Transcript APWH Ch 20 Gunpowder_Empires Notes

The Islamic Empires
1500-1800
 Three Islamic Empires dominate from
southern Europe to Northern India from
1500-1800
 Ottoman Empire (Southern Europe, Middle
East, North Africa)
 Safavid Empire (Persia)
 Mughal Empire (Northern India)
Similarities
 The peak of Islam’s political and
military power
 All based on military conquest
 All from Turkic nomadic cultures
 All absolute monarchies
Differences
 All were Muslim but Mughals ruled
over a predominantly non-Muslim
population
 Ottomans had large Christian
minority
 Safavids were Shi’ite Muslims
 With decline of Seljuk
Turks, Ottomans
expanded and
founded the Ottoman
dynasty
 1300’s: Ottomans
expanded into Balkan
Peninsula
Serbian defeat at Battle of Kosovo
 Janissaries: young boys
taken from the Christian
population. Boys were
converted to Islam and
trained as elite soldiers or
administrators to serve the
Sultan
Janissaries
 Under the leadership
of Mehmet II, the
Ottomans laid siege to
Constantinople
 Fall of Constantinople
in 1453 brought end
to the Byzantine
Empire
 The Ottomans made
the city their capital
renaming it Istanbul
Mehmet II enters
Constantinople
 Greatest threat to Europe
came under rule of greatest of
Ottoman rulers, Suleyman I.
Suleyman I
 The Ottomans laid siege to Vienna in 1529
 Ottoman advance into western Mediterranean
stopped at Lepanto in 1571 by Western coalition
led by the Spanish
 Ottoman rule
 A strong centralized government was
established with the sultan at its head in
Istanbul.
 The position of sultan was hereditary- once in
power, a sultan would murder all his brothers.
 The private domain of the sultan was called the
harem
 The imperial bureaucracy was controlled by
the sultan through his chief minister, the
Grand Vizier
 Pashas collected taxes (giving a percentage to
the Ottomans) and maintained law and order
 As Caliph, the sultan was the supreme
religious leader but he delegated many
duties to the Ulema, who administered the
legal system and education
 Islamic law applied to all Ottoman
territory
 The Ottomans were tolerant of non-
Muslims - head tax
 Non-Muslim religions were headed by an
official who was responsible to the sultan
 Women had
greater freedom
under the
Ottomans than in
other Muslim
nations
 Could own and
inherit property,
could not be
forced into
marriage, and
were permitted to
divorce
Women in the Ottoman court
 Safavids descended from
Turkic tribesmen in northern
Iran
 Safavids – Shi’ite Muslims
 1501- Safi al-Din Ismail
seized much of what is
today Iran and Iraq
Safavid soldier
 Selim I, the Ottoman
sultan, marched against
Safavids and won major
victory
 After more attempts by
the Safavids to take
Ottoman lands, the
Ottomans forced the
Safavid leader, Shah
Abbas, to sign peace
treaty
Selim I
 Safavids reached peak of
power under Shah Abbas
 With help of Europeans,
Shah Abbas attempted to
take more lands from
Ottomans
Shah Abbas and wine boy
 The Safavids declined after death of
Shah Abbas in 1629
 Afghan tribesmen invaded and
captured the Safavid capital and forced
the royal family to flee to Azerbaijan,
their original homeland
 Safavid rule
comparable to the
Ottomans
 Safavids had vibrant
middle class
 Greatest area of
productivity in
Safavid Empire was
textiles
 Carpets were prized
all over the world
 Founded by Babur,
descended from
Tamerlane and
Genghis Khan
 Invaded India from
Kabul and conquered
Delhi
 Using that city as his
base, he expanded into
the subcontinent
Babur
 After Babur’s death, his son,
Akbar, continued the expansion
until most of India was under
his control
 The Mughal Empire was the
greatest empire in India since
the Mauryans
Akbar
 Although Muslim, Akbar adopted a
policy of religious tolerance
 Hindus served in lesser positions in
his court and even Christians were
present in the form of Jesuit advisors
 Akbar even took a Hindu bride
 Local officials, called Zamindars,
administered districts, taking a portion
of the taxes as salary
 Political stability and peace = period of
growth in trade and manufacturing
 Much of the trade was handled by
Muslim merchants
 The Mughal dynasty
went into decline after
death of Akbar
 Akbar succeeded by his
son, Jahangir
Jahangir
 Shah Jahan, succeeded




Jahangir
In order to secure hold on
power, he had all rivals
murdered
Shah Jahan’s military
campaigns and corruption in
court impoverished state
His son, Aurangzeb, killed
brother and imprisoned Shah
Jahan
Shah Jahan built Taj Mahal for
deceased wife
Shah Jahan
 Aurangzeb tried to eliminate many of
India’s social evils including sati
 He forced Hindus to convert to Islam and
forbade the construction of Hindu
temples
 Social unrest resulted in a number of
revolts
 Weakened from within, Delhi was sacked
by Persians in 1739
 The Portuguese, Dutch, British, and
French all sought influence in India
 War between British and French
 Increasing British influence under the
East India Company
 Mughals and
Hindus created a
blended culture
 Both Muslim and
Hindu cultures
restricted women
 Purdah adopted
by higher-class
Hindus
Full purdah