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 ASIA 15 ment of Mohammedanism in Constantinople, Bernardo Diaz doubled the Cape of Good Hope (I486). Two years later Vasco da Gama ar- rived at Calicut, and afterward Almeida and Albuquerque were sent out and formed Por- tuguese settlements, Goa being captured and made their capital (1510). At this period China was in the hands of a Chinese dynasty, which had been established in 1358 by the ex- tirpation of the Tartar rulers. In central Asia the thrones of Samarcand, Ispahan, Afghan- istan, and Khorasan were filled by descendants of Genghis or Tamerlane. A number of petty chiefs maintained their independence ; and the Uzbecks, the successors to the country of the Turks, harassed all the territories within their reach. In Persia the first of the Sufi dynasty had just ascended the throne. Albuquerque directed a successful expedition against Ma- lacca, where he received the submission of Pegu and Siam. He also seized Ormuz at the mouth of the Persian gulf. A Portuguese embassy was sent to China, and the Portuguese having gained the favor of the court of Peking by extirpating a band of pirates that infested the coast, permission was given them to settle at Macao. From this point and from Goa they directed their operations, and in 50 years were masters of the Spice Islands, and monopolized the whole trade of the eastern ocean. The subjugation of northern India by the emperor Baber in 1526, and a succession of able princes, consolidated the empire of the Moguls in India. Abbas the Great, shah of Persia (1587-1628), raised the Persian empire to its highest pitch of modern greatness. The brilliant successes of the Portuguese in India inspired adventurers of other nations with hopes of wealth. But it was not till 1600 that the English East India company was formed, and in 1612 English factories were established by leave of the native authorities at Surat, Ahmedabad, Cam- bay, and Gogo. In 1644 the native dynasty of the Chinese was terminated by the rebellion of the mandarin Li-tse-ching, and the Man- tchoo Tartars again ruled the vast empire of China. About the same time the settlement of Madras was founded by the East India com- pany, and subsequently the factory at Cal- cutta; and in 1661 the Portuguese ceded to the English the island of Bombay. The East India company, which had been unsuccessful as a trading undertaking, was reorganized, and in 1708 a new body of adventurers was formed, and admitted to a participation in its rights and privileges. This body was destined before the lapse of a century to acquire and con- solidate a larger and more powerful empire than had ever been governed by the Moguls in India. Dutch and French trading companies had also obtained a footing in India. On the death of Aurunszebe in 1707, the affairs of the empire had rapidly fallen into confusion. The various rajahs became virtually independent,, and the Mahrattas, who first appeared as free- booters during the reign of Aurungzebe, ex- 54 VOL. ii. 2 tended their dominions across the peninsula. In 1746, war having broken out between Eng- land and France, Labonrdonnaie, the French governor of Mauritius, conducted an expedi- tion against Madras, the chief British settle- ment in India, which capitulated on the under- standing that it should be ransomed. Dupleix, governor of the French settlement of Pondi- cherry, conceived the scheme of consolidating the states of Hindostan into one mighty empire, and with the aid of native allies was at first successful against the English ; but Clive saved the menaced existence of the East India com- pany, and by 1760 the British had subdued the finest provinces of Bengal, Behar, and part of Orissa. From that time the limits of the British empire in India have steadily increased. A great revolt of the natives was put down in 1857-'8, and the government was imme- diately afterward transferred from the East India company directly to the crown. In the north a few Cossacks brought Siberia under Russian dominion toward the close of the 16th century, and Peter the Great obtained a foot- hold in central Asia by assisting the shah of Persia against the Afghans. A plot concocted with Turkey for the dismemberment of the Persian kingdom was defeated by the energy of the usurper Nadir Shah, who for a brief space restored the waning glories of the Persian name, and passing the Indus pursued a career of conquest as far as Delhi. During his return he was murdered by mutineers (1747), and again the Persian empire was dismembered, Afghan- istan being erected into an independent king- dom by Ahmed, one of Nadir's followers. The Russians have during the present century gradually extended their power, consolidating their rule over the Caucasian regions, and ac- quiring new possessions on the Aras, the Amoor, and the Jaxartes. Turkey has had conflicts with Russia, Persia, and her own vassal, Mehemet AH of Egypt, but has es- caped without a considerable loss of terri- tory. Persia has been constantly declining, and has lately suffered a terrible depopulation from famine. China has seen foreign enemies in her capital, and half her territory ravaged by a powerful insurrection. Japan has been compelled to open her ports and cities to the abhorred occidentals. Afghanistan has been torn by foreign and domestic wars. Arabia has witnessed the overthrow of the Wahabites, and several minor conflicts, but is on the whole as isolated and unsubdued as ever. What was formerly Independent Tartary is now half re- duced by Russia. The political influences of Asia are balanced by British supremacy in the south and Russian in the north. These two great powers have long antagonized each other at the court of Persia, the key to central Asia and northern India. In China, Russian influ- ence is perhaps greater than that of any other nation. In the west, Turkey keeps up the ap- pearance of a great power, but her influence in general Asiatic affairs is a cipher.