Asia

November 2012 Book by Chia-Hui Francis Lin, PhD, The University of Melbourne, Australia, first published by East Asia Integration Studies: http://asianintegration.org/index.php?option=com_joomlib&task=view&id=88&Itemid=75

Arthur Cotterell, currently residing in England, was a former Principal of Kingston College in London. He has spent many years combining senior educational management with historical research. Arthur currently spends most of his time on writing, and travels extensively throughout Asia. Arthur is the respected author of more than thirty books. His most recent publications include, The Imperial Capitals of China, Leadership and Chariot.

Preface xi Introduction xiii List of Maps xx Photo Credits xxi Part 1: Ancient Asia 1 Chapter 1: Ancient West Asia 3 The First Civilisation: Sumer 3 The Great Empires: Babylon, Assyria and Persia 12 Understanding the World: Religion and Myth 21 Endgame: Greco-Roman Europe Versus Persian Asia 30 Chapter 2: Ancient South Asia 41 Asias Second Civilisation: The Indus Valley 41 Epic India: The Aryan Invasion 49 The Buddhist Revolution: The Mauryan Empire 55 The Age of Invasion: From the Bactrians to the Huns 64 Chapter 3: Ancient East Asia 74 The Cradle of the East: The Shang Dynasty 74 Classical China: The Zhou Dynasty 82 Imperial Unification: The Qin and Former Han Emperors 90 Imperial Crisis: The Failure of the Later Han 100 Chapter 4: Ancient Central Asia 107 The Steppe: An Intercontinental Highway 107 Nomads: The Scourge of the Sown 116 The Spread of Buddhism: The First Pan-Asian Faith 126 The Great Raid: Attila the Hun 135 Part 2: Medieval Asia 141 Chapter 5: Medieval West Asia 143 Islam: The Second Pan-Asian Faith 143 The Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphates 151 The Coming of the Seljuks 157 The Crusades 161 Safavid Persia 166 The Ottoman Empire 171 Chapter 6: Medieval South Asia 178 The Arrival of Islam 178 The Hindu and Buddhist Kingdoms 186 The Mughal Empire 192 European Rivalry 202 The British Triumph 210 Chapter 7: Medieval East Asia 213 Tang and Song China 213 Confucian Korea 225 Feudal Japan 230 The Ming Revival 239 Chapter 8: Medieval Central Asia 246 The Turks and the Qidans 246 The Tibetan Empire 251 The Mongol Empire 256 Tamerlane, the Sword of Islam 267 The Manchu Conquests 271 Chapter 9: Medieval Southeast Asia 277 Independent Vietnam 277 The Khmer Empire 282 The Kingdoms of Burma 289 The Island Powers: Srivijaya, Mataram and Majapahit 293 The Slow Spread of Islam 300 The Advent of European Power 302 The Rise of the Thai 307 Part 3: Modern Asia 315 Chapter 10: Modern West Asia 317 The Fall of the Ottoman Empire 317 Between World Wars 322 The Founding of Israel 327 Syria, Lebanon and Jordan 328 Iraq versus Iran 330 Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States 335 Modern Turkey 336 Chapter 11: Modern South Asia 339 The British Raj 339 The Indian Mutiny 344 The End of Company Rule 351 Gandhi and Indian Nationalism 353 Independence and Partition 358 Sri Lanka and Bangladesh 360 Chapter 12: Modern East Asia 363 Chinas Humiliation 363 Japanese Imperialism 369 The Peoples Republic of China 378 The Korean War 382 The Rise of the Pacific Rim 384 Chapter 13: Modern Central Asia 386 The Russian Advance 386 The Great Game 393 Afghanistan, the Land of Bones 397 Siberia and Mongolia 400 The Central Asian Republics 403 Chapter 14: Modern Southeast Asia 407 The Dutch East Indies 407 The British Possessions 410 French Indochina and Thailand 415 The Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere 419 Post-War Decolonisation 423 The Republic of Indonesia 427 The Tragedy of Vietnam 430 Filipino Democracy 434 Postscript: The Rise of Present-Day Asia 437 Glossary 441 Further Reading 444 Index 453