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Introduction
In the 16th century the world became an arena of competition between aggressively
expanding empires and fiercely evangelical religions. New empires were created across oceans
and continents by dynamic civilizations determined to influence cultures very different from their
own. In this Episode, European maritime imperialism is set in the context of Russian, Chinese,
and Japanese empire-building. The reach of global imperialism is evoked through the content of a
cabinet of curiosities. The compass was a technology that made these ambitions possible.
While the compass pointed the way for Spanish penetration of the
Yucatan,
Russian expansion across Asia, Japanese forays
in Korea, and the Moghul thrust into India, it did not provide
any direction in the way that the exchanges between peoples were conducted. In most cases, when peoples of
differing cultures met face to face the results were often misunderstanding, suspicion, and bloodshed-not
unlike present-day anticipations of encounters with aliens from other planets, with. Without a compass to
direct the encounters, force alone usually determined the outcomes. In the Yucatan Peninsula, the Spanish
overwhelmed the native Maya, and in Siberia the Russians overwhelmed the indigenous tribes. The weakness of
the Japanese fleet led to continued isolation for Koreans and Japanese alike. In India, Muslim Moghuls
encountered a strong Hindu cultural tradition, ultimately producing a Muslim-Hindu cultural mix rather than
cultural submersion.
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© 1999 Turner Learning, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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