Chapter 19: Southwest Asia and the Indian Ocean, 1500-1750
Gunpowder Nations (Ottoman, Safavid & Mughal Empires)
The following questions roughly outline Chapter 18 from your textbook. And, although the questions may appear to be
‘in order,’ there is overlapping information. Each question is directly linked to other questions. The more complete your
answer/notes are the better you will do on your quiz/test!! You must be able to discuss ALL the information presented in
your chapter -- NOT JUST what is on the study guide.
OTTOMAN EMPIRE, TO 1750
1. Ottoman Empire-define
Expansions and Frontiers
2. List what three factors were responsible for the expansion of the Ottoman Empire beginning around 1300? Give
specific details to support your answer.
3. Explain how the Ottoman Empire expanded include specific leaders and locations.
a. Look at the map on page 550 find the following: original Ottoman Territory, territory gained.
b. Where was most of the land gained?
c. What other powerful Empires existed at the same time as the Ottoman Empire?
4. What is the Aya Sofya? How did the Ottoman’s change it?
5. Explain why the Ottoman Empire wasn’t successful against the Portuguese.
Central Institutions
6. Define the Janissaries. Who are they? Where did they come from? How did they get to be part of the Ottoman
Empire?
7. Ottoman Military-explain the role and responsibility of the following groups
a. Janissaries
b. Calvary
c. Navy
8. Explain what life was like in the Ottoman Empire.
Crisis of the Military State, 1595-1650
9. Explain the military crisis that led to the decline of the Ottoman Empire.
a. Changes and cost of military
b. Revolts
c. Janissary privileges
Economic Change and Growing Weakness
10. Explain the economic crisis that led to the decline of the Ottoman Empire.
a. Role of sultan
b. Janissaries
c. Rural life
11. What is the significance of the port of Izmir?
12. How did the siege of Vienna effect the Ottoman Empire?
13. Explain capulations. How did they benefit/hurt the Ottoman Empire-give specific examples.
14. What does the Tulip Period in Ottoman Empire tell us about the empire and effect of Europeans?
15. Explain how the Patrona Halil rebellion tell us about the problems the Ottoman Empire was facing?
SAFAVID EMPIRE, 1502-1722
1. Find the Safavid Empire on the map on page 550- what modern country is found there?
2. Safavid Empire
3. How was the Safavid Empire similar and different from the Ottoman Empire?
Safavid Society and Religion
4. Explain how religion effected the Safavid Empire. Include the effect on the people, and relationship with
neighbors.
5. Explain the belief of the Hidden Imam
A Tale of Tow Cities: Isfahan and Istanbul
6. Compare and contrast the culture and society of the two important Muslim cities, Istanbul and Isfahan.
Economic Crisis and Political Collapse
7. What economic and political factors led to the fall of the Safavid Empire?
MUGHAL EMPIRE 1526-1761
1. Find the Mughal Empire on the map on page 550- what modern country is found there?
2. Mughal Empire-define and what challenges did it face?
Political Foundations
3. How was the Mughal Empire founded, and how was it built up to a strong state?
4. How was the Mughal Empire similar to the Safavid Empire?
Hindus and Muslims
5. Explain the relationship between the Mughal Empire which was Muslim and the Hindus they ruled. Give specific
examples from Akbar to Aurangzeb’s rule.
6. Define and explain the “Devine Faith”
7. Explain culture within the Mughal Empire.
**See box below for added story about the Taj Mahal which was built by Akbar’s grandson Shah Jahan**
Central Decay and Regional Challenges
8. What economic, cultural and regional challenges caused the fall of the Mughal Empire?
OVERVIEW QUESTIONS
9. What was the primary feature that distinguished the Mughal Empire from the Ottomans and Safavids? Explain
your answer in detail.
10. Discuss the effects of integrating law and culture in the Ottoman, Safavid and Mughal empires with respect the
relationship between religious law and local tradition. You should refer to the Diversity and Dominance section, as
well as the text itself.
MARITIME WORLDS OF ISLAM 1500-1750
11. Why did the trade empires in the Indian Ocean region succeed while the Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal Empires
declined? Give specific details to support the argument.
Muslims in Southeast Asia
12. Where does Islam spread throughout Southeast Asia?
a. What relationship do these countries have with European nations? With gunpowder empires?
b. Which groups spread Islam?
c. adat
Muslims in Coastal Africa
13. What goods and ideas were traded from the East coast of Africa? Where were they traded?
14. Explain which regions of Africa were influenced by Islam, whereas which regions were influenced by Europeans.
European Powers in Southern Seas
15. Explain how the Dutch East India Company effected the Indian Ocean trade
SHAH JAHAN’S ROMANTIC GESTURE: THE TAJ MAHAL
Shah Jahan was a member of the Mughal dynasty that ruled most of northern India from the early 16th to the mid 18thcentury. After the death of his father, King Jahangir, in 1627, Shah Jahan emerged the victor of a bitter power struggle with his
brothers, and crowned himself emperor at Agra in 1628. At his side was Arjumand Banu Begum, better known as Mumtaz Mahal
(“Chosen One of the Palace”), whom he married in 1612 and cherished as the favorite of his three queens
In 1631, Mumtaz Mahal died after giving birth to the couple’s 14th child. The grieving Shah Jahan, known for
commissioning a number of impressive structures throughout his reign, ordered the building of a magnificent mausoleum across the
Yamuna River from his own royal palace at Agra. Construction began around 1632 and would continue for the next two decades. The
chief architect was probably Ustad Ahmad Lahouri, an Indian of Persian descent who would later be credited with designing the Red
Fort at Delhi. In all, more than 20,000 workers from India, Persia, Europe and the Ottoman Empire, along with some 1,000 elephants,
were brought in to build the mausoleum complex.
DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF THE TAJ MAHAL
Named the Taj Mahal in honor of Mumtaz Mahal, the mausoleum was constructed of white marble inlaid with semi-precious
stones (including jade, crystal, lapis lazuli, amethyst and turquoise) forming intricate designs in a technique known as pietra dura. Its
central dome reached a height of 240 feet (73 meters) and was surrounded by four smaller domes; four slender towers, or minarets,
stood at the corners. In accordance with Islamic tradition, verses from the Quran were inscribed in calligraphy on the arched entrances
to the mausoleum, in addition to numerous other sections of the complex. Inside the mausoleum, an octagonal marble chamber
adorned with carvings and semi-precious stones housed the cenotaph, or false tomb, of Mumtaz Mahal. The real sarcophagus
containing her actual remains lay below, at garden level.
According to one gruesome (most likely sensational) story, Shah Jahan had his minions
cut off the hands of the Taj Mahal’s architect and workers after the structure was completed,
ensuring they would never build another of its kind.
The rest of the Taj Mahal complex included a main gateway of red sandstone and a square garden divided into quarters by
long pools of water, as well as a red sandstone mosque and an identical building called a jawab (or “mirror”) directly across from the
mosque. Traditional Mughal building practice would allow no future alterations to be made to the complex. As the story goes, Shah
Jahan intended to build a second grand mausoleum across the Yamuna River from the Taj Mahal, where his own remains would be
buried when he died; the two structures were to have been connected by a bridge. In fact, Aurangzeb (Shah Jahan’s third son with
Mumtaz Mahal) deposed his ailing father in 1658 and took power himself. Shah Jahan lived out the last years of his life under house
arrest in a tower of the Red Fort at Agra, with a view of the majestic resting place he had constructed for his wife; when he died in
1666, he was buried next to her.
THE TAJ MAHAL OVER THE YEARS
Under Aurangzeb’s long rule (1658-1707), the Mughal empire reached the height of its strength. However, his militant
Muslim policies, including the destruction of many Hindu temples and shrines, undermined the enduring strength of the empire and
led to its demise by the mid-18th century. Even as Mughal power crumbled, the Taj Mahal suffered from neglect and disrepair in the
two centuries after Shah Jahan’s death. Near the turn of the 19th century, Lord Curzon, then British viceroy of India, ordered a major
restoration of the mausoleum complex as part of a colonial effort to preserve India’s artistic and cultural heritage.
Chapter 19-Southwest Asia & the Indian Ocean
OBJECTIVES:
1. Understand how the Ottomans built and administered their territorial empire.
2. Understand the rise of the Safavids and the role of Shi’ite Islam in the development of Iranian identity under the
Safavids.
3. Understand the construction of the Mughal Empire in India and the relations among Islam, Hinduism and Sikhism.
4. Understand the internal and external factors that led to the decline of the Ottoman and Mughal empires and to the
fall of the Safavids.
5. Understand the roles of the Portuguese, Oman and the Dutch in the development of trade in the Indian Ocean and
Southeast Asia.
QUESTIONS
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
What 3 facts were responsible for the expansion of the Ottoman Empire in the 1300- explain in details
Explain the economic & military crisis that led to the decline of the Ottoman Empire
Describe major similarities between the Safavid and Mughal Empires, specifically the cultural effects of Islam
Compare & contrast the cultural and society of two important Muslim cities, Istanbul & Isfahan
What features distinguished the Mughal Empire from the Ottomans and Safavids? Explain using details
Why did the trade empires in the Indian Ocean regional succeed while the Ottoman, Safavida nd Mughal Empires
decline?
NOTE CARDS
Ch 19 ID’s- give specific details about each ID and if it’s vocabulary- how does it pertain to THIS chapter and
these cultures!
These are due the day of the test- they are a continuation from Ch 18 notecards.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.
Ottoman Empire
Osman
Mehmed II
Selim I
Suleiman
Janissaries
Devshirme
Tulip period
31.
32.
33.
34.
35.
36.
37.
38.
Patrona Hali
Safavid Empire
Ismail
Isfahan vs. Istanbul
anderun
Mughal Empire
Babur
mansabs
39.
40.
41.
42.
43.
44.
45.
Rajputs
Divine Faith
Aurangzeb
Peacock throne
Nizam al-Mulk
Joseph Francois Dupleix
Adat