Changing Social Hierarchies
Unit 4: c. 1450-1750
Main Ideas:
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Many diverse kingdoms adopted policies to utilize the different contributions of each ethnic/religious group, while others suppressed the actions of certain groups
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More imperial conquests → Power of existing elites fluctuated → Creation of new elites & hierarchies
Creation of New Hierarchies
More Imperial Conquest → States Became More Diverse → Changing Hierarchies
Key Ideas:
- Many diverse states adopted policies to accommodate for their ethnic diversity or to suppress the actions of certain ethnic/religious groups
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Mughals & Ottomans were very religiously diverse & adopted policies to utilize the contributions of each ethnic group
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Mughal zamindars were Hindu tax farmers
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Ottoman devshirme was a program of enslaving Christian boys & putting them in the Ottoman administration or army
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Some Kingdoms suppressed their diversity & only favored a certain ethnic group
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Colonial Americas favored Europeans over African slaves & indigenous Americans
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Spain favored Catholics and expelled all its Jews
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Qing Dynasty restricted actions of the Han Chinese
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More imperial conquest → Creation of new elites & social hierarchies
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As the Europeans colonized the Americas, they created a new European-dominated hierarchy called the casta system
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The power of existing elites (European nobility, Russian boyars, etc.) fluctuated as they struggled to respond to the growing power of European monarchs
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