POSSIBLE (not complete) IDEAS FOR AN ESSAY ON POLITICS
JAPAN
Continuities: feudal system (details needed); shogunates/samurai system; confucianism with govt., decentralized power
Changes: Tokugawa Shogunate; closing of Japan, influence of Europeans
CHINA
Continuities: Dynasties and Emperors; land empire (centralized, agriculture, defense first); Confucianism scholar gentry,
vulnerable to attack from central Asia
Changes: Qing Empire, govt. friendship with Jesuits, land empire/power grows weaker, Canton system, borders
OTTOMAN
Continuities: long-lasting empire; sultans used; devshirme/janissaries (for most of the period); gunpowder land empire
(details: centralized, agriculture, defense, expensive, lots of diff. faiths…), isolated from new ideas, Muslim power
Changes: devshirme/janissaries lose power-disappear; sultans grow weaker; land empire loses power, superior attitude
fades, Europeans get increasingly involved in government and trade
SAFAVID
Continuities: Shah; Muslim- Shi’ite; superior attitude-inward looking-isolated from new ideas; gunpowder land empire
(centralized, agriculture, defense, expensive lots of diff faiths…),
Changes: Shahs grow weaker, Europe gets involved, less interested in outside world, fell behind in technology
INDIA
Continuities: Muslim-based power, land empire, no navy, Muslim-Hindu tensions affect government, smaller powers
Changes: Akbar and tolerance (details needed); Aurangzeb makes poor decisions, fell, Europe became dominant
Historical Context:
BIG IDEAS: Sea power/European rising – affecting the empires (although in different ways), centralized power is
waning/land empires waning, Jesuit influence and concern for power, “superior” belief hurts you
SIM/DIFF: Gunpowder empires all have Muslim power; Ottoman/Mughal have a large percentage of population who are
not Muslim – how to deal with that (Jizra or land grants); Japan/China use Confucian/Buddhist ideals, Jesuit influence in
China vs. Japan