o Overview
-> Colonial ancestry and status
-> Qing conquest and elites
-> Commerce and social mobility
o Colonial ancestry and status
-> Spanish American casta labels ranked perceived ancestry.
-> Peninsulares were Spain-born; creoles had American birth.
-> Both claimed Spanish descent; birthplace shaped office access.
-> Mestizo described mixed European and Indigenous ancestry.
-> Mulatto labeled mixed African and European ancestry.
-> Wealth, gender, and legal status also shaped local rank.
o Qing conquest and elites
-> Manchu rulers took Beijing in 1644, extending Qing rule.
-> Conquest created a privileged Manchu military-political elite.
-> Han men faced the imposed queue hairstyle as a loyalty sign.
-> Qing rulers also employed Han scholar-officials in government.
-> Confucian institutions helped win established elites' support.
-> Ethnic distinctions persisted within a shared administration.
o Commerce and social mobility
-> Atlantic commerce enriched merchants and colonial landowners.
-> Plantations and mines concentrated wealth among proprietors.
-> Enslaved workers produced profits without equal legal rights.
-> Trade wealth could raise status but did not erase ancestry.
-> New elites emerged alongside older religious and landed ranks.
o Overview
-> Accommodation and exclusion
-> Monarchs and older elites
-> Gender and unequal status
o Accommodation and exclusion
-> Akbar recruited Hindu Rajputs into Mughal imperial service.
-> Cooperation brought local military and administrative support.
-> Ottoman rulers allowed many Jewish and Christian communities.
-> Protected status did not mean equal taxes or legal standing.
-> Spain expelled Jews in 1492; Portugal forced baptism in 1497.
-> Ottoman lands received Jewish refugees with commercial skills.
o Monarchs and older elites
-> Russian boyars were established aristocratic landholders.
-> Tsars tied noble privileges to service and tightened control.
-> Nobles still exercised power over dependent peasants.
-> Timars assigned revenue rights in return for cavalry service.
-> French nobles' Fronde failed to halt royal centralization.
-> European nobles retained rank despite stronger royal officers.
o Gender and unequal status
-> Patriarchal households remained widespread across empires.
-> Ottoman women's status varied by wealth, rank, and community.
-> Hurrem, Suleyman's wife, funded schools and a hospital.
-> Ancestry and slavery compounded colonial gender inequality.
-> Neither imperial diversity nor elite wealth ensured equality.