How did rulers legitimize and consolidate power in the Mughal Empire

AP Concept: 4.3 State Consolidation and Imperial Expansion
Key Concepts

Rulers used a variety of techniques to consolidate power
Trade competition and state rivalries threatened consolidation of power

Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman Empire (1453 - 1923) consolidated power as a centralized absolute monarchy led by sultans

Islamic religious scholars and legal experts served as administrators
As the empire grew more powerful, sultans began to remove themselves from the daily business of running an empire
the vizier in control of the bureaucracy developed more power than the sultan

The influx of silver from New World mining destabilized the empire in the 17th century

When silver from Central and South America entered Ottoman commercial networks, it broke rigid imperial trade regulations that relied on autonomous trade

Merchants created thriving black markets for Ottoman commodities, paid in silver
loss of tax revenues contributed to the weakening of the sultan

Mughal Empire

The Mughal Empire (1523 - mid-1700s) consolidated power through religious unity

Akbar created the Divine Faith, a religious blend of Hinduism and Islam, which promoted religious unity in the empire and legitimized the ruler as the head of state and religion

His promotion of cooperation between different faiths led to a flowering of artistic expression and architecture

As the Mughals grew more prosperous through Dutch and English trade, local warrior elites began to challenge Mughal authority, especially when the despotic Aurangzeb died in 1707

Without a strong central ruler, local elites asserted their independence and reduced the Mughal empire to a loose coalition of states

African States

Two powerful African states used systems of governors and officials to oversee their empires

The West African state of Songhay (1464 - 1591) appointed governors to oversee provinces and report back to the ruler

As Europeans began moving further into Africa to establish trade networks, these empires began to lose control of their subjects

The centralized West African state of Kongo (1300s - 1665) developed trade relations with the Portuguese in 1482, and gradually the Portuguese became more powerful

The Portuguese initiated slave raids in exchange for weapons
undermined the king's authority

Japan

The Tokugawa Shogunate (1600 - 1867) stabilized Japan and ended a period of civil war by controlling local warlords (daimyos) and contact with the outside world

Since constant fighting among the daimyos had led to civil war, leader Tokugawa Ieyasu required all daimyos to spend every other year at the capital
He also forbade Japanese from going to other countries, expelled all Europeans from the country, and only traded with a small number of Chinese and Dutch merchants
These limitations and strict control allowed the economy and population to grow

Empires expanded and conquered new peoples around the world, but they often had difficulties incorporating culturally, ethnically, and religiously diverse subjects, and administrating widely dispersed territories. Agents of the European powers moved into existing trade networks around the world. In Africa and the greater Indian Ocean, nascent European empires consisted mainly of interconnected trading posts and enclaves. In the Americas, European empires moved more quickly to settlement and territorial control, responding to local demographic and commercial conditions. Moreover, the creation of European empires in the Americas quickly fostered a new Atlantic trade system that included the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Around the world, empires and states of varying sizes pursued strategies of centralization, including more efficient taxation systems that placed strains on peasant producers, sometimes prompting local rebellions. Rulers used public displays of art and architecture to legitimize state power. African states shared certain characteristics with larger Eurasian empires. Changes in African and global trading patterns strengthened some West and Central African states — especially on the coast; this led to the rise of new states and contributed to the decline of states on both the coast and in the interior. [1]

I. Rulers used a variety of methods to legitimize and consolidate their power. A. An individual’s claim to have

authority over other people is not something we humans take for granted. We need a reason to obey. Coercion and force have long been a part of political power, but we yield to them out of fear or for pragmatic reasons rather than our belief that they constitute legitimate reasons for our consent. A state has political legitimacy when subjects choose to recognize its authority because it has some intrinsic validating quality. Notions used by states to legitimize their rule in this period (1450-1750) are examples of important continuities of state-building we have seen since the River Valley Civilizations in Period I. Religion and art continued to be closely connected with the political power of states.

The Safavid's use of Shiism. The Safavids rose out of the dissolution of the Timurid Empire, the state formed by the conquests of Timur, also known as Tamerlane. After his death, Timur’s empire fell to warring family members. (One of his descendants, Babur, conquered northern India and began the Mughal Empire.) In Persia, Mesopotamia, and Eastern Anatolia, the disintegrating Timurid Empire opened the way for Shi’ite sects and Sufi brotherhoods to proliferate. Taking advantage of the absence of any centralized state, Ismail—a leader from a prominent Sufi family—conquered most of these areas in the late 15th century and began the Safavid Empire. However, despite unifying Iran (Persia), much of the population did not accept their authority. After converting to Shia Islam, Safavid leaders “sought to install Shiism as the state religion so as to command the loyalty of the population.” The result was a syncretic blend of Shiism and traditional Persian beliefs. Ismail “adopted many of the forms of Persian, pre-Islamic government, including the title of Shah.” [4] He claimed to have descended not only from the Seventh Imam, [5] but also to be the reincarnation of pre-Islamic kings and prophets.[6] Ismail's religious charisma can be seen in his poetry:

Prostrate thyself! (Bow down)

Pander not to Satan
Adam has put on new clothes,
God has come. [7]

Qing imperial portraits We saw above how important rituals were to the Chinese imperial court. During the Qing dynasty these ceremonies included the use of art. Imperial portraits of emperors adorned many of the palaces inside the Forbidden City and were an important part of funeral rituals when an emperor died. We see vestiges of ancestor veneration in the fact that some emperors performed ceremonies before portraits of previous leaders of their dynasty and even kowtowed to these portraits. [16] In the public sphere, imperial portraits were utilized to enhance the legitimacy of the emperor. Portraits of emperor Kangxi, for example, often show him surrounded by books or holding a book in his hands, a representation that serves the imperial Confucian ideology that scholarship and command of knowledge merit legitimacy for an emperor. [17] Legitimacy was a crucial factor for Emperor Kangxi. As a Manchu he needed to gain respect from ethnic Chinese; promoting himself as an accomplished scholar helped win the scholar bureaucrats and gain the Mandate of Heaven in the eyes of many Chinese.

Augustus of Prima Porta. When Caesar Augustus came to power he was welcomed by the monarchists but rejected by the conservative republicans who wanted power to remain with the traditional patrician families. Augustus commissioned this work of art to assuage the fears of those republicans who believed he was a warmonger trying to consolidate his own power at the expense of the old republic. Thus he is shown raising his hand like a strong leader but not brandishing a sword. He is poised for movement but not in a threatening or aggressive way. On his breastplate is the scene of the Parthians surrendering to Rome, one of Augustus' most important military achievements that overturned a previous humiliation by the Parthians. But this was a necessary military endeavor; the gods look on approvingly, suggesting that Augustus carries out their will. Overall this statue of political propaganda showed Augustus as he wanted to be known rather than how he actually was.
The Qianlong Emperor as the Bodhisattva Mafijusrt. During the reign of the Qianlong Emperor (1736-1796) the Qing dynasty expanded the borders of China farther than they had ever been before. China also became much more multi-cultural than it had ever been. The Qianlong Emperor used imperial portraits to represent himself to each region in the culture and dress of that region. To the ethnic Chinese (the Han) he had himself painted as a great scholar and promoter of Chinese values;[18] to the Mongols of Central Asia, he was depicted as a traditional warrior of the steppes. [19] The portrait above shows him pictured as the best known bodhisattva of Tibetan Buddhism, surrounded by Buddhist symbols. For example, he "raises his right hand in the gesture of argument while supporting the wheel of the law in his left. He also holds two stems of lotus blossoms, which serve as platforms for a sutra and a sword, the attributes of Manjusri. He is pictured among 108 deities . . . who represent his Buddhist lineage." [20]

Emperor Jahangir weighs Prince Khurram. This miniature shows Mughal emperor Jahangir, son of Akbar, weighing his son against valuables such as precious gems, gold, or other important goods. In this tradition, the son's weight of these goods was given to holy men, used to fund building projects, or distributed to the poor. The picture and the tradition it depicts were part of Akbar's project of religious tolerance. The "weighing of the ruler's son" was Hindu in origin and the distribution of wealth to the poor resembled the Muslim practice of almsgiving, one of the pillars of Islam. As Muslim rulers of a predominately Hindu empire, Akbar and Jahangir were dedicated to forging strategic alliances with local Hindu rulers. This painting shows Muslim and Hindu leaders participating together in the ritual. It also demonstrates the wealth, power, and benevolence of the Mughals. [21]
Napoleon in his Study. After a little more than a decade after the French Revolution began, Napoleon Bonaparte had worked his way through the military ranks and proved himself to be a brilliant general. In 1804, taking advantage of the uncertainties and political vacuum of the revolutionary era, Napoleon made himself emperor of France. This portrait depicts Napoleon Bonaparte in that year. The artists emphasizes his role as a tireless and productive statesman. His sword is close by, but at rest on the gilded chair. The candle behind him has burned down to a stump and the clock on the wall reads 4:13 a.m. The object of his tireless labor is on the table, the Code of Napoleon, and the book on the floor is Plutarch's Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans. Its presence suggests Napoleon be included with the great leaders of antiquity.
[22]

Versailles

B. As we have seen since the earliest empires, the territorial growth of states invites the problems of ruling a large multi-ethnic empire. The most successful states found ways to incorporate ethnic and cultural minorities in a way that permitted the state to benefit from their presence while at the same time limiting their political influence. Between 1450 and 1750 there were several examples of states attempting this balancing act. Ottomans and their non-Muslim subjects After

the fall of Constantinople in 1453 the Ottoman empire absorbed the former Byzantine lands and the number of Christians under Ottoman rule greatly increased. By the middle of the 1500s the non-Muslim population of the empire reached about 40%. [23] To deal with the increasing diversity of the Empire, Mehmet II introduced what would later be called the millet system. Each millet, from the Arabic word for nation, was an autonomous zone made up of a particular religious group. [24] Each millet was permitted to chose its own leader, practice its own religion, and live by its own religious orders or rules; Sharia law did not have effect within a non-Muslim millet. For example, Orthodox Christians and Jews each had their own respective millets and lived according to their own customs. An influence on the development of non-Muslim millets was that members were not allowed to hold military or political posts. Thus their impact on the Islamic character of the Empire was limited. Consequently, Christian and Jewish millets turned to the development of craft skills, finance and brokerage. [25] They became important intermediaries in trade negotiations with merchants outside the empire benefitting the Ottoman economy. Manchus and their Chinese subjects As mentioned above, the Qing dynasty expanded Chinese territory larger than it ever had been before and ruled a population of 450 million people. [26] Unlike previous Chinese dynasties, the Qing did not impose Chinese language or culture over their subjects and thought of China as just one part of a larger Manchu empire. [27] They adopted a policy of "ruling different people differently," allowing local languages, customs, and in some cases, permitting local leaders to maintain leadership positions. Some groups had more privileges than others. Manchus, of course, were the most favored group but Chinese were allowed to take governing posts in the Confucian bureaucracy along with Manchus. The highest point to which a Chinese civil servant could rise was an executive position known as a "grand secretary." These administrators had no policy making power; however, they served as channels of communication "by ratifying, and forwarding 'memorials,' reports sent to the emperor from other central and field offices." [28] The highest central administrative positions in Beijing, of course, were reserved for Manchus. Allowing Chinese to earn positions in the bureaucracy through civil service examinations rendered Manchu rule more acceptable for Chinese. And to prevent Chinese from dominating the bureaucracy, it was much easier for Manchus to gain appointments and rise through the ranks.Spanish America and the República de Indios In colonial America, Spanish administrators sought to adapt and impose the social structure of Iberia. Back home, society was organized into large corporate groups with different levels of rights and privileges adhering to each group rather than to individuals. In the New World the Spanish likewise divided the population into two primary groups. The first group was the república de espanoles comprised of all Iberian born people, Spanish creoles, and anyone else of mixed Spanish race. The other group was the república de indios made up of the non mestizo indigenous population. This separation was initially made to protect indigenous people from the harness of the Spaniards; [29] they were divided into independent communities ruled by their own elites, and they enjoyed their own separate system of courts and laws. The system failed because of Spanish demand for indigenous labor. República de Indios were required to supply labor through the mita system to American silver mines. The became the target of the labor draft in Mexico known as the repartimiento which supplied labor to commercial farms, mines, and select private enterprises. Their required tribute payments became an important source of revenue for the Spanish colonial governments. The continued flow of people between the república de espanoles and the república de indios eventually blurred their distinctive identities. [30]C. D. II. Imperial expansion relied on the increased use of gunpowder, cannons, and armed trade to establish large empires in both hemispheres.B. Land empires grew dramatically in this era.Near the end of the previous period (600-1450) the Ming overthrew Mongol rule and set up a new Chinese dynasty. They established the previous bureaucratic/Confucian political system and sought commercial and tributary contacts with the states in Asia and the Indian Ocean. The Ming sponsored voyages, such as those led by Admiral Zheng He, to restore former Chinese preeminence in the world. In the 1430s these voyages were stopped. The Chinese government decided to devote their resources to purifying their empire and protecting them from further nomadic invasions.By the 1600s the Ming

dynasty had grown weak and corrupt. As they declined, the Manchu people across the Great Wall were expanding, unifying a strong state and borrowing Chinese bureaucratic institutions. In 1644 the Manchus entered China and easily drove all the way to Beijing where they defeated the weakened Ming and established their own rule over China, the Qing Dynasty. The Qing Dynasty would be characterized by a problem some other land-based mempires had in this time period—a minority ruling a different ethnic or religious majority. To bridge the gap between themselves and the ethnic Han Chinese, the Manchus implemented the civil service Confucian bureaucracy. Chinese were allowed to rise in the political system, and Qing Emperors adopted the Chinese title Son of Heaven. The Manchu emperors began the practice of publically performing Confucian rituals to gain political legitimization from the Chinese. For example, each year the Emperor would plow the first furrow of ground in front of the Temple of Agriculture (see above). This symbolic gesture was to ensure a good harvest. Most everything the emperor did was choreographed with Confucian ritual. The Manchu emperors continued these rituals. They also kept the classical Confucian texts as the basis of the civil service examination system. The Manchus utilized the nobles of conquered areas to help them administrate and control their growing empire. Buddhists and Muslim leaders, as well as Mongol aristocrats were given positions in the Qing. They respected local traditions by exempting Buddhist

monks and monasteries from state labor service and taxes. They respected Mongol traditions by not allowing Chinese to migrate into Mongol territory and dilute Mongol culture. Indeed, the Qing respected Tibetan, Mongol and Buddhist culture, a practice that eased the expansion of the Qing Empire into new areas. The Manchus outlined what is today the general boarders of China, and by respecting the cultures of minorities they preserved a sense of identity for many of these groups and endowed them with an enduring sense of autonomy (consider Tibet, for example). Despite the fact that ethnic Chinese were allowed to rise in the bureaucracy, the Manchus preserved the highest positions in the government for themselves. They maintained their cultural integrity by banning marriage between Manchus and Chinese. Han Chinese were forbidden to move into the Manchu homeland. They forced the Chinese to forgo the Ming style robs in favor of Manchu garments and ordered the Chinese to adopt the Manchu hair style of shaving the front of the head and braiding the long hair in the back into a queue.Much of what the Manchu accomplished resembled previous Chinese dynasties. They centralized rule through a bureaucracy. They expanded militarily far into central Asia and established tributary relations with Vietnam, Burma. Korea and Nepal. They focused China’s economic strength more on the practice of agriculture than they did commerce; the city of Canton in the south of China was the only location where trade with Europe was allowed. As new crops were transplanted from the New World, the Qing experienced a large population growth commensurate with their territorial growth. In some areas, silk production exceeded rice production and consumed all surplus labor of peasant families.The Mughals

were another Turkish group of people. They claimed descent from Genghis Khan (Mughal is a Persian term for Mongol). Like the Ottomans, they relied on a military elite armed with firearms and created a strong centralized empire organized with a bureaucracy. They expanded into the south and unified much of the India subcontinent where they ruled an empire comprised mainly of Hindus. Thus the rulers and the ruled were divided along religious lines. The most famous Mughal leader, Akbar, attempted to bridge this divide through a policy of toleration. He married Hindu princesses but did not require them to convert. Hindus were given positions in the government. He invited Christian, Hindu and Muslim scholars to peaceful open debates about the merits of their religions. He removed the religious tax on non-Muslims. Akbar created his own syncretic religion called “the divine faith” which drew on Islamic, Hindu and Zoroastrian beliefs. This religion pointed to the emperor as the leader of all faiths

in the empire. All this drew the anger of conservative Muslim teachers. Subsequent Mughal leaders fell under the sway of these conservatives and Akbar’s policy of toleration was later abandoned. Hindu temples were destroyed. Religious tension reemerged as a central problem of the Empire. During hisreign Akbar significantly reformed the Mughal bureaucracy. Previously, the Mughal emperors collected taxes by relying upon a decentralized network of local administrators called zamindars. Acting as local aristocratic landlords, they collected taxes from peasants and sent a set quota to the state. But much of this revenue never made it to the emperor. As profits from the Indian Ocean pepper trade increased, Akbar monetized the tax system (required taxes paid in currency rather than in kind) and required the peasants to sell their grain in market towns and ports for cash where oversight of taxation could be more controlled. Having been bypassed in the taxation process, the role of the zamindars as tax-collecting landlords decreased; political control was also centralized. State profits poured directly into the government’s purse. This windfall of revenue was used to fund military expeditions and to embellish the imperial courts. With the decrease role of the zamindars, Akbar began the process of political centralization. The most important beautification of the imperial courts was by emperor Shah Jahan. Jahan ruled during the commercial boom of the Mughal Empire and was flush with silver from the New World used to purchase tons of Indian pepper. He constructed the Taj Mahal in memory of his favorite wife. This architectural wonder of the world was a monument to enormous wealth of the Mughal state and displayed the power of the emperor. The Ottomans began as Turkish nomadic people, comprised of aggressive and warlike tribes who raided agricultural people. After the Mongols crushed the Seljuks, the Ottomans had room to emerge as a powerful empire. The Ottoman conquests

expanded into the Byzantine Empire, a process that culminated in the fall of Constantinople in 1453. Many former Byzantines in Anatolia converted to Islam. In the Balkans, many remained Christian. Orthodox churches were allowed to remain. Despite their territorial conflicts with Christian Europe, most Christians in the Empire were permitted to practice their faith. Jewish, Christian, and other minorities could maintain autonomous communities with their own civil laws and customs. The Ottomans recruited many non-Muslims into their elite and relied on their skills for trade and craftsmanship. In fact, a Hungarian Christian cast the cannons that allowed Mehmed II to conquer the Christian city of Constantinople.Originally military leaders were called the ghazis (elite Muslim warriors or champions: Mehmed II,

who took the city of Constantinople, used this as one of his titles). Later the military grew into a powerful cavalry. As horses need grazing land, the military machine of the Ottoman Empire was based on constant expansion. The wealth from new land grants was used to support the military elites. Thus the Ottoman Empire was strong as long as it was expanding.The practice of Devshirme (collecting, or gathering) became important to theOttoman state. Large conquered Christian communities were required to hand over a quota of young boys. They were taught Turkish and many of them converted to Islam. Many of these boys became members of the elite Janissaries. These troops came from nonMuslim homes, were raised by the state and depended on the Ottoman state rather than their families. This made them loyal warriors. The Janissaries were also the primary users of firearms, and gunpowder became an essential feature of Ottoman expansion. Ottoman Empire grew second only to Ming China in Eurasia. It was a state based on expansion, and thus military leaders were the elites (compare with China). Growth of Ottoman Empire was always seen as a threat to Western Christian Europe. Ottomans unsuccessfully laid siege to Vienna twice. As the Ottoman Empire expanded into Persia, they clashed with the Safavid Empire, the Shi’a heirs of the Persian Empire. This clash came to be an epic struggle between the Sunni and Shi’a forms of Islam. The Ottomans gain a decisive victory of the Safavids at the Battle of Chaldiran in 1514, an event that stopped the expansion of Shi’a Islam and regulated it largely to the area of present day Iran.During this era the Russians broke free from Mongol domination and began a period of territorial expansion and government reform. They embarked on an aggressive program of westernization in order to leap forward and make up for their backwardness vis-à-vis the West. The forced imposition of European culture on the aristocracy of Russia created a wide cultural difference between the upper class and the peasants, a situation that only exacerbated the social tensions between serfs and nobles that was already present.Ivan IV (The Terrible) extend

the Russian empire by defeating the Mongol stronghold city of Kazan. He motivated his soldiers by telling them they were marching as soldiers of Christ (the Mongols had converted to Islam). To commemorate this victory he commission the building of St. Basil’s Cathedral, an architectural symbol of the union of church and state.To secure the new frontier settlements to the east that had growing since Ivan IV, Russian Czars encouraged peasants to migrate to Siberia. They were provided with incentives, such as grain, seeds, and farming tools. Many peasants sought to create a better and more independent life for themselves by moving east. Fur trappers push to the east as well to take advantage in the profitable trade in furs. For the most part, however, the eastern frontier was settled by peasant migrations who were encouraged by migrate by the Russian government.C. European states created maritime empires in the Americas.

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How did rulers legitimize and consolidate power in the Mughal Empire

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