Changing SOCIAL HIERARCHIES, 1450-1750 [AP World History Review—Unit 4 Topic 7]

States during this period responded to ethnic diversity in various ways, from expulsion to relative tolerance. The treatment of Jews provides a clear example: Spain and Portugal expelled Jews following the Reconquista, driven by fears of religious impurity, while the Ottoman Empire under Sultan Mehmed II offered asylum, leading to Jewish integration though without full equality (they paid the Jizya tax and lived in designated areas). The Qing Dynasty, established by Manchu outsiders, maintained a sharp division between ethnic Manchu and Han Chinese, reserving high positions for Manchus and imposing symbols of foreign domination like the braided queue on Han men. In contrast, Akbar the Great of the Mughal Empire showed profound tolerance, funding various religious structures and even temporarily abolishing the Jizya tax.

The expansion of maritime empires and global trade led to the rise of new political elites. The Spanish Casta system in the Americas is a dramatic example. Traditional Spanish nobility rarely migrated; instead, conquistadors established a new social hierarchy based on race and heredity. Peninsulares (born in Spain) were at the top, followed by Creoles (European descent, born in the Americas). Below them were various castes based on mixed ancestry, like Mestizos (European and Indigenous) and Mulattos (European and African), with enslaved Africans and Indigenous peoples at the bottom. This system erased much of the pre-existing cultural complexity of native peoples.

While new elites were rising, existing elites in other regions struggled to maintain their power. In Russia, Peter the Great diminished the power of the Boyars (aristocratic landowners) by abolishing their rank and requiring direct state service for bureaucratic employment. Similarly, in the Ottoman Empire, the Timar system, which granted land to aristocrats for government service, was gradually converted into tax farms by the 16th century, directing revenue straight to the state and thereby stripping the Timar holders of their wealth and influence.