蒙古时代之后——东部亚洲海域的一个历史关键时期(1368—1420)

The Post-Mongol Age——A Pivotal Historical Period on the East Asian Seas(1368-1420)

14—15世纪之间(1368—1420),曾经笼罩欧亚的蒙古帝国在东部亚洲逐渐瓦解。这是东部亚洲国际秩序重新调整的时期,可以把它叫作"后蒙古时代"或"蒙古时代之后"。在这半个世纪中,东部亚洲海域经历了妥协、冲突、再平衡的过程,终于在1419年所谓"应永外寇"/"己亥东征"事件以及1420年朝鲜通信使赴日之后,初步形成了政治上以朝鲜"事大交邻"为枢轴,以明王朝为中心的国际秩序,经济上环东海、南海诸国,以商贾往来为主的贸易圈。从此,东部亚洲海域经由朝贡与贸易逐渐成为一个新的历史世界。一些历史学家曾经把联通欧亚的"蒙古时代"看成是世界史的开端,但蒙古时代之后,世界史却再度出现东西分离的曲折,尽管大航海时代再一次打通东西,但这个东部亚洲国际秩序的根本改变,要到19世纪中叶才出现。作为全球史/世界史一部分,1368—1420年是东部亚洲史上一个值得关注的关键时期。

Between the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries(1368-1420),the Mongol Empire,which once dominated Europe and Asia,gradually declined in East Asia.This was a period of international reordering in East Asia,or perhaps we may call it the post-Mongol age or after the Mongol-rule.During this halfcentury period,the East Asian seas underwent the course of compromise,conflicts,and rebalancing,and finally,after the so-calledei Invasion(JP.ei no gaikō)or Gihae Eastern Expedition(K.Gihae Dongjeong)in 1419 and the formal diplomatic missions(Joseon Tongsinsa)dispatched from Korea to Japan in 1420,took shape politically an initial international order that featured Chosǒn Korea’s both keeping a suzerain relationship with Ming China as the center and seeking to establish reciprocal interaction with neighboring countries such as Japan and the Ryukyus,and economically,the trade circle with merchants from different countries around the Pan-East China Sea and the South China Sea.Since then,the East Asian sea gradually became a new historical world through tribute and trade.Some historians consider the Mongol Age that connected Europe and Asia to commence world history.However,in the post-Mongol era,world history once again experienced a bumpy separation of East and West.Although the Great Age of Sail again connected East and West,it was not until the mid-nineteenth century that the East Asian Seas’international order’s fundamental transformation finally occurred.This article attempts to point out that as part of world history/global history,the period between 1368 and 1420 was a pivotal historical period worth more attention.