AP World Muslim Gunpowder Empires

Ottomans

Turkic-speaking people who advanced into Asia Minor during the 14th century; established an empire in the Middle East, north Africa, and eastern Europe that lasted until after World War I.

Mehmed II

“the Conqueror”; Ottoman sultan; captured Constantinople, 1453, and destroyed the Byzantine Empire.

Janissaries

conscripted youths from conquered regions who were trained as Ottoman infantry divisions; became an important political influence after the 15th century

Vizier

head of the Ottoman bureaucracy; after the 15th century often more powerful than the sultan.

Suleyman the lawgiver

Ottoman sultan in the 1500s who brought the Ottoman Empire to its greatest heights of land acquisition; established a law code for empire.

Safavid dynasty

founded by a Turkic nomad family with Shi’a Islamic beliefs; established a kingdom in Iran and ruled until 1722.

Chaldiran

an important battle between the Safavids and Ottomans in 1514; Ottoman victory demonstrated the importance of firearms and checked the western advance of the Safavid Shi’a state.

Abbas I, the Great

Safavid shah (1587–1629); extended the empire to its greatest extent; used Western military technology.

Mullahs

religious leaders under the Safavids; worked to convert all subjects to Shi’ism.

Isfahan

Safavid capital under Abbas the Great; planned city exemplifying Safavid architecture.

Mughal dynasty

established by Turkic invaders in 1526; endured until the mid-19th century.

Babur

Turkic leader who founded the Mughal dynasty; died in 1530.

Akbar

son and successor of Humayn; built up the military and administrative structure

Din-i-Ilahi

religion initiated by Akbar that blended elements of Islam and Hinduism; did not survive his death.

Sati

ritual burning of high-caste Hindu women on their husbands’ funeral pyres.

Taj Mahal

mausoleum for Mumtaz Mahal, built by her husband Shah Jahan; most famous architectural achievement of Mughal India.

Nur Jahan

wife of ruler Jahangir who amassed power at the Mughal court and created a faction ruling the empire during the later years of his reign.

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.

Marattas

people of western India; challenged Mughal rule under Aurangzeb.

Sikhs

Indian sect, beginning as a synthesis of Hindu and Muslim faiths; pushed to opposition to Muslim and Mughul rule.