the ottoman empire

Biggest part of Ottoman empire stretched from Europe to North Africa into Southwest Asia
Constantinople will become the capital for Ottoman Empire, and will also become this cosmopolitan center Constantinople had trade, commerce, was the head of the government, had all these different cultures interacting, therefore making it a large cosmopolitan center in Asia
At some point in time Constantinople fell, but it was restored to its glory by the Ottoman Empire As a part of this glorification, they built aqueducts to transfer water systems, they reopened markets, and prepared defenses along the city walls
Saint Sophia used to be a cathedral, but was transformed into a mosque The mosque today if you go in has large glass windows with depictions of Jesus and different stories of the Bible, but then also around the top of it you have the domes with Arabic writing from the Qu’ran.
^^^^ this represents cultural interchange between those two cultures depending on when Constantinople was primarily Christian and then when it changes to become Istanbul, and primarily Islamic with the mosque.
Suleiman mosque was built by Suleiman the Magnificent in the 16th century
Suleiman the Magnificent ruled the Ottoman Empire at its height from 1520-1566
If an empire gets too big, it can be one of the things that lead to the decline of it, especially if they don’t have effective administration and can't maintain control and protect borders. Another thing that can add to the downfall and eventual collapse is economic issues and invasions
Constantinople will become center of empire and the region in the eastern mediterranean
They will regulate trade and crafts, you will have artisan guilds like early unions to speak on the behalf of the artisans
Early ottomans will use Persian and Arabic for their languages, Turkish language becomes prevalent in the 17th century
Ottomans and Venice were huge trade partners, so the Ottomans controlled a lot of the eastern mediterranean and indian ocean trade through the Red Sea * wealth gained by the Venetians will help start the Renaissance
Ottomans’ had to compete with Venice for trade Ottomans’ will block trade from the east
The thing that kicks off European exploration is the need to get to Asia. What happens is the Ottoman empire at its height will control the silk roads and especially for Europe when the only way to get luxury goods from Asia at this point at time is through the Silk Roads and if the Ottoman empire controls the entrance and exit of it, and they block all of European contact, Europe has to find another route. All exploration of the new world by Europeans was because their access to the silk roads was taken away!!!
The Ottomans and the Hasburg Dynasty in the modern day Austria area really did not like each other (rivals!)
Ottomans will sign the Alliance with France (another rival of the Hasburg’s) in 1536 * this will be known as the Franco-Ottoman Alliance. This is very important because it is the first alliance that has nothing the do with ideology (enemy of my enemy is my friend sort of idea). France is Christian, primarily Catholic and they have their own King system. Then you have the Ottomans, who are Muslim and have control of the Middle East, they have a Sultan. These two were on complete opposite sides of the spectrum! All in all, the first alliance that was not formed based on religion or an ethnic cultural group. * This alliance lasted TWO CENTURIES * This alliance ended because of the fall of the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Dynasty will last for over 600 years
The cause of its downfall was the fact that it grew too big * They won’t be able to effectively administrate the land area; grow too big, infrastructure will be insufficient, they won’t be able to support the different roads (routes), waterways, aqueducts * Conquest will decline * lands will be lost to Christians or rival Muslim kingdoms * succession will continue to be an issue because people will continue to try to kill each other off
if a Sultan unexpectedly dies off they have what is called a power vacuum, where there are all these different heirs fighting for the spot
as the Ottoman empire starts to decline, the Sultan will lose more and more power to the point where the Sultan will not have the majority of the power in the Ottoman empire
Ottomans will fall behind Europeans especially in technological innovations and commercial mainly bcs of the European cut off of the trade routes causing them to create innovations to help reach Asia to trade and explore. Europe will also trade with other peoples and areas and their technology will just continue to increase
military will block change and technology in the Ottoman Empire
the navy will be defeated and multiple times they’ll lose control of their influence in the eastern mediterranean, lose influence over the indian ocean
Portuguese will beat most of the muslim navies, and not just the ottomans, the Safavids, and other Islam dominated empires as well
Portuguese will colonize all the coast of India
The ottoman currency will have been affected by especially as silver is introduced
all the things that led to downfall: loss of power, empire spread too thin, political unrest, economic unrest, money was not worth anything
Admed III will advocate which will in turn create that power vacuum through succession
a rebellion will happen
eventually a group of sultans will take over and try to give more power to the local authorities (kind of like a very loose confederation) which doesn’t work, especially when you’re trying to maintain that centralized authority This essentially led to the final destruction of the ottoman empire as well