The world of 1500 Essay

Introduction

As a result, my journey from East to West, specifically through East Asia, the Middle East, and Europe in and around the year 1500, meant that I experienced a vast diversity in the social and political organization of societies. This period is known as the middle ages and is considered to be the later stages of the post-classical age. Additionally, since transportation had not developed significantly, such a trip was ideal for observing changes in practices over time. With regard to the strengths and weaknesses on a daily basis and how they were overcome, not forgetting the possible challenges that societies in this period faced as contact between parts of the world accelerated. A lot had been documented during the period before my travel, and notably, historians had argued from different perspectives as to how societies were structured during this period. This gave me extra motivation to embark on the journey that ultimately helped me outline the various aspects of the societies- East Asia, Middle East through to Europe- as encountered in the course of my journey during the specified time frame.

East Asia

My journey started off in East Asia in Japan during a period called the Sengoku period meaning the Age of Civil Wars. The emperor was the ruler of the Japanese nation and was widely considered to have a divine origin. This I found intriguing. Contrary to what many would think, the political and economic and state of the countries were the least of the emperor’s concern despite being the head of a nation (Adler 461). I learned he was primarily the highest of the religious figure in the Japanese religious setting. The political matters of the society were however in the hand of the Shogun, principally military leaders, exercising political power in place of the emperor.

An unexpected twist to the whole setup was, in spite of the power at the hands of the Shogun, they were still appointed by the emperor and subject to a ceremony that demonstrated their legitimacy. My passage in the nation coincided with the leadership of the akishaga shogunate (1336-1573). Subordinate to the shogun was the Daimyo, also with military power, were tasked with the collection of Ichimangoku (salaries). Further down under the Daimyo were the Samurai, which I later came to develop a deep liking for. Interestingly, women were allowed to serve here despite the reservation on women leadership at other positions (Adler, 467). Their loyalty and obedience were owed to the Daimyo. The code by which they served immensely appealed to me; the bushido code, a violation of which could lead to a samurai’s execution (Adler, 467).

An in-depth look at the setup of the Japanese society revealed to me some of its strengths and weaknesses. The samurai was a major demonstration of strength. As I stated earlier, they lived by a code referred to as bushido. Some of the virtues associated with the bushido I learned were fearless, displayed unquestionable loyalty, self-discipline and showed disinterest in material wealth among others. Important to note was the toughness instilled by the code among the warriors that rendered them superior to other opponents. The weakness of the Japanese nation was manifested in the governance setup of the society. Having a shogun, daimyo and the samurai meant that any of the three could challenge the emperor to a power takeover in the event they amass enough power.

The 1500 Japan faced various challenges as contacts between parts of the world accelerated. I noticed that religious pluralism- kami and Buddhist (later on infiltrated with Shinto)- was widespread in the Japanese nation. Due to disagreements on religious grounds, I came across some conflicts that amounted to the inability of the religious factions to present a united front.

Middle East

The journey towards the west further took me to Turkey, a predominantly Islamic Middle Eastern country, during which period The Sultan, an Ottoman, was the official Government (Faroqhi 31). He enjoyed the absolute power that resulted into him being involved in literally most, if not all, governmental decisions(393). The Sultan had various titles including Caliph that means a supreme temporal leader. He claimed this title for various reasons. Primarily, Turkey being a Muslim state, the Government was required to ensure the security of the Muslims with emphasis on the major Muslim holy sites, Mecca and Medina. Even more, considering that were different practices related to the Islam religion such as heterodoxy, the Sultan was a custodian of Islamic orthodoxy. This I later learned was the reason for some the numerous invasions in Muslim territories in a bid of one form of Islam seeking to root out another.

During my passage through Turkey, I learned the leadership, Sultanate, was passed from one generation to the next among the Ottomans. However, Heredity of the sultanate was not based on seniority, but rather, the most worthy of prospective inheritors hence there was an equal entitlement to the crown among all the relations of the Sultan (Faroqhi 26). Shockingly, though, in a bid to ensure that power future power struggles among disgruntled claimants were not witnessed after a worthy heir had assumed the throne, all his brothers were executed (Faroqhi 27). I found out that Land was jointly owned by a current Sultan’s family each time changing hands whenever a new sultan came into power.

The strength of the Ottomans during this period struck me. Their military had the enormousstrength that ensured them victory whenever they embarked on a land conquering mission. Moreover, they demonstrated unwavering liking for art in architecture and literature. Again, their stance for justice to all regardless of background and an unexpected tolerance for heterodoxy was an indicator of their strength. Further, their strength was evident in how elaborate their governance was about their taxing system and the control of subordinate authorities (Faroqhi 29). I noticed that the Japanese held education in high regard, another element of strength.

Their weakness however emanated from their system of government. First, asultan leadership was assisted by a vast bureaucracy, which meant that qualities and energy of a handful of individuals steered the dynasties. Second, a military-based government needed constant conquests as a justification of its strength and maintenance. Third, extreme conservatism resulted in complete disregard of emerging education and technology making the government vulnerable.

As I came to discover, the Ottoman dynasty of the 1500s was not without challenges as I came to discover. Due to the inability of merchants and producers to effectively influence the elites in leadership to facilitate changes in aninstitution, little growth was witnessed despite enormous potential of the Turkish people. That is the merchants and producers were not able to overcome the bureaucracy of the elite.

Europe

From Japan in the Middle East, my journey towards the west took me to Europe, In Netherlands. This was during the time of Erasmus of Rotterdam, regarded as one of the greatest scholars of the European Renaissance (397). The political and social organization of the Dutch Renaissance had some striking similarities to the leadership of Japan of similar period. The leadership of the nation was under the stewardship of a king, the Habsburg King of Spain. The political and social structure was a typical feudal pyramid system with a king at the top as mentioned above. In my time in the medieval Dutch, I established that all the land was owned by the king. Second to the King were the landlords, whose loyalty was pledged to the king. As a reward for their loyalty, the landlords were granted with pieces of land(Decker 64). In general, I do believe that my journey in Europe was going to be interesting if the first encounters were anything to go by.

Further down the pyramid, that also pledged their allegiance to the king in exchange for land were the knights or vassals. The Knights were also called to the King’s service in times of war. Further down and lowest on the pyramids are the peasants. These were at the service of the knights. The ruler was chosen through a system of hereditary succession. Erasmus of Rotterdam was a vocal critic of this system and regarded it risky (397). The religious composition of the 1500s Dutch was predominantly made up Catholic Christians, whose leader was the pope. The other portion of the religious composition was made up of Dutch Protestants(Decker 67). Variant feudal pyramid hierarchy placed the pope at the top of the pyramid.

Agriculture was one of the biggest strength of the 1500 Dutch. I was particularly impressed by the intensive animal husbandry. The care that the animals received was exceptional. The dairy sector was of huge significance to the success of animal husbandry and its impact in feeding the masses. In addition to agriculture, the other strength of the 1500s Dutch was largely due to shipbuilding that ultimately resulted in an explosive economic growth during the period (Decker 64). Lastly, the Dutch strength was evident in the thriving fishing industry and the Dutch textile industry.

The Dutch being a part of Spain and under the leadership of Philip 2 of Spain largely derailed the advancement of the Dutch and I saw this as a challenge on their part. As a result, Spain gained more from the hard work of the Dutch citizens. Infiltration of the Protestant religion was also a challenge to an already Catholic dominated society that resulted in a lack of consensus on some issues. The system of Government, principally monarchical, was also challenging as the leader was not chosen on the basis of merit, but based on heredity. A case example is Emperor Charles V that was appointed to leadership at a relatively young age(Decker, 62).

Conclusion

In conclusion, my journey from East Asia through to Europe was insightful and opened up my mind to the diversity in various parts of the world. The world of 1500 had societies with different systems of governance, some of which were the making of their strengths and others their weaknesses as is the case with the 1500 Japan. Also, the challenges in the countries were a product of the political and social setups. Again, I was able to witness the world civilization on a first-hand basis and not on the accounts of other scholars.

Works cited

Adler, Philip J. World Civilizations. 1st ed. Belmont, CA: Thompson,/Wadsworth.2003

Decker, Rudolf M. Ego-Documentsin the Netherlands 1500-1814. Dutch Crossing, Vol 13(39) 1989, pp61-71.

Faroqhi, Suraiya. “Agriculture and Rural Life in the Ottoman Empire (Ca 1500-1878)”. New Perspectives in Turkey 1 (1987): 3-34.