Social Institutions in 1500

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CF 3333 Clash of Cultures
Social Institutions in 1450
Introduction
Story: "Yellow Millet Dream" Chinese folklore from the 8^th century … Deconstructing the folk tale tells us a lot about the social order.
Family, Marriage, and Kinship Nuclear and extended families – extended very common, could be vertical or horizontal or both. Polygamy (both polygyny and polyandry) vs. monogamy Patrilineal, matrilineal, and bilateral kinship – as we move toward 1850, we see more and more bilateral reckoning of kinship Moieties (two divisions within a society), clans (groups claiming descent from a common mythical ancestor), lineages (groups claiming descent from a common known ancestor) Sodalities: non-residential, non-kin groups Age-sets and age-grades Gender groups
The Great Dichotomies Egalitarian vs. hierarchical systems Caste vs. class in hierarchical societies Mobility and status – ascribed vs. achieved. A closed system requires a cosmology that supports it! Individual vs. community Corporate "responsibility" vs. individual "identity" Individual "citizenship" vs. membership in a group of "subjects" In 1500, no societies focused on individuals, individualism. Instead, they were focused on the "community," the well-being of the whole.
World population in 1500 Total 425 million Asia 280 million (about the same percentage of total as today!) Europe 80 million Africa 46 million Americas 14 million Oceania 2 million Other 3 million ("ethnics" – estimate of tribes/bands/chiefdoms on the peripheries that would never have been censused) China 110 million India 105 million Japan 17 million Central Mexico 10-25 million Ottoman/Turkish Empire 10 million North Africa 8 million West Africa 11 million Congo area 8 million East Africa 6 million Andes (Inca) 4 million
Population of World Cities in 1500 1. Peking 672,000 2. Vijayanagar 500,000 (south India) 3. Cairo 450,000 4. Hangchow 375,000 5. Nanking 285,000 6. Canton 250,000 Tabriz 250,000 (Persian Empire) 8. Paris 225,000 . . . . . . 18. Naples 125,000 20. Venice 115,000 22 Milan 104,000 Africa Fez 125,000 Tunis 75,000 Gao 60,000 Sub-Saharan Africa Oyo 50,000 Kano 50,000 Americas Tenochtitlan 80,000 to 250,000 Texcoco 60,000 Utalan, Tzintzuntzan, Tlaxcala 40,000 – 60,000 Cuzco 45,000
Conclusion: Population in 1500 is not randomly distributed over the face of the earth. But, there are hardly any places where there are no people, except Antarctica. Peoples develop/invent different ways of being in "community."

CF 3333 Clash of Cultures

Social Institutions in 1450