3.1 : Land-based Empires Expand : Gunpowder Empires.

Gunpowder Empires

• Common: These Empire were land-based

  • Each empires was expanding geographically

  • Main cause of that expansion was the adoption of gunpowder weapons.

    • Side-Note: Empires that adopted Gunpower Weapons that came out on top.

Meet the Empires

• Ottoman Empire

  • Grew rapidly B/C

    • Ottoman Expansion:

      • 1. Strategic control of the Dardanelles

      • 2. Adoption and development of gunpowder weapons

        • Southwestern Europe and Anatolia was under Ottoman Control

        • Significant Achievements: The Sack on Constantinople (The heart of the Christian Byzantine Empire) → (Invasion) → Now known as Istanbul

• Safavid Empire

  • Leader (Reason of growth) : Ismail → Claim that they were going to be a Shi’a State

    • Shia : Muhammad’s true successor must be a blood relative

    • Sunni : Muhammad’s true successor can be elected

      • Under the rule of Shah Abbas, the empire adopted gunpowder weapons

• Mughal Empire

  • Leadership: Babur

    • Expanded Military armed with gunpowder cannons and guns to extent the geographic reach of his empire.

    • Under the ruler of Akbar, he was tolerant of religious beliefs

      • Akbar was a masterful administrator of the empires and under his leadership, the Mughal became the most prosperous empire of the 16th century.

• Machu Empire

  • They expanded their borders through gunpowder

    • They were fracturing due to internal division and external war

    • 40’s years of conquest to expand former territory that was lost

      • The Manchu were not ethnically Han like the majority of China’s population .

Rivalries between States

• Many of the clashed were caused mainly by religion and politics

  • Safavid-Mughal Conflict

    • Two Muslim Empires: They wanted to expand into the Persian Gulf & Religious rivalry

  • Songhai-Moroccan Conflict

    • Songhai Empire expanded significantly by the 16th cen. and grew rich b/c of their participation and partial control of the Trans Saharan trade.

      • Weakness: Internal problems which lead to Moroccan Kingdom to attack b/c they wanted more control of the trade routes.