Empires: Administration
Driving Question: How did rulers legitimize and consolidate their power in land-based empires from c. 1450 to 1750 CE?
The large, land-based empires of the fifteenth to eighteenth century had to tackle the momentous task of consolidating, legitimizing, and maintaining power over diverse populations. In order to do this, governments around the world developed ways to collect revenue, develop militaries, and use culture and religion to retain and expand power.
Learning Objectives:
- Examine how rulers used a variety of methods, such as the use of bureaucracies, religion, art, architecture, and tribute and tax collection, to legitimize and consolidate their power in land-based empires from 1450 to 1750.
- Learn about the historical reasoning process of analyzing change and continuity over time (CCOT).
- Use a graphic biography as a microhistory to support, extend, or challenge the narratives of this period.
Vocab Terms:
- imperial
- infrastructure
- revenue
- Sikh
- sultan
- tariff
- tsar
Definitely don’t pass up the whole-class graphing portion of the CCOT activities, which helps students assess whether the changes and continuities they’ve identified are positive or negative. Students get to move around the sticky notes of other groups, which generates some lively discussions.
Understanding how things change over time is important for understanding and properly analyzing history. This activity will help you become cognizant of such changes.
Successful leaders may vary in their approach, but often there is a commonality among those who are able to hold on to (and maintain) power.
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Guiding Questions
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Before you read
Preview the questions below, and then skim the article. Be sure to look at the section headings and any images.
While you read
Look for answers to these questions:
- How did the empire of Ming China raise funds, and what was one big problem with this system?
- Besides taxing land and production, what other ways could the states in this article collect revenue?
- What did taking the title of caliph mean for rulers in the Ottoman Empire and why was this title important?
- Why did Mughal rulers—who ruled much of South Asia—have to be sensitive about making religious claims?
- What were some strategies highlighted in this article in which empires used bureaucracies and different sectors of society to help maintain their rule?
After you read
Respond to the following questions:
- To what extent does this article explain how and why various land-based empires developed and expanded from 1450 to 1750?
- Based on the information in this article, how did different rulers in different states use culture and religion to enhance their legitimacy in the eyes of their subjects?
This graphic biography provides students with a great example of how individuals challenged the power of large land-based empires. An added bonus: Qing Shih’s life as a pirate keeps students interested in the content
What can a pirate queen teach you about the expansion and power of land-based empires?
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Guiding Questions
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Before you read
Skim the full comic, paying attention to things like prominent colors, shapes, and types of text and fonts. How do you know where to start and which direction to read? What’s in the gutters (the space between panels)? Who is the focus of the comic? What big questions do you have?
While you read
Look for answers to these questions:
- How and why did Qing Shih get to Guangzhou?
- What was Guangzhou like in 1775, according to the author?
- How did Qing Shih become a pirate queen?
- How did Qing Shih strengthen the pirate confederacy? What policies did she pursue?
- The artist shows Qing Shih at the edge or towards the back of panels at the beginning of the biography, but by the end she is in the middle and front of each panel. What message is she giving through this placement?
After you read
Respond to the following questions:
- How does this graphic biography challenge the information you’ve learned thus far about the expansion and power of land-based empires from c. 1450 to 1750?
- How does this biography of Qing Shih support, extend, or challenge what you have learned about the “gunpowder empires,” and government generally, in this era?
This closer is a great way to formatively assess your students’ understanding of the tactics land-based empires used to expand and maintain control of their territories. Students will also make some real-world connections to today, which will help the content stick.
Ever heard of pin the tail on the donkey? Now it’s time to pin the state on the strategy!
