The Ottoman & Mughal Empires 1500-1750

1. The Ottoman & Mughal Empires 1500-1750 Mr. Cargile Mission Hills HS, San Marcos CA

2. The Beginnings • As the Mongol Empire fell, the Muslim Ottoman Empire, founded by Osman Bey, rose in Anatolia to unify the region and challenge the Byzantine Empire. • As it grew in the fourteenth century, the Turks came to dominate most of modern-day Turkey. • In 1453 it invaded Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire, and renamed the city Istanbul.

3. They converted the great cathedrals, such as the Hagia Sophia, into mosques. • In the expanding empire, Christians and Jews were allowed to practice their religions, making the empire one of the more tolerant of the time. • By the mid fifteen hundreds they had conquered most of the regions previously held by the ancient Roman Empire, except for Italy westward.

4. A Growing Empire • As the empire grew, so did religious persecution. • The Ottomans enslaved children of their Christian subjects and turned them into fighting warriors, known as janissaries. • Much of this expansion occurred during the reign of Selim I, who came to power in 1512. • Selim claimed that he was the rightful heir to Islamic tradition under the Arab caliphs, so Istanbul became the center of civilization.

5. Suleiman I (S. the Magnificent) • Came to power in 1520. • He built up the military, and actively encouraged the development of the arts. • Under his reign, the empire had a golden age lasting from 1520 until 1566. • The military tried to push into Europe through Hungary. • They laid siege to Austria (Vienna,) but failed…they never got much farther than the borders of Byzantium.

6. The Mughal Empire • In 1526, Babur, a leader who claimed to be descended from Genghis Khan invaded northern India and quickly defeated the Delhi Sultanate. • Babur established the Mughal Empire which will dominate India for the next 300 years.

7. Within about 150 years, it had united almost the entire subcontinent despite invasions in the north and a relatively isolated Hindu population on the Deccan Plateau. • Babur’s grandson, Akbar, ruled form 1556-1605. • Akbar was able to unify much of India by governing under a policy of religious toleration. • He allowed Hinduism and Islam to be practiced openly.

8. He eliminated the jizya, the head tax on Hindus that had been a source of great anger to the people, and tried to improved the position of women by attempting to eliminate sati. • He even married a Hindu woman, and welcomed Hindus into government positions. • The result of this unification was a more mixed population, and a golden age of art, architecture, and thought. • Under Akbar’s grandson, Shah Jahan, the Taj Mahal was built.

9. Post Akbar • Religious toleration ended. The Muslim government reinstated the jizya and Hindu temples were destroyed. • By 1700 Muslims began to persecute Hindus and Hindus were organized against their Muslim rulers and neighbors. • In the early seventeenth century, the Portuguese and British were fighting each other for Indian Ocean trade routes.

10. In the beginning the Portuguese used Goa for trade and missionary activity. • By 1661, the British East India Company controlled trade in Bombay. • By 1691 the British dominated trade and founded the city of Calcutta as a trading outpost. • The M.E. were annoyed with the Europeans, but considered them relatively harmless.