Muslim Empire

Thong Nguyen

Mr. Garrison

World History

Feb. 9, 2018

Chapter 8 Outline

1. Section 1: The Ottoman Empire

1. Rise of the Ottoman Turks

1. The Ottoman dynasty began in the late 13th century when Turks under leader Osman were given land in the NW corner of the Anatolian Peninsula by the Seljuk Turks in return for help fighting the Mongols.
2. Ottomans expanded westward to control Bosporus and the Dardanelles.
3. These two straits, separated by the Sea of Marmara, connect the Black Sea and the Aegean Sea.
4. Expanded into the Balkans in the 14th century.
5. Leaders became known as sultan and built a strong military.
6. 1st developed an elite guard called janissaries, local Christians who converted to Islam and served as foot soldiers or administrators.
7. With the use of new technology, firearms, Ottoman control spread.
8. Around 1400 they advanced north.
9. Defeated the Serbs and annexed Bulgaria.

1. Expansion of the Empire

1. Over the next 300 years, Ottoman rule expanded into Western Asia, North Africa, and Europe.
2. After 2 months, the Ottomans breached the walls and sacked the city for 3 days.
3. Constantinople (later named Istanbul) dominated the Balkans and the Anatolian Peninsula.
4. Ottomans administered conquered regions through local rulers.
5. Central gov’t appointed officials, called pashas, who collected taxes, kept law and order, & were responsible for the sultan’s court.
6. Ottomans administered conquered regions through local rulers.
7. Central gov’t appointed officials, called pashas, who collected taxes, kept law and order, & were responsible for the sultan’s court.
8. Ottomans seized Belgrade and advanced to Vienna, where they were defeated (1529).
9. Europe 1683 – Ottomans laid siege to Vienna.

1. Nature of Ottoman Rule (gunpowder empire)

1. Based on mastering the technology of firearms.
2. Sultan was the head of the O.E.
3. It was a hereditary position.
4. Sultan was the political & military leader.
5. Sons often battled for succession.
6. Empire adopted a centralized administrative system, and sultan became isolated in his palace.
7. Commissioners recruited a special class of slaves, usually Christian boys.
8. This is known as the Devshirme (boy levy).
9. Converted to Islam and were made pages.
10. Topkapi (“iron gate”) Palace was the center of sultan’s power.
11. Built by Mehmet II.
12. Sultan’s private domain was called the harem (“sacred palace”).
13. Sultan often had several wives.
14. When son became sultan, mother became the queen mother. She had great power.
15. Sultan controlled through a council that met 4 days a week.
16. Chief minister – grand vizier – led the meeting.
17. Sultan sat behind a screen & indicated his desire to the grand vizier.
18. Empire was divided into provinces & districts, each governed by officials who collected taxes & supplied armies for the area.
19. Sultan gave land to senior officials.

1. Religion in the Ottoman World

1. Ottomans were Sunni Muslims.
2. Rulers were responsible for guidance and maintaining Islamic law.
3. Sultans gave their religious duties to religious advisors called the ulema.
4. Ulema administered the legal system & Muslim schools.
5. Islamic law & customs were applied to all Muslims in the empire.
6. Rulers were tolerant of non-Muslims.
7. Non-Muslims paid a special tax, but were free to practice religion.
8. Most Europeans remained Christian.

1. Ottoman Society

1. Artisan

1. Artisans organized into guilds that provided:
2. Financial services
3. Social security
4. Trained its members

1. Merchants

1. They were exempt from taxes & were wealthy.

1. Pastoral people

1.  were separated by their own laws & regulations.

1. Peasants

1. Farmed land that was leased to them by the state
2. Ultimate ownership of all land resided with the sultan

1. Women in society

1. Ottoman system gave more rights to women than most Islamic countries.
2. Due to the Turkish view of women being equal to men.
3. Could own property & inherit property.
4. Could not be forced to marry & could sometimes divorce.
5. Few served as senior officials.

1. Problems in the Ottoman Empire

1. O.E. reached its high point under Suleyman the Magnificent.
2. Problems became visible in 1699, when the empire began to lose its territory.
3. Sultans became less involved in gov’t
4. Ministers exercised more power.
5. Senior positions were assigned to children of elite groups
6. The bureaucracy lost touch with rural areas, causing local officials to become corrupt.
7. Taxes rose as wars depleted the treasury.
8. The production of pottery, rugs, silk, other textiles, jewelry, arms, and armor all flourished.
9. Greatest accomplishment was in architecture, especially the mosques.

1. Ottoman Art

1. Built 81 mosques.
2. A dome topped each mosque & framed by 4 towers (minarets).
3. It boasted distinctive designs & colors from different regions.

1. Section 2: The Rule of the Safavids

1. Rise of the Safavid Dynasty

1. 16th Century – the Safavids took control of the area extending from Persia into central Asia.
2. They were Shiite Muslims.
3. Shah Ismail founded the Safavid dynasty.
4. Descendant of Safi al-Din, who led the Turkish ethnic groups in Azerbaijan, near the Caspian Sea, in the early 14th century.
5. 1501 – Ismail seized much of Iran & Iraq.
6. Called himself the shah (king) of a new Persian state.
7. He sent Shiite preachers into Anatolia to convert Turks in the Ottoman Empire.
8. Massacred Sunni Muslims when he conquered Baghdad in 1508.
9. Ottoman ruler Selim I won a major battle against them near Tabriz.
10. Within a few years, Ismail regained control of Tabriz.
11. Safavids tried to use the Shiite faith as a unifying force.
12. The shah & sultan claimed to be the spiritual leader of Islam.
13. Ottomans attacked in 1580s conquering Azerbaijan & controlling the Caspian Sea.
14. Abbas, the Safavid shah, signed a peace treaty & lost a lot of territory.
15. The Safavid capital moved east from Tabriz to Isfahan.

1. Glory and Decline

1. Safavids reached their high point under Shah Abbas ( ).
2. Created a system similar to the Ottoman’s & strengthened his army with the latest weapons.
3. Early 17th century, with the help of European allies, Abbas moved against the Ottomans to regain territories.
4. Had little success, but in 1612 a peace treaty returned Azerbaijan to their control.
5. The dynasty lost strength after Abba’s death (1629).
6. The pressure to conform to traditional religious beliefs, or religious orthodoxy, increased and curbed the empire’s intellectual freedom.
7. Persian women were now forced into seclusion and forced to adapt the veil.
8. Afghan people seized the capital of Isfahan in the early 18th century.
9. Safavid rulers retreated to their earlier homeland, Azerbaijan.
10. Turks seized territories and Persia sank into a long period of political and social anarchy.

1. Political and Social Structures

1. Turks were nomadic peoples.
2. Persians were farmers and townspeople.
3. Shah Bureaucracy Landed classes Common People
4. Shahs were surprisingly available to their subjects, even eating meals with them.
5. Most shahs controlled 2 things:

1. Power of the landed aristocracy
2. Bringing many lands under their control

1. Appointment to the bureaucracy was by merit, not birth.
2. Shahs were active in trade & manufacturing.
3. Large, affluent middle class also participated in trade.
4. Most goods traveled by horse or camel.
5. The Safavid Empire was not as prosperous as the Ottoman or Mogul.

1. Safavid Culture

1. Knowledge of science, medicine, and math under the Safavids equaled that of other societies.
2. Arts blossomed under Shah Abbas.
3. Isfahan was a grandiose planned city.
4. Silk & carpet weaving based on new techniques flourished.
5. Riza-i-Abbasi was the most famous artist of the period.
6. Painted simple subjects.
7. Soft colors and flowing movements were dominant features of the period.

1. Section 3: The Grandeur of the Moguls

1. Mogul Dynasty

1. Babur founded the Mogul Empire.

1. He inherited some of Timur Lenk’s empire.
2. Seized Kabul in 1504.
3. Always outnumbered, but had advanced weapons, including artillery.
4. Captured Delhi vs. an army 10x his size.
5. Died in 1530 at 47.

1. Reign of Akbar

1. Akbar
2. Came to the throne at 14.
3. By 1605 he brought Mogul rule to most of India.
4. Used heavy artillery for his military success.
5. The Moguls were also good negotiators.
6. Akbar’s great empire was a collection of semi-independent states held together by the emperor's power.
7. Akbar was known as a humane ruler.
8. He was a Muslim that tolerated other religions.
9. One of his wives was Hindu.
10. Also had Christian Jesuits as advisers at his court.
11. Upper ranks of the administration were filled with non-native Muslims, but lower-ranking officials were generally Hindus.
12. Local officials were known as zamindars.
13. They collected taxes and were quite powerful in their regions.
14. Al peasants paid 1/3 of their harvest to the state.
15. Taxes were reduced or suspended if weather was unfavorable to farming.
16. Trade & manufacturing flourished due to the peace and stability.
17. The Reign of Akbar Reign was progressive.

1. Decline of the Moguls

1. Akbar died in 1605 and was succeeded by his son Jahangir.
2. His grip weakened under the influence of one of his wives, Nur Jahan.
3. She used her influence to enrich her family.
4. Her neice married her husband’s third son, who became his successor, Shah Jahan
5. Decline of the Moguls Shah Jahan ruled from 1628 to 1658.
6. Expanded the empire through successful campaigns in the Deccan Plateau and against the city of Samarkand.
7. Shah Jahan failed to deal with the growing domestic problems.
8. War & building projects strained the treasury, and he raised taxes.
9. Majority of his subjects lived in poverty.
10. Shah Jahan became ill, and his two sons struggled for power.
11. Aurangzeb killed his brother and imprisoned Shah Jahan and assumed power.
12. Aurangzeb tried to rid India of its social ills

1. Hindu practice of suttee (cremating a widow on her husband’s funeral pyre)
2. Levying illegal taxes
3. Gambling
4. Drinking alcohol.
5. Banned building new Hindu temples and forced them to convert to Islam

1. His policies led to domestic unrest.
2. 1739 – Persians sacked and burned Delhi.

1. The British in India

1. British trading posts were established at Surat, Fort William (Calcutta) and Chennai.
2. British shipped cotton goods, trading them for spices.
3. French tried to suppress British trade in India.
4. British were saved by Sir Robert Clive.
5. Sir Robert Clive became the chief representative of the East India Company.
6. French were beaten and restricted to holding one fort & a handful of small territories.
7. Clive consolidated British control in Bengal, where Fort William was located.
8. 1757, British defeated a Mogul army in the Battle of Plassey.
9. The E.I. Co. received the right to collect taxes from lands surrounding Calcutta.
10. They also moved inland and became rich and were in India to stay.

1. Society & Daily Life in Mogul India

1. Due to the mix of Muslims & Hindus in India, ordinary life was complicated.
2. This is shown by the treatment of Mogul women.
3. Mogul Women Mogul tribal society:

1. Had an active political role.
2. Sometimes fought in wars.

1. Mogul India:

1. Aristocratic women often received salaries.
2. Owned land
3. Took part in business.

1. Mogul Women Lived under the restrictions of Islamic law.
2. Suttee continued despite efforts to eradicate it.
3. Also the Hindu custom of child marriage continued.
4. Mogul Society Wealthy nobility and merchant class emerged.
5. Many prominent Indians had ties with foreigners such as the British.
6. Outside cities, people lived in mud huts and had few, paltry possessions.

1. Mogul Culture

1. Blended Persian and Indian styles in a beautiful, new architecture.
2. The Taj Mahal in Agra, built by Shah Jahan exemplifies this style.
3. Painting also flourished in the Mogul period.
4. Akbar established a state workshop for artists, who created the Mogul school of painting called the “Akbar style.”
5. Portrayed humans in action.
6. Encouraged use of European devices, such as Renaissance perspective & lifelike portraits.
7. Because Mogul emperors were dedicated patrons of the arts, many artists went to India.
8. The emperors would reward a poet with their weight in gold.