The+Muslim+empire

ESPIRIT Chart on Ottoman empire MI: The Ottoman navy dominated the eastern Mediterranean. Tried capture Vienna in sieges during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, they continued as a serious threat to western Europe. MI: The empire was too extensive to be maintained from its available resource base and transport system. As a conquest state, the Ottoman Empire began to decline once acquisition of new territory ceased. MI: Constantinople became the commercial center dealing in products from Asia, Africa, and Europe. Many urban inhabitants belonged to merchant and artisan classes. MI: The new rulers restored the city after 1453; the church of St. Sophia became one of Islam's grandest mosques. Most sultans tried to add to the city's splendor. MI: The groups included religious and legal scholars. Muslim, Christian, and Jewish merchants were important. The latter two were "peoples of the book" who often were satisfied with the sound administration of their Muslim rulers.
 * The Muslim Empire**
 * Political**
 * Military leaders had a dominant role in the Ottoman state, a polity geared to war and expansion.
 * The Turkic horsemen became a warrior aristocracy supported by control of conquered land and peasants.
 * When their power shrank before that of an expanding central bureaucracy, they built up regional power bases.
 * From the middle of the fifteenth century, imperial armies were dominated by Janissary infantry divisions composed of conscripted youths from conquered lands.
 * Their control of artillery and firearms gave them great power, they intervened in dynastic succession disputes.
 * As the empire grew, the sultans lost contact with their subjects.
 * A large bureaucracy headed by a vizier had great power in the state.
 * Early rulers and their sons participated in the administration.
 * Vague principles of imperial succession led to protracted strife and weakened the empire.
 * Tasmaph I, after a period of turmoil, became shah in 1534 and restored dynastic power. Under Abbas I (1587-1629), the empire reached its zenith. The rulers brought the Turkic warriors under control;
 * They were assigned villages and peasant labor for support, some leaders gained important posts in the state and posed a constant threat to the shahs.
 * Persians were recruited into the imperial bureaucracy as a counterbalance.
 * Social**
 * The bureaucracy became corrupt, and regional officials used revenues for their own purposes.
 * Oppressed peasants and laborers fled the land or rebelled. Problems at the center of the state added to the decline.
 * Sultans and their sons were confined to the palace; they became weak and indolent rulers managed by court factions.
 * Civil strife increased and military efficiency deteriorated.
 * Imperial workshops produced numerous products, and public works employed many artisans.
 * Policies encouraging international trade were followed, although the Safavids were less market oriented than the Ottomans were.
 * Women endured the social disadvantages common to Islamic regimes. The earlier independence within nomadic society was lost.
 * Women were subordinate to fathers and husbands and had few outlets, especially among the elite, for expression outside of the household.
 * Economy**
 * The government closely regulated both activities. Artisan guilds were very important.
 * The problems caused by loss of commercial revenues were exacerbated by inflation stimulated by the importation of New World bullion.
 * The collapse of the Safavids removed an important rival. Still, the major changes occurring within the European world were not matched by the Ottomans.
 * Internal transport conditions were improved, and workshops were created for silk textiles and carpets.
 * Iranian merchants were encouraged to trade with other Muslims, Indians, Chinese, and Europeans.
 * Intellectuals**
 * The Magnificent built the great Suleymaniye mosque in the sixteenth century.
 * The Turkish language became the preferred vehicle for literature and government. The Ottomans left a significant artistic legacy in poetry, ceramics, carpet manufacturing, and architecture.
 * Technology**
 * They had an important emperial navy
 * They monopolized firearm use and received training from European advisors.
 * Religion**
 * The intense conservatism of the Janissaries and religious leaders blocked Western-inspired innovation.
 * The Safavids were Shi'a Muslims from a family of Sufi preachers and mystics.
 * In the early fourteenth century under Sail al-Din, they fought to purify and spread Islam among Turkic peoples.
 * After long struggles, in 1501, Ismâ'il seized Tabriz and was proclaimed shah.
 * Religious teachers received state support, and teaching in mosque schools was supervised by religious officials.
 * The population of the empire gradually converted to Shi'a Islam, which developed into an integral part of Iranian identity.
 * Interactions**
 * A Spanish-Venetian victory at Lepanto in 1571 ended Turkish control of the eastern Mediterranean.
 * By then, Portuguese mriners had outflanked the Muslim world by sailing around Africa into the Indian Ocean.
 * Portuguese naval victories there broke the Muslim dominance over Indian trade.

MI: Turkic invaders, led by Babur, invaded India in 1526 after being driven from Afghanistan. They sought booty, not conquest, and remained only when prevented from returning northward. MI: Most of the population, however, lived in poverty, and India fell behind Europe in invention and the sciences. Still, by the late seventeenth century, the Mughals ruled over a major commercial and manufacturing empire. MI: Akbar advanced a policy of reconciliation with his Hindu subjects; he encouraged intermarriage, abolished head taxes, and respected Hindu religious customs. MI: Even though most of his reforms, including the new religion, were not successful, Akbar left a powerful empire at his death in 1605. > Intellectual MI: Mughal art and architecture, a characteristic Indo-Islamic-Persian style that flourished on the Indian subcontinent during the Mughal empire (1526–1857).
 * ESPIRIT Chart on Mughals**
 * Political**
 * Babur's forces, using military tactics and technology similar to those of the Ottomans, crushed the Muslim Lodi dynasty at Panipat in 1526 and in 1527 defeated a Hindu confederation at Khanua. Within two years, Babur held much of the Indus and Ganges plains.
 * The first Mughal ruler was a talented warrior who also possessed a taste for art and music, but he was a poor administrator. His death in 1530 brought invasion from surrounding enemies.
 * Babur's successor, Humayan, fled to Persia; he led successful return invasions into India that restored control in the North by 1556. He died soon after.
 * By 1707, Aurangzeb had conquered most of India, but the warfare had drained the treasury and weakened the bureaucracy and military.
 * The time spent on warfare diverted the rulers' energies from other vital tasks. Internal revolt and the growing autonomy of local leaders were not dealt with.
 * Aurangzeb's religious policies increased internal weaknesses. Hindus in imperial service were kept from the highest posts, and measures against Hinduism were commenced.
 * Economy**
 * Indian cotton textiles were world famous and gained a large market in Europe.
 * The head tax was restored. By the end of Aurangzeb's regime, his large empire was plagued by internal disruption.
 * The Marattas of Western India and the Sikhs in the Northwest strained imperial resources.
 * Foreign enemies were ready to strike by the beginning of the eighteenth century.
 * State revenues and power passed to regional lords, a return to a pattern previously predominant in South Asia there were tempting openings for foreign intervention.
 * Importation of European bullion brought damaging inflation. Muslim leaders and scholars ignored these trends and caused serious difficulties for the world of Islam in the future.
 * Social**
 * Hindus rose to high ranks in the administration. Akbar invented a new faith incorporating Muslim and Hindu beliefs to unify his subjects.
 * The Hindu and Muslim warrior aristocracy were granted land and labor for their loyalty. Hindu local notables were left in place if taxes were paid.
 * Akbar attempted to introduce social changes that would benefit his subjects. Among them were reforms to regulate the consumption of alcohol.
 * He strove to improve the position of women. Akbar encouraged widow remarriage and discouraged child marriages.
 * He prohibited sati and attempted to break seclusion through creating special market days for women.
 * Jahangir and Shah Jahan left the details of daily administration to subordinates, thus allowing their wives to win influence.
 * Nur Jahan, Jahangir's wife, dominated the empire for a time through her faction. Mumtaz Mahal, wife of Shah Jahan, also amassed power.
 * While the life of court women improved, the position of women elsewhere in society declined.
 * Child marriage grew more popular, widow remarriage died out, and seclusion for both Muslim and Hindus increased. Sati spread among the upper classes.
 * The lack of opportunity for a productive role and the burden of a dowry meant that the birth of a girl became an important event.
 * Religion**
 * Not much new territory was added by successors, but the regime reached the peak of its splendor.
 * The seventeenth-century rulers Jahangir and Shah Jahan continued the policy of tolerance toward Hindus along with most other elements of Akbar's administration.
 * Both preferred the good life over military adventures. They were important patrons of the arts;
 * They expanded painting workshops for miniatures and built great architectural works, including Shah Jahan’s Taj Mahal, often blending the best in Persian and Hindu traditions.
 * Technology**
 * Advanced weaponry and naval system
 * Market and important textiles.
 * Intellectuals**
 * This new style combined elements of Islamic art and architecture which had been introduced to India during the Delhi sultanate (1192–1398).
 * They had produced great monuments such as the Qutb Minar with features of Persian art and architecture.
 * Mughal monuments are found chiefly in N India, but there are also many remains in Pakistan.

