Southwest Asia & The Indian

Ocean.

By: Catalina Tellez

Jessica Arancibia

Carla Gonzalez

Simon Baduy

Christian Escorcia

Chelen Lopez

Carolina Carrasco

WHAT YOU WANT TO KNOW :)

Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal Empires political similarities an differences

- The Ottoman Empire had two dimensions the military and civil administration.

- Military administration included Janissaries which were the “new troops”

- The sultan was the highest position in the system, The civil system was based

on local administrative units based on the region's characteristics.

- The Ottomans practiced a system in which the state had control over the clergy

- The state's primary responsibility was to defend and extend the land of the

Muslims and to ensure security and harmony within its borders

- There were only two attempts in the whole of Ottoman history to unseat the

ruling Osmanli dynasty, both failures, which is an indication of a political system

that for an extended period was able to manage its revolutions without

unnecessary instability.

- New sultans were chosen among the songs of the previous sultans

- Though the sultan was the supreme monarch, the sultan's political and executive

authority was delegated. The politics of the state had a number of advisors and

ministers gathered around a council known as Divan.

- The Safavid Empire was a monarchy in the form of a triangle with the shah

(ruler) at the top then beauracracy/ landed classes, then the common

people.

- In the empire the ruler (shah) was semi-divine and was thought to have

direct

successions of the prophet Muhammad.

- Positions at the Safavid court were held by Persians to offset the Turkish

aristocratic influence.

- Under the early Safavids, Iran was a theocracy in which state and religion

were closely together.

- Ismail's followers acclaimed him not only as the perfect guide, but also as

an emanation of the Godhead.

- Shah Abbas I used the slave regiments and even elevated members of the

unit to provincial governorships

- Sha achieved a political unity with his military campgains and taxation.

- Shah also developed elaborate court rituals based, in part, on their claims to

be descendants of one of the Shi'ite imams.

- The Mughal Empire was an absolute monarchy, unitary government with

federal government

- Akbar rapidly developed a more centralized military and administrative

system to govern India

- The Mughal Empire was established and consolidated by the Turkic warrior

Babur and his grandson Akbar.

- Foreign trade boomed, but the Mughals, like the Safavids, did not maintain

a navy or merchant marine, preferring to allow Europeans to serve as the

fighters.

- The emperor was the center of the government in the Mughal Empire. He

was the supreme head of state, commander-in-chief of the army, and the

chief judge in all disagreements. His administration was broken into four

parts, each supervised by a minister.

- During the rule of Akbar the higher ranks of the government were mainly

filled with nonnative Muslims.

Effects that New World resources (silver, military technology)

had on the Ottoman government.

- The increasing importance and expense of firearms meant that the

size and cost of the Janissaries increased over time, and at the

same time, New world silver brought inflation and undermined the

purchasing power of the fixed tax income of the Turkish cavalry

men. So there was many expenses for the Janissaries and the New

world silver decreased the economy so there was no balance for

those two.

- The new world caused serious sharp devaluation of the Ottoman

Currency and had serious consequences on all levels of the

Ottoman society.

- The inflation caused by the flood of cheap silver from the New world

affected many remaining landholders who collected taxes.

- The prices of the New world silver rose because of European

trades with access could buy more good with the same quantity of

metal than an ottomans subject could.

The dynamics among Islam, Hinduism, and Sikhism

- Muslims had a trajectory before Akbar's’ times, of contempt

destruction, intolerance of Hindu beliefs, monuments, and culture.

The Mughal state, however showed signs of being different. For

one the Indian sultan inherited traditions of both Islam and Genghis

khan / Timur examples. Akbar sought not only growth and social

stability in his kingdom, but a meshing of both Islam/Hindu

traditions. He achieved this by marrying a Rajput princess and

including Hindus in government positions. A year after marriage,

Akbar removed officially a tax of non-muslins which symbolized the

tolerance of other religions.

- As far as Sikhism goes the religion had both Muslim and Hindu

influences. However trouble arose when the death of the 9th guru

came by beheading, his son sought revenge. The rallies against the

Mughals led to political fragmentation and societal regression (the

fall of the Mughal empire)

How did the Mughal empire arise in India?

- The Mughal empire (Mongol in Persian) was composed of a people

of Turkic, not Mongol origins. Under the rule of Akbar, one of the

most renowned sultans of India, the Mughal empire expanded to all

lands in the Indian sub-continents except the southern tip of India.

part of this vast empires growth was due, not only to leadership, but

a strong leading economy, as well as relative peace within the

borders.

- Akbar established a central administration which led to a

centralized empire.

The internal and external factors that led to the decline of the

Ottoman and Mughal empires and to the fall of the Safavids.

-

Ottoman Safavid Mughal

discontinued use of

devshirme which trained

young children to be of

military servitude

advantageous

movements between

private sectors

janissaries making

membership to their

corps hereditary

disappearance of kind

grants in exchange for

military servitude

decentralization of

government

rural disorder and

rebellions

inability to control trade

weak military Tupid

period

poor growth in

manufacturing sector

(subsistence farming was

a rule)

no money to maintain

army

no suitable army to

fend off Uzbeks and

Ottomans

inflation due to cheap

silver

decline of overland

trade because of

mismanagement of silk

monopoly

decreased support

from government of

nomadic groups which

make up largest part of

military force

lack of sea-faring trade

land grant system

offered to government

official in exchange for

service

decline of imperial

authority

failure to integrate new

territories

strong regional powers

(Marathans, Afghans)

were rebellious towards

the empire

The Portuguese, Oman, and Dutch empires importance to the

development of trade in the Indian Ocean and Southeast Asia

- They turned a grater importance into maritime trading systems, they

increased navigation accuracy, improved maritime technology, provided a

flexible economy, and allowed for cultural expansion.

The Muslim Ottoman Empire and Their Territorial Empire:

-The Muslim Ottoman Empire was founded by Osman Bey and rose in Anatolia.-They made Constantinople their capital city but later renamed it Istanbul and converted the great cathedrals into mosques.-In this ever-growing empire, Christians and Jews were allowed to practice their religion.-In only about a century, the Ottomans managed to conquer most of the regions previously held by the ancient Roman Empire, except for Italy westward. -As the empire grew, eventually so did the religious persecution. In order to take over large territories, the Ottomans enslaved children of their Christian subjects and turned them into fighting warriors. -Much of their expansion occurred during the reign of Selim I. He claimed that he was the rightful heir to Islamic tradition under the Arab caliphs. With that claim and with such a huge empire, Istanbul became the center of Islamic civilization. -Akbar, who ruled from 1556 to 1605, was able to unify much of India by governing under a policy of religious toleration. He allowed Hinduism and Islam to be practiced openly. -Because Hindu's and Muslim's lived side-by-side, they became more geographically mixed, in result, there was an age of art, architecture, and thought.

Mughal art- Mughal and Rajput(members of a mainly Hindu warrior caste from

northwest India) nature portraits of political figures and depictions of

scantily clad women upset pious Muslims, who deplored the

representation of human beings in art.

- Most of the leading painters were Hindus. As for literature, in

addition to the florid style of Persian verse favored at court, a new

taste developed for poetry and prose in the popular language of the

Delhi region.

Development of Sikhism:

-Indian religion founded by the guru (spiritual teacher) Nanak (1469-1539) in the Punjab region of northwest India.

-After the Mughal emperor ordered the beheading of the ninth guru in 1675, Sikh warriors mounted armed resistance to Mughal rule

. -Stressed mediation as a means of seeking enlightment and influenced both Muslim and Hindu imagery in his teachings.

-After Aurangzeb ordered the ninth guru beheaded in 1675 for refusing to convert to Islam, the tenth reorganized his followers into "the army of the pure". These devotees signaled their faith by leaving their hair uncut beneath a turban; carrying a comb, a steel bracelet, and a sword or dagger; and wearing a military-style breeches.

-By the eighteenth century, the Mughals’ were encountering fierce opposition from the Sikhs and from Hindu guerilla forces.

The Safavid Empire (1502-1722)

The Safavid Empire of Iran was like its long time enemy, the Ottomans, in many ways:

1. used land grants to support its all-important cavalry 2. its population spoke many different languages3. focused on land instead of sea power4. urban notables, nomadic chieftains, and religious scholars served as intermediaries between the people and the government.

Rise of the Safavid Empire:

*Shi'ites are Muslims belonging to the branch of Islam believing that God vests leadership of the community in a descendant of Muhammad's son-in-law, Ali.-The ultimate victor in a complicated struggle for power among Turkish chieftains was a boy of Kurdish, Iranian, and Greek ancestry named Ismail, the hereditary leader of a militant Sufi brotherhood called the "Safaviya".-At only sixteen years old, Imail proclaimed himself shah of Iran and declared that his realm would practice Shi'ite Islam.-Because at the extreme end of a wide spectrum of Sufi beliefs, many considered Ismail god incarnate and fought ferociously on his behalf. -It took a century and a series of brutal persecutions to make Iran a Shi'ite land.