Scripted Notes
The Ottoman Empire
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ocial
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Social arrangements varied widely due to the vast land and peoples that the empire controlled
Large merchant and artisan class underneath the elites and warriors
As the West began to grow as an imperialistic power, the Ottoman social structure began being
influenced by and was restructured by Western lines
Proposals for women’s education and ending seclusion, veiling and polygamy were debated but
never necessarily instituted. Women had little gain.
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Cultural aspects like art differed with region due to the vast amount of land the empire controlled
Constantinople, at that point Istanbul, was the Cultural crossroads of the Empire and combined the
best of all the regions’ culture (ex: the great cathedral of Saint Sophia or the Suleymaniye mosque)
Early Ottomans wrote in Persian and Arabic remained an important language for laws and religion
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Large Sunni Muslim Majority
Significant Jewish and Christian minorities
Legal reforms under the West’s growing power gave greater position of minority religious groups
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Able to easily conquer people due to advancement in war tech
After initially bypassing it in their conquest into Europe, the Ottomans conquered Constantinople
in 1453, renaming it Istanbul
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Absolute Monarchy
But sultans maintained their positions by playing factions in the warrior elite off each other and
facing warriors against Janissaries or other groups
Political Succession remained vague and contested
Legal reforms under the West’s growing power
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Gunpowder Empire
Had a formidable naval power
As Western power grew, the sciences and mathematics were reinstituted under Western lines
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Large merchant and artisan class
The Ottoman government closely regulated commercial exchanges and production
Artisans were organized into guilds, but even the guilds were regulated by the government officials
Western political reforms weakened the Artisan class due to removal of income taxes and other
foreign trade barriers
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Created by Turkic speaking peoples in Central Asia
Spread across Bosporus straits into Europe around the Black and Red seas and the Balkans
Extended into Egypt and across North Africa
The Ottomans lost land in the Balkans
Serbia Gained independence from Ottomans in 1817
Greece gained independence from Ottomans in 1832
The Ottomans (on the side of the Central powers) was destroyed at the end of WWI
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ulture
eligion
nteractions
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olitics
echnology
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conomics
emographic