Transcript Islamic Gunpowder Empires - Modern World History @ SDA

Formation of Islamic Empires:
Ottoman, Safavid, Mughal
Taj Mahal
Essential Questions:
What are the key differences and similarities between these
empires?
How did each rise and fall?
Origins of Ottoman Empire
 Founded by Osman Bey in 1289,
 led Muslim religious warriors (ghazi)
from Aral Sea
 Ottoman expansion into Byzantine
empire
 Seized city of Bursa, then into the
Balkans
 Organized ghazi into formidable
military machine
 Develop into calvary-gentry
 Central role of the Janissaries (slave
troops)
 Infantry equipped w/guns
 Effective use of gunpowder in battles
and sieges
Siege of Vienna
Mehmed the Conqueror (r. 1451-1481)
 Captured Constantinople in 1453;
’d  Istanbul(Ottoman capital)
 Absolute monarchy w/centralised
state
 retained Byzantine bureaucracy
 legacy of Persian system
 Expanded into Balkans
 Serbia, Greece, Albania;
 attacked Italy controlled E. Adriatic & E. Medit.
 Prompted Spain & Portugal to seek
new routes for E.Asian Trade
 Voyages of exploration
 W. Hemisphere
 Africa
Plan of Istanbul
Suleyman kunani (lawgiver)
 Considered greatest of
Ottoman Sultans (r.1520-66)
 Expanded into Balkans
 Commissioned palaces
(Topkapi), mosques
(Suleymania) & expanded
Istanbul under architect Sinan
 Expanded the devshirme
 Use of converted Christian slave
children (esp. from Balkans)
 Bureaucrats  Ibrahim Pasha
 Janissary  elite slave military
force

Suleyman receives and ambassador
Similar to Mamluks in Egypt
The Ottomans: From Nomads to
Empire
 The Turkic Ottoman peoples entered
Anatolia under the leadership of
Osman Bey and his ghazi (Muslim
purifiers) after the Mongols had
successfully defeated the Seljuks in
the 13thC.
 After a brief period of turmoil, the
Ottomans under Mehmed II (The
Conqueror) captured Constantinople in
1453, ending the Byzantine Empire
 Over the next 2 centuries the
Ottomans expanded their empire,
building a navy that dominated the
Eastern Mediterranean and claiming
territory throughout North Africa, SE
Europe and much of the Middle East
(minus Persia) and successfully (for a
time) controlled Indian Ocean trade
 Though unsuccessful in further
campaigns to take portions of Western
European kingdoms, the Ottomans
remained the greatest threat to
Europe thru the 18th century
Ottoman Society
 There was a distinct social hierarchy laid out in 4 classes:
 “men of the pen” – lawyers, judges, smart people
 “men of the sword” - warriors
 “men of negotiation” – merchants, tax collectors, traders and store
owners
 “men of husbandry” – farmers/herders
 Then there were the non-Muslims, who were organized into
millets
 In these religious communities, usually divided quarters or ghettos in
a town/city, the people had their own leaders and were responsible
for their own education and certain legal matters
 Like earlier Muslim societies, the Ottomans “taxed” the nonMuslim peoples they absorbed into their empire as a source of
revenue
Ottoman Warfare
 The “men of the sword” actually played the
dominant role in Ottoman society, as sultans
based their empire on constant warfare and
expansion…warriors represented an aristocracy
that conquered lands, enslaved people (w/the
Sultan’s blessing) and began a Feudal system of
control
 The warrior class was at constant odds with the
“men of the pen”, lawyers and religious leaders
whose power grew at court
 Militaries were large made up of Janissaries,
conscripted soldiers from NON Muslim societies
that were conquered…young boys were taken
from these communities as a “tax” and forced
into servitude as soldiers for a designated
period of time…it was not EXACTLY slavery, as
many Janissaries found their ways into higher
positions in the Ottoman bureaucracy over time
 Finally, the Ottoman army’s might was based on
one thing, ARTILLERY…a vast knowledge of gun
and cannon making gave the Ottoman armies
their strength
The Sultans and their Court
 Ottoman sultans were literally no
different than Abbasid caliphs…they
played with factions in their court,
they spent money lavishly, they had
huge harems…some sultans led
their own armies into battle
 A vizier (wazir) also handled day-today administration of the
bureaucracy, literally having more
power than the sultan himself
 BIGGEST SIMILARITY to previous
Muslim ruling societies: the problem
of succession
Ottoman Culture
 Constantinople became Istanbul, the
central capital of the empire…previously
constructed Byzantine cathedrals were
converted into mosques
 Some sultans (Suleiman) added more
grand structures to the skyline
 Istanbul maintain itself as the hub of
east/west trade over land…places called
coffeehouses developed were a
developing merchant and artisans class
gathered to interact
 The government regulated all aspects of
trade and manufacture
 A transition from Persian/Arabic to
Turkish occurred in literary
exploits…Turks artistically became well
renowned for their poetry and rug
making
Ottoman Decline
 The Ottoman Empire became known as the “sick man of Europe” by
the 18th and 19th centuries
 EXPANSION and CONQUEST took their toll on the Ottomans…add to
this increased problems of succession and corruption in the
bureaucracy and amongst regional governors who sought to control
their territory independently
 Expansion efforts empowered neighboring rivals, like Russia, AustriaHungary and the Safavid Empire to begin slowly picking away at
Ottoman territory
 Smaller European states that improved naval power reduced their
control of the Mediterranean (Battle of Lepanto in 1571) and Indian
Ocean trade (Portuguese mariners)
 Still, the Ottomans were able to hang on until WWI (thanks mainly to
the decline of the Safavids, their greatest rivals and periods of
invigoration by competing European nations)
Mughal
Empire
(1523 – 1707)
The Mughals of India
 Turks under the brilliant military
leadership of Babur the Great (a Muslim
Mongol/Turk) his armies invaded Muslim
controlled India in the early 1500s from
Afghanistan…he established the first
vestiges of the Mughal dynasty…later, he
was a great partier (a drunkard by some
accounts) and a terrible leader
(administrator)…when he died in 1530
putting the empire in peril
 His son, Humayan, lost territory in India
immediately and was forced to exile in
Persia…but he gained it back by
1556…unfortunately, he too died
tragically, falling down the stairs in his
library!
Mughal Empire (1523 – 1707)
• Babur (r. 1523-1530), founder
of Mughal dynasty in India
from remnants of Timurid
• Central Asian Turk from
region near Aral Sea
• invaded India in 1523, seized
Delhi in 1526
• By his death in 1530, Mughal
Empire embraced most of India
Fatehpur-sikri
Akbar the Great (r.1556-1605)
 brilliant charismatic ruler
 Created a centralized,
absolutist government
 first centralised rule in
India
 Expanded to Gujurat,
Bengal, and southern India
 Encouraged religious
tolerance between Muslims
and Hindus
 Developed a syncretic
religion called "divine faith”
 Included elements of
Islam &
HinduismSikhism
Akbar
 Golden Age of Mughal
Empire
 Fatehpur-sikri (palace)
Shah Jahan (r. 1628-58)
 Grandson of Akbar
 father
 tried to expand Mughal control into S.
India w/o success
 patron of arts, esp. mosques,
temples, gardens
 Lahore (Shalimar garden), Agra (Taj
Mahal), Dehli (Red Fort)
 Golden age of Mughal India art,
architecture & literature
 Religious tolerance continued
 Built Taj Mahal as mausoleum for
wife, Mumtaz Mahal
 Illness leads to power struggle
among sons and his imprisonment
 buried next to Mumtaz in Taj Mahal
Shah Jahan
Aurangzeb (1659-1707)
• Kills older brother
• Imprisons father -- Shah Jahan
• starves to death
• Expanded empire into most of
Indian subcontinent
• Revoked religious toleration
• Reinstituted the jizya
• Hindus taxed, temples destroyed
• Rule troubled by religious tensions
and hostility
Aurangzeb holds court
Mughal Decline
 Aurangzeb continued to ignore internal state issues…the same old
story occurs as the bureaucracy becomes corrupt and peasants and
urban workers revolt/protest their living conditions
 He focused too much time on trying to conquer ALL of India and to
purify Islam of all Hindu influences…this warfare drained the treasury,
weakened the bureaucracy and military…he was forced to renew the
jizya to the dismay of the people…Marattas and Sikhs rebelled even
becoming anti-Islamic
 The constant state of civil dissention in India opened the door for the
British and French to come into to India, use their military might to
calm tensions, but also establish a colonial/imperial presence on the
subcontinent that would last into the 20th century
Safavid Empire (1501 – 1629)
Safavid Empire (1501 – 1629)
• Safavids Turkish conquerors of Persia
and Mesopotamia
• Founder Shah Ismail (reigned 15011524) claimed ancient Persian title of
shah.
• Proclaimed Twelver Shi'ism the official
religion;
• imposed on Sunni population
• Followers known as Qizilbash (or "Red
Hats")
• Battle of Chaldiran (1514)
• Sunni Ottomans persecuted Shiites within
Ottoman empire
• Qizilbash considered firearms unmanly;
crushed by Ottomans at Chaldiran
The Safavid Empire
 Unlike the Sunni Ottomans, the
Safavids were Shiites…which was the
basis of the rivalry with their neighbors
 The Safavids rose in the early 1300s
under the leadership of Sail (Safi) alDin, who sought to purify Islam and
spread Islam amongst the Turkic
peoples with his followers, the Red
Heads!
 After years of struggle, Ismail (a sufi)
was proclaimed shah (emperor) and
conquered all of Persia and most of
Iraq only to be stopped by the
Ottomans at the Battle of Chaldiran (a
battle which demonstrated the powers
of artillery and firearms)…this defeat
weakened Ismail’s position and also
determined that Shi’ism would be
confined to mainly Persia and parts of
Iraq
Shah Abbas the Great (1588-1629)
• Revitalized Safavid empire
• Modernized military;
• sought European alliances against
Ottomans
• Capital moved from Baghdad to
Isfahan
• response to Ottoman incursion Safavid
after battle of Chaldiran
• Centralized bureaucracy & political
administration
• Legacy of Achaemenid, Sassanid Persian
empires
Shah Abbas & Court
Politics
 Ottoman, Safavid, Mughal
 Military creations
 Centralized Absolutist state
 Dynastic authority derived from
personal piety & military prowess
 Problems of succession
 Often competition among wives
positioning sons
 Imperialist policies
 Ottoman expansion t/o Balkans, E. Europe,
N. Africa

problems maintaining large empire
 Mughal expansion into southern India
 Royal women (esp. harem) often influential
in decisions
 Roxellana (Hurem) wife of Süleyman )
Süleyman the Magnificent
Safavid Politics, State and
Religion
 After a brief period of succession issues, a dynasty was formally
established by Tahmasp I (a shi’a Safavid)…Turkish warriors were
brought under control and assigned villages/peasants to control
(quasi-feudal)…some of these warriors continued to be a constant
threat to the shah’s power
 Persians were recruited into the bureaucracy to balance the Turkish
warrior presence…and like the Ottomans, youths were enslaved for
military and bureaucratic service…Persian became the predominant
language…shahs also became hedonistic (like Ottomans and
Abbasids)
 Eventually, the religious right (imams and mullahs) controlled
education efforts, spreading the Shia ideology…many found their way
into the bureaucracy…when the shahs became weak, the religious
leadership took control of the empire
Safavid Politics, State and
Religion
 The Safavids reached their peak under
the rule of Shah Abbas the Great
 Abbas hated the Ottomans, so he
allied himself w/Europeans to
improve his armies and defend his
borders
 Abbas reduced taxes, even did not
tax non-Muslims
 Built a magnificent capital at Isfahan
and turned it into the center of
Persia arts, trade and culture…he
even liked to roam around his city in
disguise to spy on his people
 Was tolerant of Non-Muslims
(Armenians), even built them their
own homes on the edge of his new
capital mainly cause they ran his
economy/trade
Safavid Decline
 Abbas the Great killed many of his sons as he was
convinced they were plotting against him…his weak
grandson, Abbas II took the throne
 Neighboring Ottomans and Mughals picked at Safavid
territory…eventually, Afghani tribes captured Isfahan
 Afghani leader Nafid Khan Ahshar made himself shah, but
no dynasty emerged from his rule…the empire would
continually be plagued by raiding nomads and
neighboring empires, eventually finding leadership under
the Qajar Dynasty in 1725
Economics
 Agriculture
 exported Food crops (wheat & rice)
 Imported coffee & tobacco, spices &
porcelain, textiles from other parts of Asia
 Population  Steady, but less growth than
Europe & China
 Ottoman Empire  +2X
 12million  35million (1520-30)
 expansion of empire & migration
  burden on Empire
 Mughal India  Significant population
growth
Ottoman Coffee House
 Safavid Empire  Population growth
slower than other Islamic Empires
Economics
 Long-distance trade important
 Shared east-west trade routes (Ottoman &
Safavid)
 British (EIC) & Dutch (VOC) coastal control
 Mughals permitted foreign trading
stations (Eng., Fr., & Dutch)
 Ottoman control of E. Medit
 Euro. search for alt. routes for E. Asian
trade (esp., Portugal & Spain)
Venice, Genoa continue Medit. trade w/
Ottomans
Persian Carpet
Religion & Society
 Ottoman -- Religious tolerance
 Sunni/sufi (85%)
 Christian (devshirme)
 Jews
 Safavid -- Intolerance
 Shi’a
 Twelver Shi’a (Hidden Imam)
 Mughal – multi-ethnic
 Sunni/Sufi
 Hindu
 Buddhism
 Sikhism
 Challenged by diversity
 Esp. Mughals in India
 Tolerance of Babur, Akbar & Shah
Jahan
 Intolerance of Aurangzeb
 Later Ottoman Empire
Mirimah Mosque in Istanbul, designed by Sinan
Religion & Society
Minorities generally tolerated
 Ottomans - autonomy w/in own
communities
 Multi-ethnic state
 Roman Catholic, E. Orthodox, Sunni, Shi’a, Jews
 c. 85% Sufi among Muslims.
 Safavid
 Shi’ite & Sunni tensions
 esp. after Battle of Chaldiran
 Mughals – cooperated w/ Hindu
majority
 later taxed nonbelievers
 (esp. Aurangzeb)
Safavid: Friday Mosque Isfahan
Intellectual
 Muslims   contact w/ West
   isolation from West
 Similar to Ming China & Tokugawa Japan
 Felt superior (ethnocentrism)
 feared foreign influence (xenophobia)
 Ignorant of European technological
advances
 Ottomans - resisted telescope & printing press
 Technology seen as threat to stability & tradition
 Similar to Ming China & Tokugawa Japan
Galileo w/ his telescope
 Isolation  stagnation
 Similar to Ming China & Tokugawa Japan
Artistic
 Government-sponsored projects
 Architecture
 Ottoman Empire
 Blended Islamic & Byzantine
architectural elements
 Topkapi Palace
 Süleymaniye Mosque
 Safavid
 Isfahan “queen of Persian cities”
Blue Mosque-Isfahan
 Mughal
 Combined Islamic & Indian styles
Fatehpur Sikri
Taj Mahal
Decline of Empires
Causes:
 Negligent rulers, factions, & corruption
 Cost of maintaining large kingdoms
 Ottoman  multi-ethnic groups
pressure for independence
 Religious tolerance abandoned 
tensions
 Safavid  persecution of Sunni & nonMuslims by ruling Shi'ite
 Mughals taxed Hindu & destroyed
temples (Aurangzeb)
 Growing incursion of Europeans, esp. British
Topkapi Palace, Istanbul designed for Suleiman by Sinan
Decline of Empires
 Causes:
 Cultural arrogance
 Saw themselves as superior
 Lack of technological & industrial
innovation
 Fell behind W. Europe
 Economic stagnation (18th century)
  expansionism (political & economic)
 Difficulty supporting armies & bureaucrats
 Series of long & costly wars
 Raised taxes
 Lack of trade development
 European merchants prosper
British East India Company
Legacy
Islamic Empires
 Multi-ethnic  difficult to please
all groups
 Size geo range difficult to maint.
control
 Sunni-Shi’a controversy
 Ottoman vs. Safavid
 Isolation from world trade
 Isolationism similar to Ming/Qing
China & Tokugawa Japan
 Limits innovation  economic,
intellectual stagnation
 Period of great artistic growth
 Architecture, painting, literature
 Extensive use of slaves
 Esp. Ottoman w/devshirme
 Filled bureaucracy & Military
 Last great period of Islamic
learning & science
 Isolationism & rejection of outside
technology
 Isolation & Stagnation 
  economic & political expansion of
Europe
  role of Asia in world events