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The Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire was the one of the largest and longest lasting Empires in history.
It was an empire inspired and sustained by Islam, and Islamic institutions.
It replaced the Byzantine Empire as the major power in the Eastern Mediterranean.
The Ottoman Empire reached its height under Suleiman the Magnificent (reigned 1520-66), when it expanded to cover the
Balkans and Hungary, and reached the gates of Vienna.
The Empire began to decline after being defeated at the Battle of Lepanto (1571) and losing almost its entire navy. It
declined further during the next centuries, and was effectively finished off by the First World War and the Balkan Wars.
One legacy of the Islamic Ottoman Empire is the robust secularism of modern Turkey.
At its peak it included:

Turkey

Egypt

Greece

Bulgaria

Romania

Macedonia

Hungary

Palestine

Jordan

Lebanon

Syria

Parts of Arabia

Much of the coastal strip of North Africa
Why was the Empire successful?
The recipe for success
There were many reasons why the Ottoman Empire was so successful:

Highly centralised

Power was always transferred to a single person, and not split between rival princes

The Ottoman Empire was successfully ruled by a single family for 7 centuries.

State-run education system

Religion was incorporated in the state structure, and the Sultan was regarded as "the protector of Islam".

State-run judicial system

Ruthless in dealing with local leaders

Promotion to positions of power largely depended on merit

Created alliances across political and racial groups

United by Islamic ideology

United by Islamic warrior code with ideal of increasing Muslim territory through Jihad

United by Islamic organizational and administrative structures

Highly pragmatic, taking the best ideas from other cultures and making them their own

Encouraged loyalty from other faith groups

Private power and wealth were controlled

Very strong military

Strong slave-based army

Expert in developing gunpowder as a military tool

Military ethos pervaded whole administration
Origin
After Baghdad fell to the Mongols, the Seljuks declared an independent Sultanate in east and central Asia Minor.
In 1301, Uthman, an Uzbek of the Ottoman clan, overthrew the Seljuk aristocracy and proclaimed himself the Sultan of
Asia Minor.
Rule of force
At first the rule of the Ottoman Sultans was insecure. To consolidate their Empire the Ottoman Sultans formed groups of
fanatical fighters - the orders of the Janissaries, a crack infantry group of slaves and Christian converts to Islam.
The Ottomans inflicted a series of defeats on the declining Christian Byzantine Empire and then quickly expanded
westward.
Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the heart of the Byzantine Empire. It became the capital of the Ottoman Empire when it was
conquered in 1453 by the Ottoman Sultan Mehmet II.
Mehmet slaughtered many of the population and forced the rest into exile, later repopulating the city by importing people
from elsewhere in Ottoman territory.
Mehmet renamed Constantinople Istanbul – the 'city of Islam' - and set about rebuilding it, both physically and politically,
as his capital.
Economics
Istanbul became not only a political and military capital, but because of its position at the junction of Europe, Africa, and
Asia, one of the great trade centres of the world. Another important city was Bursa, which was a centre of the silk trade.
Some of the later Ottoman conquests were clearly intended to give them control of other trade routes.
Among the goods traded were:

Silk and other cloth

Musk

Rhubarb

Porcelain from China

Spices such as pepper

Dyestuffs such as indigo
The economic strength of the Empire also owed much to Mehmet's policy of increasing the number of traders and artisans
in the Empire.
He first encouraged merchants to move to Istanbul, and later forcibly resettled merchants from captured territories such as
Caffa.
He also encouraged Jewish traders from Europe to migrate to Istanbul and set up in business there. Later rulers
continued these policies.
The siege of Constantinople
When Sultan Mehmet II rode into the city of Constantinople on a white horse in 1453, it marked the end of a thousand
years of the Byzantine Empire. Earlier attempts to capture the city had largely failed - so why did the Ottomans succeed
this time? What effect did the fall of Constantinople have on the rest of the Christian world?
Roger Crowley, author and historian; Judith Herrin, Professor of Late Antique and Byzantine Studies at King's College
London; and Colin Imber, formerly Reader in Turkish at Manchester University discuss these questions.
Effects of the fall of Constantinople
The capture of Constantinople ended the Byzantine Empire after 1100 years. The effect of this on Christian Europe was
enormous.
One unexpected effect was that many scholars fled from the new empire and went to Italy, where they were influential in
sparking off the Renaissance, and increasing trade with the east.
Although the Pope demanded a crusade to recapture Istanbul from the Muslims, the Christian nations failed to produce
an army for him, and no attempt to retake the city was made.
The Muslim dominance of the trading centre of the former Constantinople increased the pressure on Western nations to
find new ways to the East by going westwards. This eventually led to the expeditions of Columbus, Magellan, and Drake.
Other religions
The millet system
Non-Muslim communities were organised according to the milletsystem, which gave minority religious/ethnic/geographical
communities a limited amount of power to regulate their own affairs - under the overall supremacy of the Ottoman
administration.
The first Orthodox Christian millet was established in 1454. This brought Orthodox Christians into a single community
under the leadership of the Patriarch who had considerable authority given to him by the Sultan. Armenian Christian,
Jewish and other millets followed in due course.
Some millets paid tax to the state as dhimmis, while others were exempted because they were seen to be performing
services of value to the state.
The devshirme system
Non-Muslims in parts of the empire had to hand over some of their children as a tax under the devshirme ('gathering')
system introduced in the 14th century. Conquered Christian communities, especially in the Balkans, had to surrender
twenty percent of their male children to the state.
To the horror of their parents, and Western commentators, these children were converted to Islam and served as slaves.
Although the forced removal from their families and conversion was certainly traumatic and out of line with modern ideas
of human rights, the devshirme system was a rather privileged form of slavery for some (although others were
undoubtedly ill-used).
Some of the youngsters were trained for government service, where they were able to reach very high ranks, even that of
Grand Vezir. Many of the others served in the elite military corps of the Ottoman Empire, called the Janissaries, which
was almost exclusively made up of forced converts from Christianity.
The devshirme played a key role in Mehmet's conquest of Constantinople, and from then on regularly held very senior
posts in the imperial administration.
Although members of the devshirme class were technically slaves, they were of great importance to the Sultan because
they owed him their absolute loyalty and became vital to his power. This status enabled some of the 'slaves' to become
both powerful and wealthy. Their status remained restricted, and their children were not permitted to inherit their wealth or
follow in their footsteps.
The devshirme system continued until the end of the seventeenth century.
Life under Mehmet
After battles between Muslims and Christians, churches were converted into mosques and mosques into churches
according to who was the winner.
Although Mehmet converted many churches into mosques, he did not suppress the Christian faith itself. There were
practical reasons for this:

Christians were the largest group of the population and coexistence was likely to be more efficient than conflict

The institutions of the church provided a machine for implementing Mehmet's rule
But Mehmet was also influenced by the Islamic rule that Muslims should show respect to all religions.
Mehmet not only tolerated the Christians, he made special efforts to attract Jews to Istanbul. This was attractive to the
Jews, who had previously been persecuted by the Orthodox Christian Church.
The non-Muslim communities (millets) were controlled by the Sultan acting through their religious leaders. These
communities were given their own parts of towns in which to live and worship. They were given a great deal of freedom to
lead their lives according to their particular faiths, and so were largely supportive of their Muslim overlords.
After Mehmet
Mehmet II died in 1481, and he nominated his eldest son Bayezid as the new Sultan. The Shi'a Muslims in the Ottoman
Empire revolted in favour of Bayezid's brother Jem. The Janissaries suppressed the revolt and from then on became very
important in Ottoman politics.
With Janissary support Bayezid's son Selim laid the foundations for a world Ottoman Empire based entirely on the
despotism of the Sultan. The Shi'as were ruthlessly suppressed and they retreated to Persia, joining with the local groups
of Shi'a and eventually forming their own state under the Safavid Shahs.
Fratricide
Sultan Selim introduced the policy of fratricide (the murder of brothers).
Under this system whenever a new Sultan ascended to the throne his brothers would be locked up. As soon as the Sultan
had produced his first son the brothers (and their sons) would be killed. The new Sultan's sons would be then confined
until their father's death and the whole system would start again.
This often meant that dozens of sons would be killed while only one would become Sultan.
In the later centuries of Ottoman rule, the brothers were imprisoned rather than executed.
Sultan and court
The Sultan's life
The Sultans lived in the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul.
The Sultan's life was run by rituals copied from the Byzantine court. For example, the Sultan wore his silk robes once and
then they were discarded. (Many now are preserved in the Topkapi Musuem.)
The Topkapi Palace held many objects which were used to give legitimacy to the Ottomans and reinforce the Sultan's
claim to be leader of all Muslims. The most important of these was the mantle of the Prophet Muhammad and his
standard and footprint. These were brought from Egypt when Cairo fell to the Ottomans.
It was in the Harem that the Sultan spent his life. Every inhabitant of the 230 small dark rooms in the Topkapi palace was
his to command. The number of concubines often exceeded a thousand and came from all over the world. The only
permanent male staff consisted of eunuchs.
Access to the Sultan meant power. But no one was to be trusted. The Sultan moved every night to avoid assassination.
Favoured males were promoted to rule places far away like Syria; males not in favour could be locked up inside the
palace.
The harem was a paradox, since it was a feature of the Ottoman Empire (and other Islamic states) yet contained much
that was not permissible in Islam. The harem was extravagant, decadent, and vulgar. The concentration of wealth,
suffering and injustice toward women was far from the ideals of marriage and married life in Islam.
Despite this, the harem could bring benefits to a family who had a woman in the harem. It meant patronage, wealth and
power; it meant access to the most powerful man in the Empire - the Sultan.
Influences and Structure
Although the Ottoman Empire was widely influenced by the faiths and customs of the peoples it incorporated, the most
significant influences came from Islam.
The ruling elite worked their way up the hierarchy of the state madrassahs (religious schools) and the palace schools.
They were trained to be concerned with the needs of government and to be mindful of the restrictions of Islamic law.
In its structure the ruling elite reflected a world of order and hierarchy in which promotion and status were rewarded on
merit. Thus birth and genealogy, aristocracy or tribe became almost irrelevant to success in the system. Only one post,
that of the Sultan, was determined by birth.
Suleiman - a golden age
The Golden Age of Suleiman
The Ottoman Empire reached the peak of its power during the rule of Selim's son, Suleiman the Magnificent (ruled 1520 66) and his grandson Selim II (1566 - 74).
Suleiman came to the throne as one of the wealthiest rulers in the world. His strength owed much to the work his father
Selim had done in stabilising government, removing opposition, frightening (but not succesfully conquering) the Safavid
Empire of Iran into adopting a non-aggression policy, and conquering the Mamluk empire of Egypt and Syria.
These conquests, which united the lands of Eastern Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean under a single ruler, brought
a time of peace and stability, under which the Empire flourished.
Suleiman had no internal rivals for power. His father had seen to that by executing his own brothers and their sons, and all
4 of Suleiman's brothers.
The Ottoman Empire now included so much of the territory where Islam was practiced, and so many of the Islamic holy
places, that Suleiman was widely regarded as the religious leader of Islam, as well as the earthly ruler of most Muslims.
The wealth and stability of the Empire at this time attracted the top Muslim brains of the period, and craftsmen, artists,
intellectuals and writers were eager to move to Istanbul.
Suleiman was named 'The Magnificent' by the Europeans, but his own people called him 'The Lawgiver'.
Short-termism
Ottoman rulers had a very short-term policy. They rejected the idea of developing territory and investing in it for gain at
some time in the future; land and peoples were exploited to the point of exhaustion and then more or less abandoned in
favour of new ground.
This policy meant that the Ottoman Empire relied on continuous expansion for stability. If it did not grow, it was likely to
collapse.
Decline
Decline
The power of the empire was waning by 1683 when the second and last attempt was made to conquer Vienna. It failed.
Without the conquest of Europe and the acquisition of significant new wealth the Empire lost momentum and went into a
slow decline.
Several other factors contributed to the Empire's decline:

The European powers wanted to expand

Economic problems

Competition from trade from the Americas

Competition from cheap products from India and the Far East

Development of other trade routes

Rising unemployment within the Empire

Ottoman Empire became less centralised, and central control weakened

Sultans being less severe in maintaining rigorous standards of integrity in the adminstration of the Empire

Sultans becoming less sensitive to public opinion

The low quality Sultans of the 17th and 18th centuries

The ending of the execution of Sultan's sons and brothers, imprisoning them instead

This apparently humane process led to men becoming Sultan after spending years in prison - not the best training for absolute
power
Soon the very word Turk became synonymous with treachery and cruelty. This led Turks like Kemal Ataturk, who was
born late in the nineteenth century, to be repelled by the Ottoman Turkish political system and the culture it had evolved.
Seeing little but decay and corruption, he led the Turks to create a new modern identity.
The empire officially ended on the 1st November 1922, when the Ottoman sultanate was abolished and Turkey was
declared a republic. The Ottoman caliphate continued as an institution, with greatly reduced authority, until it too was
abolished on the 3rd March 1924.
Safavid Empire
The Safavid Empire was based in what is today Iran.
This Islamic Empire was strong enough to challenge the Ottomans in the west and the Mughals in the
east.
Summary
 The Safavid Empire lasted from 1501-1722
 It covered all of Iran, and parts of Turkey and Georgia
 The Safavid Empire was a theocracy
 The state religion was Shi'a Islam
 All other religions, and forms of Islam were suppressed
 The Empire's economic strength came from its location on the trade routes
 The Empire made Iran a center of art, architecture, poetry and philosophy
 The capital, Isfahan, is one of the most beautiful cities in the world
 The key figures in the Empire were:
 Isma'il I
 Abbas I
 The Empire declined when it became complacent and corrupt
Origins
The Empire was founded by the Safavids, a Sufi order that goes back to Safi al-Din (1252-1334). Safi
al-Din converted to Shi'ism and was a Persian nationalist. The Safavid brotherhood was originally a
religious group.
Over the following centuries the brotherhood became stronger, by attracting local warlords and by
political marriages. It became a military group as well as a religious one in the 15th century.
Many were attracted by the brotherhood's allegiance to Ali, and to the 'hidden Imam'.
In the 15th century the brotherhood became more militarily aggressive, and waged a jihad (Islamic
holy war) against parts of what are now modern Turkey and Georgia.
The Safavid Empire dates from the rule of Shah Ismail (ruled 1501-1524).
In 1501, the Safavid Shahs declared independence when the Ottomans outlawed Shi'a Islam in their
territory. The Safavid Empire was strengthened by important Shi'a soldiers from the Ottoman army
who had fled from persecution.
When the Safavids came to power, Shah Ismail was proclaimed ruler at the age of 14 or 15, and by
1510 Ismail had conquered the whole of Iran.
Religion in the Safavid Empire –
The negatives
One of Shah Ismail's most important decisions was to declare that the state religion would be the
form of Islam called Shi'ism that at the time was completely foreign to Iranian culture.
The Safavids launched a vigorous campaign to convert what was then a predominantly Sunni
population by persuasion and by force. The Sunni ulama (a religious council of wise men) either left
or were killed.
To promote Shi'ism the Safavids brought in scholars from Shi'ite countries to form a new religious
elite. They appointed an official (the Sadr) to co-ordinate this elite - and ensure that it did what the
Shah wanted. The religious leaders effectively became a tool of the government.
The Safavids also spent money to promote religion, making grants to shrines and religious schools.
And most craftily of all, they used grants of land and money to create a new class of wealthy religious
aristocrats who owed everything to the state.
In specifically religious terms the Safavids not only persecuted Sunni Muslims, but Shi'ites with
different views, and all other religions. Alien shrines were vandalized, and Sufi mystic groups
forbidden.
This was surprising, since the Safavids owed their origins to a Sufi order and to a form of Shi'ism that
they now banned. They also reduced the importance of the Hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca), replacing it
with pilgrimage to Shi'ite shrines.
Religion in the Safavid Empire - the positives
The early Safavid Empire was effectively a theocracy. Religious and political power were completely
intertwined, and encapsulated in the person of the Shah.
The people of the Empire soon embraced the new faith with enthusiasm, celebrating Shi'ite festivals
with great piety. The most significant of these was Ashura, when Shia Muslims mark the death of
Husayn. Ali was also venerated.
Because Shi'ism was now a state religion, with major educational establishments devoted to it, its
philosophy and theology developed greatly during the Safavid Empire.
Strengths
The Safavid Empire, although driven and inspired by strong religious faith, rapidly built the
foundations of strong central secular government and administration.
The Safavids benefited from their geographical position at the center of the trade routes of the ancient
world. They became rich on the growing trade between Europe and the Islamic civilizations of central
Asia and India.
Art and culture
Under Safavid rule eastern Persia became a great cultural center.
During this period, painting, metalwork, textiles and carpets reached new heights of perfection. For art
to succeed at this scale, patronage had to come from the top.
This was not entirely for love of beauty. Much of the early art was devoted to celebrating the glories of
the earlier Iranian kingdom, and thus, by implication, making legitimate the Safavids as that kingdom's
current heirs.
The Safavids were often artists themselves. Shah Ismail was a poet and Shah Tahmasp a painter.
Their patronage, which included opening royal workshops for artists, created a favorable climate for
the development of art.
Isfahan
The artistic achievements and the prosperity of the Safavid period are best represented by Isfahan,
the capital of Shah Abbas.
Isfahan had parks, libraries and mosques that amazed Europeans, who had not seen anything like
this at home. The Persians called it Nisf-e-Jahan, 'half the world', meaning that to see it was to see
half the world.
Isfahan became one of the world's most elegant cities. In its heyday it was also one of the largest with
a population of one million; 163 mosques, 48 religious schools, 1801 shops and 263 public baths.
Decline
The Safavid Empire was held together in the early years by conquering new territory, and then by the
need to defend it from the neighboring Ottoman Empire. But in the seventeenth century the Ottoman
threat to the Safavids declined. The first result of this was that the military forces became less
effective.
With their major enemy keeping quiet, the Safavid Shahs became complacent, and then corrupt and
decadent. Power passed to the Shi'a ulama (a religious council of wise men) which eventually
deposed the Shahs and proclaimed the world's first Islamic Republic in the eighteenth century. The
ulama developed a theory that only a Mujtahid - one deeply learned in the Sharia (Qur'anic law) and
one who has had a blameless life, could rule.
In 1726 an Afghan group destroyed the ruling dynasty. After the conquest a division of powers was
agreed between the new Afghan Shahs and the Shi'a ulama. The Afghan Shahs controlled the state
and foreign policy, and could levy taxes and make secular laws. The ulama retained control of
religious practice; and enforced the Sharia (Qur'anic Law) in personal and family matters.
The problems of this division of spiritual and political authority is something that Iran is still working
out today.
Iran after the Safavid Empire
However by this period the Empire was disintegrating, and for the next two centuries it lay in decay.
Bandit chiefs and feudal lords plundered it at will, further weakening the Empire, and people yearned
for strong central rule and stability.
The rise of the Pahlavi’s (1925 -79) saw the reaffirmation of a strong central authority in Iran and the
re-emergence of the dynastic principle. The discovery of oil early in the twentieth century and the
interest of it to the British and then the Americans determined the style and role of the second Pahlavi
Shah. The wealth from oil enabled him to head an opulent and corrupt court.
The ulama continued to tolerate the non-religious Shahs right up until the 1970s but they finally
overthrew the monarchy in 1979. This led to power being exercised through the highest officials of the
ulama, the Ayatollahs. Ayatollah Khomeini's challenge to the Shah's Royal authority confirmed a deep
religious tradition in Iranian society and history.
The Mughal Empire
The Mughal (or Mogul) Empire ruled most of India and Pakistan in the 16th and 17th centuries.
It consolidated Islam in South Asia, and spread Muslim (and particularly Persian) arts and culture as well as the faith.
The Mughals were Muslims who ruled a country with a large Hindu majority. However for much of their empire they
allowed Hindus to reach senior government or military positions.
The Mughals brought many changes to India:

Centralized government that brought together many smaller kingdoms

Delegated government with respect for human rights

Persian art and culture

Persian language mixed with Arabic and Hindi to create Urdu

Periods of great religious tolerance

A style of architecture (e.g. the Taj Mahal)

A system of education that took account of pupils' needs and culture
Muslims in India
There had been Muslims in India long before the Mughals. The first Muslims arrived in the 8th century.
In the first half of the 10th century a Muslim ruler of Afghanistan invaded the Punjab 11 times, without much political
success, but taking away a great deal of loot.
A more successful invasion came at the end of the 12th century. This eventually led to the formation of the Delhi
Sultanate.
A later Muslim invasion in 1398 devastated the city of Delhi.
The Mughal Empire grew out of descendants of the Mongol Empire who were living in Turkestan in the 15th century. They
had become Muslims and assimilated the culture of the Middle East, while keeping elements of their Far Eastern roots.
They also retained the great military skill and cunning of their Mongol ancestors, and were among the first Western
military leaders to use guns.
Babur
Babur
Babur the first Mughal Emperor, was a descendent of Genghis Khan and Tamerlaine.
Babur succeeded his father as ruler of the state of Farghana in Turkestan when he was only 12, although he was swiftly
deposed by older relatives.
Babur moved into Afghanistan in 1504, and then moved on to India, apparently at the invitation of some Indian princes
who wanted to dispose of their ruler. Babur disposed of the ruler, and decided to take over himself.
He captured the Turkic Ghur'iat Sultanate of Delhi in 1526, imposing his rule on most of Northern India.
The Empire he founded was a sophisticated civilization based on religious toleration. It was a mixture of Persian, Mongol
and Indian culture.
Under Babur Hinduism was tolerated and new Hindu temples were built with his permission.
Trade with the rest of the Islamic world, especially Persia and through Persia to Europe, was encouraged.
The importance of slavery in the Empire diminished and peace was made with the Hindu kingdoms of Southern India.
Babur brought a broad-minded, confident Islam from central Asia. His first act after conquering Delhi was to forbid the
killing of cows because that was offensive to Hindus.
Babur may have been descended from brutal conquerors, but he was not a barbarian bent on loot and plunder. Instead he
had great ideas about civilization, architecture and administration.
He even wrote an autobiography, The Babur - Namah. The autobiography is candid, honest and at times even poetic.
Babur was followed by his son Humayun who was a bad emperor, a better poet, and a drug addict. He rapidly lost the
empire. He did eventually recover the throne but died soon afterwards after breaking his neck falling downstairs.
While Humayan was certainly disastrous as a ruler, his love of poetry and culture heavily influenced his son Akbar, and
helped to make the Mughal Empire an artistic power as well as a military one.
Abu Akbar
Abu Akbar
The third Emperor, Abu Akbar, is regarded as one of the great rulers of all time, regardless of country.
Akbar succeeded to the throne at 13, and started to recapture the remaining territory lost from Babur's empire. By the time
of his death in 1605 he ruled over most of north, central, and western India.
Akbar worked hard to win over the hearts and minds of the Hindu leaders. While this may well have been for political
reasons - he married a Hindu princess (and is said to have married several thousand wives for political and diplomatic
purposes) - it was also a part of his philosophy.
Akbar believed that all religions should be tolerated, and that a ruler's duty was to treat all believers equally, whatever
their belief.
He established a form of delegated government in which the provincial governors were personally responsible to him for
the quality of government in their territory.
Akbar's government machine included many Hindus in positions of responsibility - the governed were allowed to take a
major part in the governing.
Akbar also ended a tax (jizya) that had been imposed on non-Muslims. This discriminatory tax had been much resented,
and ending it was a popular move.
An innovation was the amount of autonomy he allowed to the provinces. For example, non-Muslims were not forced to
obey Islamic law (as was the case in many Islamic lands), and Hindus were allowed to regulate themselves through their
own law and institutions.
Akbar and Godism
Akbar took the policy of religious toleration even further by breaking with conventional Islam.
The Emperor proclaimed an entirely new state religion of 'God-ism' (Din-i-ilahi) - a jumble of Islamic, Hindu, Christian and
Buddhist teaching with himself as deity. It never spread beyond his court and died when he did.
Fatehpur Sikri was the new capital built by Akbar, as a part of his attempt to absorb other religions into Islam. Fatehpur
Sikri is a synthesis of Hindu and Islamic architecture.
Jahangir and Jahan
Jahangir
Akbar's son, Emperor Jahangir, readopted Islam as the state religion and continued the policy of religious toleration. His
court included large numbers of Indian Hindus, Persian Shi'a and Sufis and members of local heterodox Islamic sects.
Jahangir also began building the magnificent monuments and gardens by which the Mughals are chiefly remembered
today, importing hundreds of Persian architects to build palaces and create magnificent gardens.
Jahangir's approach was typified by the development of Urdu as the official language of Empire. Urdu uses an Arabic
script, but Persian vocabulary and Hindi grammatical structure.
Jahan
The architectural achievements of the Mughals peaked between 1592 and 1666, during the reign of Jahangir's successor
Jahan.
Jahan commissioned the Taj Mahal. The Taj Mahal marks the apex of the Mughal Empire; it symbolizes stability, power
and confidence.
The building is a mausoleum built by Jahan for his wife Mumtaz and it has come to symbolize the love between two
people.
Jahan's selection of white marble and the overall concept and design of the mausoleum give the building great power and
majesty.
Jahan brought together fresh ideas in the creation of the Taj. Many of the skilled craftsmen involved in the construction
were drawn from the empire. Many also came from other parts of the Islamic world - calligraphers from Shiraz, finial
makers from Samrkand, and stone and flower cutters from Bukhara.
By Jahan's period the capital had moved to the Red Fort in Delhi, putting the Fort at the heart of Mughal power. As if to
confirm it, Jahan had these lines inscribed there: "If there is Paradise on earth, it is here, it is here."
Paradise it may have been, but it was a pricey paradise. The money Jahan spent on buildings and on various military
projects emptied his treasury and he was forced to raise taxes, which aggravated the people of the empire.
Aurangzeb
Aurangzeb
Jahan's son Aurangzeb was the last great Mughal Emperor.
History's verdict on Aurangzeb largely depends on who's writing it; Muslim or Hindu.
Aurangzeb ruled for nearly 50 years. He came to the throne after imprisoning his father and having his older brother killed.
He was a strong leader, whose conquests expanded the Mughal Empire to its greatest size.
Aurangzeb was a very observant and religious Muslim who ended the policy of religious tolerance followed by earlier
emperors.
He no longer allowed the Hindu community to live under their own laws and customs, but imposed Sharia law (Islamic
law) over the whole empire.
Thousands of Hindu temples and shrines were torn down and a punitive tax on Hindu subjects was re-imposed.
In the last decades of the seventeenth century Aurangzeb invaded the Hindu kingdoms in central and southern India,
conquering much territory and taking many slaves.
Under Aurangzeb, the Mughal Empire reached the peak of its military power, but the rule was unstable. This was partly
because of the hostility that Aurangazeb's intolerance and taxation inspired in the population, but also because the empire
had simply become too big to be successfully governed.
The Muslim Governor of Hydrabad in southern India rebelled and established a separate Shi'a state; he also reintroduced
religious toleration.
The Hindu kingdoms also fought back, often supported by the French and the British, who used them to tighten their grip
on the sub-continent.
The establishment of a Hindu Marathi Empire in southern India cut off the Mughal state to the south. The great Mughal
city of Calcutta came under the control of the East India Company in 1696 and in the decades that followed Europeans
and European - backed by Hindu princes conquered most of the Mughal territory.
Aurangzeb's extremism caused Mughal territory and creativity to dry up and the Empire went into decline. The Mughal
Emperors that followed Aurangzeb effectively became British or French puppets. The last Mughal Emperor was deposed
by the British in 1858.