Land Based Empires (Book)

Major Questions

How did pre-1500 era empires expand and incorporate people with different cultures, languages, ethnicities, and religious beliefs?

What were successful strategies for creating sovereignty and what strategies made empires vulnerable to external enemies?

The Ottomans 1300-1500

Ottomans: A group of Turkish Muslim nomads who gained control of the Anatolia region in modern Turkey around 1300. Their conquest of Constantinople in 1453 marked the end of the Byzantine empire. This established major Islamic power in western Asia.

The Rise of the Ottomans

Around 1300 a man named Osman emerged as leader of a group of nomad who successfully conquered different sections of the Anatolian peninsula. The Ottomans welcomed local Christians to join their fight on the “infidels” (Byzantines) without forcing them to convert is Islam.

In the 1300s, the Ottomans continuously conquered chunks of the weakened Byzantine empire such as Greece, Bulgaria, and the Balkans, skipping passed Constantinople. By the 1400s, they became the most powerful group loyal to the Byzantine ruler, who at this point only ruled Constantinople.

As the Ottomans expanded, they saw themselves as protectors of local society, using Islamic law as their tool. They paid Mosque officials salaries and included them as part of their government. Agriculture thrived and they used agricultural taxes to build roads for soldiers. Farmers willingly sold their food to them since they did not steal from locals like their enemies.

When Ottomans captured opposing Christian soldiers, they turned them into prisoners of war and forced them to join the army. These slaves were called Janissaries and many eventually converted to Islam. To prevent Janissaries from building up large estates, the Ottomans required them to be celibate so they’d have no children or descendants. Despite this, many families volunteered for their sons to be Janissaries because they be a higher rank than they’d be on a family farm. Around 1400, the Ottomans began use of new weapons thanks to gunpowder. Which they used to conquer Constantinople in 1453.

In 1453, Mehmed the Conquerer, created a large fort on the western shore of Bosphorus, right across from Constantinople. Three cannons hit all ships that tried to enter the harbor. 8,000 Byzantine soldiers were met with 80,000 Ottomans. Yet, it still took 2 months for the Ottomans to take Constantinople. The day the city fell, Mehmed II led a small group to the largest and most beautiful church (Hagia Sophia) and announced his plans to change it into a mosque. He did this with many other churches and Constantinople went from a Christian city to an Islamic one. Changing to Istanbul.

Under this new rules, Greek, Slavic, and Turkish folks moved into the city and brought great prosperity.

Aztec Empire of Mexico

Around 1325, people based in western Mexico, the Mexica (Aztecs) moved to Tenochtitlan in central Mexico. This group was one of many Nahua people and spoke Nahuatl. The Nahua had a complex calendrical system, built large stone monuments, and played a ritual ball game. They believed in a pantheon of God that demanded blood sacrifices from their followers. So sustain this, the Mexica constantly went to war, gradually conquering many of the city-states in central Mexico, forming the Aztec Empire

Settlement

Around the 1200s, various groups migrated to central Mexico, The center of this area being the Valley of Mexico which contained many shallow lakes and fertile land.

The last Nahua groups to arrive called themselves the Mexica, but we refer to them as the Aztecs.

By the 1300s, some 50 city-states, called, altepetl, occupied central Mexico. Each with its own leader and government. The Mexica migrated to the region around the urban center of Teotihuacan, a large city with many lakes. Since they were one of the last and the land was already occupied with several altepetl, they were forced to settle in Tenochtitlan, a swampland. But they gradually reclaimed larger areas of the swamps on the drier and more stable sides. This is where they built stone buildings with mortar. They planted flowers and walked on planks as well as used canoe to travel.

The Mexica arrived to Tenochtitlan around 1325. At its’ height, Tenochtitlan contained around 60,000 homes and around 200,000 people in an area of 5 square miles. The central marketplace offered cooked and uncooked food, slaves, tobacco products, and luxury goods made from gold, silver, and feathers. Consumers used cotton cloaks, cacao beans, and feather quills filled with gold dust as a form of exchange.