The Muslim Empires

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Chapter 16 The Muslim Empires
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Ottoman Empire's Growth and Decline 1. The
Ottomans are named after a Turkish emir named
Osman (1299-1326) who founded a dynasty when he
set up a border state on the Byzantine frontier
in western Anatolia about 1288. Taking advantage
of the collapse of the empire of the Seljuk
Turks, the Ottomans began expansion in the
fourteenth century. 2. In 1345 Ottoman forces
crossed into the Balkans where they were able to
take advantage of the weakness created by the
Black Death. At Kossovo in 1389 the Ottomans
decisively defeated Christian Balkan forces.
The Christians were again routed at Nicopolis in
1396. 3. Mehmet II (1451-1481) turned his
attention on Constantinople (Istanbul). He
assembled a fleet at Gallipoli, amassed
armaments, and built the fortress of Rumeli Hisar
on the European shore of the Bosporus. In April
1453 the siege began. Fifty-four days later, May
29, 1453, the city walls were breached and
Constantinople fell. Renamed Istanbul, it was to
be the new capital. Considering themselves the
successors to the Byzantine emperors, the
Ottomans began further imperialistic
expanson. Anatolia was conquered in the east and
in the west the Ottomans drove into the Aegean
and then up the Adriatic coast. In 1480 the
Italian port of Oranto was taken. Wallachia in
the north was conquered in 1476 but the
resistance from the Hungarians kept the Ottomans
in check thereby preventing them from going up
the Danube valley. 4. South of Asia Minor, the
Ottomans conquered Egypt in 1517 and held Syria
and Palestine by 1526. Throughout the rest of
the century attacks would be pressed in North
Africa until it too was incorporated into the
Ottoman Empire. 5. In 1521, after consolidating
their eastern provinces, the Ottomans under
Suleiman I (1520-1566), the Magnificent, began a
thrust up the Danube and gained the Serbian
capital of Belgrade. At the battle of Nohacs in
1526 the Hungarians were crushed. Three years
later, Vienna was under siege. The Turkish
forces withdrew, however, due to the insistence
of the Janissaries (the elite, professional
soldiers of the Ottoman army) that they return
home before winter. 6. In 1571 a large Turkish
fleet was smashed at Lepanto by an armada of over
two hundred ships from Spain, Venice, and the
papacy. Although defeated, the Turks rebuilt
their fleet and continued to exercise control
over the Mediterranean. 7. The Ottomans were on
the move again in the seventeenth century across
the Hungarian plain and by 1683 were laying siege
to Vienna. Defeated by a large united Christian
force that used heavy artillery (the Turks had
none), the Ottomans withdrew. In the Peace of
Karlowitz in 1699 the Turks gave up Hungary and
Transylvania to Austria. Question 1. What
successes and failures did the Ottomans have in
their expansion up to the end of the fifteenth
century? 2. What was the driving force for
Ottoman expansion? 3. What was the threat of
Ottoman expansion to Europe?
The Ottoman Empires Growth and Decline
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• The Ottoman Empire
• Osman (1280-1326)
• Osmanli (Ottoman) dynasty
• Murad I (1360-1389)
• Janissaries
• Battle of Kossovo, 1389
• Bayazid I(1389-1402)
• Tammerlane
• Mehmet II (1451-1481)
• Constantinople, 1453

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• Expansion of the Ottoman Empire
• Selim I (1512-1520)
• Expansion in Europe
• Suleyman I the Magnificent (1520-1566)
• Battle of Mohács, 1526
• Vienna, 1529
• Vienna, 1683
• Nature of Turkish Rule
• Sultan
• Topkapi Palace
• harem
• devshirme
• vezir

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Interior of Blue Mosque. Located in Istanbul,
Turkey
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• Religion and Society in the Ottoman World
• Caliph
• Sufism
• Non-Muslims
• Millet
• Women
• Decline of the Ottomans
• Battle of Carlowitz, 1699
• Corruption
• Weak rulers
• Ottoman Art
• Hagia Sopia
• Iznik pottery

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The Ottoman and Safavid Empires 1. The Safavids
were rooted in the small provincial town of
Ardabil in Azerbaijan west of the Caspian Sea. A
Sufi order here was called Safavid after its
first leader Safi al-Din, a Sunni, who died in
1334. Due to political chaos, the Safavid family
maintained local autonomy. Sometime after 1392,
they became Shi'ites and by the 1450s were
seeking political power, raiding into Christian
Georgia. Instrumental in the rise of the Safavid
would be the acceptance of Shi'ism in western
Iran and eastern Asia Minor by Turkoman tribes.
As Sunni Muslims, the Ottomans clashed with the
Shi'ite Safavids over domination of Islamic
territories and Islamic doctrines. 2. The
founder of the Safavid dynasty was Isma'il
(1502-1524) who militarily extended Safavid
power. In 1501 Armenia (southwest of the Black
Sea) and Azerbaijan were seized by Isma'il and he
was proclaimed shah of Tabriz. He declared
Shi'ism the official and compulsory religion of
his new empire. This was followed by gains in
central and southern Iran in 1503, most of the
Tigris-Euphrates basin in 1504, Baghdad (on the
Tigris) and southwestern Iran in 1508, and by
1512 had taken from the Uzbek Turks all of
eastern Iran between the Oxus River and the
Arabian Sea. Isma'il's aggression in the west
against the Sunni Ottomans led ta a Safavid
defeat northwest of Tabriz in 1514. The defeat
gave the Ottomans control of the region and
forced the Safavid to move its capital from
Tabriz eventually to Isfahan. 3. Isfahan was a
magnificent, prosperous city built on trade and
industry. By the seventeenth century it had a
population of perhaps 600,000. The city
contained 162 mosques and 48 colleges and
academies. In addition to 273 public baths,
gardens, pools, and parks that dotted the
landscape, there was a great open square 1680
feet by 522 feet. The two major sources of
production were weaving and tile making.
Factories employed 25,000 weavers who produced
carpets, brocades, and silks. Glazed building
tiles were produced by 300 imported Chinese
potters. (Sydney Nettleton Fisher and William
Ochsenwald, The Middle East, pp. 220-222) 4.
Isma'il's successor, Tahmasp I (1524-1576),
proved to be weak and lost much of the territory
to the powerful Ottoman forces of Suleiman I
(1520-1566). The fortunes of the Safavid were
revived by Shah Abbas I (1587-1629) who, with the
aid of Europeans and a reorganized army, moved
against the Uzbeks and Turks to regain
territories but was unable to hold them as war
against the Ottomans lasted from the 1620s to
1638. A succession of weak leaders after Abbas
left the Safavids impotent. In 1722 Shah Hussein
(1694-1722) was forced to abdicate as Sunni
Afghans captured Isfahan. Persia fell into
political and social anarchy and the
assassination of Nader Shah in 1747 ended the
Safavid dynasty. Questions 1. How did the
Safavid expand their empire? 2. How does Isfahan
illustrate the wealth of the Safavids?
The Ottoman and Safavid Empires, ca. 1683
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• The Safavids
• Shah Ismail (1487-1524)
• Iran and Iraq
• Ottomans
• Shah Abbas I (1587-1629)
• Shah Hussein (1694-1723)
• Politics and Society
• Pyramidal political system, shah at the top
• Economy
• Art and literature
• Isfahan
• Textiles
• Painting

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The Moghul Empire 1. The founders of the
Moghuls were Chaghatay Turks descended from Timur
(Timurlane). Originating beyond the Hindu Kush,
they were driven out of central Asia in 1504 by
the Uzbek Turks. Babur (1483-1530), the founder
of the Moghul dynasty, seized Kabul and in 1526
defeated the Afghan king of Delhi. Delhi and
Agra were captured and Babur was proclaimed
emperor of Hindustan. Babur's son, Humayun
(1530-1540, 1555-1556), was unable to hold his
legacy and was driven into exile to Persia. With
the help of the Safavid shah, Tahmasp
(1524-1576), Humayun recaptured Delhi in
1555. 3. One of the greatest rulers in Indian
history was Akbar (1556-1605), Humayun's son.
Pursuing an aggressive expansionist policy, by
the time of Akbar's death the Moghuls controlled
the land from the Himalaya Mountains to the
Godavari River in central India and from Kashmir
to the mouths of the Brahmapatra and Ganges
Rivers. Along with Delhi and Agra, newly
constructed (1571-1586) Fatchpur Sikri, 26 miles
from Agra, also served as an imperial
capital. 4. Akbar's son Jahangir (1605-1627) did
not possess his father's abilities but did
succeed in consolidating Moghul rule in Bengal.
Expansion continued under Shah Jahan (1627-1657),
Jahangir's son, who waged campaigns on the
northwestern frontier of the Hindu Kush and in
the Deccan plateau. Shah Jahan founded a new
capital at Delhi in 1648 to supersede Agra. When
Shah Jahan's wife, Mumtaz Mahal, died delivering
her thirteenth child, he ordered construction of
the Taj Mahal at Agra as an enduring
monument. 5. With no formal procedure for
succession, Shah Jahan's two sons struggled for
power. The victor was Aurangzeb (1659-1707) who
executed his brother and had himself crowned
emperor in 1658. His father was imprisoned.
Aurangzeb expanded the Moghul Empire south to
Mysore and Marathas in the western Daccan.
Heavy-handed policies led to rebellion of the
Hindu Marathas who were defeated but nonetheless
continued to fight. After Aurangzeb's death they
created a confederation of almost all the Deccan
states under their leadership. 6. India was
opened to European trade by Vasco da Gama's
voyage from Lisbon to Calicut, 1497-1499. The
Portuguese also established themselves at Goa,
Daman, Diu, and Colombo in Ceylon. In 1608 the
English arrived at Surat and were granted
commercial concessions in 1619. Numerous other
commercial centers followed Fort St. George
(Madras) in 1639 Bombay in 1668 (given to
England in 1662 when a Portuguese princess
married King Charles II) which was leased to the
British East India Company and Fort William
(Calcutta) founded by the East India Company.
In the 1670s the French East India Company also
established numerous settlements including
Chandernagore just north of Calcutta and
Pondicherry. Question 1. How did the Moghul
empire expand? What was the price of succession?
The Mughal Empire
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• Mughal Dynasty
• Babur (1483-1530)
• Humayun (1530-1556)
• Akbar (1556-1605)
• Gunpowder empire
• Religious tolerance
• Din-I-ilahi (Divine Faith)
• Administration
• Legal system

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• Twilight of the Mughals
• Jahangir (1605-1628)
• Shah Jahan (1628-1657)
• Taj Mahal
• Augangzeb (1658-1707)
• Reforms
• Religious intolerance
• Rebellions

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India in 1805 1. The weakness of Aurangzeb
resulted in not only Mughal provincial governors
ruling more independently but also the continued
revolt of the Marathas who pressed uncontrollably
northward. In 1739 the Mughal army was defeated
by Persian invaders and Delhi was looted.
Constant skirmishes between the Afghans and the
Marathas over the Punjab (south of Kashmir) led
to a defeat of the Marathas in 1761. Such
difficulties left India with no power capable of
halting European penetration. 2. The British
East India Company traded silver, copper, zinc,
and fabrics to the Indians in return for cotton
goods, silks, sugar and opium (to be used in the
trade with China). An example is that at Madras
and Calcutta where Indian cotton goods were
shipped to the East Indies and bartered for
spices which were then sent back to England. 3.
The two major powers contending for control of
weakened India were France and Britain. The
French arrived in India in the 1670s and
established several trading factories. Under
the aggressive leadership of Joseph Dupleix, the
governor general of Pondicherry, Fort St. George
at Madras was captured in 1746 and by 1751 the
French had gained control of the Deccan and
Carnatic regions. In the meantime, Sir Robert
Clive consolidated British control in Bengal by
buying off the officers of the French-supported
governor and then defeated the governor at
Plassey, north of Calcutta, in 1757. Clive
followed this with victories in the south against
the French as the British navy prevented the
arrival of French reinforcements. The Treaty of
Paris in 1763 ending the Seven Years' War in
Europe recognized British control of much of
India. 4. In 1773, fearing too much power in the
hands of the British East India Company, the
office of governor-general was created to
exercise political authority over the territory
controlled by the company. Warren Hastings was
the governor of Bengal and the first governor
general with jurisdiction over Bombay and Madras.
Facing him was a coalition of the rulers of
Mysore and the Marathas who wished to expel the
British. The third governor general, Richard
Wellesley (1797-1805) defeated Mysore in 1799 and
the Marathas four years later. The impotent
Mughals could do nothing but accede to the
reality of British control. Questions 1. Why
was India unable to resist the British and French
incursions? 2. How did the British establish
their predominance in India in the eighteenth
century?
India in 1805
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• Impact of Western Power in India
• The English arrive at Surat in 1608
• Fort William (Calcutta)
• Land around future Madras leased in 1639
• Bombay ceded by Portuguese to England, 1662
• 1686 war
• Sir Robert Clive
• Battle of Plassey, 1757
• British East India Company
• French
• Pondicherry
• Joseph François Dupleix

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• Society and Culture under the Mughals
• Daily life
• Women
• sati
• Commerce
• Culture
• Islamic and Persian influences
• Shah Jahan, Taj Mahal
• Humayuns mausoleum
• Akbar, Red Fort at Agra
• Fatehpur Sikri
• Literature
• Krishna cult

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Royal reception hall at Red Fort in Agra
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Humayuns tomb at Agra