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CHAPTER 17
Southwest Asia and the Indian Ocean, 1500–1750
CHAPTER OUTLINE
I.
The Ottoman Empire
A.
Expansion and Frontiers
1.
The creation of the empire was due to the skill of its founder Osman and his
descendents, its strategic location between Europe and Asia, and the creation of an
army that combined traditional cavalry strength with the use of gunpowder.
2.
Ottoman expansion took place first in the Balkans and in Greece.
3.
By 1402, much of southeastern Europe and Anatolia had been conquered by the
Ottomans.
4.
In 1453, Constantinople fell to the armies of Sultan Mehmed II.
5.
Selim I added Egypt and Syria to the empire in 1516–1517.
6.
His son, Suleiman the Magnificent (r. 1520–1566), led the Ottoman assault on
Christian Europe.
7.
Starting in 1453, the Ottomans and the Venetians fought a two-century long war.
8.
Venice was forced to pay tribute to the Ottomans in exchange for trading rights.
9.
The Ottomans were unable to halt Portuguese expansion in the Red Sea and the
Indian Ocean.
B.
Central Institutions
1.
By the 1520s, the Ottoman Empire was the most powerful state in either Europe or
the Islamic world.
2.
Conquest of the Balkans added another weapon to the Ottoman army, Christian
prisoners of war.
3.
These new troops, called yani cheri in Turkish and “Janissary” in English, were
willing to fight on foot and had no reservations about fighting Turks and Muslims.
4.
In the early fifteenth century, a new system was developed to select new recruits
for Janissary training.
5.
Under this system, male children were taken from Christian villages, placed in
Turkish homes, and then sent to the sultan’s palace in Istanbul for instruction in Islam,
military training, and, for a select few, a liberal arts education.
6.
The Ottoman Empire was cosmopolitan.
7.
Those who served in the military or the bureaucracy and spoke the court
language, Osmanli, were considered to belong to the askeri, or military class.
8.
Everyone else was part of the raya, the “flock of sheep.”
9.
In reality, the sultan was isolated from most of his people.
C.
Crisis of the Military State
1.
As cannon and lighter-weight firearms gained importance, the size and cost of
the Janissary increased.
2.
To save money, the sultan dispossessed many of the landholding cavalrymen.
3.
These former administrators constituted an armed and unhappy group.
4.
Many of the remaining landlords found themselves unable to fulfill their military
obligations.
5.
The combination of these factors led to revolts in Anatolia between 1590 and
1610.
6.
At the same time, the Janissaries were able to lift the prohibitions on their
marrying and engaging in business. In the long run, this meant that the government had
to hire more non-Janissary troops.
D.
Economic Change and Growing Weakness
1.
When the period of crisis was over, sultans found themselves isolated in their
palaces.
1
2.
Government was increasingly the responsibility of the chief administrators, the
grand viziers.
3.
The Janissary was made hereditary.
4.
Janissaries became involved in crafts and trading.
5.
Tax farmers replaced the land grant for military service system.
6.
Rural administration deteriorated.
7.
These conditions opened new economic opportunities for towns like Izmir.
8.
Between 1580 and 1650, the government’s inability to control trade allowed Izmir
to grow into a diverse trading center.
9.
The Ottoman Empire did not have the wealth or desire to match Europe’s
economic progress.
10.
In 1730, Sultan Ahmed III was overthrown in a conservative Janissary revolt.
11.
After 1730, power shifted toward local rulers, and the Ottoman economy began
to reorient itself toward Europe.
II.
The Safavid Empire
A.
Safavid Society and Religion
1.
In 1502 Ismail proclaimed himself shah of Iran and decided that his realm would
be devoted to Shi’ite Islam.
2.
This choice created distance between Iran and its Suni neighbors.
3.
Linguistic differences increased after the destruction of Baghdad in 1258
diminished the importance of Arabic-speaking Iraq.
4.
In the post-Mongol period, each region in the Islamic East developed its own
cultural style.
5.
Local understanding of the common Islamic tradition began to diverge.
B.
Istanbul and Isfahan
1.
Istanbul was a seaport; Isfahan was far inland.
2.
Both cities were built for walking, and there were few wheeled vehicles in either.
3.
Women were seldom seen in public
4.
Public life was the province of men.
5.
Istanbul was a much more cosmopolitan city than Isfahan.
C.
Economic Crisis and Political Collapse
1.
Iranian foreign trade centered on silk.
2.
Most of the shah’s subjects were farmers or pastoralists.
3.
Iran faced the same monetary crisis as the Ottomans when firearms became a
military necessity.
4.
Iran also suffered from inflation caused by cheap silver.
5.
By 1722, the government was so weak that the Afghans were able to capture
Isfahan and put an end to Safavid rule.
III.
The Mughal Empire
A.
Political Foundations
1.
Babur (1483–1530) was the founder of the Mughal Empire.
2.
Under Babur’s grandson Akbar (r. 1556–1605) and his three successors, all but the
southern tip of India was added to the Mughal Empire.
3.
Akbar granted land revenues to military and government officials in exchange for
service, with pay depending on one’s mansab, or rank.
4.
India under Akbar had a population of 100 million, a strong trading economy
based on cotton cloth, and a relatively efficient administration.
5.
English and Dutch merchants traded at the port of Surat.
B.
Hindus and Muslims
1.
The Mughals did not practice religious intolerance as a state policy.
2
2.
Akbar married a Rajput princess to show his desire for religious reconciliation.
3.
Akbar decried that disputes between Hindus would be resolved on the basis of
village custom or Hindu law, and disputes between Muslims would be resolved on the
basis of Shari’a law.
4.
Akbar tried to make himself the center of a “Divine Faith” incorporating diverse
religious traditions.
5.
Akbar’s great-grandson Aurangzeb (r. 1658–1707) re-instituted many restrictions
on Hindus.
C.
Central Decay and Regional Challenges
1.
Shortly after Aurangzeb’s death, the Mughal Empire collapsed.
2.
In 1739, Nader Shah ransacked Delhi.
3.
Soon the empire was divided into regional powers.
4.
Some of these regional governments were prosperous.
5.
Division, however, facilitated the intrusion of European powers.
IV.
Trade Empires in the Indian Ocean
A.
Muslims in the East Indies
1.
Muslims probably reached Southeast Asia by the eighth century.
2.
The use of Islam as a political ideology strengthened resistance to Portuguese,
Spanish, and Dutch intruders.
3.
Historians theorize that merchants and/or Sufi preachers brought Islam to
Southeast Asia.
B.
Muslims in East Africa
1.
Independent Muslim rulers controlled the East African ports. The Portuguese
began to visit in the fifteenth century.
2.
Cooperation between the port cities was hindered by the harsh bush country
surrounding inhabited areas and by commercial competition between the ports.
3.
The Portuguese were able to conquer most of the coastal ports from
Mozambique northward.
4.
In the seventeenth century, Portuguese power was dealt a blow by the Arabs of
Oman.
5.
The Omanis went on to construct an empire of their own.
C.
The Coming of the Dutch
1.
The Dutch played a key role in driving the Portuguese from the East Indies.
2.
The Dutch East India Company ruled as an autocracy.
3.
Over the course of the eighteenth century, the Dutch went from being
middlemen to being producers of Southeast Asian products.
4.
The Dutch reached Australia in 1606.
INTERNET RESOURCES
Understanding Islam
http://www.islamicity.com/
Art: Late Islamic Art (Los Angeles County Museum of Art)
http://www.lacma.org/islamic_art/lia.htm
Süleymaniye Mosque
http://archnet.org/library/sites/one-site.tcl?site_id=3005
Persian Art Through the Centuries
http://www.artarena.force9.co.uk/safavidart.htm
The Mughals: Gallery (Washington State University)
http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~dee/MUGHAL/FATEHPUR.HTM
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