Chapter 17 History

Ottomans

Ruling house of the Turkish empire that lasted from 1299 to 1922.

sultan

An Arabic word used by the Ottomans to describe a supreme political and military ruler.

viziers

Chief assistants to the caliphs.

devshirme

A process whereby the sultan’s agents took Christian youths to be trained as soldiers or civil servants.

janissaries

Turkish for 'new soldiers'; they formed the elite army corps.

concubine

An enslaved woman whose primary role was to have sexual relations with the male slave owner.

shah

Persian word for 'king'.

Safavid

The dynasty that ruled all of Persia and other regions from 1501 to 1722; its state religion was Shi'ism.

Qizilbash

Nomadic tribesmen who supplied the early Safavid state with military troops in exchange for grazing rights.

ulama

Religious scholars who interpret the Qur’an and the Sunna, the deeds and sayings of Muhammad.

Sufism

The mystical and ascetic strain of Islam that was influential for all three empires.

Mughal

A term used to refer to the Muslim empire of India, the largest, wealthiest, and most populous of the Islamic empires of the early modern world.

Gunpowder Empires

The Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal empires which were early adopters of gunpowder weapons.

sepoys

The native Indian troops who were trained as infantrymen.