I thought it’s just because the british empire is like a plague that’s spreading everywhere…
I know this is probably a joke, but Crowns have been around for longer than Britain.
yeah I know, crowns have been there since prehistoric times. I guess it’s just the easiest way to signify authority.
If you think in English, you’ve been mind-colonised before you’re even self aware.
Did I colonize my own brain by immigrating to the US? 🤔
no choice, gotta adapt, am bilingual tho
Does everyone in the comments know this is true or just assume its true? OP please share sources for the rest of us.
There is no source bc it is wrong. East Asian countries for example oftentimes didnt have a crown like equivalent hat with same importance.
Chinese empires for example saw the robe as much more important. Usurpers would be indicated by having a emperor robe, not crown. And there are other symbols. All of them more important than the emperor hat
They never had contact ? Like when ? People travelling most of the globe way before British figured out basic stuff.
Ancient sumeria, Egypt, Assyrians and Indians had concepts like crowns. Also if a civilization did something cool, others usually copied it under 200 years.
Not a historian, so grain of salt.
Like the Aztecs? I believe the Spanish went there first and that was in 1519. But again I don’t have good knowledge of history so I’m probably wrong here.
5 seconds of Googling shows that the Aztec and Inca both had ceremonial headdress/crown for the ultimate ruler. 5 seconds of Googling about the Maya and the Seneca did not turn up anything.
Thorstein Veblen (19th century sociologist) would probably explain the crown/headdress prevalence around the world as a form of conspicuous consumption (he coined the term). The ruler wears a ridiculous and impractical headdress that “wasted” hours and hours of labor to show his dominance, wealth, prestige and ability to waste (and coerce). I’m not a sociologist but I have read his Theory of the Leisure Class and it fits very cleanly in his theory.
Now why a crown and not a breastplate, eg? No idea. Maybe it’s simply the most conspicuous and ridiculous thing one can wear that serves absolutely no practical purpose (whereas a breast plate could be useful in war)
I think you are letting yourself get fooled by the English word “coronation”. Because while it is true that coronation ceremonies are pretty universal, they mostly didn’t involve any actual coronation or crowns, which are mostly specific to the Western world for known historical reasons.
Big deal -> cool hat.
Seems straightforward to me
Good point. That is curious
Did the Mongols have crowns too?
