History 110 Midterm ch 16

Sultan Suleyman (Süleyman) I

Expanded the Ottoman Empire up to the gates of Vienna, but did not take the city. The Empire reached to its largest borders under his reign. Known as "the Magnificent." (Ruled: 1520-1566)

Ottoman Empire

a former Turkish empire that was founded about 1300 by Osman and reached its greatest territorial extent under Suleiman in the 16th century; collapsed after World War I. Capital: Constantinople.

Beys

the governor of a district or province in the Ottoman Empire.

Sultan

a Muslim sovereign.

Janissaries

were elite infantry units that formed the Ottoman Sultan's household troops, bodyguards and the first modern standing army in Europe.

Kritovoulos

a greek who served in the ottomans administration

Mehmed the Conqueror

Sultan of Turkey (1451-1481) and founder of the Ottoman Empire. He conquered Constantinople in 1453 and made it his capital.

Pashas

the title of a Turkish officer of high rank.

Sublime Porte

is a synecdochic metonym for the central government of the Ottoman Empire.

Devshirme

was chiefly the practice where by the Ottoman Empire sent military officers to take Christian boys, ages 8 to 18, from their families in Eastern and Southeastern Europe in order that they be raised to serve the state.

Grand Vizier

was the prime minister of the Ottoman sultan, with absolute power of attorney and, in principle, dismissible only by the sultan himself.

Sipahis

was holder of a fief (timar; Turkish: tımar) granted directly by the Ottoman sultan and was entitled to all of the income from it in return for military service. The peasants on the land were subsequently attached to the land and became serfs.

Millet

an administrative unit in the Ottoman Empire used to organize religious groups.

Topkapi Palace

served as the main residence and administrative headquarters of the Ottoman sultans.

safavid dynasty

was one of the most significant ruling dynasties of Iran, often considered the beginning of modern Iranian history. The Safavid shahs ruled over one of the Gunpowder Empires.

Shah Abbas

Also known as Abbas the Great, took the throne in 1587 and helped create the Safavid culture

Akbar

called Akbar the Great. 1542-1605, Mogul emperor of India (1556-1605), who extended the Mogul empire to include N India

Jahangir the magnificent

was the fourth Mughal Emperor who ruled from 1605 until his death in 1627.

Shah Jahan

Mogul emperor of India during whose reign the finest monuments of Mogul architecture were built (including the Taj Mahal at Agra) (1592-1666) Example of: emperor. the male ruler of an empire.

Aurangzeb

son and successor of Shah Jahan; pushed extent of Mughal control in India; reversed previous policies to purify Islam of Hindu influences; incessant warfare depleted the empire's resources; died in 1707.

Padshahnama

The book of the Emperor Shah Jahan.

Harem

(in former times) the separate part of a Muslim household reserved for wives, concubines, and female servants.

Zamindars

land owner in Persian. They held enormous tracts of land and control over their peasants, from whom they reserved the right to collect tax on behalf of imperial courts or for military purposes.

Purdah

the practice among women in certain Muslim and Hindu societies of living in a separate room or behind a curtain, or of dressing in all-enveloping clothes, in order to stay out of the sight of men or strangers.