4.7 - Changing Social Hierarchies from 1450-1750

Mehmed II

Ottoman leader who allowed for Jews to seek refuge after being expelled from regions in Europe

Millet system

Ottoman policy allowing religious communities limited self-government under their own leaders

Harem politics

Political influence exercised by elite women within royal households, especially in the Ottoman court

Timars

An Ottoman land revenue grant given in exchange for military service

Akbar the Great

Mughal ruler who promoted religious tolerance and ended the jizya on non-Muslims

Barbary pirates

Those who plied the seas near North Africa along the Barbary Coast

Queues

Braided hairstyle Qing rulers required Han Chinese men to wear as a loyalty symbol

Sephardic Jews

Jews who trace their heritage back to Spain

Askenazi Jews

Jews from Central and Eastern Europe

Boyars

Russian landholding aristocrats who served the tsar and controlled large numbers of serfs

Ivan IV

Russia leader also known as “Ivan the Terrible”, who killed his own son and took power from the boyars

Casta system

Colonial Latin American racial hierarchy ranking people by ancestry and birthplace

Peninsulares

People born in Spain or Portugal who held the highest status in colonial Latin America

Criollos/Creoles

People of European ancestry born in the Americas, ranked below peninsulares

Castas

People of mixed-race ancestry

Mestizos

People of mixed Indigenous and European ancestry in Spanish colonial society

Mullatos

People of mixed African and European ancestry in colonial Latin America

Zambos

People of mixed African and Indigenous ancestry in colonial Latin America