Transcript Comparing Islamic Gunpowder Empires

Similarities
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The peak of Islam’s political and military power
All based on military conquest
All from Turkic nomadic cultures
All absolute monarchies
All ruled through Islamic Principles (Sharia, 5 pillars, Umma, Hadith)
All rose to power after Mongols
All controlled lucrative trade
All utilized Jizya on Dhimmi
Political influence of women in Harem ( seclusion of women whose son could take the throne)
Differences
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All were Muslim but Mughals ruled over a predominantly non-Muslim population
Ottomans had large Christian minority
Safavids were Shi’ite Muslims
Mughal and Ottoman were more tolerant of women and non-Muslims
Ottomans were Sunni led
Mughal attempted to advance non-Muslims in government leadership
Mughal leading exporter of Cotton
Ottoman often at war with the “West” ( ex: Siege of Vienna, Battle of Lepanto)
Safavid was landlocked
Ottoman the only one with some naval power
Mughal not directly involved with slavery
Trade with the “West” limited by mostly by Mughal merchants ( French, English and Dutch merchants)
• Ottoman Turks began
to build power on
northwest corner of
the Anatolian
Peninsula.
• 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
• Ottomans defeated the
Serbs at the Battle of
Kosovo
• Controlled the Balkan
Peninsula
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
• Under rule of Sultan Selim I, the Ottomans
took control of Mesopotamia, Egypt, and
the Arabian Peninsula with holy cities of
Mecca and Medina
• Selim declared himself Caliph
• Ottoman rule spread across North Africa
though by 1600’s this area was semiindependent
• Ottoman attempts to penetrate
Eastern Europe were stymied
by the Hungarians
• Greatest threat to Europe
came under rule of greatest of
Ottoman rulers, Suleyman I.
Under his leadership,
Ottomans seized Belgrade and
won victory over Hungarians
and occupied the country
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
• In 1600’s, the Ottomans
attempted to expand into
Europe again
• Vienna was besieged
• Combined European force
pushed Ottomans out of
Austria and Hungary
• Ottomans would never
threaten Central Europe
again
Siege of Vienna
• Ottoman rule
 The Ottomans copied many aspects of
Byzantine political structure, especially
imperial 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
 Most high government officials were Muslim
by birth and many were chosen based on merit
 The Ottomans administered their lands
through local rulers called pashas
 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 nonMuslims - 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
• Ismail sent missionaries into
Ottoman lands
• Massacred Sunni Muslims
when he conquered
Baghdad in 1508
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
• Another peace treaty was
signed but conflict
continued for many years
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
• Although his empire appeared
highly centralized it was in
reality a collection of semiindependent states held
together by the emperor
• 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
• Under Jahangir’s reign,
the nobility took more
power through the
intrigues of one of his
Persian-born wives
Jahangir
• Her son, 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
• Some Hindus forcibly married
Muslim women and converted them
to Hinduism
• Hindus converting to Islam lost all
rights within the Indian family
• Mughals married Hindu women and
adopted Indian dress
Comp Theses: Islamic
Gunpowder Empires
From 1450-1750 both the Mughal and Ottoman Empires established large
functioning bureaucracies through the establishment of religiously tolerant
policies over large non-Muslim groups, both will grow wealthy due to the control
over lucrative trade routes, however, predominantly Hindu Mughal will have
advisors of government of many faiths while the Millet system of religious
enclaves (communities) will be the closest any non-Muslims have in governmental
decision-making
The Ottoman and Safavid Empires 1450-1750 were both Turkic lead assaults for
empire establishment after the vacuum of authority the Mongols built, both will
be dominated by Islamic rule ( Sharia,5 Pillars,Hadith) but the Sunni led Ottoman
will be far more tolerant than the Shiite led Safavid eventually going to war and
signifying the beginning of the end for the Safavid.