Muslim Empires

Muslim EmpiresChapter 20

Ottoman Empire1300s-1923

• Started with semi-nomadic Turks who migrated to northwest Anatolia in the 1200s

• Replaced the Mongols as their power declined


• Gunpowder

• Janissaries

• 1453 captured Constantinople

• Allowed Christians & Jews to worship—tolerant

• Navy until 1571 loss to Venetians & Spanish—Battle of Lepanto


• Mehmed

Ottoman Empire

Selim I 1512

• Claimed that he was the rightful heir to the Islamic tradition of Arab caliphs


Suleyman the Magnificent 1520-1566

• Patron of the artsGolden Age

• Pushed into Europe and laid siege on Vienna


• Absolute monarchy, but later removed himself and ruled through a vizier

• Islamic religious scholars & legal experts served administrative functions

• Still a major problem is succession


• ConstantinopleIstanbul

• Hagia Sophiamosque

• Aqueducts, marketplace, rest houses, religious schools and hospitals

• Large merchant and artisan class

• Commercial exchanges and handicraft production is closely regulated by government


• Harem was influential in politics and society

• Female relatives and concubines resided in the harem

• Gained status when had sons• Eunuchs guarded the harem were of slave

origin and were trained and educated• Enslavement of Muslims is forbidden• Sultan’s mom is the queen mother


• Peaked in mid-1600s

• Became too large to maintain

• Plagued by corruption & inflation

• Successors to the throne often lived sheltered lives and were unequipped to rule

• European military and naval technology outpaced the Ottomans

Mughal India1523-mid1700s

• History of decentralized regional kingdoms

• Babur, Turkic nomad, began his conquest of India in 1526

• Akbar, his son, continued this quest

Mughal India1523-mid 1700s

Akbar• Wanted to unify the empire—1ST time • Patronized the arts• Interested in religious discussion

– Policy of cooperation with Hindu rulers & encouraged intermarriagemixed geographically

– Abolished the jizya (non-Muslim tax)– Promoted Hindus to high-ranking govt jobs

Mughal India

Akbar

• Tried to improve the position of women by trying to eliminate sati


• Architecture– Blended Persian, Hindu ornamentation and

Islamic domes, arches and minarets

Mughal India1523 to mid 1700s

Aurangzeb• Pushed to extend Muslim control to all of India

– Brought back the non-Muslim tax

• Sought to purify India’s Islam—1700s begin to persecute Hindus

• His many wars drained the treasury• Peasant uprisings• Revolts by Muslims and Hindus• Weak Hindu princes


• Weak India, allowed European traders in search of cotton to increase their influence

• Portugal ad the port city of Goa and sent missionaries

• 1661 British East India Company controlled trade in Bombay.

• 1691 British East Co founded Calcutta

• Mughals were annoyed, but allowed trade

Muslim Empires

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