4.7 WHAP

Overview of Social Hierarchies

  • Social hierarchies during the period 1450 to 1750 are examined.

  • Focus on changes rather than the existence of hierarchies.

Responses of States to Ethnic Diversity

  • Spectrum of Responses: Range from expulsion to relative tolerance.

Example: Treatment of Jews

  • Expulsion:

    • Spain and Portugal:

    • In 1492, Spain completed the Reconquista, ridding the Iberian Peninsula of Muslim rule.

    • After defeating Muslims at Granada, the Spanish Crown expelled Jews fearing they threatened Christian dominance.

    • Expelled Jews sought refuge in Portugal, only to be expelled again due to political reasons linked to a marriage alliance with Spain.

  • Tolerant Response:

    • Ottoman Empire:

    • Sultan Mehmed II welcomed displaced Jews fleeing expulsion from Spain and Portugal.

    • Jews rose to prominence in the Ottoman court and contributed to the cultural economy.

    • Despite relative tolerance, Jews were not fully equal; they were required to pay the Gia (tax for non-Muslims) and lived in designated urban areas.

Responses to Ethnic Diversity in Asian Empires

  • Qing Dynasty:

    • Established by the Manchu people, who divided ethnic groups sharply.

    • Retained Chinese Civil Service Examination but reserved top positions for Manchu individuals.

    • Required Han men to wear traditional braided cues, viewed as a sign of humiliation and foreign domination.

  • Mughal Empire:

    • Under Akbar the Great, religious and ethnic tolerance existed (e.g., funded churches, temples, and mosques).

    • Did not initially implement the Gia, reflecting a great degree of tolerance.

Impact of European Imperial Expansion

  • European states expanded maritime empires, leading to new political elites and economic opportunities.

  • The Spanish Casta System in the Americas dramatically illustrated resultant social hierarchies.

Spanish Casta System

  • Structure:

    • Peninsulares: Born in Iberian Peninsula (top of hierarchy).

    • Creoles: Of European descent but born in the New World (second in hierarchy).

    • Castas: People of mixed-race ancestry, representing various combinations of European, Indigenous, and African heritage.

      • Mestizos: Mixed European and Indigenous ancestry (top of the Castas group).

      • Mulattos: Mixed European and African ancestry.

      • Zambos: Mixed Indigenous and African ancestry.

    • Indigenous Peoples and Enslaved Africans: Formed the bottom of the hierarchy.

  • People were assigned to their levels at birth/baptism and generally could not move up, with intermarriage being a rare exception.

  • Individuals in the bottom layers of the hierarchy were often compelled to pay higher taxes and tributes, even if they could least afford them.

  • The Spanish produced detailed paintings to delineate and reinforce the categories within the casta system, such as portrayals of a zambo (a person with one black parent and one indigenous parent).

  • The casta system replaced diverse indigenous categorizations with a rigid structure dictated by Spanish elitism.

Struggle of Existing Elites

  • Russian Boyars:

    • Historical aristocrats who wielded power in Russia.

    • Under Peter the Great, they faced influence reduction; he abolished the rank of boyar and required service in bureaucracy, undermining their power.

  • Ottoman Timars:

    • Timar: Land grants to aristocrats for military service.

    • Sultans began to reclaim timars, converting them to tax farms for state revenue.

    • Result: Aristocrats became landless and powerless, losing their traditionally significant status within the empire.

Conclusion

  • The end of this historical period reveals a definitive shift in social structures due to the varied responses to ethnic diversity and imperial ambitions, reshaping hierarchies across continents and eras.