Muslim+Empires

· Economy of the empire was geared to warfare and expansion · Empire built on war + steady territorial expansion || · Been depicted in Western writings as brutal and corrupts despots · Cathedral of Saint Sophia converted into one of the greatest mosques · New mosques + palaces were built · Aqueducts were built for the surrounding hills -> supply water for the people · Suleymaniye The Magnificent was the most spectacular of the mosque built · Built mansions, rest houses, religious schools and hospitals · Public and private gardens were beautified · Ottoman writers compared to the city to paradise itself · Arabic remained an important language for works on law + religion · Turkish language became the preferred · Authors, artists, and artisan left a legacy in poetry, ceramics, carpet manufacturing, and all architecture ||
 * ESPIRIT Chart on The Ottomans:**
 * E || **Economic:**
 * S || **Social:**
 * Turkic speaking people from central Asia=played key roles in Islamic civilization (soldiers/administrators)
 * Called Ottomans after an early leader named Osman
 * Ottomans became a formidable naval power in the Mediterranean Sea
 * Military leaders played a dominant role in the state
 * Armies were divided into troops called Janissaries
 * Most Janissaries = adolescent boys from conquered areas
 * Adolescent boys = legally slaves = were given extensive schooling
 * If not Janissaries then serve in the palace or bureaucracy
 * Janissaries controlled firearms and artillery = became military machine
 * Palaces = marble, pleasure gardens, surrounded by slave, wives, and concubines of their harems
 * Death of sultan = warfare between his sons
 * Had spices of East Indies; Ivory of Africa to slave; Forest products from Russia; Fine carpets from Persia
 * Coffeehouses, gossip, do business, play chess ( found throughout the city)
 * Coffeehouses= place for poets + scholars and to debate about politics and merits of each other’s ideas ||
 * P || **Political:**
 * Built a new empire based in Anatolia
 * Developed a warrior aristocracy
 * Granted control over land + peasant producers in annexed areas for the support of their households/ military retainers
 * Also wanted to expand the Ottoman bureaucracy
 * Power of the warrior aristocracy shrank
 * Bureaucracy = revenue + labor control
 * Janissaries tried to translate military service into political influence
 * After, had power to depose sultans + decide which one of a dying rule’s son would have the throne
 * Rulers = Absolute monarchs
 * Ottoman conquest = tax relief + effective administration
 * Administration was carried out by bureaucracy headed by a grand vizier
 * Vizier held more power than the sultan + head of the imperial administration
 * Government inspectors were employed = ensure weights + measure were used to license the opening of new shops, to regulate entry of artisans into trades, etc.
 * Ottoman state is one of the great success stories in human political history
 * Local officials squeezed the peasants + the laborers who worked their lands for additional axes + services ||
 * I || **Interactions:**
 * Commerce was in the hands of Christian and Jewish merchants whose “people of the book” (dhimmis) were under the protection of the rulers
 * Golden Horn was crowded w/ merchants ships from ports around the region
 * Constantinople’s great bazaars were filled w/ merchants + travelers ||
 * R || **Religion:**
 * Balkans majority of population retained its Christian faith
 * Boys were converted into Islam
 * Other chiefs were Islamic religious scholar and legal experts ||
 * I || **Cultural & Intellectual:**
 * T || **Technology and demographic changes**:
 * Architectural advance from the Byzantine heritage ||
 * ESPIRIT Chart on The Mughals:**
 * E || ** Economic: ** ||
 * S || **Social:**
 * Improve the calendar to establish living quarters for the large pop
 * Regulated the consumption of alcohol
 * Even thought one of his son drank 20 cups of wine per day
 * Reform the position of women
 * Encourage widow remarriage _ discouraged child marriages
 * Latter was widespread among the upper classes
 * Legally prohibit sati or burning of high caste Hindu women on their husbands funeral pyres
 * Provide relief for women trapped at home
 * Encouraged merchants to set aside special markets for women only
 * A lot of poverty in the lower classes
 * Lack of discipline and training of the soldiers
 * Polo matches, ox +tiger or elephant fights, games of pachisi
 * Child marriages grew more popular + age limit was lowered
 * Widow remarriage died out
 * Seclusion = more + more strictoly
 * Muslim women rarely ventured forth from their homes unveiled, and those who did risked verbal + even physical abuse ||
 * P || **Political:**
 * Babur was a better conqueror than administrator
 * Akbar oversaw the building of the military + administrative systems
 * Wives took advantage of their husbands’ neglect of politics to win position of power and influence at the Mughal court
 * Jahangir’s wife, Nur Jahan became involved in court politics as well as Shah Jahans consort, Mumtaz Mahal
 * Not remember for politics but for love and devotion
 * Position of women at court improved in the middle years of the dynasty ||
 * I || ** Interactions: **
 * Became one of the major overseas destinations for European traders
 * Brought products from Asia
 * Exchanged for a variety of Indian manufacture especially cotton textiles
 * Trade gap in Indian cotton cloth and clothing
 * Textiles first won a large market among the working _ middle classes
 * Indian cloth came into fashion a the court
 * R || ** Religion: **
 * Empire building had little to do with religious fervor
 * Cows = sacred
 * New faith, the Din-i-Ilahi = believed could be used to unite his Hindu + Muslim subjects
 * After Akbar died his religion had been rejected by Hindu and Muslims ||
 * I || **Cultural & Intellectual:**
 * Babur had a taste for the arts and music
 * Wrote one of the great histories of India, was a fine musician, and designed wonderful gardens
 * Akbar patronized the arts + entered into religious and philosophical discussion
 * Felt behind in invention + sciences
 * Palaces and jewel studded wardrobes
 * Scented and sweetened ices rushed from the cool mountains
 * Expanded the painting workshops
 * Thousands of exquisite miniature painting could be produced
 * Built some of the most stunning architectural work of all time (Taj Mahal)
 * Structures: Red Fort, Akbar’s tomb, tomb of Itimad al-Dowleh = beauty of their detail + decoration
 * Islamic genius for domes, arches, and minarets
 * Gleaming white marble instead of ceramic tiles
 * Semiprecious stones arranged in floral and geometric patterns
 * Marble reflecting pools ||
 * T || **Technology and demographic changes**: ||
 * T || **Technology and demographic changes**: ||