In the 16th century a new era began with the discovery by the Portuguese of the route to India round the Cape, and the naval powers of Europe started one after another on careers of oriental conquest. The movement was maritime and affected the nations in the extreme west of Europe rather than those nearer Asia, who were under the Turkish yoke. Also the parts of Asia affected were chiefly India and the extreme East. The countries west of India, being less exposed to naval invasion, remained comparatively untouched. It will thus be seen that European (excluding Russian) power in Asia is based almost entirely on improved navigation. There was no attempt to overwhelm whole empires by pouring into them masses of troops, but commerce was combined with territorial acquisition, and a continuity of European interest secured by the presence of merchants and settlers. The course of oriental conquest followed the events of European politics, and the possessions of European powers in the East generally changed hands according to the fortunes of their masters at home. Portugal was first on the scene, and in the 16th century established a considerable littoral empire on the coasts of East Africa, India and China, fragments of which still remain, especially Goa, where Portuguese influence on the natives was considerable. Before the century was out the Dutch appeared as the successful rivals of the Portuguese, but the real struggle for supremacy in southern Asia took place between France and England about 1740-1783. Both entered India as commercial companies, but the disorganized condition of the Mogul empire necessitated the use of military force to protect their interests, and allured them to conquest. The companies gradually undertook the financial control of the districts where they traded and were recognized by the natives as political powers. The ultimate victory of England seems due less to any particular aptitude for dealing with oriental problems than to a better command of the seas and to considerations of European politics. At the end of the Napoleonic wars Portugal had Macao and Goa, Holland Java, Sumatra and other islands, France some odds and ends in India, while England emerged with Hong Kong, Singapore, Ceylon and a free hand in India. Guided by such administrators as Warren Hastings, the East India Company had assumed more and more definitely the functions of government for a great part of India. In 1809 its exclusive trading rights were taken away by Parliament, but its administrative status was thus made clearer, and when after the mutiny of 1857 it was desirable to define British authority in India there seemed nothing unnatural in declaring it to be a possession of the crown.
Another category of European possessions in Asia comprises those acquired towards the end of the 19th century, such as Indo-China (France), Burma and Wei-Hai-Wei (Britain), and Kiao-Chow (Germany). Whereas the earlier conquests were mostly the results of large half-conscious national movements working out their destinies in the East, these later ones were annexations deliberately planned by European cabinets. It seemed to be assumed that Asia was to be divided among the powers of Europe, and each was anxious to get its share or more.
The advance of Russia in Asia is entirely different from that of the other powers, since it has taken place by land and not by sea. Though the geographical extent of Russian territory and influence is enormous, she has always moved along the line of least resistance. She is a moderately strong empire lying to the north of the great Moslem states, and having for neighbours a series of very weak principalities or semi-civilized tribes. The conquest of Siberia and central Asia presented no real difficulties: Persia and Constantinople were left on one side, and Russia was defeated as soon as she was opposed by a vigorous power in the Far East. As the Russian possessions in Asia are continuous with European Russia, it is only natural that they should have been russified far more thoroughly than the British possessions have been anglicized.
There has been great difference of opinion as to the extent to which Alexander’s conquests influenced Asia, and it is equally hard to say what is the effect now being produced by Europe. Clearly such alterations as the construction of railways in nearly all parts of the continent, and the establishment of peace over formerly disturbed areas like India, are of enormous importance, and must change the life of the people. But the mental constitution of Asiatics is less easily modified than their institutions, and even Japan has assimilated European methods rather than European ideas.
(C. El.)
Authorities.—The modern bibliography of Asia, including the works of travellers and explorers since 1880, is voluminous. It is impossible to refer to all that has been written in the Survey Reports and Gazetteers of the government of India, or in the records of the Royal Asiatic Society, or the Asiatic Society, Bengal; but amongst the more important popular works are the following:—Richthofen, “China, Japan, and Korea,” vol. iv. Jour. R.G.S., China (Berlin, 1877); Regel, “Upper Oxus,” vol. i. Proc. R.G.S., 1879; Dr Bellew, Afghanistan and the Afghans (London, 1879); Nicolas Prjevalski, “Explorations in Asia,” see vols. i., ii., v., ix. and xi. of the Proc. R.G.S., 1879-1889; W. Blunt, “A Visit to Jebel Shammar,” vol ii. Proc. R.G.S., 1880; Captain W Gill, The River of Golden Sand (London, 1880); Sir R. Temple, “Central Plateau of Asia,” vol. iv. Proc. R.G.S. 1882; Baker, “A Journey of Exploration in Western Ssu-Chuan,” vol. i. Supplementary Papers R.G.S., 1882-1885; Sir C. Wilson, “Notes on Physical and Historical Geography of Asia Minor,” vol. vi. Proc. R.G.S., 1884; General J.T. Walker, “Asiatic Explorers of the Indian Survey,” vol. viii. Proc. R.G.S., 1885; Samuel Beal, Buddhist Records of the Western World (Boston, 1885); Charles Doughty, Travels in Northern Arabia (Cambridge, 1886); Travels in Arabia Deserta (Cambridge, 1888); Venukoff, “Explorations,” vol. viii. Proc. G.R.S., 1886; Ney Elias, “Explorations in Central Asia,” see vols. viii. and ix. Proc. R.G.S., 1886-1887; Arthur Carey, “Explorations in Turkestan,” see vol. ix. Proc. R.G.S., 1887; Henry Lansdell, Through Central Asia (London, 1887); Archibald Colquhoun, Report on Railway Connexion between Burma and China (London, 1887); Major C. Yate, Northern Afghanistan (Edinburgh, 1888); Captain F. Younghusband, The Heart of a Continent (London, 1893); A Journey through Manchuria, &c. (Lahore, 1888); also see vol. x. Proc. R.G.S., and vol. v. Jour. R.G.S.; Dutreuil de Rhins, L’Asie Centrale (Paris, 1889); Pierre Bonvalot, Through the Heart of Asia, trans. Pitman (London, 1889); From Paris to Tonkin, trans. Pitman (London, 1891); Roborovski, translation from Russian Invalide, October 1889, vol. xii. Proc. R.G.S.; “Central Asia,” vol. viii. Jour. R.G.S., 1896; Colonel Mark Bell, “Trade Routes of Asia,” vol. xii. Proc. R.G.S., 1890; W.W. Rockhill, “An American in Tibet,” Century Magazine, November 1890; The Land of the Lamas (London, 1891); Theodore Bent, “Hadramut,” vol. iv. Jour. R.G.S., 1894; “Southern Arabia,” vol. vi. Jour. R.G.S., 1896; “Bahrein Islands,” vol. xii. Proc. R.G.S., 1890; Grombcherski, “Explorations in Kuen Lun,” vol. xii. Proc. R.G.S., 1890; Lydekker, “The Geology of the Kashmir Valley and Chamba Territories,” vols. xiii. and xiv. Geological Survey of India; Max Müller, The Sacred Books of the East (Oxford, 1890-1894); Elisée Reclus, The Earth and its Inhabitants (series, 1890); G.W. Leitner, Dardistan; H.F. Blanford, Elementary Geography of India, Burma, and Ceylon (London, 1890); Guide to the Climate and Weather of India (London, 1889); Lord Dunmore, The Pamirs (London, 1892); A. Tissandier, Voyage au tour du monde (Paris, 1892); Lord Curzon, Persia and the Persian Question (London, 1892); Russia and the Anglo-Russian Question (London, 1889); Problems of the Far East (London, 1894); Captain Hamilton Bower, Diary of a Journey across Tibet (Calcutta, 1893); Szechenyi, Die wissenschaftlichen Ergebnisse der Reise des Grafen Béla Szechenyi in Ostasien (Wien, 1893); R.D. Oldham, “Evolution of Indian Geology,” vol. iii. Jour. R.G.S., 1894; Baron Toll, “Siberia,” vol. iii. Jour. R.G.S., 1894; Delmar Morgan, “The Mountain Systems of Central Asia,” Scottish Geological Magazine, No. 10, of 1894; Sir Frederick Goldsmid, “Persian Geography,” vol. vi. Jour. R.G.S., 1895; Warrington Smyth, “Siam,” vol. vi. Jour. R.G.S., 1895; “Siamese East Coast,” vol xi. Jour. 1898; Prince Kropotkin, “Siberian Railway,” vol. v. R.G.S. Jour., 1895; W.R. Lawrence, The Vale of Kashmir (Oxford, 1895); Captain Vaughan, “Persia,” vol. viii. Jour. R.G.S., 1896; Prince H. d’Orleans, “Yunan to India,” vol. vii. Jour. R.G.S., 1896; “Tonkin to Talifu,” vol. viii. Jour. R.G.S., 1896; Sir T. Holdich, “Ancient and Medieval Makran,” vol. vii. Jour. R.G.S., 1896; The Indian Borderland (London, 1901); India (Oxford, 1904); Colonel Woodthorpe, “Shan States,” vol. vii. Jour. R.G.S., 1896; Report of the Pamir Boundary Commission (Calcutta, 1896); St George Littledale, “Journey Across the Pamirs from North to South,” vol. iii. Jour. R.G.S., 1894, and vol. vii. Jour. R.G.S., 1896; Sir G. Robertson, The Kafirs of the Hindu Kush (London, 1896); Captain Stiffe, “Persian Gulf Trading Centres,” vols. viii., ix. and x. Jour. R.G.S., 1897; Ney Elias and Ross, A History of the Moghuls of Central Asia, from the Tarskh-i-Rastisdi of Mirza Haidar (London, 1898); Grenard, Mission scientifique sur la Haute Asie (Paris, 1898); Dr Sven Hedin, Through Asia (London, 1898); Central Asia and Tibet (1903); Geographie des Hochlandes van Pamir (Berlin, 1894); Captain M.S. Wellby, “Through Tibet,” R.G.S. Jour., September 1898; Captain P.M. Sykes, “Persian Explorations,” vol. x. Jour. R.G.S., 1898; Ten Thousand Miles in Persia (1902); Kronshin, “Old Beds of the Oxus,” Jour. R.G.S., September 1898; Sir W. Hunter, History of British India, vol. i. (London, 1898); Captain H. Deasy, “Western Tibet,” vol. ix. Jour. R.G.S.; In Tibet and Chinese Turkestan (London, 1901); A. Little, The Far East (Oxford, 1905); Captain Rawling, The Great Plateau (London, 1905); Journal of the Royal Geogl. Society, vols. xv. to xxv. (1900-1905); Colonel A. Durand, The Making of a Frontier (London, 1899); R. Cobbold, Innermost Asia (London, 1900).
(T. H. H.*)
[1] Authorities differ in their methods and results of computation of these and other similar measurements.