CHAPTER 18.1: The Ottomans Build a Vast Empire

• Many Anatolian Turks saw themselves as ghazis, or warriors for Islam

• They formed military societies under the leadership of an emir (chief commander)/followed a strict Islamic code of conduct

• They raided the territories of people who lived on the frontiers of the Byzantine Empire

• The most successful ghazi was Osman

• People in the west called him Othman and named his followers Ottomans

• Osman built a small Muslim state in Anatolia b/t 1300-1326

• His successors expanded it by buying land, forming alliances with some emirs, and conquering others

• Ottomans’ military success was largely based on the use of gunpowder

• They also were among the first people to use cannons as weapons of attack

• The second Ottoman leader, Orkhan I, was Osman’s son

• He felt strong enough to declare himself sultan, meaning “overlord” or “one with power.”

• 1361: the Ottomans captured Adrianople, the 2nd most important Byzantine city

• The Ottomans ruled through local officials appointed by the sultan/often improved the lives of peasants

• Most Muslims had to serve in Turkish armies/make contributions required by their faith

• Non-Muslims did not have to serve in the army but had to pay for their exemption w/ a small tax

• The rise of the Ottoman Empire was briefly interrupted in the early 1400s by a rebellious warrior/conqueror from Samarkand in Central Asia

• He was called Timur-i-Lang or Timur the Lame since he was permanently injured by an arrow in his leg, Europeans called him Tamerlane

• 1402: He crushed the Ottoman forces at the Battle of Ankara, halting the expansion of their empire

• Timur soon turned his attention to China, in which war broke out among the 4 sons of the Ottoman sultan

• Mehmed I defeated his brothers/took the throne

• His son, Murad II, defeated the Venetians, invaded Hungary, and overcame an army of Italian crusaders in the Balkans

• He was the 1st of 4 powerful sultans

• Murad’s son Mehmed II (Mehmed the Conqueror) launched his attack on Constantinople

• By the time Mehmed took power in 1451, Constantinople had shrunk dramatically in population, but it still dominated the Bosporus Strait despite controlling no territory outside its walls

• Mehmed the Conqueror, as he was now called, proved to be an able ruler as well as a magnificent warrior

• He opened Constantinople to new citizens of many religions and backgrounds (Jews, Christians, Muslims)

• They helped rebuild the city, which was now called Istanbul

• 1512: Mehmed’s grandson (Selim the Grim) came to power

• He was an effective sultan/great general

• 1514: he defeated the Safavids of Persia at the Battle of Chaldiran

• At the same time that Cortez was toppling the Aztec Empire in the Americas, Selim’s empire took responsibility for Mecca/Medina

• Finally he took Cairo, the intellectual center of the Muslim World

• The Ottoman Empire didn’t reach its peak size and grandeur until the reign of Selim’s son, Suleyman I

• Suleyman I came to the throne in 1520/ruled for 46 years, his own people called him Suleyman the Lawgiver

• This title was a tribute to the splendor of his court/his cultural achievements

• 1521: Suleyman conquered Belgrade

• The next year, Turkish forces captured the island of Rhodes in the Mediterranean and now dominated the whole eastern Mediterranean

• The Ottomans captured Tripoli on the coast of North Africa/continued conquering people along the North African coastline

• They managed to control trade routes to the interior of the continent

• 1526: Suleyman advanced into Hungary/Austria

• Suleyman’s armies then pushed to the outskirts of Vienna, Austria

• Only Charles V, head of the Hapsburg Empire in Europe, came close to rivaling Suleyman’s power

• The Ottoman empire required an efficient government structure and social organization

• Suleyman created a law code to handle both criminal/civil actions

• He also simplified and limited taxes, and systematized/reduced government bureaucracy

• These changes improved the lives of most citizens and helped earn Suleyman the title of Lawgiver

• The sultan’s 20,000 personal slaves staffed the palace bureaucracy

• The slaves were acquired as part of a policy called devshirme

• Under the devshirme system, the sultan’s army drafted boys from the peoples of conquered Christian territories

• The army educated them, converted them to Islam, and trained them as soldiers

• An elite force of 30,000 soldiers known as janissaries was trained to be loyal to the sultan only

• Christian families sometimes bribed officials to take their children into the sultan’s service, because the brightest ones could rise to high government posts/military positions

• In accordance with Islamic law, the Ottomans granted freedom of worship to other religious communities, particularly to Christian/Jews

• They treated these communities as millets, or nations

• They allowed each millet to follow its own religious laws and practices

• The head of the millets reported to the sultan and his staff

• This system kept conflict among people of the various religions to a minimum

• Suleyman found time to study poetry, history, geography, astronomy, mathematics, and architecture

• He employed one of the world’s finest architects, Sinan, who was probably from Albania

• Sinan’s masterpiece is the Mosque of Suleyman

• It includes four schools, a library, a bath, and a hospital

• Art/literature also flourished under Suleyman’s rule

• Painters and poets looked to Persia and Arabia for models

• The works that they produced used these foreign influences to express original Ottoman ideas in the Turkish style

• Despite Suleyman’s social/cultural achievements, the Ottoman Empire was losing ground

• Suleyman killed his ablest son and drove another into exile

• His third son, the incompetent Selim II, inherited the throne

• Suleyman set the pattern for later sultans to gain and hold power

• It became customary for each new sultan to have his brothers strangled

• The sultan would then keep his sons prisoner in the harem, cutting them off from education or contact with the world

• This practice produced a long line of weak sultans who eventually brought ruin on the empire

CHAPTER 18.2: Cultural Blending - Case Study: the Safavid Empire

• The Safavid Empire, a Shi’ite Muslim dynasty that ruled in Persia between the 16th-18th centuries

• Cultural change is most often prompted by one or more of the following:

• Migration

• Pursuit of religious freedom/conversion

• Trade

• Conquest

• The blending that contributed to the Ottomans relied on some of these

• The Turks were motivated to win territory for their empire

• The Ottoman Empire’s location on a major trading route created many opportunities for contact with different cultures

• Suleyman’s interest in learning/culture prompted him to bring the best foreign artists/scholars to his court

• They brought new ideas about art, literature, and learning to the empire

• Cultural blending may lead to changes in language, religion, styles of government, the use of technology, and military tactics

• Language:

• Ex) Written Chinese characters used in the Japanese language (Kanji)

• Religion/ethical systems:

• The concept of a democratic government spread to many areas of the globe

• Racial/ethnic blending:

• The mestizo, people of mixed European/Indian ancestry who live in Mexico

• Arts/architecture:

• Chinese artistic elements are found in Safavid Empire tiles and carpets/European paintings

• Conquest and ongoing cultural interaction fueled the development of the Safavid Empire

• The Safavids were members of an Islamic religious brotherhood named after Safi al-Din

• 15th century: the Safavids aligned themselves with the Shi’a branch of Islam

• The Safavids were squeezed geographically between the Ottomans/Uzbek tribespeople/Mughal Empire

• To protect themselves from these potential enemies, the Safavids concentrated on building a powerful army

• 1499: 12-year-old named Isma’il began to seize most of what is now Iran

• He completed the task in 2 years

• To celebrate his achievement, he took the ancient Persian title of shah, or king

• He established Shi’a Islam as the state religion

• Isma’il became a religious tyrant

• Any citizen who did not convert to Shi’ism was put to death

• Isma’il destroyed the Sunni population of Baghdad in his confrontation with the Ottomans

• Their leader, Selim the Grim, later ordered the execution of all Shi’a in the Ottoman Empire

• The final face-off took place at the Battle of Chaldiran (1514)

• The Ottomans defeated the Safavids

• Another outcome of the battle was to set the border between the two empires

• It remains the border today b/t Iran/Iraq

• Isma’il’s son Tahmasp learned from the Safavids’ defeat at Chaldiran

• He adopted the use of artillery with his military forces

• He expanded the Safavid Empire up to the Caucasus Mountains, northeast of Turkey/brought Christians under Safavid rule

• Tahmasp laid the groundwork for the golden age of the Safavids

• Shah Abbas, or Abbas the Great, took the throne in 1587/helped create a Savavid culture/golden age that drew the best of the Ottoman, Persian, and Arab worlds

• Shah Abbas reformed aspects of both military/civilian life

• He limited the power of the military/created two new armies that would be loyal to him alone

• One of these was an army of Persians

• The other was a force that Abbas recruited from the Christian north and modeled after the Ottoman janissaries

• He equipped both of these armies with modern artillery

• Abbas also reformed his government

• He punished corruption severely and promoted only officials who proved their competence and loyalty

• He hired foreigners from neighboring countries to fill positions in the government

• To convince European merchants that his empire was tolerant of other religions, Abbas brought members of Christian religious orders into the empire

• As a result, Europeans moved into the land

• Then industry, trade, and art exchanges grew between the empire and European nations

• The Shah built a new capital at Esfahan

• It was a showplace for many artisans both foreign/Safavid

• Shah Abbas brought hundreds of Chinese artisans to Esfahan

• Working with Safavid artists, they produced intricate metalwork, miniature paintings, calligraphy, glasswork, tile work, and pottery

• This collaboration gave rise to artwork that blended Chinese/Persian ideas

• The most important result of Western influence on the Safavids, however, may have been the demand for Persian carpets

• This demand helped change carpet weaving from a local craft to a national industry

• In the beginning, the carpets reflected traditional Persian themes

• As the empire became more culturally blended, the designs incorporated new themes

• In the 16th century, Shah Abbas sent artists to Italy to study under the Renaissance artist Raphael

• Rugs then began to reflect European designs

• In finding a successor, Shah Abbas made the same mistake the Ottoman monarch Suleyman made

• He killed or blinded/ablest sons

• His incompetent grandson, Safi, succeeded Abbas

• This pampered young prince led the Safavids down the same road to decline that the Ottomans had taken, only more quickly

CHAPTER 18.3: The Mughal Empire in India

• For almost 300 years, the Muslims were able to advance only as far as the Indus River valley

• Starting around the year 1000, well-trained Turkish armies swept into India

• Led by Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni, they devastated Indian cities and temples in 17 brutal campaigns

• These attacks left the region weakened and vulnerable to other conqueror

• Delhi eventually became the capital of a loose empire of Turkish warlords called the Delhi Sultanate

• These sultans treated the Hindus as conquered people

• Between the 13th-16th centuries, 33 different sultans ruled this divided territory from their seat in Delhi

• 1398: Timur the Lame destroyed Delhi

• Delhi eventually was rebuilt

• 1494: an 11-year-old boy named Babur inherited a kingdom in the area that is now Uzbekistan/Tajikistan

• It was only a tiny kingdom, and his elders soon took it away and drove him south

• Babur built up an army

• In the years that followed, he swept down into India and laid the foundation for the vast Mughal Empire

• Babur was a brilliant general

• 1526: he led 12,000 troops to victory against an army of 100,000 commanded by a sultan of Delhi

• After Babur’s death, his incompetent son, Humayun, lost most of the territory Babur had gained

• Babur’s 13-year-old grandson took over the throne after Humayun’s death

• Babur’s grandson was called Akbar, which means “Great.”

• Akbar recognized military power as the root of his strength/equipped his armies with heavy artillery

• He appointed some rajputs as officers

• In this way he turned potential enemies into allies

• This combination of military power and political wisdom enabled Akbar to unify a land of at least 100 million people (more than all of Europe)

• A Muslim, he continued the Islamic tradition of religious freedom

• He permitted people of other religions to practice their faiths

• He allowed his wives to practice their religious rituals in the palace

• He proved his tolerance again by abolishing both the tax on Hindu pilgrims and the hated jizya, or tax on non-Muslims

• Akbar governed through a bureaucracy of officials

• Natives and foreigners, Hindus and Muslims, could all rise to high office

• Todar Mal created an effective taxation policy

• He levied a tax similar to the present-day U.S. graduated income tax, calculating it as a percentage of the value of the peasants’ crops

• Because this tax was fair and affordable, the number of peasants who paid it increased

• This payment brought in much needed money for the empire

• Akbar’s land policies had more mixed results

• He gave generous land grants to his bureaucrats

• After they died, however, he reclaimed the lands and distributed them as he saw fit

• The policy prevented the growth of feudal aristocracies

• It didn’t encourage dedication/hard work by the Mughal officials since their kids wouldn’t inherit the land/benefit from their parents’ work

• Officials saw no point in devoting themselves to their property

• As Akbar extended the Mughal Empire, he welcomed influences from the many cultures in the empire

• This cultural blending affected art, education, politics, and language

• Persian was the language of Akbar’s court and of high culture

• The common people, however, spoke Hindi, a language derived from Sanskrit

• The Urdu (from the soldier’s camp) language developed out of the Mughal armies

• It’s a blend of Arabic, Persian, and Hindu/is the official language of Pakistan

• The arts flourished at the Mughal court, especially in the form of book illustrations

• They were small, highly detailed, and colorful paintings called miniatures

• Hindu literature also enjoyed a revival in Akbar’s time

• Tulsi Das, for example, was a contemporary of Akbar’s

• He retold the epic love story of Rama and Sita from the 4th century BC

• Akbar devoted himself to architecture

• The style developed under his reign is still known as Akbar period architecture

• The capital city of Fatehpur Sikri is one of the most important examples of this type of architecture

• With Akbar’s death in 1605, the Mughal court changed to deal with the changing time

• Akbar’s son called himself Jahangir (Grasper of the World)

• Jahangir’s wife was the Persian princess Nur Jahan

• She was a brilliant politician who perfectly understood the use of power

• As the real ruler of India, she installed her father as prime minister in the Mughal court

• She saw Jahangir’s son Khusrau as her ticket to future power

• But when Khusrau rebelled against his father, Nur Jahan removed him/shifted her favor to another son

• Jahangir tried to promote Islam in the Mughal state, but was tolerant of other religions

• When Khusrau rebelled, he turned to the Sihks: a nonviolent religious group whose doctrines contained elements similar to Hinduism/Sufism (Islamic Mysticism)

• The Sikhs see themselves as an independent tradition and not an offshoot of another religion

• Their leader, Guru Arjun, sheltered Khusrau and defended him

• The Mughal rulers had Arjun arrested and tortured to death

• The Sikhs became the target of the Mughals’ particular hatred

• Jahangir’s son and successor, Shah Jahan, could not tolerate competition and secured his throne by assassinating all his possible rivals

• He had a passion for beautiful buildings and his wife Mumtaz Mahal

• Nur Jahan had arranged this marriage between Jahangir’s son and her niece for political reasons

• In 1631, Mumtaz Mahal died at age 39 while giving birth to her 14th child

• To enshrine his wife’s memory, he ordered that a tomb be built “as beautiful as she was beautiful. This memorial is the Taj Mahal

• Shah Jahan was building gardens, monuments, and forts, but his country was suffering

• There was famine/farmers needed tools, roads, and ways of irrigating crops/dealing w/ India’s harsh environment

• What they got instead were taxes and more taxes to support the building of monuments, their rulers’ extravagant living, and war

• When Shah Jahan became ill in 1657, his four sons scrambled for the throne

• Aurangzeb, the third son, executed his older brother in a civil war

• He arrested his father and put him in prison, where he died several years later

• Aurangzeb ruled from 1658-1707

• He expanded the Mughal holdings to their greatest size

• The power of the empire weakened during his reign

• He rigidly enforced Islamic laws, outlawing drinking, gambling, and other activities viewed as vices

• He appointed censors to police his subjects’ morals and make sure they prayed at the appointed times

• He also tried to erase all the gains Hindus had made under Akbar

• Aurangzeb brought back the jizya tax/dismissed Hindus from high positions in government

• He banned the construction of new temples and had Hindu monuments destroyed

• The Hindu rajputs, whom Akbar had converted from potential enemies to allies, rebelled

• Aurangzeb defeated them repeatedly, but never completely

• A Hindu warrior community called Marathas founded their own state

• Aurangzeb captured their leader but could never conquer them

• The Sikhs transformed themselves into a brotherhood of warriors

• They began building a state in the Punjab, an area in northwest India

• Aurangzeb levied oppressive taxes to pay for the wars against the increasing numbers of enemies

• He removed all taxes not authorized by Islamic law, so he doubled the taxes on Hindu merchants

• This increased tax burden deepened the Hindus’ bitterness/led to further rebellion

• As a result, Aurangzeb needed to raise more money to increase his army

• By the end of Aurangzeb’s reign, he had drained the empire of its resources

• Over 2 million people died in a famine while Aurangzeb was away waging war/most of his subjects felt little to no loyalty towards him

• As the power of the central state weakened, the power of local lords grew

• By the end of this period, the Mughal emperor was nothing but a wealthy figurehead