Think As Historian: THINK AS A HISTORIAN: EXPLAIN THE HISTORICAL CONCEPT Of EMPIRE

In this topic, you read about the expansion of empires between 1450 and 1750, especially in Russia, China, and Southwest, Central, and South Asia. Although it may seem obvious what an empire is, historians have thought carefully about the concept of an empire. A concept is a general, abstract idea often formed from specific instances. For example, Paul James and Tom Nairn, editors of Globalization and Violence, conceptualize “empire” this way:

“As a general phenomenon, empires extend relations of power

across territorial spaces over which they have no prior or given legal

sovereignty, and where, in one or more of the domains of economics,

politics, and culture, they gain some measure of extensive hegemony

over those spaces for the purpose of extracting or accruing value.”

Steven Howe, in his book Empire, argues that an empire typically also has diverse ethnic, national, cultural, and religious elements under its power. If you combine these conceptualizations and then break them down into their component parts, you would likely come up with these features of empires:

• extension of power over spaces in which they have no previous or legal control

• exertion of major control of economic, political, or cultural aspects of subjects

• extraction or accumulation of value as a result of domination

• control of diverse ethnic, national, cultural, and religious elements

Choose two of the following empires, and explain how well they fit with the concepts of empire outlined above.

1. Qing Dynasty 3. Safavid Empire

2. Ottoman Empire 4. Mughal Empire