve practical problems instead of focusing narrowly on the Confucian classics (<OpenstaxEm>silhak</OpenstaxEm> means “practical learning”). Silhak proponents also advocated numerous social reforms, including land reform and revision of Korea’s rigid social structure. These reformers argued that learning should promote the welfare of the people. They stressed social equality and the importance of Korean culture.
</OpenstaxParagraph>
<OpenstaxParagraph>
	Concern for the preservation of Korean culture was undoubtedly influenced by Korea’s relationship to the countries that surrounded it. Buddhism and Confucianism, the philosophy on which the Joseon dynasty was based, were both introduced by the Chinese. Korean writing, painting, architecture, and pottery were also influenced by China. For centuries, Korean scholars wrote with Chinese characters. Over the centuries, Korea had been invaded by Chinese, Khitans, Mongols, Japanese, and Manchus. Nevertheless, the constant influx of foreign ideas and material goods helped to reinforce in Koreans the separate sense of a distinctive Korean identity. Trying to differentiate themselves from Chinese, Mongols, and Japanese, Koreans like the Silhak reformers emphasized the importance of maintaining a Korean identity based on Korean history and culture.
</OpenstaxParagraph>

2.3.3 Korea and Its Neighbors

1 Understanding the Past

1.1 Developing a Global Perspective

1.1.1 World History as Preparation for Life After College

1.1.2 World History and Global Citizenship

1.1.3 Features of This Textbook

1.2 Primary Sources

1.2.1 Learning to Evaluate Documents and Images

1.2.2 Documentary Sources: Competing Narratives

1.2.3 Textual Sources: The Importance of Language

1.2.4 Hidden in History

1.3 Causation and Interpretation in History

1.3.1 Levels of Causation

1.3.2 Interpretation in History

2 Exchange in East Asia and the Indian Ocean

2.1 India and International Connections

2.1.1 The Mughal Empire

2.1.2 The Sultanate of Gujarat

2.1.3 The Rise of the Maratha Empire

2.1.4 European Colonialism

2.2 The Malacca Sultanate

2.2.1 The Rise of the Malacca Sultanate

2.2.2 European Malacca

2.3 Exchange in East Asia

2.3.1 Japan

2.3.2 China’s Dynastic Exchanges

3 Early Modern Africa and the Wider World

3.1 The Roots of African Trade

3.1.1 Saharan Trade Routes

3.1.2 The Spread of Islam

3.1.3 The Mali Empire

3.2 The Songhai Empire

3.2.1 The Rise of Imperial Songhai

3.2.2 The Reign of Askia the Great

3.2.3 The Decline of Songhai

3.3 The Swahili Coast

3.3.1 The Rise of the Swahili City-States

3.3.2 Slavery on the Swahili Coast

3.3.3 The Contest for the Swahili Coast

3.4 The Trans-Saharan Slave Trade

3.4.1 The Role of Kanem-Bornu

3.4.2 The Arrival of Europeans

3.4.3 The Later Trans-Saharan Slave Trade

4 The Islamic World

4.1 A Connected Islamic World

4.1.1 Politics and Religion in the Ummah

4.1.2 Islamic Trade Networks

4.1.3 Technology in the Islamic World

4.2 The Ottoman Empire

4.2.1 Culture and Society

4.2.2 Expansion, Revolutions, and Reform

4.2.3 Science and Technology

4.3 The Safavid Empire

4.3.1 The Rise of the Safavid Empire

4.3.2 Establishing Shi‘ism as the State Religion

4.3.3 Safavid Government and Culture

5 Foundations of the Atlantic World

5.1 The Protestant Reformation

5.1.1 The Origins of the Protestant Reformation

5.1.2 Calvinists, Anabaptists, and Anglicans

5.1.3 The Catholic Reformation and the Wars of Religion

5.2 Crossing the Atlantic

5.2.1 The Rise of Maritime Nations

5.2.2 The Columbian Exchange

5.3 The Mercantilist Economy

5.3.1 The Rise of Mercantilism

5.3.2 Mercantilism and the Expansion of Empire

5.3.3 Mercantilism and Its Critics

5.4 The Atlantic Slave Trade

5.4.1 Slavery and the Triangular Trade

5.4.2 African and North American Slavery

5.4.3 The Economics of Slavery

6 Colonization and Economic Expansion

6.1 European Colonization in the Americas

6.1.1 Spain’s Encomienda System

6.1.2 English Settlements in North America

6.1.3 French and Dutch Settlements

6.2 The Rise of a Global Economy

6.2.1 The Seven Years’ War

6.2.2 British Influence in India

6.2.3 China’s Dominance in Trade

6.2.4 Colonial Resistance and Revolution

6.3 Capitalism and the First Industrial Revolution

6.3.1 From Mercantilism to Capitalism

6.3.2 Mechanization

6.3.3 Marxism

7 Revolutions in Europe and North America

7.1 The Enlightenment

7.1.1 The Authority of Reason

7.1.2 Natural Rights

7.1.3 Social Contract Theory

7.2 The Exchange of Ideas in the Public Sphere

7.2.1 Public Debate and Dissent

7.2.2 The Republic of Letters

7.2.3 Academies, Universities, and Intellectuals

7.3 Revolutions: America, France, and Haiti

7.3.1 The American Revolution

7.3.2 The French Revolution

7.3.3 The Haitian Revolution

7.4 Nationalism, Liberalism, Conservatism, and the Political Order

Question	Answer
the Korean alphabet, introduced by King Sejong in 1446	hangul
a late seventeenth-century Korean reform movement that promoted the study of the physical sciences and technology in order to solve practical problems	Silhak
an Islamic mystic; practitioner of Sufism, the mystical expression of Islamic faith	Sufi
society established by merchants who initially traveled to a foreign country to do business and then settled there	trade diaspora community
a Malaccan maritime law code, part of the Undang-Undang Melaka, governing the conduct of sailors and traveling merchants	Undang-Undang Laut Melaka