The processes by which societies group their members and the norms that govern the interactions between these groups and between individuals influence political, economic, and cultural institutions and organization.
LEARNING OBJECTIVE
Explain how social categories, roles, and practices have been maintained or have changed over time.
HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENTS
KC 4.3.I.B - Many states, such as the Mughal and Ottoman empires, adopted practices to accommodate the ethnic and religious diversity of their subjects or to utilize the economic, political, and military contributions of different ethnic or religious groups. In other cases, states suppressed diversity or limited certain groups’ roles in society, politics, or the economy.
KC 4.2.III.A - Imperial conquests and widening global economic opportunities contributed to the formation of new political and economic elites, including in China with the transition to the Qing Dynasty and in the Americas with the rise of the Casta system.
KC 4.2.III.B - The power of existing political and economic elites fluctuated as the elites confronted new challenges to their ability to affect the policies of the increasingly powerful monarchs and leaders.
ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLES
Differential treatment of groups in society, politics, and the economy:
§ Expulsion of Jews from Spain & Portugal
§ Acceptance of Jews within the Ottoman Empire
§ restrictive policies against Han Chinese in Qing China
§ Varying status of different classes of women within the Ottoman Empire
§ Casta system in the Americas
§ Mughal suppression of diversity or limited certain groups’ roles
Existing elites:
§ Ottoman timars
§ Russian boyars
§ European nobility
The Spanish Inquisition
Fernando and Isabel founded the Spanish Inquisition in 1478
they obtained papal license to operate the institution as a royal agency.
Its original task was to ferret out those who secretly practiced Judaism or Islam
Charles V charged it with responsibility also for detecting Protestant heresy in Spain.
Application
Inquisitors usually observed rules of evidence, and they released many suspects after investigations turned up no sign of heresy.
If they detected the scent of heresy, inquisitors could be ruthless.
They sentenced hundreds of victims to hang from the gallows or burn at the stake and imprisoned many others in dank cells for extended periods of time.
The inquisition deterred nobles from adopting Protestant views out of political ambition
dhimmi (“protected people”)
In return for their loyalty and payment of a special tax known as jizya, dhimmi communities retained their personal freedom, kept their property, practiced their religion, and handled their legal affairs.
The millet system-Christians and Jews were allowed religious toleration and mixed marriages
Orthodox Christian millet was established in 1454
Orthodox Christian, Armenian Christian, Jewish and other millets existed.
Minority communities given a limited amount of power to regulate their own affairs (social and administrative functions in matters concerning birth, marriage, death, health, and education) - under the overall supremacy of the Ottoman administration.
Special taxes for non-Muslim subjects (ie. devshirme, dhimmis)
Tanzimat Reforms of 1839 and 1856 will bring legal equality
The majority of Qing officials, soldiers, merchants, and farmers were ethnically Chinese
Manchus were careful to preserve their own ethnic and cultural identity
outlawed intermarriage between Manchus and Chinese
forbade Chinese from traveling to Manchuria and from learning the Manchurian language
forced Chinese men to shave the front of their heads and grow a Manchu-style queue as a sign of submission to the dynasty
Qing rulers usually appointed Manchus to the highest political posts, they relied on the same governmental apparatus that the Ming emperors had established.
Day-to-day governance of the empire fell to scholar-bureaucrats appointed by the emperor
civil service examinations continued to be the gateway to the scholar-gentry
During the Qing dynasty the empire’s one million degree holders competed for twenty thousand official civil service positions
the system did not erect social barriers before its recruits, it provided an avenue for upward social mobility
Even though Muslim theorists universally agreed that women should have no role in public affairs and decried the involvement of women in politics as a sure sign of decadence, women played important roles in managing the Islamic empires
Ottoman “rule of women”
Süleyman the Magnificent became infatuated with Hürrem Sultana (also known as Roxelana), a concubine of Ukrainian origin.
Süleyman elevated her to the status of a legal wife, consulted her on state policies
deferred to her judgment even to the point of executing his eldest son for treason when Hürrem wanted him eliminated to secure the succession of her own child.
After Hürrem’s death, Süleyman constructed a mausoleum for her next to his own in the courtyard of the great mosque in Istanbul.
Safavid Persia
Mahd-e Olya, the wife of one shah, was the de facto ruler.
Her efforts to limit the power of the qizilbash so enraged them that they murdered her.
The aunt of another shah scolded the ruler for neglecting his duties and used her own money to raise an army to put down a revolt.
Mughal India
emperor Jahangir was content to let his wife Nur Jahan run the government
devout Muslim Aurangzeb listened to his daughter’s political advice.
Ming Loosening of Isolation
1517-first Portuguese embassy in China
1557-Portuguese gained right to trade from Macao
Jesuits-Matteo Ricci (1552-1610)
Syncretism-attempted to adapt Confucian beliefs with Roman Catholic teachings.
Introduced European scientific accomplishments to China
Cartography
astronomy
Jesuit presence in China under Kangxi
European maps, technological, scientific, and cultural developments continued to be brought to China
European medicine
Illustrated anatomical books
Pharmaceutical knowledge
Kangxi fell ill with malaria, Jesuits aided his recovery with quinine.
1689-Treaty of Nerchinsk
Russian CHinese border established at Amur River
Jesuit missionaries were interpreters
Significance:
Control of North Asia’s Pacific coast
Russian access to fur, timber and mineral rights in Siberia
Jesuits and Rome
Tolerated Confucian ancestor worship
This issue upset other christian monastic groups in China, such as the Franciscans and Dominicans
1690-the Pope sided against the Jesuits
Kangxi wrote a letter to Rome supporting the Jesuits to no avail.
The disagreement led to Kangxi expelling all missionaries who disagreed with his position. Most Jesuits signed and remained.
later Qing emperors would persecute Christians
Toleration--CCoT
Akbar (reigned 1556-1605)
pursued a policy of religious toleration that he hoped would reduce tensions between Hindu and Muslim communities in India.
Millets-existed through much of the Mughal period.
Protected religious communities
Retained their laws, traditions, and language
Aurangzeb (reigned 1659-1707)
Aurangzeb was a devout Muslim, and he broke with Akbar's policy of religious toleration.
He demolished several famous Hindu temples and replaced them with mosques.
1675-Aurangzeb’s most controversial state killing is his execution of Tegh Bahadur, the ninth Sikh guru
1679-imposed a jizya (tax on non-Muslims) on Hindus in an effort to encourage conversion to Islam.
when that project failed he slaughtered millions of Hindus (this is contested by historians)
provoked deep hostility among Hindus and enabled local leaders to organize movements to resist or even rebel against Mughal authority.
Throughout his rule, he maintained ties with Sufi communities known for their exuberant mystical practice of Islam
buried at a Sufi shrine
Some historians argue that the negative view of Aurangzeb was fostered by the British
1672--a recall of endowed lands given to Hindus
enlarged by 50 per cent the proportion of Hindus in the Mughal nobility
Plentiful evidence attests that Aurangzeb issued orders protecting Hindu and Jain temples, and granted temple associates land and other favors.
Suleiman the Magnificent reestablished a land grant system in exchange for military service
Similar to the Theme system established in the Byzantine empire
Anatolian Revolts ended in 1610 led to tax reform
Tax Farming/”timars” in Turkish-tax farmers paid specific taxes, such as customs duties, in advance in return for the privilege of collecting greater amounts from actual tax payers.
If a timar could not pay his tax for a number of years in a row, the timar was taken away from him and given to someone else
Ends hereditary landowning aristocracy
Peasants could appeal to the Sharia courts (staffed by the ulama which required lengthy training) if they believed they were being over taxed
The timar system lasted until the Tanzimat Reforms (1839)
Peter the Great's "Westernization" reforms centralized authority within Russia and challenged the boyars culturally, socially, economically, and politically
Long Beards Banned (or pay a large tax)
dress
Prohibitted:
long robes
Russian boots
long Russian knives
must wear Hungarian or German-style caftans
men must wear waistcoats, breeches, gaiters, boots, and a hat in the French or German style
women must wear petticoats, skirts, bonnets, and Western shoes.
Ended arranged marriages
Table of Ranks
jobs based on merit, not birth
imposed obligatory lifelong state service on all ranks of the nobility
established 14 equivalent grades in the military, navy, and civil service
required princes from ALL Boyar families begin at the lowest grade and work their way up the ladder
offered the privileges of nobility to anyone who performed state service and made service to the state the principal basis for privilege
During the period 1450-1750, aristocratic privileges and independence were under attack on numerous fronts, but the degree of the loss of privileges varied depending on the degree of centralization achieved within the various states in Europe. Challenges to the power of the nobility included
Standing armies:
The French and Spanish monarchs also maintained standing armies that vastly increased their power with respect to the nobility
Their armies with thousands of infantrymen were too large for individual nobles to match, and they equipped their forces with cannons that were too expensive for nobles to purchase
Centralized Legal Systems:
England and royal justice -- increased their power with respect to the nobles by subjecting them to royal justice and forcing them to comply with royal policy
Constitutional States
kingdom of England and the maritime Dutch republic
enabled merchants to flourish as never before in European experience
Absolute Monarchies (France after Louis XIII)
destroyed nobles’ castles
prohibbited walled cities
Louis XIV strongly encouraged nobility to live at Versailles, where he and his staff could keep an eye on them
1.) To what extent was the Mughal ruler Akbar’s approach to religious diversity similar to that of the Ottoman empire?
Step 1: Identify a claim/make an assertion
Step 2: cite specific evidence from the document (NO QUOTING) to support your claim
step 3: bring in outside information about the Ottoman Empire that supports your assertion / claim
2.) Identify a specific historical example from the Mughal Empire that illustrates a change in this policy over time.
document:
Source: Bada’uni’s History – section on the Mughal emperor Akbar
“Learned men of various kinds of and from every country, as well as adherents of many different religions and creeds, assembled at his court and were admitted to converse with him. Night and day people did nothing but inquire and investigate... His Majesty collected opinions of every one, especially those who were not Mohammedans [Muslims]...and collected everything which people can find in books, with a talent of selection peculiar to him and spirit of inquiry opposed to every Islamatic principle. Thus... as a result of all the influences which were brought to bear upon him, there grew... the conviction in his heart that there were sensible men in all religions and abstemious thinkers and men endowed with miraculous powers among all nations.”
Key Takeaways
A.) States at times adopted practices to accommodate the ethnic and religious diversity of their subjects
Ottoman tolerance of Jews and Christians
Mughal tolerance of other religions, especially Hinduism and Sikhism
B.) States at times suppressed diversity and limited groups’ roles
Ottoman tolerance of Jews and Christians
Mughal tolerance of other religions, especially Hinduism and Sikhism
Manchu treatment of Han Chinese
Restrictions on Castas in Americas
C.) States utilized contributions of different ethnic or religious groups
Jewish Contribution to literacy and science in Ottoman empire
Ming and Qing acceptance of Jesuit introduction of European scientific knowledge
D.) Expansion of states created new global elites
Manchu over the Han Chinese
Peninsulares and criollos in Latin America
E.) Power of existing elites fluctuated
Russian Boyars faced challenges from rising authoritarian centralized control
European nobility faced challenges from various social groups