Knowledge+of+major+empires+and+other+political+units+and+social+systems

3. Knowledge of major empires and other political units and social systems ◦ Aztecs: claimed authority on the basis on their military power and their connections to the Toltec culture; regulated markets with inspectors and special judges; made people pay tribute in the form of food and other goods; an emperor was thought to be a living god; prime minister held a lot of power; governing council had little power. (worksheet)
 * What are the political characteristics of the period? Examine the Aztecs, Incas, Ottoman, China, Portugal, Spain, Russia, France, England, Tokugawa, Mughal political structures.

◦ Inca: rules passed to successor while possessions were passed to male descendants; each generation needed more wealth/land so there was constant need/efforts for expansion; the kingdom was divided into four provinces each assigned a governor; local rulers (curacas) were given special privileges in exchange for their loyalty. (worksheet) ◦ Ottoman: rulers were absolute monarchs (sultan); Ottoman conquests often meant affective administration and tax relief for the peoples of ares annexed to the empire; sultans grew more distant from their subjects as their empire grew in size and wealth; the rulers followed elaborate court rituals based on the Byzantine, Persian, and Arab dynasties; administration was carried out by a large bureaucracy headed by a grand vizier. (Stearns Pgs 476-78) ◦ China: highly centralized and absolute government; strong central government and very strong Confucian beliefs; had civil service exam. (worksheet) ◦ Spain & Portugal: two absolute monarchs, Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile; unification that sought to eliminate the religious and ethnic diversity in their kingdoms; had a centralized government; depended on a professional bureaucracy usually made up of men trained as lawyers and judges. (Stearns Pg 421) ◦ Russia: Peter the Great westernized Russia; autocrat that put revolts and had no interest in parliament features; extended earlier policy of recruiting bureaucrats from outside aristocratic ranks and giving them noble titles to reward bureaucratic services; secret police that put down revolts and supervised bureaucrats. (Stearns Pgs 406-7) ◦ France: absolute monarchy with Louis XIV; reduced internal tariffs which acted as barriers to trade and created new state-run manufacture; mercantilism government should promote the internal economy to improve tax revenues and to limit imports from other nations. (Steans Pgs 391-2) ◦ England/Britain: had parliamentary government with royal family and prime minister first; they could appeal to cultural and political bonds. (Stearns Pgs 394-95) ◦ Tokugawa (Japan): shoguns ruled; ruled the City of Edo (later Tokyo); held by daimyos who were closely allied with shoguns; although many of the outlying daimyos retained their domains carefully controlled and required to pledge their personal allegiance to the shogun. (Stearns Pgs 519) ◦ Mughal: absolute monarchy; Jahangir(1605-1627) or Shan Jahan (1627-1658) administration largely in the hands of subordinates; their strong willed wives took advantage of their husbands' neglect of politics to win positions of power and influence at the Mughal Court; under Aurangzeb there were peasant uprisings and revolts by Muslim and Hindu princes; the imperial system was the growing autonomy of local leaders who diverted more revenue from the central administration into their own coffers. (Stearns Pgs 490-5) ◦ absolute monarchy; whole villages of enslaved dependents who were required to pay tribute to the ruler; ruler had an army of 20,000 slaves as a part of his household and this gave him greater power than any Kongo ruler ever held; during enslavement the warriors emerged as an important social type; excess of women from men being taken as slaves led to polygyny and the creation of large harems by rulers and merchants whose power increased and the position decreased; slavery was a widely diffused form of labor control and wealth. (Stearns Pgs 454-55) ◦ Aztec: run by men; women were not allowed in politics; women were to run household and raise warriors. (worksheet) ◦ Incas: women worked in fields, wove cloth, and cared for household; passed possessions and rights to daughter; men and women were equal in roles but due to military they were not equal. (worksheet) ◦ Ottoman: women were subordinates to father and husbands; surprisingly meager for artistic or scholarly expression; wives and concubines of rulers continued to exert influence behind the throne and remain deeply involved in palace conspiracies; ordinary women were active in trade and some in money lending; women could often invoke previsions in Islamic that protected their rights to inheritance, decent treatment by spouses, and sometimes divorce. (Stearns Pgs 488-89) ◦ China: foot binding; women were subordinate and if they dared they had the possibility to expand career opportunities; at court they played a huge role behind the scene; Hong Wu powerful female ruler; daughters of upperclass families were often taught to read and write and many composed poetry, painted, and played musical instruments; non-elite classes they became courtesans or entertainers. (Stearns Pg 512) ◦ Spain & Portugal: Isabella of Castile powerful ruler; patriarchal families; women were subordinate; women required to stay home and raise children while men were working; huge gap between higher and lower class. (worksheet) ◦ Russia: Catherine the Great powerful ruler; women took care of the home; women were isolated from society; job decided rank; born into rank but possible to marry into a higher class. (worksheet) ◦ France: women were more into the arts and literacy; women were subordinates; more marriages based on love rather than being arranged; increase job opportunities for the newly formed middle class, bourgeoisie. (worksheet) ◦ England/Britain: Elizabeth I powerful ruler; women were subordinates; non-elite women worked at home and raised the children; women of higher class participated in balls and festivities that helped them “come out” to society to help win the heart of a male suitor. (worksheet) ◦ Tokugawa: geishas and white face paint; women could be entertainers and performers; lower class women required to work in the household; hold up the thought of the perfect women. (worksheet) ◦ Muhgal: women were behind the scenes of all the court controversy; seclusion was more strictly enforced for upper class women; rarely ventured from homes unveiled and those who did risked verbal and even physical abuse; the birth of a girl was increasingly seen as a inauspicious event because of the burden of the dowry that had to be paid to marry them off. (Stearns Pg 495)
 * What are the characteristics of African kingdoms in general? Focus on one-Kongo, Benin, Oyo, Dahomey, Ashanti, Songhay.
 * Gender and empire (including the role of women in households and in politics).

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