Download Chapter 27: The Islamic Empires – Key Concept Notes 4.1.V.B

Chapter 27: The Islamic Empires – Key Concept Notes
4.1.V.B – American foods (such as potatoes, maize and manioc) became staple crops in various parts of Europe, Asia and
Africa. Cash crops (such as sugar and tobacco) were grown primarily on plantations with coerced labor and were exported
mostly to Europe and the Middle East in this period.
Notes (604):
 the Columbian Exchange strongly encouraged consumption of coffee and tobacco in the Ottoman and
Safavid empires
 Muslim markets were supplied by European merchants, trading items grown in the Americas → coffee
and sugar as complementary items
 European merchants introduced tobacco into Ottoman territories around 1600, quickly gaining
widespread pipe-smoking consumers … which led to the establishment and popularity of coffeehouses,
where customers could indulge in caffeine and nicotine simultaneously
 the coffeehouse craze led conservative Muslims to protest against them as houses of disrepute … to
claim drinking coffee, like alcohol, was illegal … but the protests proved futile as the coffeehouse became
an ingrained social institution across Islamic lands
4.1.VI. – The increase in interactions between newly connected hemispheres and intensification of connections within
hemispheres expanded the spread and reform of existing religions and created syncretic belief systems and practices. Examples
include:
 The political rivalry between the Ottomans and Safavids intensified the split between Sunni and Shi’a.
Notes (599-600):
o the predominantly Sunni Ottomans were in constant conflict with their eastern neighbors, the
Safavids, who practiced Twelver Shiism and furthered a propaganda agenda that appealed to
traditional Turkish concepts associating military leadership status with divinity
o conversion to Shiite Islam became mandatory in the Safavid Empire, and the Ottomans
responded by persecuting Shiites and invading Safavid lands, where they badly damaged Safavid
power following the Battle of Chaldiran in 1514
o lacking the power to fully defeat the Safavids, the Ottomans remained locked in intermittent
warfare with them for two centuries, as the Safavids were revitalized during the reign of Sha
Abbas the Great (r. 1588-1629)

Sikhism developed in South Asia in the context of interactions between Hinduism and Islam.
Notes (606):
o early Sikhs, who combined elements of Hinduism and Islam in the new syncretic faith of
Sikhism, were given support by the Mughal Empire’s Akbar the Great (r. 1556-1605)
o Akbar, a Muslim, also furthered syncretism in South Asia with his “divine faith,” which
emphasized loyalty to the emperor and strict monotheism even as it borrowed from various
religious traditions
o in his efforts not to alienate large sections of the Mughal Empire, Akbar eliminated the jizya and
sponsored discussions and debates among Muslims, Hindus, Jains, Zoroastrians and Christians
4.3.I.A – Rulers continued to use religious ideas (such as European notions of divine right, Safavid use of Shiism, Mexica or
Aztec use of human sacrifice, Songhay promotion of Islam, and Chinese emperors’ public performance of Confucian rituals),
and art and monumental architecture (such as Ottoman miniature painting, Qing imperial portraits, Mughal mausolea and
mosques [e.g., the Taj Mahal], and European palaces like Versailles), to legitimize their rule.
Notes (598-599):
 the Safavids (1501-1722) changed their religious preferences several times before settling on Twelver
Shiism, which appealed to nomadic Turkish tribes moving into Persia in the post-Mongol era
 Twelver Shiism taught that there had been twelve infallible imams (religious leaders) after Muhammad,
beginning with his son-in-law Ali
 the twelfth imam had gone into hiding around 874 to avoid persecution, and Twelver Shiite Muslims
believed he was still alive and would return to power to spread his true religion
 Safavid propaganda suggested that Shah Ismail (r. 1501-1524) himself was the hidden imam, or even an
incarnation of Muhammad



Notes (595, 608-609):
Shah Jahan, the Mughal emperor of India, built the famous Taj Mahal (photo p. 609) as a white marble
mosque and mausoleum to honor the Islamic faith and his wife Mumtaz Mahal, who died in 1631 after
giving birth to her 14th child
the domed marble tomb of Mumtaz represented the throne of Allah; the four minarets surrounding the
structure served as legs supporting the divine throne; verses from the Quran were carved throughout
20,000 workers spent 18 years building the Taj Mahal
4.3.I.B – States treated different ethnic and religious groups in ways that utilized their economic contributions while limiting
their ability to challenge the authority of the state (such as the Ottoman treatment of non-Muslim subjects, Manchu policies
toward Chinese, the Spanish creation of a separate “República de Indios,” and Spanish and Portuguese creation of new racial
classifications in the Americas, including mestizo, mulatto and creole).
Notes (606):
 non-Muslims held the status of dhimmi (“protected people”) in return for their loyalty and payment of
the jizya
 dhimmi communities retained their personal freedoms, kept their property, practiced their religions and
handled their own legal affairs
 in the Ottoman Empire, these non-Muslim religious communities retained their civil laws, traditions
and languages, and often assumed social and administrative functions over such matters as birth,
marriage, death, health and education
4.3.I.C – Recruitment and use of bureaucratic elites, as well as the development of military professionals (such as the Ottoman
devshirme, Chinese examination system, and salaried samurai in Japan), became more common among rulers who wanted to
maintain centralized control over their populations and resources.
Notes (597):
 after expanding into the Balkans, the Ottomans instituted the devshirme, which required Christian
families to contribute their young boys to become slaves of the sultan
 the boys received special training, learned Turkish, converted to Islam and entered either the civil
administration or an elite military fighting force known as Janissaries
 the Janissaries were known for their esprit de corps (i.e., feeling of pride and fellowship), loyalty to the
sultan, and readiness to employ new military technologies, like gunpowder weapons
4.3.II – Imperial expansion relied on the increased use of gunpowder, cannons and armed trade to establish large empires in
both hemispheres.
Notes (596-598, 600, 602):
 the Ottomans, Safavids and Mughals were Turkish ruling dynasties that conquered, respectively,
Anatolia, Persia and India (see map, p. 597)
 the Ottomans especially – but also the Safavids and Mughals – made effective use of the gunpowder
weapons that transformed early modern warfare during the 15th and 16th centuries
 Ottoman military leaders initially organized ghazi (Muslim religious warriors) recruits into two forces: a
light cavalry and a volunteer infantry … before later forming the elite fighting force of Janissaries
 Ottoman expansion reached its height under Suleyman the Magnificent (r. 1520-1566), whose forces
reached the gates of Vienna, Austria … and also included a major navy, which challenged Christian
vessels throughout the Mediterranean and Portuguese ships in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean
 the Safavids under Shah Abbas the Great increased their use of gunpowder weapons and expelled the
Portuguese from Hormuz, as well as conquered most of northwestern Iran, the Caucasus and
Mesopotamia
 the Mughal Empire reached its greatest height under Aurangzeb (r. 1659-1707), son of Shah Jahan, who
extended Mughal rule over the entire subcontinent except for a small region at the southern tip