16 (honors) Test: The Gunpowder Empires
1. What was the term for the Christian converts to Islam whom Abbas the Great promoted?
A. devshirme
B. ghulams
C. janissaries
D. Jesuits
2. Which of the following is not a true statement about Islam?
A. Islam is monotheistic.
B. Historically, jihad has usually referred to war against infidels.
C. Since Islam is open to interpretation, there are many different forms of the religion.
D. Because the Qur’an cannot be translated, shari’a is uniform throughout the Islamic world.
3. What happened when the rules governing devshirme graduates were relaxed?
A. The bureaucracy devolved from a meritocracy to an aristocracy.
B. Ottoman sultans asserted their rights as absolute rulers.
C. The bureaucracy evolved from an aristocracy to a meritocracy.
D. The Ottoman Empire became more efficient since high-ranking officials were content.
4. Who were the Hindus in the Deccan who established a state-within-a-state to resist Aurangzeb’s conquest?
A. the Rajputs
B. the Sikhs
C. the Marathas
D. the Mughals
5. How did tribal leaders gain legitimacy in the face of the lack of primogeniture in Turkic traditions?
A. They exploited their personal charisma.
B. They used brute force against their rivals.
C. All of these are reasonable responses.
D. They functioned as booty princes.
6. With whom did Babur forge an alliance early in his reign?
A. Sultan Selim I
B. Shah Ismail I
C. Tsar Ivan IV
D. Shah Abbas I
7. What did Babur gain from that alliance? (mark all that apply)
A. military support
C. luxury goods
B. trade contacts with Europe
D. his sister released from a marriage
8. What did the other side gain? (mark all that apply)
A. an ally to help control Uzbeks and Afghans on their frontier
B. Babur’s sister as a wife
C. greater influence over Central Asian trade systems
D. a supplier of matchlock muskets and field artillery
9. What were the conditions of that agreement?
A. The Ottomans had suzerainty over the Mughals and Babur converted to Shi’ism.
B. The Mongols were granted rule over China again, but ceded Afghanistan to the Safavids.
C. The Safavids had suzerainty over the Mughals and Babur converted to Shi’ism.
D. The Safavids had suzerainty over the Mughals and Babur converted to Sufism.
10. What was the title of the chief executive who ran the bureaucracy of the Ottoman Empire?
A. sultan
B. bey
C. shah
D. grand vezir
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Use the following graphic representation of
Mustafa Naima’s seventeenth-century cycle of
equanimity to answer items 11-15.
11. What should the Ottomans do as a result of
expansion in the war against the Safavids and
Mamluks to control major trade centers such as Cairo,
Beirut, Baghdad and Basra, according to this cycle?
A. invest in better equipment for its army
B. build roads to improve the lives of the
people
C. train and employ more soldiers
D. reorganize the bureaucracy
services
populace
political
unit
economic
resources
Military
12. What would happen as weak and incompetent sultans came into office and the government was run by selfinterested viziers and janissaries?
A. The janissaries and the sipahis would begin fighting over the flow of wealth, further weakening the
sultans.
B. The delivery of government services would break down and the people would suffer.
C. Unemployment would skyrocket and the millets would start rebelling against the state.
D. The sultan would crush the janissaries.
13. What would be the result of Shah Jahan’s failure to invest in infrastructure and agricultural improvements
as well as raising regressive taxes on the peasants to pay for military and building projects?
A. It would represent a failure of the government to provide services, so the populace would be unable
to generate economic resources.
B. It would represent a failure in the political unit, creating corruption in the legal system.
C. It would represent a failure of the government to provide for the subjects, which would create a
stronger army that would likely overthrow the state.
D. It would represent a strengthening of the people, generating more resources for the military.
14. Using Mustafa Naima’s model, what would be the effect of European countries establishing colonies in the
Americas and gaining control over sea routes to trade directly with East Asia?
A. The Ottomans would lose economic resources and their military would become weak, threatening
the stability of the political unit.
B. The Ottomans would lose economic resources and the people would rebel, weakening the sultanate.
C. The Ottomans would build a large navy to capture the sea routes from the Portuguese.
D. These actions would have no significant effect.
15. What effect would Abbas the Great’s creation of the ghulam system have?
A. A stronger military and competent bureaucracy would strengthen the state.
B. It would strengthen the Qizilbash aristocracy, generating wealth for the Safavid Empire.
C. The ghulams could provide police protection for the subjects, allowing them to trade and farm in
peace.
D. Harmonizing the Safavid law code with shari’a allowed for a better justice system, which would
generate more economic resources that could be invested in the subjects.
16. Which of the following represents the interests of rulers, such as the Ottoman sultan?
A. a decentralized power structure
B. empowerment of peasants
C. free markets
D. a centralized power structure
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17. What entity took advantage of Mughal weakness in the eighteenth century to eventually take over India by the
mid-1800s?
A. the French East India Company
B. the Safavid Empire
C. the British East India Company
D. the Ottoman Empire
18. What was the name of the elite infantry unit of the Ottoman Empire?
A. Ghulams
B. Janissaries
C. Sipahis
D. Cossacks
19. What title did Selim I assume when he captured Mecca in 1517?
A. Sultan
B. Bey
C. Caliph
D. Pope
20. What was the nickname of the office of the official in question 10?
A. Grand Poobah
B. Sublime Porte
C. Pasha Sinan
D. Kanuni
21. Which element in Mughal society would have been most likely to support Aurangzeb’s religious policies?
A. the Marathas
B. the Khalsa
C. the Ulama
D. the Rajputs
22. What was the Hindu confederacy that resisted Muslims in western India?
A. the Marathas
B. the Rajputs
C. the Qajars
D. the Aryans
23. Why did Abbas the Great agree to a humiliating peace agreement with the Ottomans early in his reign?
(mark all that apply)
A. His military had been crushed and the Safavid Empire was humiliated on the battlefield.
B. The Safavid Empire was in disarray following internal power struggles and he needed time to
consolidate his rule.
C. He wanted to focus his attention on the Uzbeks and Afghans before dealing with the
Ottomans.
D. He was concerned about the Lor tribes preying on Christians in the Caucasus.
24. What was frequently the result of the dynastic structures of the Gunpowder Empires?
A. bloody internal power struggles
B. peaceful transitions of power
C. expansionist wars
D. unemployment
25. Which statement best describes the Safavid Empire?
A. It established a haven for Shi’ism that persists to this day.
B. It posed a threat to European power.
C. Its support of Sunnism created tensions with the Ottoman Empire.
D. Its sending missionaries to China undermined the Ming dynasty.
26. Which of the following is a major difference between Sunnism and Shi’ism? (mark all that apply)
A. Sunnis believe in the oneness of God, while Shi’a believe in the manifold nature of Him.
B. Shi’a venerate Christian saints and have priests, which Sunnis reject as idolatry.
C. Shi’a believe that Muhammad passed esoteric teachings on to Ali, which Sunnis reject.
D. Sunnis believe the Caliph should be essentially secular, while Shi’a believe his role would
include being a spiritual teacher (i.e., the Imam).
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Geographic Analysis. Questions 27-33 refer to the following map.
27. Which of the following was conquered by Süleyman the Magnificent?
A. Greece
B. Mecca
C. Italy
D. Hungary
28. What rival empire lay to the north of the Ottoman Empire?
A. Spain
B. Russia
C. Persia
D. Mughal Empire
29. Which body of water did the Ottoman Empire essentially control after 1520?
A. The Mediterranean Sea
B. the Persian Gulf
C. the Aral Sea
D. the Caspian Sea
30. What city is located at the junction of Europe and Asia and at the junction of the Mediterranean and Black
Seas?
A. Istanbul
B. Mecca
C. Vienna
D. Isfahan
31. Which city did the Ottomans most likely capture from the Safavids?
A. Istanbul
B. Mecca
C. Baghdad
D. Tripoli
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32. Suppose an Ottoman official traveled from the western border of Algeria straight to the Safavid border,
approximately how many miles would he travel before leaving the Ottoman Empire?
A. 400 miles
B. 2500 miles
C. 4000 miles
D. 1500 miles
33. How might the previous question present a problem for the Ottoman Empire? (mark all that apply)
A. It would take a long time to move troops from one part of the empire to another to put down a
rebellion.
B. It would prevent the expansion of trade routes that is necessary for continued economic growth.
C. The Ottomans refused to use local elites and it took a long time to transfer government officials.
D. Because it took a long time to get information, local governors had to have a good deal of autonomy.
34. Who was the Mughal ruler who tried to impose strict Islam on India?
A. Akbar the Great
B. Humayun
C. Jahangir
D. Aurangzeb
35. What is the term for the rigid system of social classes and sub-classes in Indian society?
A. yoga
B. karma
C. Brahman
D. caste
36. What substance was associated with anti-government activities in the Ottoman Empire?
A. coffee
B. hashish
C. opium
D. tobacco
37. What was a millet?
A. a marching band used by the janissaries
B. any of a number of ethnic communities in the Ottoman Empire
C. a regional province of the Ottoman Empire
D. any of a number of religious communities in the Ottoman Empire
38. Why did Babur need luxury goods from his ally in question 6?
A. He needed gifts to give as a bride-price to Indian princes.
B. He needed to provide gifts to win the support of the warrior aristocracy.
C. He needed to provide trade goods to build up a functional middle class.
D. This is a trick question; Babur gave luxury goods to his ally.
39. What term refers to the chain of transmitters (teacher-to-disciple) in Islam?
A. apostolic succession
B. isnad
C. jihad
D. shari’a
40. What is the best explanation for why the Sufism was so popular in India?
A. The sect was an intentional combination of Buddhism and Islam.
B. It was a way the Indian Muslims could rebel against their Mughal overlords.
C. India had a long tradition of mysticism in pre-Islamic history.
D. This is a trick question! This sect had little following in India.
41. What term describes a relationship in which one state dominates the foreign affairs of another, while
allowing it autonomy in domestic policy?
A. imperialism
B. populism
C. suzerainty
D. neo-colonialism
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42. All of the following are correct about the Ottoman sultans except:
A. Harem women often had considerable power.
B. The sultan ruled through an imperial administrative council headed by the Grand Vezir.
C. The position of sultan was hereditary, but not necessarily by the eldest son.
D. Even the sultan himself never entered the harem because it was considered sacred.
E. Court rituals were adapted from Byzantine and Persian practices.
43. What is the ruling council of scholars in a Muslim state called?
A. majlis
B. ulama
C. senate
D. sacred college
44. Mughal decline in the seventeenth century was the result of all of the following except:
A. the successive assassinations of Jahangir and Shah Jahan
B. Nur Jahan’s use of her position to enrich and empower her relatives
C. the lack of investment in agriculture and infrastructure
D. Shah Jahan’s expensive building and military campaigns
45. Which of the following was key to Akbar’s power?
A. his claim to be the reincarnation of the Mahdi
B. strategic marriages and the use of gunpowder in his military
C. strategic trade deals with European companies and use of war elephants
D. his murdering his brothers to eliminate all rivals
46. What region was disputed between the Ottoman and Safavid Empires?
A. the Balkans
B. Egypt
C. Afghanistan
D. Mesopotamia
47. What was Abu’l Fazl Allami’s view of Akbar?
A. Akbar was the legitimate caliph because he had memorized the Qur’an.
B. Akbar was the legitimate caliph because of his successful jihad against the Marathas.
C. Akbar’s devotion and piety granted him the grace of imamate.
D. Akbar was the reincarnation of the Mahdi.
48. What thought traditions did Abu’l Fazl combine to reach that conclusion? (mark all that apply)
A. Shi’ism
B. Platonism
C. Sunnism
D. Humanism
49. The capture of what city and in what year gave Mehmed II the epithet “the Conqueror?”
A. Belgrade; 1389
B. Constantinople; 1453
C. Sophia; 1385
D. Constantinople; 1204
50. The rule of the British East India Company:
A. led to the transfer of capital and land to British officials.
B. led to the development of a wealthy Indian merchant class.
C. turned the zamindars into English gentry.
D. encouraged the development of local industry in India.
51. What did sulahkul, the dominant principle in Akbar the Great’s religious policy, mean?
A. persecution of non-Muslims
B. seizure of Buddhist monasteries
C. tolerance of all religions
D. persecution of non-Hindus
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52. How did the devshirme allow the Ottoman sultan independence from the tribal aristocracy?
A. He had professional leaders to organize the central government on a meritocratic basis rather
than giving positions to the aristocracy.
B. He had a regular standing military rather loyal directly to him rather than depending on tribal
irregulars.
C. He had concubines instead of wives drawn from the aristocracy.
D. All of the above.
53. All of the following are correct about the Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal empires except:
A. They became vulnerable to exploitation by wealthy, powerful Western states.
B. Gunpowder played an important role in their rise.
C. All experienced destructive factionalism within their ruling families.
D. All were of Turko-Mongol nomadic origins.
E. All three made Sunni Islam their official religion.
Items 54-56 refer to the portrait of Jahangir and Abbas the
Great by Abul Hassan, ca. 1620.
54. What is the best explanation for the halo behind Jahangir?
A. Jahangir learned the secrets of the spiritual life and
became a saint.
B. According to Shi’a doctrine, the two rulers shared the
imamate.
C. According to the ideas of Abu’l Faz’l, Jahangir had the
grace of the Imamate as a philosopher-king.
D. The Mughals adopted sun-worship from the
Zoroastrians.
55. What is the message of the fact that the two men are embracing
one another?
A. Abul Hassan was criticizing their immorality.
B. The Safavid and Ottoman Empires were close allies.
C. The Mughal and Safavid Empires were united against the
Ottomans and Portuguese.
D. The Mughal and Safavid Empires were united in the
faith and peace prevails in the region.
56. What is the message given the relative size of the men and the position of the Mughal lion and the Safavid
lamb?
A. With Mughal support, the Safavids would conquer the Mediterranean.
B. Jahangir much more powerful and important than Abbas the Great
C. Abul Hassan was a secret Christian, evidenced by the lion and the lamb lying together and the angels.
D. There is no message; it is simply a realistic portrayal of the fact that Abbas the Great was short.
57. Why did Abbas the Great have Mohammed Khan Qoli murdered?
A. Mohammed Khan Qoli had murdered Abbas’s father, mother, and brother.
B. Mohammed Khan Qoli had lost Tabriz to the Ottomans.
C. Mohammed Khan Qoli had used his regency to rule in Abbas’s name.
D. Mohammed Khan Qoli was a Yezidi and Abbas wanted a pure Shi’a state.
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Items 58-62 refer to the following table:
58. Which empire had the largest population?
A. Ottoman
B. Safavid
C. Mughal
59. What was the approximate population density of the Safavid Empire?
A. 12 persons/mi2
B. 33 persons/mi2
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C. 45 persons/mi
D. 105 persons/mi2
60. Which empire would have found religious diversity a source of potential weakness? (mark all that apply)
A. Ottoman
B. Safavid
C. Mughal
61. Which empire would have been unable to withstand the expansion of Europeans with new maritime
technologies in the early modern era? (mark all that apply)
A. Ottoman
B. Safavid
C. Mughal
62. Using Mustafa Naima’s cycle of equanimity on p. 2, which of the following explains why the information in
the right-hand column is so important?
A. All three empires used cannon to destroy their enemies which allowed them to gain greater access to
economic resources.
B. If a state had the capability to produce its own weaponry, it indicates that the empire used its
economic resources to strengthen its military.
C. If the empire produced its own weaponry, it indicates that the political unit used economic resources
to create jobs, which benefitted the populace.
D. If an empire imported weaponry, it shows that the state had extensive economic contacts with the
Europeans, which would show that it was more powerful militarily.
63. Which of the following was a major cause of Ottoman decline?
A. corrupt officials
B. diversion of trade by Europeans
C. inflation due to the influx of bullion into Europe.
D. all of the above
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Reading Primary Sources. Read the following selection from Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq (a Habsburg
diplomat), “The Turkish Letters, 1555-1562” (Ghiselin de Busbecq, Ogier. “The Turkish Letters, 15551562.” Modern History Sourcebook. Paul Halsall. Internet History Sourcebooks. Fordham University. 4
December, 2012. Web.) and answer questions 64-70 that follow.
At Buda I made my first acquaintance with the Janissaries; this is the name by which the Turks call the infantry
of the royal guard. The Turkish state has 12,000 of these troops when the corps is at its full strength. They are
scattered through every part of the empire, either to garrison the forts against the enemy, or to protect the
Christians and Jews from the violence of the mob. There is no district with any considerable amount of
population, no borough or city, which has not a detachment of Janissaries to protect the Christians, Jews, and
other helpless people from outrage and wrong. …
It makes me shudder to think of what the result of a struggle between such different systems must be; one of us
must prevail and the other be destroyed, at any rate we cannot both exist in safety. On their side is the vast
wealth of their empire, unimpaired resources, experience and practice in arms, a veteran soldiery, an
uninterrupted series of victories, readiness to endure hardships, union, order, discipline, thrift and watchfulness.
On ours are found an empty exchequer, luxurious habits, exhausted resources, broken spirits, a raw and
insubordinate soldiery, and greedy quarrels; there is no regard for discipline, license runs riot, the men indulge
in drunkenness and debauchery, and worst of all, the enemy are accustomed to victory, we to defeat. Can we
doubt what the result must be? The only obstacle is Persia, whose position on his rear forces the invader to take
precautions. The fear of Persia gives us a respite, but it is only for a time. …
Among the Turks, therefore, honours, high posts, and judgeships are the rewards of great ability and good
service. If a man be dishonest, or lazy, or careless, he remains at the bottom of the ladder, an object of
contempt; for such qualities there are no honours in Turkey!
This is the reason that they are successful in their undertakings, that they lord it over others, and are daily
extending the bounds of their empire. These are not our ideas, with us there is no opening left for merit; birth is
the standard for everything; the prestige of birth is the sole key to advancement in the public service.
64. What function did the janissaries serve in the mid-sixteenth century in peace time?
A. They were religious specialists like monks.
B. They were a police force.
C. They were controlling the government.
D. They were firefighters.
65. Which element in Mustafa Naima’s Cycle of Equity would this function represent?
A. military
B. economic resources
C. services
D. populace
66. Which of the following is not a comparison Busbecq made regarding Habsburg troops and the janissaries?
A. The Ottomans were wealthy while the Habsburgs were impoverished.
B. Ottoman troops were disciplined while the German troops fought amongst themselves.
C. The Ottomans had a tradition of victory while the Habsburgs suffered from low morale.
D. The janissaries were experts with guns while the Habsburg troops were still fighting with swords.
67. According to de Busbecq, what was preventing an Ottoman conquest of the Habsburg Empire?
A. The Ottomans had to defend their eastern border against the Persians, so they could not attack with
their full might.
B. The Ottomans lacked a sufficient navy to bring the janissaries and sipahis to Europe.
C. The Habsburgs had superior artillery.
D. The Ottomans were concentrating their forces on fighting the Russians in the Crimea.
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68. Based on this reading, which policy would Busbecq most likely have supported?
A. A Habsburg invasion of Ottoman provinces of North Africa.
B. Continuing the Habsburg alliance with the Safavids.
C. Sending money and troops to Romania to support the Draculestis in order to create a buffer state
between the Habsburg Empire and the Ottoman Empire.
D. Signing an alliance with England to conduct a joint invasion of Valois France.
69. In the sixteenth century, what was the basis of advancement and promotion in the Ottoman Empire?
A. ability and merit
B. bribes
C. birthright
D. religious piety
70. According to this document, what was the basis of a man’s position in the Habsburg Empire?
A. ability and merit
B. bribes
C. birthright
D. religious piety
71. Which of the following is not a true statement about the force in question 18?
A. They were drawn from Christian boys collected as a tax in the Balkans.
B. They were loyal directly to the sultan.
C. They were usually rewarded by marrying into the sultan’s family.
D. They were made slaves and then converted to Islam.
72. All of the following are true about the Safavids except:
A. They used Shi’ism to unify their empire.
C. The shah claimed to function as the Imam.
B. The empire identified itself as Arab.
D. It was an ethnically mixed empire.
73. The Mughals:
A. were native to India.
C. were Hindus.
B. defeated the British East India Company.
D. were Turko-Mongol Muslim invaders.
74. Which of the following were advantages of the promotion systems used by the Ottomans and Safavids?
A. It diminished the power of the Turkic aristocracy, allowing the ruler to centralize power.
B. It provided trained, professionals who were dependent on the ruler.
C. It established a meritocracy, rather than an aristocracy.
D. All of the above
75. Who were the Hindus in the Deccan who established a state-within-a-state to resist Aurangzeb’s conquest?
A. the Rajputs
B. the Sikhs
C. the Marathas
D. the Mughals
76. Ottoman Empire was treated essentially like any other European state in diplomacy by the 1600s.
A. True
B. False
77. What magnificent building did Shah Jahan build to commemorate his dead wife?
A. the Blue Mosque
B. the Taj Mahal
C. the Brihadeshvara Temple
D. the Khajuraho Monuments
78. What religious group organized a resistance movement against Aurangzeb called the Khalsa?
A. Sikhs
B. Hindus
C. Zoroastrians
D. Christians
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