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<!-- FORMATION OF THE ISLAMIC EMPIRES By the sixteenth century, Turkish warriors had transformed the major Islamic areas of the world into vast regional empires. Three empires divided up the greater part of the Islamic wodd: the Ottoman empire, which was distinguished by its multiethnic character; the Safavid empire of Persia, which served as the center of Shiite Islam; and the Mughal empire, which had been imposed over a predominantly Hindu Indian subcontinent. The creation of these durable and powerful political entities brought to an end a century and al;raff of Muslim political disunity. The Islamic empires began as small warrior principalities in frontier areas. They expanded at vatying rates and with varying degrees of success at the expense of neighboring states. As they grew, they devised elaborate administrative and military institutions, Under the guidance of talented and energetic rulers, each empire otganized an effective governmental apparatus and presided over a prosperous society. The Ottoman Emp¡re Osrnan The Ottoman empire was an unusually successful frontier state. The terrr' Ottomø'n derived from Osman Bey, founder of the dynasty that continued in unbroken succession from 1289 until the dissolution of the empire in 1923' s96 Osman was bey (chief) of a band of seminomadic Turks who migrated to northwestern Anatolia in the thirteenth century. Osman and his followers sought above all to become gltazi, Muslim religious warriors' In his encomium of the Ottomans, the poet Ahmadi described their ethos: "The Ghazi is the instrument of the religion of Allah, a servant of God who purifies the earth from the filth of polytheism; the Ghazi is the sword of God, he is the protector and the refuge of the believers. If he becomes a martyr in the ways of God, do not believe that he has died-he lives in beatitude with Allah, he has eternal life." Ottoman Expansion The Ottomans' location on the borders of ttle Byzantine empire afforded them ample opportunity to wage holy war. Their first great success came in 1,326 with the capture of the Anatolian city of Bursa, which became the capital of the Ottoman principality. Around 1352 they established a foothold in Europe when they seized the fortress of Gallipoli while aiding a claimant to the Byzantine throne. Numerous ghøzi, many of them recent converts, soon flocked to join the Ottomans. The city of Edirne (Adrianople) became a second Ottoman capital and served as abase for further expansion into the Balkans. As warriors settled in frontier districts and pushed their boundaries forward, they took spoils and gathered revenues that enriched both tlrre gbøzi and the central government. .Vienna AUSTRIA RUSSIA Chapter 27. The lslamic Empires 597 0 500 1000 .¡s00mi 0 1000 2000 :0OO kñ Venice. . .Belgrade ¡ SERBIA SPAIN Rome. SICILY ..lsta;bril- ' tqurr^ / ANATþ.UI I¡ebizond .,, Edirne. ALBÀNN ] i,- ,\.. ,. r. CR,EFçE .' l' ,MALTA 'CRETË- ì. {'/1/i -\('il ALCERIA Ottoman empire ffi Safuuid "-pir" Mughal empire CYPRLIS LEBANON 7,' .:- i' . Mecca ARABIA 1 YEMEN '-aAden TUNtstA 'l /r ECYPT Bursa developed into a major commercial and intellectual center with inns, shops, schools, libraries, and mosques. A formidable military machine drove Ottoman expansion. Ottoman military leaders initially org nized gbctzi recruits into two forces: a light cavalry and a volunteer infantry. As the Ottoman state became more firmly established, it added â professional cavaky force equipped v/ith heavy armor and financed by land grants. After expanding into the Balkans, the Ottomans created a supremely important force composed of slave troops. Through an institution known as the deusbirme, the Ottomans required the Christian population of the Balkans to contribute young boys to become slaves of the sultan. The boys received special training, learned Turkish, and converted to Islam. According to individual ability, they entered either the Ottoman civilian administration or the military. Those who became soldiers were known as Janissaries, from the Türkish y eni cberi ("new troops"). The Janissaries quickly gained a reputation for esprit de corps, loyalty to the sultan, and readiness to employ new rnilitary technology. Besides building powerful military forces, the Ottomans outfitted their forces with gunpowder weapons and used them effectively in battles and sieges. MehnrecJ the Conqueror The capture of Constantinople in 1453 by Mehmed II (reigned 1,45t-l4gl)-known as Mehmed the Conqueror-opened a new chapter in Ottoi N1)/,1N rli;.,1N MAP 27.f The Islamic empires, 1500-1800. Locate the Ottoman capital 0f lstanbul, the Safavid capital of lsfahan, and the IVughal capital of Delhi, What strategic or commerc¡al putposes d¡d each of these capitals fulfíll, and how would their locations have aided or hindered imperial administration? man expansion. SØith its superb location and illustrious heritage, Constantinople became the new Ottoman capital, subsequently known as Istanbul, and Mehmed worked en- ergetically to stimulate its role as a commercial center. Vith the capture of the great city behind him, Mehmed presented himself not just as a warlrior-sultan but also as a true em- peror, ruler of the "two lands" (Europe and Asia) and the "two seas" (the Black Sea and the Mediterranean). He laid the foundations for a tightly centralized, absolute monarchy, and his anny faced no serious rival. He cornpleted the conquest of Serbia, moved into southern Greece and Albania, eliminated the last Byzantine outpost at Trebizond, captured Genoese ports in the Crimea, initiated a n v^l war with Venice in the Mediterranean, and reportedly hoped to cross the Strait of Otranto, march on Rome, and capture the pope himself. To- ward the end of his life, he launched an invasion of Italy and briefly occllpied Otranto, but his successors abandoned Mehmed's plans for expansion in western Europe. Súleyman the Magnificent The Ottomans contin- ued their expansion in the early sixteenth century when Ar¡bi¡tt Sitl Coa ¡ But¡ of 1ìr,rr.lrri 598 Part 5 r The Origins of Global lnterdependence, LsOO to 18OO Sultan Süleyman (center, on horse) leads OttomanÏorces as they march on Europe. How does this illustration promote the power and prominence of Süleyman and his Ottoman forces? sultan Selim the Grim (reigned 1512-1520> occupied Syria and Egypt. Ottoman imperialism climaxed in the reign of Süleyman the Magnifrcent (reigned 1520-1566). Süleyman vigorously promoted Ottoman expansion both in southwest Asia and in Europe. ln 1534 he conquered Baghdad and added the Tigris and Euphrates valleys to the Ottoman domain. In Europe he kept the rival Habsburg empire on the defensive throughout his reign. He captured Belgrade in 1521, defeated and killed the king of Hungary at the battle of Mohács in 1526, consolidated Ottoman power north of the Danube, and in 1529 subjected the Habsburgs' ptized city of Vienna to a brief but nonetheless terrifying siege. Under Süleyman the Ottomans also became a maior na' val power. In addition to their own Aegean and Black Sea fleets, the Ottomans inherited the navy of the Mamluk rulers of Egypt. A Tt¡rkish corsair, Khayr al-Din Barbarossa Pasha, who had challenged Spanish forces in Tunisia and Algeria, placed his pirate fleet under the Ottoman flag and became Süleyman's leading admiral. Thus Süleyman was able to challenge Christian vessels throughout the Mediterranean as well as Portuguese fleets in the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean. The Ottomans seized the island of Rhodes from the Knights of St. John, besieged Malta, secured Yemen and Aden, and even dispatched a squadron to attack the Portuguese fleet at Diu in India. The Safavid Empire ln 1499 a twelve-year-old boy named Ismail left the swamps of Gilan near the Caspian Sea, where he had hidden from the enemies of his family for five years, to seek his revenge. Thro years later he entered Tabriz at the head of an army andlaid claim to the ancient Persian imperial title of shah. The young Shah Ismail (reigned 15Ot-1524) also proclaimed that the offrcial religion of his realm would be Twelver Shiism, and he proceeded to impose it, by force when necessary, on the formerþ Sunni population. Over the next decade he seized control of the Iranian plateau and launched expeditions into the Caucasus, Anatolia, Mesopotamia, and central Asia. The Safavids For propaganda purposes, Shah Ismail and his successors carefully controlled accounts of their rise to power-and expediently changed the story when circumstances wananted. They traced their ancestry back to Safi al-Din (1252-1,334), leader of a Sufi religious order in northwestern Persia. Sufism, a mystical belief and practice, formed an important Islamic tradition. The goal of a Sufi mystic, such as Safi al-Din, was to recover the lost intimacy between God and the human soul, and to find the truth of divine knowledge and love through a direct personal experience of God. The famous tomb and shrine of Safi al-Din at Ardabil became the home of Shah Ismail's family (named "Safavids" after the holy man himself), the headquarters of his religious movement, and the center of a determined, deliberate conspiracy to win political power for his descendants. The Safavids changed their religious preferences several times in the hope of gaining popular support before settling on a form of Shiism that appealed to the nomadic Ttlrkish tribes moving into the area in the post-Mongol era. Twelver Shiism Twelver Shiism held that there had been twelve infallible imams (or religious leaders) after Muhammad, beginning with the prophet's cousin and son-inlaw Ali. The twelfth, "hidden," imam had gone into hiding around 874 to escape persecution, but the TWelver Shiites 5üleyman (SOO-lee-mahn) believed he was still alive and would one day return to take sourcesfromthe ffiffiffiffi Chapter 27. The lslamic Empires 599 in water, adding a little butter, and then flavour the mixture with salt and spices. This, when it is put on the fire, boils and swells up so as to fill a large bowl. They eat of it once or twice a day, according to the quantity, without any bread, unless they have with them some toasted bread or biscuit. They thus contrive to live on short rations for a month or even longer, if necessary. . . . All this will show you with what patience, sobriety, and economy the Turks struggle against the dífficulties which beset them, and wait for better times. How different are our soldiers, who on campaign despise ordinary food and expect dainty dishes (such as thrushes and beccaficoes) and elaborate meals. lf these are not supplied, they mutiny and cause their own ruin; and even if they are supplied, they ruin themselves just the same. . . . I tremble when I think of what the future must bring when I compare the Turkish system with our own; one army must prevail and the other be destroyed, for certainly both cannot remain unscathed. On their side are the resources of a mighty empire, strength unimpaired, experience and practice in fighting, a veteran soldiery, habituation to victory, endurance of toil, unity, order, discipline, frugality, and watchfulness. On our side is public poverty, private luxury, impaired strength, spirit, lack of endurance and training; the soldiers are insubordinate, the officers avaricious; there is contempt for discipline; licence, recklessness, drunkenness, and debauchery are rife; and worst of all, the enemy is accustomed to victory, and we to defeat. Can we doubt what the result will be? For Further Reflection r Why might Ghislain de Busbecq have assumed that conflict between Turkish and Habsburg forces was inevitable? Source: Ghislain de Busbecq. The Turkish ¿etters of Ogier Ghislain de Busbecq. Trans. by E. 5. Foster. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1927, pp. 209-14. Ghislain de Busbecq's Concerns about the Ottoman Empire Ogier Ghislain de Busbecq was a diplomat who traveled to lstanbul in 1555 as a representative of Habsburg King Ferdinand of Hungary and Bohemia to negotiate a border dispute between Ferdinand and Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent. ln a series of four letters to a friend, Ghislain commented on Ottoman state, society, customs, and military forces. His observations left him deeply concerned about the prospects of Christian Europe in the event of conflict with the Ottoman realm. The Sultan, when he sets out on a campaign, takes as many as 40,000 camels with him, and almost as many baggagemules, most of whom, if his destination is Persia, are loaded with cereals of every kind, especially rice. Mules and camels are also employed to carry tents and arms and warlike machines and implements of every kind. . . . They are careful, however, to avoid touching the supplies which they carry with them as long as they are marching against their foes, but reserve them, as far as possible, for their return journey, when the moment for retirement comes and they are forced to retrace their steps through regions which the enemy has laid waste, or which the immense multitude of men and baggage animals has, as it were, scraped bare, like a swarm of locusts. lt is only then that the Sultan's store of provisions is opened, and just enough food to sustain life is weighed out each day to the Janissaries and the other troops in attendance upon him. The other soldiers are badly off, if they have not provided food for their own use; most of them, having often experienced such difficulties during their campaigns-and this is particularly true of the cavalry-take a horse on a leading-rein loaded with many of the necessities of life. These include a small piece of canvas to use as a tent, which may protect them from the sun or a shower of rain, also some clothing and bedding and a private store of provisions, consisting of a leather sack or two of the finest flour, a small jar of butter, and some spices and salt; on these they support life when they are reduced to the extremes of hunger. They take a few spoonfuls of flour and place them power and spread his true religion. Ismail's father had instructed his Turkish followers to wear a distinctive red hat with twelve pleats in memory of the twelve Shiite imams, and they subsequently became known as the qizilbøsb ("red heads"). Safavid propaganda also suggested that Ismail was himself the hidden imam, or even an incarnation of Allah. Although most Muslims, including most Shiites, would have regarded those pretensions as utterly blasphemous, the qizilbøsb enthusiastically accepted them, since they resembled traditional Turkish conceptions of leadership that associated military leaders with divinity. The qizilbaså believed that Ismail would make them invincible in battle, and they became fanatically loyal to the Safavid cause. Battle of Chaldiran Shah Ismail's curious blend of Shiism and Turkish militancy gave his regime a distinctive 600 Part 5 I The Origins of Global lnterdependence, LSOO to 18OO identity, particulady since he made conversion to Shiite Islam mandatory for the largely Sunni population, but it also created some powerful enemies. Foremost among them were the staunchly Sunni Ottomans who detested the Shiite Safavids and feared the spread of Safavid propaganda among the nomadic Turks in their territory. As soon as Selim the Grim became sultan, he launched a persecution of Shiites in the Ottoman empire and prepared for a full-scale invasion of Safavid territory. At the critical battle on the plain of Chaldban(151,4), the Ottomans deployed heavy artillery and thousands of Janissaries equipped with firearms behind a banier of carts. Although the Safavids knew about gunpowder technology and had access to firearms, they declined to use devices that they saw as unreliable and unmanly. Trusting in the protective charisma of Shah Ismail, the qizilbøsb cavalry fearlessly attacked the Ottoman line and suffered devastating casualties. Ismail had to slip away, and the Ottomans temporarily occupied his capital at Tabiz. The Ottomans badly damaged the Safavid state but lacked the resources to destroy it, and the two empires remained locked Shah lsmail andthe qizilbash. This miniature painting from a Safavid manuscript depicts the shah and his qizilbashwar riors wearing the distinctive red pleated cap that was their emblem of identity. "slaves of the royal household" into the army, increased the use of gunpowder weapons, and sought European assistance against the Ottomans and the Portuguese in the Persian Gulf. \Øith newly strengthened military forces, Shah Abbas led the Safavids to numerous victories. He attacked and defeated the nomadic Uzbeks in central Asia, expelled the Portuguese from Hormuz, and harassed the Ottomans mercilessly in a series of wars from 1603 to the end of his reign. His campaigns brought most of northwestern Iran, the Caucasus, and Mesopotamia under Safavid rule. The Mughal Empire Babur ln 1523 Zahir al-Din Muhammad, known as Babur ("the Tiger"), a Chaghatai Turk who claimed descent from both Chinggis Khan and Tametlane, suddenly appeared in northern India. Unlike the Ottomans, who sought to be renowned gbøzis, or the Safavids, who acted as champions of Shiism, Babur made little pretense to be anything more than an adventurer and soldier of fortune in the manner of his illustrious ancestors. His father had been the prince of Farghana, and Babur's great ambition was to transform his inheritance into a glorious in intermittent conflict for the next two centuries. Later Safavid rulers recovered from the disaster atChaldiran. They relied more heavily than Ismail had on the Persian bureaucracy and its administrative talents. Ismail's successors abandoned the extreme Safavid ideology that associated the emperor with Allah in favor of more conventional Twelver Shiism, from which they still derived legitimacy as descendants and representatives of the imams. They also assigned land grants tothe qízílbøsb officers to retain their loyalty and give them a stake in the survival of the regime. Shah l\bbas the Great Shah Abbas the Great (reigned 1588-1629> fully revitalized the Safavid empire. He moved the capital to the more central location of Isfahan, encouraged úade with other lands, and reformed the administrative and military institutions of the empire. He incorporated central Asian empire. Yet envious relatives and Uzbek enemies frustrated his ambitions. Never able to extend his authority much beyond Kabul and Qandahar and reduced at times to hardship and ahandful of followers, Babur turned his attention to India. Vith the aid of gunpowder weapons, including both artillery and firearms, Babur mounted invasions in1523 and1525, and he took Delhi in 1526.Ironically, Babur cared little for the land he had conquered. Many in his entourage wanted to take their spoils of war and leave the hot and humid Indian climate, which ruined their finely crafted compound bows, but Babur elected to stay. He probably hoped to use the enormous wealth of India to build a vast central Asian empire like that of Tamerlane-an elusive dream that his successors would nonetheless continue to cherish. By the time of his death in 1530, Babur had built a loosely knit empire that This colorful scene at a sprìng in Kabul highlights Babur (1483-1530), founder of the lVughal dynasty, who stands in a central position near the life-giving water. stretched from Kabul through the Punjab to the borders of Bengal. He founded a dynasty called the Mugbøl (a persian term for "Mongol"), which expanded to embrace almost all the Indian subcontinent. Akbar The real architect of the Mughal empire was Babur's grandson Akbar (reigned 1556-1605), a brilliant and charismatic ruler. Akbar gathered the reins of power in his own hands in 156'J. following an argument with Adham Khan, a powerful figure at the imperial court and commander of the Mughal army. Akbar threw Adham Khan out a window, then dragged him back from the palace courtyard, and tossed him out again to make sure he was dead. Thereafter Akbar Chapter 27. The lslamic Empires 601 r This manuscript illustration from about 1590 depicts Akbar (at top, shaded by attendants) inspecting construct¡on of a new imperial capital at Fatehpur Slkri. took personal control of the Mughal government and did not tolerate challenges to his rule. He created a centralized administrative structure with ministries regulating the various provinces of the empire. His military campaigns consolidated Mughal power in Gujarat and Bengal. He also began to absorb the recently defeated Hindu kingdom of Yijayanagar, thus laying the foundation for later Mughal expansion in southern India. Although he was a no-nonsense ruler, Akbar was also a thoughtful, reflective man deeply interested in religion and philosophy. He pursued a policy of religious toleration that he hoped would reduce tensions between Hindu and !iri SOUfCeSffOm the 6.,;,ij':'., Ìf ' 602 Part 5 r The Orig¡ns of Global lnterdependence, 15OO to 18OO A Conqueror and His Conquests: Babur on lndia Babur was a talented writer as well as a successful warrior. His memoirs make fascinating reading and provide a unique perspective on early Mughal lndia. His writings include his reflections on the territories he conquered in lndia, which he compared unfavorably to his central Asian homeland, and on his decision to stay in lndia and found an empire. Most of the inhabitants of lndia are infidels, called Hindus, believing mainly in the transmigration of souls; all artisans, wage-earners, and officials are Hindus. ln our countries the desert dwellers get tribal names; here people settled in the cultivated villages also get tribal names. Again, every artisan follows the trade handed down to him from his forefathers. lndia is a country of few charms. The people lack good looks and good manners. They have no social life or exchange of visits. They have no genius or intelligence, no polite learning, no generosity or magnanimity, no harmony or proportion in their arts and crafts, no lead-wire or carpenter's square. They lack good horses and good dogs; grapes, melons, and any good fruit; ice and cold water; good food or good bread in the markets. They have no baths and no advanced educational institutions. . . . There are no running streams in their gardens or residences, no waters at all except the large rivers and the swamps in the ravines and hollows. Their residences have no pleasant and salubrious breezes, and in their construction lthere is] no form or symmetry. . . . Among the charms that lndia does possess is that it is a large country, with large quantities of gold and silver. lts air in the rainy season is very fine. Sometimes it rains ten or fifteen or even twenty times a day, and in such torrents that rivers flow where no water was previously. While it rains, and throughout the rainy season, the air is remarkably fine, not to be surpassed for mildness and pleasantness. lts only fault is its great humidity, which spoils bows. . . . It was the hot season when we came to Agra. All the inhabitants had run away in terror. We could find neither grain for ourselves nor corn for our horses. The villages, out of hostility and hatred for us, had taken to thieving and highwayrobbery, and it was impossible to travel on the roads. We had not yet the opportunity to distribute the treasure and to assign men in strength to each district. Moreover, the year was a very hot one, pestilential simooms [sandstorms] were striking people down in heaps, and masses were beginning to die off. For all these reasons, most of the best warriors were unwilling to stay in lndia; in fact, they determined to leave. . . . When I discovered this unsteadiness among my people, I summoned all the leaders and took counsel. I said, "Without means and resources there is no empire and conquest, and without lands and followers there is no sovereignty and rule. By the effort of long years, through much tribulation and the crossing of distant lands, by flinging ourselves Ìnto battle and danger, we have through God's favor overcome so many enemies and conquered such vast lands. And now, what force compels us, what necessity has arisen, that we should, without cause, abandon a country taken at such risk of life? And if we returned to Kabul, we would again be left in poverty and weakness. Henceforth, let no well-wisher of mine speak of such things! But let not those turn back from going who cannot bear the hardship and have determined to leave." With such words I reasoned with them and made them, willy-nilly, quit their fears. For Further Reflection r What does Babur's reaction to lndia suggest about his views of his own central ,Asian homeland? Source: Babur. Il¡e Babur-nama in English (Memoirs of Babur). Trans. by Annette Susannah Beveridge. London: Luzac, 1922. (Translation slightly modified.) Muslim communities in India. Although illiterate (probably due to dyslexia), he was extremely intelligent and had books read to him daily. Instead of imposing Islam on his subjects, he encouraged the elaboration of a syncretic religion called the "divine faith" that focused attention on the emperor as a ruler common to all the religious, ethnic, and social groups of India. Aurangzeb The Mughal empire reached its greatest extent under Aurangzeb (reigned 1659-1707). During his long reign, Aurangzeb waged a relentless campaign to push Mughal authority deep into southern India. By the early eigh- teenth century, Mughals ruled the entire subcontinent except for a small region at the southern tip. Although he greatly expanded Mughal boundaries, Au- rangzeb presided over a troubled empire. He faced rebel- lions throughout his reign, and religious tensions generated conflicts between Hindus and Muslims. Aurangzeb was a devout Muslim, and he broke with Akbar's policy of reli- gious toleration. He demolished several famous Hindu tem- ples and replaced them with mosques. He also imposed a tax on Hindus in an effort to encourage conversion to Islam, His promotion of Islam appealed strongly to the Mughals themselves and other Indian Muslims as well, but it provoked deep hostility among Hindus and enabled local leaders to organize movements to resist or even rebel against Mughal authority -->