- For alternate meanings see Tribute (disambiguation)
A tribute (from Latin tribulum, contribution) is wealth one party gives to another as a sign of respect or, as was often case in historical contests, of submission or allegiance. It also incorporated certain aspects of regulated trade in goods and services between the parties under a contractual relationship formed upon duress, and based upon the potential for threats if specific performance did not occur.
A tributary is a state, colony, region, or people who pay tribute to a more powerful, suzerain state.
Various ancient states, which could be called suzerains, exacted tribute from areas they had conquered or threatened to conquer. In case of alliances, lesser parties gave tribute to the dominant parties as a sign of allegiance and for the purposes of financing the agreed projects - usually raising an army. The term may also be used on religious tax used for maintenance of temples and other sacred places.
Athens received tribute from the other cities of the Delian League. Empires of Babylon, Carthage and Rome exacted tribute from their provinces and subject kingdoms. Roman republic also exacted tribute in the form of equivalent to proportional property taxes for the purpose of waging war.
Chinese practice of tributes as trade regulation
In China the tribute system began from the earliest days to provide both an administrative means to control vassals, as well as a means for which to provide exclusive trading rights to those who paid tribute from foreign regions. The process of tribute from a foreign nation to China allowed reciprocal trade under both imperial protection and imperial regulation, and barred entry into this trade by those who did not participate. It was an integral part of the Confucian philosophy and was seen as equivalent to the familial relation of younger sons looking after older parents by devoting part of their wealth, assets, or goods to that purpose. Political marriages also existed between the Chinese empire and tribute states, such as Songtsen Gampo and Wencheng (Gyasa). China often got tribute from the states under the influence of Confucian civilization and gave them Chinese products and recognition of their authority and sovereignty in return. Sometimes Chinese support were significant in local politics.
Chinese dynasties also paid tribute to other states for aid or peace. In the Han Dynasty, Tang Dynasty and Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, the emperors paid tribute to get aid from Gokturks, Xiongnu and the KhitanLiao Dynasty to conquer All under heaven. In the Song dynasty, a tribute was given to Jurchen Jin Dynasty for peace. The Qing dynasty signed many treaties including tribute conditions after many wars, such as the Opium Wars, and the First Sino-Japanese War.
In addition, the Zheng He expeditions also carried goods to build tribute relationships between the Ming dynasty and newly discovered kingdoms.
Tribute activities takes several chapters in the Twenty-Four Histories.
Western European notions of tribute in medieval times
Raiders, like Vikings and Celtic tribes, could also exact tribute instead of raiding the place if the potential targets agreed to pay a agreed amount of valuables.
Tribute was not always money but also valuables and people that were effectively hostages kept in exchange of good behavior.
Various medieval lords required tribute from their vassals or peasants, nominally in exchange of protection to incur the costs of raising armies, or paying for free-lance mercenaries against a hostile neighbouring state. That system evolved into medieval taxation and co-existed as a secular approximation of the churchly tithe upon income.
During the Spanish Reconquista, there were period when the Christian kings were more militarily powerful than the Moors, but lacked the population to settle and defend the conquered territories. They contented with receiving tribute, the parias. Combined with commerce across the Mediterranean, it was a means for African wares like gold to enter Europe.
Tribute in the modern era
Modern elements of tribute are restricted to highly formal and ceremonial rituals: such as formal gifts being given to prove either fealty or loyalty upon the inauguration of a US or other president, a wedding of a president's children while in office; the accession of a member of a royal family, or their marriages; and even in the largely staged show business marriages, where studios, banks, and other stars prove their loyalty through expensive gifts in hope of future benefits, and if are not given will result in loss of business. Thus the element of duress and coercion seen in earlier times is part of this process, particularly in Hollywood.