Islamic Gunpowder Empires

Rise of the Islamic Gunpowder Empires• Multi-ethnic empires in Southwest, Central and South Asia• Ottoman• Safavid• Mughal

Rise of the Islamic Gunpowder Empires• Were from Turkic backgrounds• This means the Arab influence on Islam had faded• It also means the Mongol khanates were gone• Multi racial/ethnic background

The Rule of Tamerlane

• Real name Timur (Iron)• Lane = lame – see the trivia

• Muslim• Rules• 1370-1405

The Rule of Tamerlane

• Encouraged art, literature, and architecture• Silk Road pays for it and makes it happen

• Destroyed lots of things• Cities• Churches• People

The Rule of Tamerlane

• Fails to leave a effective political organization• Empire fails during infighting in 15 years

• Trivia• Russians excavate his tomb• "Who ever opens my tomb, shall unleash an invader more terrible than I." • The same day Gerasimov begun the exhumation, Adolf Hitler

launched Operation Barbarossa • Timur was re-buried with full Islamic ritual in November 1942 just before the

Soviet victory at the Battle of Stalingrad.

The Ottoman Empire

• 1300 – 1918• Osman Dynasty• Muslim

Mehmed II

• Captures Constantinople - 1453• End of Byzantine/Roman Empire (remember Ivan married last emperor’s

daughter in 1469)

Mehmed II

• Devshirme - (literally "collecting" in Turkish) The blood tax or tribute in blood• Annual practice of abducting boys, ages eight to eighteen• Sons of Christian subjects in the villages of the Balkans and Anatolia.[

• Converted to Islam• Trained for military or civil service of the Empire

Mehmed II

• Janissaries - elite infantry units that formed the Ottoman Sultan's household troops and bodyguards. • Sultan Murad I created the force in 1383• Janissaries grew from 20,000 in 1575, to 49,000 (1591), dropped to a low of

17,000 (1648), then rebounded to 135,000 in 1826.• Disbanded in 1826 – 6,000 executed

Suleiman I

• Ruled 1520 – 1566• Expanded the Ottoman Empire• Legislative changes• relating to society• education• taxation • criminal law

Ottoman Economy

• Controlled North African trade routes• Controlled the Black Sea• Controlled the end of the Silk Road• Traded extensively with Europe• Benefitted from the Columbian Exchange• Tobacco• Cotton

Social Classes

• Warrior aristocracy conflicts with Islamic leaders (ulama)• Harem had a role• Merchant middle class• No surprise here…they owned the best trade routes

• Relative toleration of other faiths

Decline of the Ottoman Empire

• Growing European power helped in the decline• Isolation of the ruling class• Rise of the Safavids• “Sick man of Europe” by the time of its fall

The Safavids

• Persian – Shia• 1501 - 1736• Difficult borders • Silk Road bypassed• Sunni – Shia conflict

Mughal India

• Descendants of Tamerlane• 1526 – 1827• Akbar• Tolerant of other religions• Encouraged art, architecture, literature

• Falls to British and French

Mughal India

Decline of the Gunpowder Empires

• European expansion• Religious conflict• Sunni – Shia• Hindu – Muslim• Christian – Muslim

• Without expansion they collapse • Internal strife• External pressure• Decline of the need for the Silk Road