Aim: How were empires successfully built in the period of 1450-1750?
State Building
1450-1750
Maritime Empires
spivey.wikispaces.com
Land Empires
https://qed.princeton.edu/index.php/User:Student/Eurasian_Land_Empires_c._1700
China – 1450-1750
• Ming Dynasty (1366-1644) – Chinese Slave
Dynasty
-1366-early 1400s = Sinification and the
Treasure Voyages of Zheng He
-early 1400s-1644 = Isolationist policies
dominate supported by Neo-Confucianist
Scholar Gentry, Weaken of Mandate of Heaven
throughout this period until Manchu conquest
Qing Dynasty (1644-1911)
• A.k.a The Manchus- nomads from the north of China conquer
• Manchus had the highest positions in government but kept
the civil service exams (Neo-Confucianism)
• Maintained China’s patriarchal society and footbinding
• Han Chinese men had to wear a queue braid
• Manchus could not perform manual labor
• Intermarriage between Chinese and Manchus forbidden
• Chinese could not enter the Manchu homeland
• Technological innovation slowed
• Writing Assignment: Compare and contrast Manchu (Qing
Dynasty) rule to Mongol (Yuan Dynasty) – 2 ways similar and 2
ways different
Japan 1450-1750
• Feudal society ever since the decline of
Sinification and rise of Shogunate in 1100s
• Tokugawa Shogunate is almost completely
“isolationist” and a peaceful period so
Bushido evolves to be a “ceremonial” lifestyle
• Arrival of Buddhism from China in the 800s
and the strengthening of Zen Buddhism by the
1300s, mix with Shintoism
The Tokugawa Shogunate
(A.K.A. the Edo Period)
Excerpts from the Closed Country Edict of 1635
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Japanese ships are strictly forbidden to leave for foreign countries.
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No Japanese is permitted to go abroad. If there is anyone who attempts to do so
secretly, he must be executed. The ship so involved must be impounded and its
owner arrested, and the matter must be reported to the higher authority.
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If any Japanese returns from overseas after residing there, he must be put to
death.
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If there is any place where the teachings of the [Catholic] priests is practiced, the
two of you must order a thorough investigation.
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All incoming ships must be carefully searched for the followers of the priests.
1640- Every member of a Portuguese delegation was executed upon arrival to Japan
Some cultural achievements during the
Tokugawa Era
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Haiku poetry (17 syllable poem)
Kabuki theater (musical drama)
Woodblock art
Bunraku (plays using puppets- 3 puppeteer
operation)
http://www.ric.edu/faculty/gpamental/japan/bunraku.html
The Japanese Feudal System
Code of Bushido!
Q: Where do you see evidence of cultural diffusion in this social pyramid?
The Code of Bushido
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The Tale of the 47 Ronin demonstrates the Code of Bushido. There is a lesson that
people need to live their lives honorably.
The story is about a group of samurai who were left masterless in 1701 by the
execution of their master, for assaulting a court official whom he felt had insulted
him. After over a year of patient waiting and plotting, they succeeded in avenging
him by killing the court official. Although they had committed murder, they had
done so for that most noble of reasons (to the Japanese) - in obedience to their
duty. As a result, they were allowed an honorable death (seppuku).
The story was turned into a series of Kabuki plays
Q: What central lesson do you think the Tale of 47 Ronin is trying to convey?
http://mercury.lcs.mit.edu/~jnc//prints/47ronin.html
Women during the Tokugawa Period
• Wives had to obey their
husbands or face a death
penalty
• Women received less
education than men
• Women were encouraged
to pursue artistic and
cultural activities
• Sometimes girls were sold
into prostitution by their
families (they were less
valued than boys)
• Some gained status as
geishas who were especially
talented musicians, artists,
and conversationalists
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2102.html
Russian Empire – 1450-1750
• Largest territorial Empire – From Baltic Sea to
Pacific Ocean
• Territorially –
• 80+% in Asia (mostly empty space – Siberia,
Mongolian Steppes)
• 20% in Europe (more crowded – 80%+ of
Population in Europe)
• Cold Climate – needs a warm water port for
trade
Europe Geography – compare North, South East and West
The Rise of the Russian Empire
• Ivan III (aka Ivan the Great)
stopped paying tribute to
the Mongol Empire in 1480
• Established a strong central
government ruled by a czar
who ruled by divine right
• After the reign of Ivan the
Terrible, the Romanov
dynasty ruled Russia for 300
years
http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/history/russia/ivanthegreat.html
The Expansion of the Russian Empire
Historical Map of Russia
http://media-2.web.britannica.com/eb-media/50/3850-004-501E9B41.gif
Peter I (Peter the Great)
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Reign: 1682-1721
Strict autocrat and firm believer in military power
Began the “westernization” movement in Russia
Beard Tax
Developed “Secret Police” who prevented dissent
and supervise bureaucracy
Gained territory on eastern coast of Baltic Sea
Created first Russian navy
Moved capital from Moscow to St. Petersburg
Agriculture was the focus of the economy;
serfdom encouraged
Catherine The Great
• Reign : 1762- 1796
• Westernization policies (art,
architecture, justice)
• Reduced severe punishments for crimes
• Advanced Russia’s borders to Black Sea &
waged 2 successful wars against
Ottoman Empire
• Founded Russia’s first college of
medicine
• Brought ideas of the Enlightenment to
Russia
• Strictly enforced serfdom
Social System of the Russian Empire
CZARS
Assumed throne
By bloodline line
NOBLES
Provincial governors
SERFS – 90+% of population
Peasants; labor sources to support
economy
Based on the cartoon,
What problems are
evident in Czarist Russia?
www.ssdec.nsw.edu.au/.../images/socstructure.jpg
Is serfdom the same as slavery?
(What do you think?)
What is a Serf?
• Serf is derived from the Latin servus,
meaning slave
• Even though a serf was technically free,
he was really dependent on landowners
and in a state of servitude
Life was hard for Serfs
• Russian landlords demanded an exorbitant
amount of crops from serfs and kept the serfs
in a state of debt
• Legally landowners had to take care of serfs
• Even though cruelty against was illegal, it
happened anyway. Few landlords were
punished for this.
Characteristics of Serfdom
• Serfs were not racially different from the rest of the
population in Russia
• In theory landowners were obliged to take care of
serfs
• The status of serfdom was hereditary
• Serfs were chained, beaten, disgraced, separated
from family, and overworked. Many died young.
• Serfs needed their master’s permission to leave or to
get educated
Serf Boys
• Mostly worked on the farms and in the fields
• They were given shoes only in the winter
• Some landlords were really cruel and they put
an iron collar on the boys, as well as chains on
their feet
Serf Girls
• Less is known about female serfs than male
serfs
• It is likely they did domestic chores
• Attractive girls were selected as house
servants
• Male landlords could easily abuse them
• Tsar Alexander II abolished
serfdom in 1861
• Tsar Alexander II created a
universal military service,
and he improved the police
• He sold Alaska to the United
States in 1867
• He was assassinated in 1881
when a bomb was thrown
into his carriage by a
revolutionary group called
the Narodnaya Volya (The
People’s Will)
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bd/T...
Nikolai Turgenieff on the
Emancipation Of Russian Serfs
“I can hardly say how happy I was when I saw for the first time my dear,
beloved, and deeply respected Russian peasants free at last, and proprietors
of the land they had till then cultivated as serfs! What a change! The same
creatures, serfs yesterday, became men, conscious of their human dignity;
their aspect, their language, are those of free men.”
http://www.shsu.edu/~his_ncp/Serfeman.html
But there were still problems…
• Freed serfs were actually still indebted to their
former landlords
• There were many lands (especially those containing
firewood) that were accessible to peasants for a fee
• Peasants could get an allocation of land but would
have to pay the government (which fronted most of
the money to the landlord) over 49 years with
interest (this was cancelled in 1907)
Task: Directly compare and
contrast two of the following
labor systems:
Slavery
Serfdom
The Encomienda System