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Mid East Interactive Atlas :: Ottoman Empire Content
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OTTOMAN EMPIRE
OTTOMAN EMPIRE ..................................................................................................................... 1
Rise of Ottoman Empire (1300-1513) .................................................................................... 1
Ottoman origins ............................................................................................................... 1
Fall of Constantinople ...................................................................................................... 2
Mamluks & Safavids........................................................................................................ 2
European conflicts ........................................................................................................... 2
The Safavids............................................................................................................................ 3
Ottoman Expansion.......................................................................................................... 3
Shah Abbas and Reorganization: ..................................................................................... 3
Empires in Decline ........................................................................................................... 3
The Decline of the Ottoman Empire ....................................................................................... 4
Modernization .................................................................................................................. 4
Religious clashes .............................................................................................................. 4
European Imperialism ...................................................................................................... 4
Rise of Ottoman Empire (1300-1513)
As Mongol dominance in the Middle East begins to wane, the small Beylik of Osman in Anatolia
began to conquer lands belonging to the Byzantine Empire and to other small beyliks in
Anatolia. By 1500 the Ottoman Empire included all of Anatolia and the Byzantine Empire.
Ottoman origins
Ottoman origins more: The Ottoman's were Turks that settled in the northwest corner of
Anatolia. The Ottoman's get their name from Osman, who ruled a small Beylik under the
authority of the Seljuks of Rum. Osman's son Orhan would pursue his father’s dream of
conquering Constantinople and declared himself a Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, in respect of
his father.
Blurb pointing to Kosovo:
The Byzantine Empire lost control of everything but Constantinople. To the west in the
Balkan region, the new Kingdoms of Serbia and Bulgaria would be the first to fall to the
Ottomans. Orhan's son Murad would conquer the Serbs at Kosovo in 1389. His son
Bayezid would conquer most of Anatolia create the base of the Ottoman Empire with it's
capitol at Edirne.
Part 2: The Ottomans allowed Christians to live in lands they conquered as long as they
paid extra taxes. However, Murad started taking young Christian boys and converted
them to Islam to be trained as elite slave soldiers. They were called Janissaries, and like
the Mamluks in Egypt, they received excellent educations and became very powerful.
This practice would continue for hundreds of years adding to tensions between Christians
and Muslims in the Balkans.
Mongols:
More: Timur claimed to be a descendant of the Mongol leader, Genghis Khan. He converted to
Islam and started his empire in Samarkand, and then quickly took over most of Eurasia. Timur's
empire ended with his death in 1405. Timur's four sons divided his empire, but they would lose
influence in the Middle East as the Safavid Empire would emerge in 1501 and control Persia and
Mesopotamia, contesting the Ottomans for 200 years.
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Blurb pointing to Ankara
Timur defeated the Ottomans at Ankara in 1402. The Ottoman Sultan Bayezid I died in
captivity. The Ottoman Empire suffered from a civil war in the wake of Timur's upset,
but they would quickly regain order and begin expanding.
Fall of Constantinople
More: Osman's dream of conquering Constantinople would come true over a century later under
the rule of Mohammad II. The Ottomans captured Constantinople in 1453 thus eliminating the
Byzantine Empire and removing the last barrier to the domination of northern Anatolia.
Constantinople would become the capitol of the Ottoman Empire, which was now recognized as
a great world power.
Blurb pointing to Constantinople:
Gunpowder was a Chinese invention that the Ottomans used to great success. They had
100 cannons built in order to shoot holes in the thick walls that defended Constantinople
for centuries. They pounded the city with cannon fire until the walls came down allowing
the Janissaries to enter and conquer the last of the Byzantines.
Mamluks & Safavids
Mamluks more: The Mamluks prospered due to increased trade with Europe resulting from the
Crusades. Cairo surpassed Baghdad in size, and carried on the Abbasid tradition of building great
mosques and providing free medical services. However, internal conflicts and European
competition for trade would weaken the Mamluks.
Safavid Empire:
More: Descendants of Sheikh Safi oh-Din, a local religious leader, the Safavids conquered Iran
and Azerbaijan to establish their empire. After over 400 years of Turkish and Mongol
occupation, Persian culture would see a revival with the Safavid Empire. The Safavids were
Shi'ite and clashed often with Sunni Turks.
Blurb pointing to Tabriz:
Ismail Safavi was only seven years old when he was chosen to be leader of the Safavids.
As a young man he led the fight to conquer the Turks in Azerbaijan. In 1501, he was
crowned Shah Ismail I at Tabriz. He would soon conquer Iraq, Armenia, Azerbaijan,
Turkmenistan, and half of Afghanistan.
European conflicts
More: The Pope called for a Crusade against the Ottomans, but European Kingdoms had their
own troubles with the Plague and religious fighting. The Christian Crusades actually served to
increase trade between Europe and the Middle East. Most of the fighting in this period has to do
with access to trade routes to the Far East.
Blurb pointing to Granada, Spain:
By 1492, all Jews and Muslims that did not convert to Christianity were expelled from
Spain. They would migrate to the Ottoman Empire. The Spanish would burn the great
Islamic libraries of Cordova, saving only the medical books. The Sultan Bayezid II,
called the Spanish King a fool for getting rid of all the Jews. He considered the Jews a
"treasure" because of their skills and knowledge.
Blurb pointing to Hormuz:
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The Mamluks fought with the Portuguese of ocean trade routes to India. The Portuguese
defeated the Mamluk navy at Hormuz. The Portuguese built bigger boats that could fire
cannons at the smaller Mamluk ships. This was early evidence that Europe was starting to
gain a technological advantage over the Middle East.
The Safavids
The Safavid Empire ruled all of Iran, parts of Central Asia, and the Caucuses for over 200 years.
A Shiite Muslim country, they were one of the great Islamic States during this time period along
with the Ottomans. The Safavids were in constant conflict with their neighbors, the Ottomans
primarily because of religious differences.
Ottoman Expansion
The Ottoman Empire would grow to its largest extent under the rule of Selim I and Suleyman I.
They would control the region for 200 years.
Blurb pointing to Chaldiran:
Selim would crush the Safavids at Chaldiran in 1514 and go on to capture the Levant
Coast, Hejaz, and Egypt by defeating the Mamluks by 1520.
Blurb pointing to Yemen:
Suleyman would push the Hungarians back, almost taking Vienna, and then go on to
conquer Armenia, Mesopotamia, Yemen, and most of North Africa by 1566.
Shah Abbas and Reorganization:
This is the greatest period in Safavid history. Shah Abbas formed alliances with the Ottomans
European enemies and was able to re-gain control over much of the territory lost to the Ottomans
including Azerbaijan and Iraq. This was also a time of cultural advancement with much of the
architecture built during this period being among the best examples of Islamic architecture.
Blurb pointing to Baghdad:
Shah Abbas’s answer to the Ottoman Janissaries was to create his own slave army made
up of Armenians and Circassians. He also had his troops receive artillery training from a
British advisor. By 1623, the Safavids regained Tabriz and Baghdad.
Empires in Decline (I left this unfinished. I started one “More” box, but
maybe there should be two, one for each empire.)
More: In this period the Ottomans and Safavids both reached great heights of wealth and power.
However, internal conflicts would begin to undermine both empires.
Safavids:
Safavid decline began after the death of Shah Abbas. The wealth of the Safavids was drained by
its military campaigns against the Ottomans leaving the Safavids vulnerable thus unable to
defend itself effectively against a revolt by Sunni Muslims in Afghanistan who were able to seize
Afghanistan and eventually dethrone the Safavid Shah dispersing Safavid power.
Blurb pointing to Isfahan:
The Ghilzai Afghans from Kandahar occupy much of Iran, including the capital at
Isfahan.
Ottomans:
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Ottoman decline began after the reign of Suleiman. Slave soldiers can’t be trusted. Fratricide is a
bad idea. Leadership is weakened.
Blurb pointing to ???:
More bad news…
The Decline of the Ottoman Empire
During the 1700s, the Ottoman Empire continued to expand, but not as quickly as before and
soon began losing more battles than winning. The empire continued to lose their wars and began
losing their territories to the Europeans. The empire was disbanded after the First World War in
1923.
Modernization
More: In an attempt to regain some of its lost power, the empire modernized and reorganized its
military. This had little impact on their ability to win wars. While modernizing the military, they
did not modernize their industry like the rest of the world and the empire would soon suffer
economic losses because of this, contributing to the downfall of the empire.
Blurb pointing to Constantinople:
A constitution and parliament is put in place in 1876. The Tanzimat period of reform
(1839-1876) implemented sweeping reforms in political, legal, and educational policies.
Reforms guarantee equality for all Ottoman subjects, and Christians and Jews are granted
the same rights as Muslims under Ottoman rule.
Blurb pointing to Suez:
By 1805, Egypt had gained much freedom from Ottoman control under the leadership of
Muhamad Ali. Egypt worked with the French to build the Suez Canal in 1859. European
powers needed quicker access to colonies in the East Africa and India.
Religious clashes
The Ottomans fought many wars in the effort to defend and spread Islam. Because many of the
peoples they conquered were not Muslim there was much antagonism towards their invaders.
There were many revolts and the Russians even went to war with the Ottomans to defend the
rights of Orthodox Christians in Ottoman territories.
I want to add a couple of little blurbs pointing to the Balkans and Armenia.
European Imperialism
During the late 1700s and 1800s, the Ottoman Empire lost many of its territories to European
powers.
Blurb pointing to Russian areas:
The Balkans were lost to a Slavic uprising supported by Russia. Russia also took the
Crimea and Armenia from the empire as payment for the war.
Blurb pointing to Egypt:
The French were the first to occupy Egypt when Napoleon invaded in 1789. Egypt had
become deeply in debt to European countries. Great Britain occupied Egypt in 1882 to
suppress an Egyptian revolt led by Colonel Ahmed Arabi. Arabi wanted to nationalize
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Egypt and take control of the Suez Canal. Britain needed to secure access to the Suez
Canal to maintain it's colonies in East Africa and India. Britain would occupy Egypt as a
protectorate until 1922.
Italy occupied Libya in 1911.
France occupied Algeria in 1881.