Essay Sample about Taxing and Religion in Growth Empires

People used to shape their population in time through achievements such as their trade and the building of connections. In the time period 1450-1750, land-based empires grew with the conquering of other empires and cities. Empires had major expansions in population and land. To control their rapidly growing populations they used taxing and religion. 

With the growth of an empire, they need to shape and control their population and its many different ideas and cultures. This is needed to calm down society and help them not lead to possible revolts against their new leaders. One way this was done was religiously and being tolerant of other religions. The Mughal empire was a very broad empire with many different religions in it. To shape their diversity they were religiously tolerant with their ruling class being Muslim and Sikh. This shaped their population by causing people not to revolt up and creating a sense of peace. Another form of religious control was the Ottoman Dershirme. The Ottomans would take up Christian boys from their families and raise them and train them to become janissaries. Those who happened to do well in this position got a boost in the social hierarchy of their empire. This shaped their empire by allowing taking in other religions and converting them to Islam, thus shaping their ever-growing population. 

Another way this reshaping was done was through their economics and their taxing. This change helped to increase their influence and shape their empire’s identity. Each empire had a different taxing system and different economic systems. One way empires consolidated this was through the change of currency. During this time many empires changed to paper money and allowed debt systems. This was also a way to collect taxes. One example of this is the Ming Empire and their practice of collecting their tax in the form of hard currency. These hard currencies could be items like silver and rice. Another example of the reshaping of a population was the tribute lists of Mexica. Areas that the Aztecs had conquered had to pay the Aztecs and their gods’ tributes of corn, beans, cloth, jade, feathers, and other goods. In exchange, the Aztecs let the conquered people govern themselves and in their own ways. The tributes brought great wealth to Aztec cities such as Tenochtitlán because the Aztecs would take these offerings back as a sort of tax. Another example of this is the tax farming of the Ottoman empire. They would sell off the right to tax to high bidders. This tax right brought in great revenue for the Ottoman empire. 

With the time and growth of these empires and their large population growths and changes, they each found their own way to shape their diverse and growing empires. They did this through their religion and ability to tax their people.