AP World History POD #7 – Golden Age of Islam

1. AP World HistoryPOD #7 – Golden Age of Islam Mongols, Turks & Safavids

2. Class Discussion Questions Bulliet et. al. – “The Mongols and Islam”, pp 345-349 “The Ottoman Empire, to 1750”, pp. 532-541 “The Safavid Empire, 1502-1722”, pp. 541-545

3. The Golden Horde • Established by Genghis Khan • Controlled north of the Caspian Sea (southern Russia) with their capital city at Sarai on the Volga River • Ruled an indigenous Muslim (mostly Turkic speaking) people • Some member of the Mongol imperial family had professed an allegiance to Islam prior to the Mongol assault on the Middle East • Turkic Muslims served the Mongol imperial family in a variety of positions

4. Il-Khan Empire • Established in 1260 by Hulegu (grandson of Ghenghis Khan) • Controlled Iran, Azerbaijan, Mesopotamia and parts of Armenia • Hulegu was a Buddhist, but was advised by a trusted Shi’ite • Privileges were extended to Shi’ites and slowly the Mongols under the contrl of Hulegu converted to Islam • Ghazan connnverted to Islam in 1295 but the evidence is conflicting on his affiliation with either the Sunnis or the Shi’ites

5. Clash of Religious Beliefs • “Islamic doctrines clashed with Mongol ways. Muslims abhorred the Mongol’s worship of Buddhist and shamanist idols. Furthermore, Mongol law specified slaughtering animals without spilling blood, which involved opening the chest and stopping the heart. This horrified Muslims who were forbidden to consume blood and slaughtered animals by slitting their throats and draining the blood.” (Bulliet, p. 345)

6. Inter-Mongol Tension • Batu’s successor as leader of the Golden Horde who had declared himself a Muslim and pledged to avenge the murder of the Abbasid Caliph • Claimed to have the authority to control the mountains between the Black and Caspian Seas (also claimed by the Il-khans

7. Mongols, Islam & the Crusades • European leaders attempted to win the favor of the non-Muslim Il-khan leaders by helping to repel the Golden Horde from the Caucasus • European leaders hoped the Il-khan would repay the favor by helping to relive Muslim pressure on the Crusader principalities in Syria, Lebanon and Palestine • The Golden Horde countered this attempt by forming an alliance with the Muslim Mamluks in Egypt • Result -the existence of the crusader principalities was extended, but the Mamluks collapsed by the 15th century

8. Ottoman Empire • Founded circa 1300 / lasted until 1922 • Started by Osman - grew from a tiny state in northwestern Anatolia and extended Muslim conquests into eastern Europe and took control of Syria and Egypt from the Mamluk rulers • 1453 – Mehmed II “the Conqueror” – laid seige to Constantinople taking control of the city and renaming it Istanbul bringing an end to 1100 years of Byzantine rule • Controlled the strategic link between Europe and Asia on the Dardanelles Strait and Bosporus Strait • Built an army that took advantage of the traditional skills of the Turkish cavalryman and the new military possibilities presented by gunpowder • Seemed to recreate the might of the original Islamic caliphate, but in reality was more like the new centralized monarchies of western Europe • Please Note: with Ottoman control of the eastern Mediterranean, Europe’s access to eastern European slaves was closed off forcing them to look for new slave sources in Africa – SLAVERY WILL NOW BECOME ABOUT RACE, NOT WINNERS & LOSERS

9. Suleiman the Magnificent • Ruled the Ottoman Empire from 1520-1566 and conducted the greatest assault on Christian Europe • Laid siege to the Habsburg capital of Vienna in 1529 • Historians view the reign of Suleiman as the period when the imperial system worked to perfection, and they refer to this era as the Golden Age of Ottoman greatness

10. Jannisaries • “By the 1520s, the Ottoman Empire was the most powerful and best-organized state in either Europe or the Islamic world. Its military was balanced between cavalry archers, primarily Turks and Janissaries, Christian prisoners of war induced to serve as military slaves.” (Bulliet, pp. 534-535) • Devshirme – beginning in the early 15th century, a regular levy of male children was made on Christian villages in the Balkans • Cavalrymen were supported by land grants they administered in the rural areas of Anatolia and the Balkans – they maintained order and collected taxes to support their summer military campaigns • Askeri – military class – exempt from taxes and owed their well being to the Sultan

11. Decadence & Decline • The size of the Janissary Corps – and its cost to the government – grew steadily and the role of the Turkish cavalry diminished • To pay the Janissaries, the sultan started reducing the number of landholding cavalrymen. • Inflation resulted from the flood of cheap silver from the New World • Rebellions in Anatolia • In the provinces, ambitious and competent governors, wealthy landholders, urban notables, and nomad chieftains took advantage of the central government’s weakness • Although no region declared full independence, the Sultan’s power was slipping away to the advantage of a broad array of lower officials and upstart chieftains in all parts of the empire while the Ottoman empire was reorienting itself toward Europe

12. Safavid Empire • Located in Iran – resembled the Ottoman Empire • Founded by Ismail who proclaimed himself shah of Iran and declared that from that time forward his realm would be devoted to Shi’ite Islam, which revered the family of Muhammad’s son-in-law Ali • This decision created a major rift between Iran and its neighbors all of which were Sunni • Iran became a truly separate country for the first time since its incorporation in to the Islamic caliphate in the seventh century

13. Persian Culture • Persian, written in the Arabic script from the 10th century onward became the second language of Iran • After the destruction of Baghdad at the hands of the Mongols, Iran developed more extensive contact with India • Shi’ite doctrine says that all temporal rulers, regardless of title, are temporary stand ins for the “Hidden Imam”: the 12th descendent of Ali, the prophet Muhammad’s cousin and son-in-law, who disappeared as a child in the 9th century • Some Shi’ite scholars concluded that the faithful should calmly accept the world as it was and wait quietly for the Hidden Imam to return • Others maintained that they themselves should play a stronger role in political affairs because they were best qualified to know the Hidden Imam’s wishes.

14. Collapse of the Safavid • Inflation caused by cheap silver • Mismanagement of the silk monopoly • The country faced the unsolvable problem of finding money to pay the army and bureaucracy • Need to remove nomads from their lands to regain control of taxes • By 1722, the government had become so weak and commanded so little support from the nomadic groups that an army of marauding Afghans was able to capture Isfahan and effectively end Safavid rule.