Empires: Administrations
The state of monarchy is the supremest thing upon earth: for kings are not only God’s lieutenants upon earth, and sit upon God’s throne, but even by God himself they are called gods.
—King James I (1566–1625)
Learning Objectives
- B: Explain how rulers used a variety of methods to legitimize and consolidate their power in land-based empires from 1450 to 1750.
By the end of the 16th century, centralization of power by controlling taxes,
the army, and some aspects of religion coalesced into a system of government that led to a powerful monarch in England and absolute monarchy in France. In other states, different methods were used to solidify authority: building temples, as with the Inca; paying the military elite a salary, as with the samurai in Japan; and forcibly establishing a captive governmental bureaucracy, as with the Ottoman devshirme system.
Rulers of empires in the years 1450 to 1750 developed methods for assuring they maintained control of all the regions of their empires. Some of the successful methods included using bureaucratic elites to oversee sections of the empire and developing a professional military.
Sections
Centralizing Control in Europe
Reigning in Control of the Russian Empire
Centralizing Control in the Ottoman Empire
Centralizing Control in East and South Asia
Legitimizing Power through Religion and Art
Financing Empires
Think As a Historian: THINK AS A HISTORIAN: CONTEXTUALIZING ACROSS CULTURES
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Reflect
REFLECT ON THE TOPIC ESSENTIAL QUESTION
1. In one to three paragraphs, explain how rulers in land-based empires legitimized and consolidated their power from 1450 to 1750.
AP Exam Practice
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