Ottoman vs. Spanish Empire Essay Example

During the time period from 1450 to 1800, two powerful empires were in the process of being built. These two empires were the Ottoman Empire and the Spanish Empire. During the building process of their empires, the Ottoman and the Spanish both developed many similarities in their political, social, and economic affairs. A similarity between these empires was that they both had some type of slave system. Even though they did have some things in common there were also many differences that were between these empires. Some differences between these two were that the Ottomans had the devshirme slave system and the Spanish had the encomienda system. The devshirme system was the practice in which the Ottomans recruited and then forcibly took Christian boys from their families and put them in Ottoman society. These Christian boys were called Janissaries. The Janissaries were converted to Islam and trained so that they could obtain a high position in society such as being a military leader or a high administrator. The reason for this system was that the Ottomans wanted to have the most able men trained to lead the empire. The encomienda system was a practice employed by the Spanish during the colonization of the Americas. It was used to regulate Native American labor. In this system, Spanish-Americans were given grants from Spain for which they had to take care of a certain number of Native Americans. These men that were given grants were instructed to teach the natives the Spanish language and convert them to Christianity. In return, these men were allowed to take tribute from the natives in the form of labor and gold. This system was alike to the devshirme system because the Native Americans and the Janissaries were both converted to the religion of the empires that they were living under. During this time period this was done because religion was one of the most important aspects of many societies. One of the most important similarities between the Ottoman and the