AP World History: Modern · Lesson 7 of 8 · Unit 4

Changing social hierarchies, 1450 to 1750

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As empires expanded across land and sea between 1450 and 1750, rulers had to decide how to govern diverse populations, manage ambitious old aristocracies, and integrate newly wealthy or victorious elites. On the AP exam, this topic frequently appears in stimulus-based multiple-choice sets featuring casta paintings or royal decrees, as well as in short-answer and essay questions comparing how land-based and maritime empires maintained control through social hierarchies.

By the end you’ll be able to

Explain how states such as the Mughal and Ottoman empires adopted practices to accommodate the ethnic and religious diversity of their subjects or to use the contributions of different groups, while other states suppressed diversity or limited certain groups’ roles.
Explain differential treatment of groups, such as the expulsion of Jews from Spain and Portugal and their acceptance in the Ottoman Empire, and restrictive policies against Han Chinese in Qing China.

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Core ideas (continued)
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What the exam asks

Every question on Topic 4.7 tests one of three core historical developments within the themes of Social Interactions and Organization (SIO) and Governance (GOV), often using the reasoning process of continuity and change:

Managing diversity: How and why some empires accommodated ethnic and religious minorities while others suppressed or expelled them.
Rise of new elites: How imperial conquests and global trade created new ruling or wealthy classes (such as Manchu bannermen in Qing China, peninsulares and creoles in the Americas, and European urban entrepreneurs).
Fluctuating power of existing elites: How traditional landed aristocracies lost autonomy to centralizing monarchs.

Core ideas

Accommodation versus suppression of diversity

Expanding empires ruled over subjects of varied faiths and ethnicities. Rulers chose between pragmatic tolerance—using the economic and administrative skills of minorities—and forced uniformity.

Empire / State	Policy Approach	Specific Historical Examples (c. 1450–c. 1750)
Ottoman Empire	Accommodation (mostly)	Organized religious minorities (Christians, Jews) into self-governing millets in exchange for the jizya tax; welcomed Sephardic Jews expelled from Spain (1492), utilizing their commercial, medical, and printing skills. Women in the royal harem (like Roxelana) also wielded significant political influence.
Mughal Empire	Accommodation $\rightarrow$ Suppression	Akbar (r. 1556–1605) abolished the jizya tax on non-Muslims, funded Hindu temples, and married Rajput princesses. Later, Aurangzeb (r. 1658–1707) reinstated the jizya and restricted Hindu practices, sparking rebellions.
Spain & Portugal	Suppression	Spain issued the Alhambra Decree (1492) expelling Jews who refused to convert to Catholicism (followed by Portugal’s expulsion edict in 1496) and later forced Muslims to convert or leave; both states used the Inquisition to police converts (conversos and moriscos).
Qing China	Suppression & Separation	The minority Manchu conquerors banned intermarriage with the majority Han Chinese, reserved the highest government posts for Manchus, and forced Han men to wear the braided queue hairstyle as a visible sign of submission.