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Chapter 27
Formation of the Islamic Empires
(Ottoman, Safavid, Mughal)
The Ottoman Empire
Osman &
Ottoman Expansion
•
Founder of dynasty
•
1289-1923
•
bey=chief, semi-nomadic
Turks
•
Osman & followers strive
To be ghazi=Muslim religious
Warriors
•
Waged holy wars
•
Capitals: Bursa & Edirne
•
Bursa became major
Commercial and intellectual
Center
•
Ghazi two forces: light
Cavalry & volunteer infantry
•
Devrshirme: conversion
Of Christian boy to
Administration or Janissaries=
Military soldiers
•
Gunpowder weapons
Mehmed the Conqueror
• 1451-1481
• Captured Constantinople=
New Ottoman capital and
New name Istanbul
• Istanbul became
Commercial center
• Not just warrior but emperor
• “two lands” “two seas”
• Tightly centralized
• Absolute monarchy
• Military face no rivals
Suleyman the Magnificent
• 1512-1520
• Continued to expand
Empire SW Asia & Europe
• Became major naval
Power
• Was able to challenge
Christian and Portuguese
vessels
Safavid Empire
The Safavids
• Shah Ismail (1252-1334)
• Manipulated rise to
Power story
• Ancestry traced back to
Sufi religious leader
• Changed religious
Preference several times
Before settling, due to
Nomadic Turkish tribes
Twelver Shiism
• 12 infallible imams
After Muhammed
Starting with prophet’s
Cousin Ali
• Qizilbash=red heads
• Suggested Ismail
Was a hidden imam or
Incarnation of Allah
• Most Muslims saw
This as blasphemous
• Qizilbash felt
Invincible in battle
Battle of Chaldiran & Shah
Abbas the Great
• Battle between Shiite Safavids
& Sunni Ottomans
• Ottomans led with heavy
Artillery & Janissaries
• Safavids thought they were
Protected
• Intermittent for 2 centuries
• After Ismail, successor s
Abandon radicalism & lean to
More conventional Twelver Shiism
• Shah Abbas the Great (15881629)
• Encouraged trade, reformed
Administration & military
Mughal Empire
Babur
• Claimed descent
From Chinggis Khan
& Tamerlane
• Attempted to expand
Authority into India through
Firearms and gunpowder
Weapons
• Cared little for land of India
Take spoils and leave
• Began Mughal empire=
Persian for Mongol .
• Embrace almost all Indian
subcontinent
Akbar
• 1556-1605
• Killed Adham Khan
• Didn’t tolerate those
That challenged him
• Centralized administration
w/ministries to watch over
Provinces
• Allowed for religious toleration
(Hindu & Muslim)
• Called for syncetic religious blend
That would focus emperor as a
Common ruler to all
Aurangzeb
• 1659-1707
• Reached greatest
Extent
• Presided over
Troubled empire
• No religious
Toleration
• Destroyed Hindu
Temples & taxed
Hindus
• Local leaders
Begin rebellions &
resistance
Imperial Islamic Society
The Dynastic State
The Emperors &
Islam
• Empires were military
Creations based off of
Possession
• Prestige & authority
Derived from piety &
Military
• Devotion of Islam leads
To expansion of new lands
• Ghazi’s fight infidels
Steppe Traditions
• Early emperors often
Did as pleased with disregard
For religious and social norms
• Steppe practices lead to
Problems of succession
• Problems:Conflicts,
rebellions, challenges
• In Ottoman empire legal to
Kill brother
• Sons received administrive
Power in provinces in the
Ottoman empire
Women and Politics
• In Islam women have
No role in public affairs
• Influence was often
Private
• In Ottoman empire,
Emperor’s mother &
Chief wife receive
Privileges
Agriculture and Trade
Food Crops
• Agricultural economies
• Financed armies and
Bureaucracies
• Colombian exchange
Brought American crops
But little effects
• Encouraged consumption
Of tobacco and coffee
Tobacco
• Introduced by English
Merchants, medicinal
• Entrepreneurs est.
Coffeehouses for coffee and
Tobacco
• Some in society were
Against tobacco and coffee
• Attempted to get rid of
It, proved unsuccessful
Population Growth &
Trade
• Population in empires
Increased due to intensive
Agriculture
• 1600 Ottoman empire
Declines due to loss of land
• Long-distance trade successful
In the Islamic empires
• Ottoman empire had commercia
Capital Bursa
• Safavids had commercial
Center Isfahan
• Mughals allowed trading stations
In their land
Religious Affairs in the Islamic Empires
Religious Diversity
• Religious and ethnically
Diverse, had to be kept under
Control
• Ottomans: Christian & Jews
• Safavids: Zoroastrian, Jews
Christians
• Mughals: Muslims & Hindus
Christian Mission in India
Akbar’s Divine Faith
• Portuguese Goa center
Of Christian mission in
India
• Attempt to attract converts
(schools)
• Attempt to convert Akbar
• Emperor declined to commit
To exclusive faith
• Wanted religious
Synthesis to unify
Empire
• “Divine Faith”= loyalty
To emperor w/different
Religious traditions
• Mostly drew on Islam,
Monotheistic
• “Lord of Wisdom”
Religious Affairs in the Islamic Empires
Status of Religious Minorities
• Est method to deal w/nonMuslims in the empire
• “dhimmi”=protected people,
Paid “jizya”=tax
• Retained personal freedoms
• “millet”=autonomous religious
Communities retaining their civil
laws
Promotion of Islam
• Policies of religious tolerance
Not popular with Muslims
• Worried it would lead to Hindu
Absorption in caste system
• Mughals created Islamic state wit
Islamic law
• Aurengzeb reinstates jizya create
Cultural tensions
Cultural Patronage of the Islamic Emperors
Istanbul
• Capital cities and royal
Palaces were visible
Expressions of imperial
Majesty
• Ottoman pride in
Istanbul
• Prosperous city
• Topkapi palace=gov’t
Offices, mint, meeting
Places, sultan’s residence
Isfahan
• One of the most precious
Jewels of urban architecture
• Palaces emphasized
Natural settings with gardens
And pools, inner courts and gates
• Mughal’s regarded their capital
Wherever their ruler was
Fatehpur Sikri &
the Taj Mahal
• Private residence and
Retreat for ruler
• Mughal display of piety
And devotion
• Incorporated Indian
Elements
• Tah Mahal was a Mugha
monument
The Empires in Transition
Deterioration of Imperial Leadership
Dynastic Decline
• All 3 dynasties had incompetent
Rulers who cared more for themselves
Than their empire
• Late 17th c. provoked mutinies in
Armies, revolts, political corruption,
Economic oppression and insecurtiy
Religious Tensions
• Political troubles arose from religious
Tensions.
• Ottoman: disaffected religious students
Often joined the Janissaries in revolt
Economic and Military Decline
Economic Difficulties
• The cost of military and
Administration led to decline
In Islamic empires
• Became difficult to support
Empire that was limited in
Resources
• Empires lost control over
Provinces, raised taxed after
Losing revenues, bribery, selling
offices
Military Decline
• Military decline because they did
Not seek to improve their technologies
• European technology was advancing
So quickly that it became difficult
For empires to keep up.
Cultural Conservatism
Piri Reis
• Ottoman reconoittered
The Indian Ocean Basin from
East Africa to Indonesia
• Produced large scale maps
And navigational texts
Cultural Confidence
• Believed in their superiority
And felt they had nothing to
Learn from Europeans
• Remained oblivious to European
Culture and developments
The Printing Press
• Resistance from
Conservatives to the new
Inventions of the Europeans
• Printing press was
Not as popular in Islamic
Empires as in Europe
• Aesthetics were more
Preferred
• Feared what the printing
Press could do to the
Islamic society