Quite on the contrary, until the late XVIII century China remained the most dynamic centre of production and the biggest market. In reality, as we know now, the Ming renunciation of overseas empire building did not entail the end of Chinese predominance in the nascent world economic system. The decision placed China on the road to irreversible decline and facilitated the rise of the West.
From a traditional historiographic perspective, the Ming decision to halt the voyages and dismantle the fleet was a grave mistake. However, the truncated maritime expeditions of Zheng He (between 14) under the Ming dynasty represented the great hiatus in Chinese overseas expansion. Travelers like Zhang Qian, Fa Hsien and Xuanzang were daring trailblazers whose exploits enlarged the reach of the early Asian regional system encompassing China at its core, the Indian Ocean, Central Asia and the near East - with branches in peripheral areas, such as western Europe. On the other side of the world, China had spearheaded efforts from the East to stitch together some of those fragmented networks. The overland Silk Roads or the maritime trading routes between the Muslim world and East Asia were precursors of a proto-globalization. They were connecting worlds that had remained apart.įor sure, dislocated regional networks had existed before the Iberians, partially linking centers of civilization with one another. But they were also doing something far more important than that. True, by (re)discovering America, girding Africa, reaching Asia and circumnavigating the globe, the Iberian explorers, traders, missionaries and conquistadores extricated Europe out from a long period of introspection and limited contacts with other cultures. The early European expansion pioneered by Spain and Portugal was part of a larger narrative. Hegel concluded in the XIX century that regions not under European control were simply unworthy of attention.īut as we move from a Eurocentric to a global perspective, there is another way of telling the story. Using their superior weapons, technology and organizational capacity, the Iberian Empires - followed by the English and the Dutch - discovered, conquered and exploited large parts of the globe. They transitioned from their peak of glory to decline - and now both are experiencing a kind of re-emergence.įrom a Eurocentric point of view, the Age of Exploration is considered to be the starting point of modernity and the herald of western supremacy over the rest of the world. Most remarkably, ever since that early encounter, both countries’ fortunes followed a similar pattern. The Manila Galleon, also known in Spanish as the “Nao de China,” was its most visible symbol. There are other similarities apart from their roller coaster historical experiences.īoth China and Spain (together with Portugal) were pioneers in the rise of the first modern wave of globalization. The Spanish philosopher Ortega y Gasset once famously said that Spaniards are the Chinese of the Western World, since both nations have gone through many ups and downs but have always managed to bounce back.