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What does it mean to legitimize power
Refers to the methods the ruler uses to communicate to all their subjects WHO is in charge
What does it mean to consolidate power
Measures a ruler uses to take power from other groups and claim it for him or herself
What were three ways that land-based empires legitimized and consolidated their power?
I. Bureaucracies and Militaries
II. Religion, Art, Architecture
III. Finance
How did land-based empires utilize bureaucracies and militaries?
I. Large Imperial Bureaucracies
II. Military Expansion
What was the Devshirme System?
A system by which the Ottomans staffed their imperial bureaucracy with highly trained individuals, most of whom were enslaved.
How did the Devshirme System show the utilization of bureaucracies and militaries?
It would generally take young Christian boys and educate them in Islamic ways in which if they received a high enough education, they would be sent to work in the Ottoman bureaucracy
The same system would supply elite soldiers known as the Janissaries, also made up of Christians
How was religion used to legitimize power?
European monarchs would rule by divine right of kings, meaning that the king or queen ruled by the apporval of Jesus himself
The Aztecs would use human sacrifice to let them know whos in charge
How was art used to legitimize power?
In Qing China, the ruler Kangxi would hang up imperial portraits of himself to convince the chinese that he was in charge.
These portraits would also depict him, a Manchu not a Han, with confucian elements in order to please the people and convince them he was “one of them”
How was architecture used to legitimize and consolidate power?
The Palace of Versailles in France let people know that whoever lived there was in charge. The king at the time would also use it to consolidate his power by having the French nobility live there.
How was financing used to legitimize and consolidate power?
The Mughal Empire had used the Zamindar system while the Ottomans had used Tax Farming
What was the Zamindar system?
Local landowners who collected taxes on behalf of the emperor as a means to not raise suspicion with his mostly Hindu people
It extended imperial authority and consolidated imperial power
What was tax farming?
The right to tax subjects in the Ottoman Empire went to the highest bidder
Whoever got that right was authorized to collect taxes from a particular group of people and they enriched themselves by collecting more taxes than were legally required, thus padding their pockets
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