The Muslim World 1300-1700 Modern World History. Essential Question What factors allowed Muslim empires to grow and flourish between the years 1300 to.

The Muslim World The Muslim World 1300-17001300-1700

Modern World HistoryModern World History

Essential Question

• What factors allowed Muslim empires to grow and flourish between the years 1300 to 1700?

Lecture Questions

• Question: How did the Silk Road help these Middle Eastern societies grow?

• Question: What factors allowed the Ottomans to grow to be so powerful?

• Question: What were the major factors that led to the rise and fall of the Mughal Empire?

European Trade

The Silk Road and Trade in the East

The Silk Road– The Silk Road was an interconnected series

of routes through southern Asia traversed by caravan and ocean vessel connecting China to the Middle East and from there to Europe• Before the discovery of the sea route to

India, the Silk Road was the most important connection between the East and West

The Silk Road (Cont’d)

– Question: How did the Silk Road help these Middle Eastern societies grow?

– Conduit not only for goods but also for the transmission of knowledge and ideas between east and west

• i.e., Buddhism spread from India to China along it

– The Middle East served as the middle ground making it the prime location to trade at

• majority of trade had ended by the 1300’s

• Geography allowed it to grow

Two Major Empires

• The Ottoman Empire (Turkey)

• The Mughal Empire (India)

The Ottoman Empire– Anatolia (Turkey) was settled by

nomadic, militaristic Turks that were pushed out of Central Asia by the Mongols starting in the 1200’s

• formed military societies under the leadership of an Emir and raided territories of the “infidels” or non-Muslims (sound familiar?)

• Success was largely based on use of gunpowder

– The Ottomans tried to act kindly toward the people they conquered, by ruling through local officials, and often improved peasant’s lives

Osman I, the first Emir

Powerful Sultans Spur Dramatic Expansion

– Mehmet II (the Conqueror) achieved the most dramatic feat in Ottoman history by conquering Constantinople in 1451

• Ends Christian Byzantine Empire and threatens Christianity in Western Europe

– Selim captured Mecca and Medina, the two holiest cities in Islam, along with Cairo, Egypt--the intellectual center of the Muslim world

– Suleiman I (the Lawgiver), • Selim’s son• helped the Ottomans reach their

greatest size, including much of Europe and his power was only rivaled by the most powerful European monarch

The Hagia Sophia

Ottoman Social Structure– a military state with a highly

intricate bureaucracy• The sultan’s slaves were

janissaries, or young Christian boys of conquered Christian lands – highly trained, elite

fighters that were at the heart of the Ottoman war machine» What advantage did

this serve?– The Ottomans granted

freedom of worship, particularly to Christians and Jews Young Greek boys being

converted to Islam and becoming Janissaries

Ottoman Cultural Achievements

– Ottoman leaders followed Islamic law, which covered most social matters

– Suleiman simplified taxation and reduced the government bureaucracy, which made life better

– Art, architecture, and literature also flourished, especially under SuleimanSuleiman’s Mosque

The Decline of the Ottomans

– Suleiman set up the eventual downfall of the empire by choosing a weak heir• Spain and Italy destroyed Selim’s Turkish

fleet in 1571, limiting their military influence• Massive instability and weak, ignorant

Sultans resulted from power play for throne• Although the power of the Ottomans

declined, it wasn’t until the 20th century and World War I that it officially crumbled

– Question: What factors allowed the Ottomans to grow to be so powerful?

The Mughals– “Mughals” were Muslim

people who invaded India from the North

– Much like European explorers/invaders of the time, they used a mix of religion, wealth, and military glory as justification for actions

Rejoicing at birth of Prince Salim (Jahangir)

The Mughals

– Delhi eventually became the capital of a loose new empire of Turkish warlords called the Delhi Sultanate• 33 different Sultans

ruled the divided territory between the 13th and 16th centuries

Rejoicing at birth of Prince Salim (Jahangir)

Mughal Rulers

– The empire was eventually unified in 1494 by Babar, an 11-year-old boy• built up an army and laid the

groundwork for the Mughal Empire– Babar led 12,000 troops to

victory against an army of 100,000 commanded by the Sultan of Delhi

• established capital at Kabul (present capital of Afghanistan)Babar watching his

gardeners at work

The Golden Age of Akbar• Akbar was a Muslim and he

firmly defended religious freedom

• “His aim was to achieve a Hindu-Muslim equilibrium based on the brotherhood of mankind with no one religion holding the ultimate truth”

– Islam– Hindu– Jain– Sikh– (Christian…extreme minority) Akbar

The Golden Age of Akbar– More tolerant of Hindu

pilgrims– appointed a Spanish Jesuit

Catholic monk to tutor his second son

– Because of the mixture of cultures and languages during Akbar’s reign, came a new language, Urdu, which was a mixture of Arabic, Persian and Hindi (official language of modern day Pakistan)

– Art and literature also flourished during Akbar’s reign

Akbar

Jahangir and Nur Jahan

– Jahangir was Akbar’s son, and succeeded him as ruler• Most of the affairs of

the government were run by his wife Nur Jahan though, because he was such a weak ruler– Rejected Akbar’s

religious tolerance by attacking Sikhs

Jahangir

Shah Jahan– Shah Jahan had two main passions: beautiful

buildings and his wife Mumtaz Mahal• Mumtaz Mahal died while giving birth to their 14th

child, so the Taj Mahal was built as her tomb• Cost of building angered many of his people

Expansion 1627-1707Campaign for Campaign for

the southern tip the southern tip of the Indian of the Indian subcontinentsubcontinent

==Strained Strained relations relations

between Hindus between Hindus and Muslimsand Muslims

==Social unrestSocial unrest

Aurangzeb

• Aurangzeb rigidly enforced Islamic laws and tried to erase all of the gains the Hindus had made under Akbar

• Uprisings with the Hindus and the Sikhs over intolerance and high taxes were a constant problem

• More fighting = more taxes for non-Muslims = even more fightingAurangzeb

The Decline of the Mughals– Wars and extravagant

buildings and palaces, made empire economically weak

– Western traders from Portugal, the Netherlands, England and France were slowly building their own power in the region , and eventually would control much of the empire

• Question: What were the major factors that led to the rise and fall of the Mughal Empire?

Essential Question

• What factors allowed Muslim empires to grow and flourish between the years 1300 to 1700?– You are to write a 3 paragraph essay answering

the prompt above.• 1st paragraph- Introduction and thesis that answers the

prompt• 2nd paragraph- Topic Sentence (goes with your thesis) 2

different examples that proves your topic and commentary and conclusion

• 3rd paragraph-Topic Sentence (goes with your thesis) 2 different examples that proves your topic and commentary and conclusion