Set 5: Land-Based Empires (Ottoman, Safavid, Mughal, Russia, China Ming&Qing Dynasties), Intro to Maritime Empires

Songhai

a West African empire that conquered Mali and controlled trade from the 1400s to 1591

Battle of Tondibi

invading Moroccans used firearms to crush the Songhai empire

Gunpowder Empires

Muslim empires of the Ottomans, Safavids, and the Mughals that employed cannonry and gunpowder to advance their military causes.

Ottoman Empire

A Muslim empire based in Turkey that lasted from the 1300's to 1922.

Devshirme

'Selection' in Turkish. The system by which boys from Christian communities were taken by the Ottoman state to serve as Janissaries.

Janissaries

Infantry, originally of slave origin, armed with firearms and constituting the elite of the Ottoman army from the fifteenth century until the corps was abolished in 1826.

Timar System

land in exchange for military service, the value of land would be based upon rank and the amount of soldiers provided, not passed on to children

Millet System

Divided regions in the Ottoman Empire by religion (Orthodox Christians, Jews, Armenian Christians, Muslims). Leaders of each millet supported the Sultan in exchange for power over their millet.

Tax Farming

A government's use of private collectors to collect taxes. Individuals or corporations contract with the government to collect a fixed amount for the government and are permitted to keep as profit everything they collect over that amount.

Mehmed the Conqueror

(r.1451-1481), he captured Constantinople in 1453, which later became Istanbul, the Ottoman capital; Ruled with an absolute monarchy and centralized his power; Expanded into Serbia, Greece, and Albania (attacked Italy).

Fall of Constantinople

1453

Suleiman the Magnificent

The most illustrious sultan of the Ottoman Empire (r. 1520-1566); also known as 'The Lawgiver.' He significantly expanded the empire in the Balkans and eastern Mediterranean.

Safavid Empire

Turkish-ruled Iranian kingdom (1502-1722) established by Ismail Safavi, who declared Iran a Shi'ite state.

Shi'a/Shiite Muslims

Believed that only descendants of Muhammad's son-in-law, Ali, should be caliph

School of Isfahan

School of Islamic philosophy

Direct Taxation

Taxation imposed on people's income or wealth, and on firms' profits.

Jizya

Poll tax that non-Muslims had to pay when living within a Muslim empire

Shah Abbas

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

Mughal Empire

Muslim state (1526-1857) exercising dominion over most of India in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

Sati

The Indian custom of a widow voluntarily throwing herself on the funeral pyre of her husband.

Purdah/Veiling

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.

Harem

living quarters reserved for wives and concubines and female relatives in a Muslim household

Sikhism

the doctrines of a monotheistic religion founded in northern India in the 16th century by Guru Nanak and combining elements of Hinduism and Islam

Akbar the Great

known for religious tolerance. grandson of Babur who created a strong central government

Din-i Ilahi (Divine Faith)

Religion initiated by Akbar in Mughal India; blended elements of the many faiths of the subcontinent; key to efforts to reconcile Hindus and Muslims in India, but failed.

Zamindari System

zamindars were local government officials who collected taxes, upheld laws for the Mughals

Taj Mahal

beautiful mausoleum at Agra built by the Mogul emperor Shah Jahan (completed in 1649) in memory of his favorite wife

Mumtaz Mahal

Wife of Shah Jahan; took an active political role in Mughal court; entombed in Taj Mahal

Shah Jahan

Mughal emperor of India during whose reign the finest monuments of Mughal architecture were built (including the Taj Mahal at Agra) (1592-1666)

Decline of Gunpowder Empires

Ottoman - Too large

Safavids - Outside invaders

Mughals - Constant wars

Janissary Revolt

1807-1808

Mughal-Safavid War

A conflict between the Mughal Empire and the Safavid Empire over territorial disputes.

Ivan IV (the Terrible)

First absolute tsar of Russia who crushed the boyars, giving him a nasty reputation

Peter the Great

tsar of Russia who introduced ideas from western Europe to reform the government

Beard Tax

A tax on those men in Russian who wore beards by Peter the Great as a method of Westernizing Russia. Those who had beards were required to carry a token stating that they had paid their beard tax.

Russian Academy of Sciences

founded as part of Russia's westernization; a foreigner headed every one of Peter's new technical and vocational schools, and for the first eight years, this included no Russians

Conquest of Siberia

The expansion of Russian territory into Siberia during the 16th and 17th centuries.

Boyars

Russian landholding aristocrats; possessed less political power than their western European counterparts

Westernization

adoption of western ideas, technology, and culture

Cossacks

Peoples of the Russian Empire who lived outside the farming villages, often as herders, mercenaries, or outlaws. Cossacks led the conquest of Siberia in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

Kremlin

Citadel of Moscow, housing the offices of the Russian government

St Basil's Cathedral

Cathedral built in Moscow by Ivan IV.

Trade Surplus

when a country exports more than it imports

Russian Serfs

these peasants were treated like slaves, though weren't property of the lords they worked for, dealt with bad living conditions and hard work

Red Turban Rebellion

an uprising influenced by the White Lotus Society members that, between 1351 and 1368, targeted the ruling Yuan dynasty of China, eventually leading to its overthrow

Ming Dynasty

Succeeded Mongol Yuan dynasty in China in 1368; lasted until 1644; initially mounted huge trade expeditions to southern Asia and elsewhere, but later concentrated efforts on internal development within China.

Yongle

Chinese Ming emperor who pushed foreign exploration and promoted cultural achievements such as the Yongle Encyclopedia.

Zheng He

An imperial eunuch and Muslim, entrusted by the Ming emperor Yongle with a series of state voyages that took his gigantic ships through the Indian Ocean, from Southeast Asia to Africa.

Yongle Encyclopedia

represented the Ming rulers' interest in supporting native Chinese cultural traditions

Manchus

Northeast Asian peoples who defeated the Ming Dynasty and founded the Qing Dynasty in 1644, which was the last of China's imperial dynasties.

Qing Dynasty

the last imperial dynasty of China (from 1644 to 1912) which was overthrown by revolutionaries. Also known for its extreme isolationism.

Kangxi

Qing emperor (r. 1662-1722). He oversaw the greatest expansion of the Qing Empire.

Qing Imperial Portraits

Portraits of Qing emperors used to legitimize their rule

Queue

a form of cultural assimilation and a visible sign of submission to the Qing rulers for Han Chinese men

Forbidden City

The walled section of Beijing where emperors lived between 1121 and 1924. A portion is now a residence for leaders of the People's Republic of China.

Isolationism

A policy of nonparticipation in international economic and political relations

Canton System

restricted all foreign trade to the port of Canton (trading season)

Silver and Chinese Trade

China's monetary and fiscal systems had substantially converted from a paper money system to silver by the time of the Single-Whip tax of the 1570s.

Venice

An Italian city that by 1000 C.E. emerged as a major center of Mediterranean trade.

Marco Polo

Venetian merchant and traveler. His accounts of his travels to China offered Europeans a firsthand view of Asian lands and stimulated interest in Asian trade.

Trade Monopoly

The right to be the only ones to trade with a certain region

Black Pepper

an Old World trading product

Cinnamon

(noun) an aromatic spice made from the bark of certain tropical trees and used in cooking.

Spice Trade

The trade of spices from Asia and India to Italian and Muslim merchants who would then trade it to Europeans

Usury Laws

laws that impose an upper limit on the interest rate that lenders can charge

Money Lending

Was considered a sin in the catholic church, usury, would borrow money from Jewish because it was not a sin

Venetian Ghetto

little island in Venice where 3,000 Jews lived under harsh and crowded conditions