The Rise of The Ottoman Turks The Fall of Constantinople The Spread of The Ottoman Empire The Safavid Empire The Mughal Empire

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The Muslim

Empires
•THE RISE OF THE OTTOMAN TURKS
•THE FALL OF CONSTANTINOPLE
•THE SPREAD OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE
•THE SAFAVID EMPIRE
•THE MUGHAL EMPIRE
The Ottoman Capital -- Constantinople

Anatolian Peninsula – between the Black Sea and


Mediterranean
“Golden Horn” from space
Gunpowder Empires
•Refers to Ottomans, Safavid, and
Mughal Empires
•During the 16 and beginning 17th c.
the greatest gunpowder states were
not European states but Islamic ones.
•Ottoman based in Constantinople
•Safavid – Based in Iran
•Mughal – Base in India
•Not nomadic empires
•Stable boundaries
•Religious impact
•ff
By 1500, Islam had become the dominate faith across a large part
of the world from West Africa to Southeast Asia
Three large states dominated the Muslim world in the 1500s.
The Ottomans, the Safavids and the Mughals were reaching
their peak of power
•The Turkic peoples entered Anatolia after the Mongols defeated
the Seljuk's in the middle of the 13th c.
•During the 14th and 15th c. they moved into the Balkans
•In 1453, they captured Constantinople and ended the Byzantine
Empire
•During the next two centuries they ruled much of the Middle East
Osman I (Othman): 1299-1326
•Ottomans – Turkic people who
advanced into Asia Minor during the
14th century; established an empire in
the Middle East, north Africa, and
eastern Europe that lasted until after
World War I.
•Osman I – founder of the Ottoman
empire (the Ottomans took the title of
sultan)
•Military leaders had a dominant role in
the Ottoman state, a polity geared to
war and expansion
The Ottomans
The Ottoman became more militaristic, they mastered
the use of gunpowder with muskets and cannon
The Ottoman Empire qualified as on of the first
“gunpowder empires.” These were created by
ambitious rulers who unified regions that were not
originally under their control
There success based on the use of gunpowder
The achievements of the Turkish Empire can also be
attributed to its administrative structure
The Ottoman Bureaucracy
Each millet had
a. Men of the pen its own religious
SULTAN leaders –
b. Men of the sword
responsible for
c. Men of negotiations education and
Divans - Vizier
legal matters
Heads of
Social / Military
Individual
Divans
Religious Millets

Local Administrators Muslims Jews


& Military

Landowners / Christians
Tax Collectors
Vizier – Head of the Ottoman bureaucracy; after the 15th c. often
more powerful that the sultan
Definition
Harem – was the part of the household in which
the wives and female slaves of the sultan lived.
Generally, the sultan favored one or two wives and
children over others in the harem, which caused
much strife and political intrigue in the harem
itself.
A powerful player in the politics was the queen
mother, the mother of the sultan. Generally she
emerged as a major advisor to the throne. She had
to make her son stand out from all of the other
sons in the harm.
Mehmet II: 1444-1445; 1451-1481
(“The Conqueror”)

•Defeated the Serbs at the famous


Battle of Kossovo 1389
•Mehmed II – Ottoman sultan called
the “Conqueror”, captured
Constantinople and destroy the
Byzantine Empire
•Turkish the chosen language of the
Ottoman court
The End of the Byzantine Empire
The Fall of Constantinople: 1453
The Fall of Constantinople: 1453
The Fall of Constantinople: 1453
The Fall of Constantinople: 1453
•By 1350 the Ottomans
had advanced from their
strongholds in Asia
Minor across the
Bosporus into Europe
Janissaries – Elite Soldiers of
Sultan Army
•Janissaries – young Christian youths
from conquered regions who were
trained as Ottoman infantry divisions;
became an important political influence
after the 15th century.
•Janissaries – After being converted
and educated they were enrolled in the
elite regiments. The most famous
slave-recruited army in Islamic history
•Greatest Slave Army in the Islamic
world
Janissaries – Elite Soldiers of
Sultan Army
Janissaries
The Janissary corps was an elite
group of soldiers and administrators
of the sultan’s army. In general, they
were young Christian men chosen
for their good looks and physical
abilities. After initial recruitment,
the janissaries had sons who also
inherited the right to be in the corps.
But by the early 1800s, the force had
become an undisciplined political
power of over 100,000 men – so the
sultan was forced to put its entire
membership to death!
“Golden Horn”
Europeans vs. Turks
Battle of Lepanto (1571)

Spanish fleet defeat the Ottoman and gain control of the


Mediterranean Sea
Siege of Vienna 1529 & 1683

Major Point in
History –
The Ottoman
Expansion
into Europe
was stopped
twice.
Siege of Vienna 1529 & 1683
Hagia Sophia - Istanbul
Hagia Sophia - interior
Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul
Suleiman the Magnificent:
(1520-1566)

Suleiman’s Signature

•1520-1566 – “Golden Age” – Ottoman ruled the largest empire, in


Europe and the Middle East
•Suleiman advance deeper into Europe, finally stopped at the
“Siege of Vienna”
The Golden Age of the Ottomans

Golden Age under Suleiman the Magnificent –– Know as the


“Lawgiver” to his own people.
Collection of Taxes in
Suleiman’s Court
•At its height his empire
stretched from Hungary to
Arabia and Mesopotamia and
across North Africa
•Suleiman as sultan had
absolute power, but he ruled
with the help of a grand vizier
•Ottoman law was based on the
Sharia, officials worked with
religious scholars who
interpreted the law
Qur’an Page:
Arabic Calligraphy
•Ottomans ruled diverse
peoples who had many
religions
•Like the janissaries non-
Muslim girls from Eastern
Europe were brought to
serve as slaves in wealthy
Muslim households
•They might be accepted as
members of the household
•Some were freed after the
death of their masters.
Blue Mosque
•The arts blossomed under
Suleiman
•Ottoman poets adapted
Persian and Arab models
to produce works in their
own Turkish language
•The sultans of the Empire
were patrons of Islamic art
as caliphs.
Blue Mosque - interior
Qur’an Page: The Angel Gabriel
Visits Muhammad

A surge of artistic
achievement in
textiles, rugs, and
wall hangings being
produced with
intricate and
beautiful color
schemes and Islamic
designs
Scholars at the Galata Observatory
(Suleiman’s Constantinople), 1557
•By the 1700’s European advances in
both commerce and military
technology were leaving the Ottomans
behind
•While European industry and trade
pressed ahead the aging Ottoman
empire remained dependent
agriculture
•Russia and there European powers
chipped away at Ottoman lands, while
local rulers in North Africa and
elsewhere broke away from Ottoman
control
The Ottoman Empire During the 16c
The Decline
Grand vizier and others exercised more power,
sultans retreated to their harem
Pashas became corrupt, with law and order
secondary concerns
Turkish culture became influenced by Western
standards contrary to Islamic law. Alcohol, coffee
and tobacco were used
Unrest smoldered waiting for the right moment to
flame up
Tamerlane (1336-1405)
or “Timur, the Lame”

Timur the Lame fell in early 15th c.


Savaid dynasty founded by Ismail a
descendent of Safi al-Din (thus the name
Safavid)
The Safavid (Sah SAH weed)

•The Safavids profited from the struggles of rival Turkic groups


after Mongol invasion -The Shi’a Muslims, came from a family of
Sufi preachers and mystics
Safavid Empire in Persia
Ismail and his successors called themselves shahs or kings
of the Persian Empire and considered themselves to be the
spiritual leaders of Islam not the Ottoman caliph!
The Safavids were able to seize much of present-day Iraq
and Iran
The Savavid Empire was located in modern-day Iran, which
still has a predominantly Shiite Muslim population. This
population still has many conflicts with the Sunni Muslims
of the region
The Safavid planted Shiite traditions firmly in Iran
and gave Persians a strong sense of their own identity

Tension between Shiite Safavid and Sunni Ottoman Turks arose


in several events in the history of the Persian empire.
Abbas the Great – High Point

Outstanding Safavid Shah or King was Abbas the Great


He revived the glory of ancient Persia created a powerful military
force modeled on the Ottoman Janissaries
•Abbas built a magnificent new capital at Isfahan (is fuh HAHN)
•The Shah welcomed artists, poets, and scholars to the court
•Safavid glory slowly faded after the death of Shah Abbas
•Pressure from Ottoman armies, conservative Shiite scholars
challenged the authority of the shah
•In the end Sunni Afghans rebelled and defeated imperial armies
The Safavid cuture

Isfahan the capital, the arts flourished under Shah Abba, Silk and
carpet weaving spread through the region.
•Chaldiran – Important battle between the Safavids and
Ottomans in 1514; Ottoman victory demonstrated the
importance of firearms and checked the western advance of
their Shi’a state
•Imams – Shi’a religious leaders who traced their descent to
Ali’s successors
•Mullahs – Religious leaders under the Safavids; worked to
convert all subjects to Shi’ism
• qizilbash (Redheads) – called because of colorful red
headgear – followers of Shah Ismail founder of Safavid dynasty
– Ismail imposed Shi’a as main religion
The Quick Decline of the Safavid
Shah Abbas death (power vacuum)
Shiite dissatisfied with peace with the Sunnis
Bordering nations seized territory
Afghans invaded from the East, ottoman Turks
from the West, Persia fell into a state of political
chaos and anarchy.
Persia would remain in this state for many years
The Delhi Sultanate

•Delhi sultanate lasted from 1206 until 1526


•The start of Muslim rule in northern India
The Mogul Dynasty
Founder Babur –father descended from Tamerlane
and his mother from Genghis Khan
He inherited the rule of what remained of
Tamerlanes’ empire
He established himself as the power of north India
He loved learning and culture he even wrote his
own memoirs
Babur –the “Tiger”
•Claimed descent from Genghiz
Khan and Tamerlane
•Military genius, poet and
author
•Started Mughal dynasty which
ruled from 1526 until 1857
•Swept away Delhi Sultanate,
ruled in its place
Akbar the Great
•Babur grandson
•Started (Din-i-Ilahi) – a new
religion it attempted to blend
elements of the many faiths with
which he was familiar as a means
of reconciling Hindus and Muslims
•Religion was rejected by both
Muslims and Hindus after Akbar’s
death
•Akbar the Great strengthened
Muslim rule by instituted a policy of
religious toleration
•Mughal empire declined
because of religious intolerance
Mughal Dynasty

Akbar used heavy artillery to conquer independent fortresses


across India
Akbar created the greatest empire in India since the Mauryan
dynasty
Moguls were Muslims ruling a Hindu nation
•Mughal dynasty – Established
by Turkic invaders in 1526;
endured until the middle of the
19th century
•Akbar the Great (1556-1605)–
built up the military and
administrative structure of the
dynasty followed policies of
cooperation and toleration with
the Hindu majority
•Outlawed Sati – Ritual burning
of high-caste Hindu women on
their husband’s funeral pyres
The Decline of the Mughal Empire
Akbar died in 1605 his son Jahangir fell under the
influence of one of his wives in his harem arranged
marriage to her son.
Shah Jahan began the decline – spent too much on the
construction of the Taj Mahal in his wife's honor
completely draining the treasure
His son ruled after him forbade suttee and was not
tolerant of other religions
Mogul and British trading increased, British army under
Sir Robert Clive defeated Mogul army, gradually British
forced dominated India until 1947
•Taj Mahal (1650)– Mausoleum for Mumtaz Mahal, built by her
husband Shah Jahan; most famous architectural achievement of
Mughal India
• Mumtaz Mahal – Wife of Shah Jahan; took an active political
role in Mughal court; entombed in Taj Mahal
Hindu-Muslim Differences
Hinduism
•Ancient religion evolved
Muslims
over thousand of years •Devout monotheists, saw the
statues and carvings in Hindu
•Many sacred texts, many
temples as an offense to the
gods and goddesses
one true god
•Hindus accepted
•Muslims taught the equality of
differences in castes and
all believers before God no
honored Brahmans as a
religious hierarchy
priestly caste
•Muslims condemned that
•Hindus celebrated religious
practice
occasions with music and
dance
The Least You Need To
Know
The Ottoman Turks emerged from central
Asia to create an empire out of the
territories of the Middle East, North Africa,
and eastern Europe
Sulieman the Magnificent was the most able
of all of the Ottoman sultans his reign also
marked the high point in Ottoman power
and culture
Continued
The Safavid dynasty came out of the political
chaos and anarchy of Persia to dominate the
region and create a short-lived empire
The Mughals established an empire which
united the Hindu and Muslim kingdoms in
India for over 300 years

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