Chapter 13: Political Transformations

Chapter 13: Political Transformations

For the majority of the chapter, a trend I noticed was that Strayer often compared the expansion
of Europe with Russia and Asia, so I wanted to focus mainly on that for today’s blog.

Europe:

In this chapter, Strayer focused on British colonization, Spanish colonization, and Brazilian

Portuguese colonization for Europe’s expansion. For the British colonists, one of their main goals for

staying in the Americas was to escape from old European society. They were less interested than

Spain in spreading Christianity. They were more or less independent because the British Parliament

paid them little attention. This was because, at first, the British thought that the lands they acquired

were “unpromising leftovers” that the Spaniards chose not to take. As a result, there was a tradition

of local self-government. There were a lot of British settlers, and they came with women too, so there

wasn’t a lot of intermarriage and racial mixing.

Next, we have Spanish colonization in the lands of the Incas and Aztecs. The economic

foundation for Spanish colonization was commercial agriculture and mining for precious metals:

silver and gold. They acquired forced labor from native people in encomienda. In this system, natives

had to pay tribute or provide labor or produce; in exchange, the colonists would provide protection

and education in Christianity. Later on, natives got paid in low wages and high taxes. There was a

hierarchy with male spaniards at the top, but even that community was divided. The mixed

community was large. Although it was treated lower than pure blood, a mestizo still had the ability to

become wealthy. At the bottom of the hierarchy were the Indians. Education and wealth ensured that

someone could move up the hierarchy.

Lastly, in Brazil and the Caribbean, there was a profitable business found in sugar. It could be

used for medicine, spices, sweeteners, and preservatives, so it was very useful. This was the first

modern industry that produced for both an international and mass market. Many slaves had to be

imported because the conditions for growing sugar were harsh and many died in the process. There

was a lot of racial mixing due to the high volume of slaves imported. These mixed race babies were

called mulattoes. Class status was determined by skin color, education, and economic standing.

Russia:

Russia’s empire was huge. They expanded to the south due to security, since they often

experienced raids from pastoral people. They expanded east to Siberia because they wanted to profit

from animal fur. As Russians incorporated people into their lands, they made them swear allegiance

to their tzar and pay tribute. The conversion to Christianity also ensured tax breaks, exemption from

tribute, and land. Many of the states were converted to Russian culture and language. Russia’s

expansion to the west was due to military rivalries. After contact with Western Europe, they realized

their backwardness and pursued modernization in education and manufacturing. What made Russia

different from the west was how it acquired its lands. The west acquired lands they have not known

of before, and they did this after they had already established themselves. Meanwhile, Russia

acquired adjacent territories, and they did this while their state was still taking form.

China:

At this time, China was conquered by Manchuria, a foreign and nomadic people. They forbid intermarriage between themselves and the Chinese. China has interacted with nomadic people for a while, so when the Manchu dynasty tried to conquer the lands of Mongolia, Xinjiang, and Tibet, the cultures have known each other. This contrasts with the Americas, where Native populations were decimated due to the lack of exposure to the colonists. The Chinese did not think of this expansion as empire building, but rather as a unification of central Eurasia. It was also mainly started for security reasons. The Manchu did not seek to assimilate the people of the regions they conquered into Chinese culture.

Note: I tried not to mention women too much in the comparisons above because I wanted to make a separate paragraph about them. As usual, they are marginalized. Throughout the chapter, Strayer provided examples of their oppressed state: lack of property, not being able to speak for themselves in court, being subject to sexual abuse, etc. The only equality they received at this time was equality in suffering as a slave or a minority. As I read through the chapter, I was reminded that woman = low status, and minority = low status, but minority woman = lowest status. I was reminded about how lucky I am to live today in 2018 where the situation is not severe. I’m sure that if I talked to someone who kept up with women’s rights and the news religiously, they could still tell me some outrageous things I didn’t know about; however, overall, I think that our situation has improved greatly.

Thank you for reading and have a wonderful day!