Gunpowder Empires

1
Gunpowder Empires
By Andy Wilder, Riley Noel, Justin Martin, and
David Morgenstern
Ottoman Turks-1280 Safavids-1487 Mughals-1483
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Socially

• Ottoman Turks
• Each millet, or nation, inside the empire had
  separate social customs in accordance with the
  religion of the millet.
• Muslim women had harsh restrictions as with
  Islamic law, but the non-Muslim women were
  subject to separate laws
• Even Muslim women had more rights than in other
  Muslim nations.

• Safavids
• Mixed society just like the Ottoman.
• Turkic-speaking tribal groups
• Aristocrats had limited power and influence

• Mughals
• Hindu population had been threatened by the
  ruling Muslims.
• Akbar who was originally a Muslim gave the Hindu
  more rights

3
Political

• Ottoman Turks
• The Ottoman Empire was the most successful at
  maintaining power for a longer time. It was able
  to survive until modern times. The two other
  empires collapsed by the seventeenth century.
• The leader of the Ottoman Turks was known as the
  Sultan which was similar to an emperor. It was
  hereditary.
• Islamic Law was applied to all Muslims.

• Safavid
• Shahs walked around the streets in disguise in
  order to find the honesty of the citizens.
• High positions were given by merit and often were
  forigners.

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Political continued
Mughal

• Even though the population was predominately
  Hindu most high government positions were held by
  Muslims.
• Functioned by dynasties, and leadership was
  hereditary. This created power struggles between
  the military and the power families which led to
  their demise. Examples would be the struggle
  between Shah Jahans sons
• Another main factor in the demise of the Empire
  was when the British got a seat on the imperial
  court of Agra.

5
Economically

• Ottoman Turks
• Starting in the 15th century pottery, rugs, silk,
  other textiles, jewelry, arms and armor, and
  calligraphy flourished.
• Justinian had brought cultivation of silkworms to
  the area in the 16th century.
• Silks were produced under the Sultan leaders, but
  rugs were a peasant industry. Separate villages
  had their own distinctive designs. All rugs
  though use the Gordian knot from the Gordes
  region.
• Tribal leaders collected the taxes.

• Safavids
•       Took direct interest in economy      
  Engaged in manufacturing and trade       King
  monitored economy very closely       Would kill
  people for dishonest business practices      
  However, probably not as weathy as Ottoman or
  Mughal

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Economy Continued

• Mughal
• Peace and stability under Akbar caused commerce
  and manufacturing to thrive.
• Goods, like textiles, tropical food, spices, and
  precious stones were exported.
• Imported gold and silver
• Tariffs on imports were quite low.
• Foreign commerce was mostly carried on by the
  Arabs since the Mughals like the Indians did not
  like to travel by sea.
• Internal land trade was carried on by large
  merchant castes, that were active in handicrafts
  and banking as well.

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Religion
      Governments in all 3 were muslim based
      Mughals were the only group that was not
predominately Muslim,Muslims were only a small
minority.       Ottomans were Sunni Muslims  
    Ottoman titles were claimed to be caliphs  
    They maintained Islamic law called Sandri'a
      Only applied to Ottoman Muslims      
Ottoman minorities were mostly Greek Orthodox
Jews       Muslims were prohibited from
adopting other faiths       Each group was
organized into administrative unit called millet
(nations)       Women were treated much like
other women in Muslim societies       They
could own property, even their own dowries    
  Non Muslims didn't have to follow muslim law
      This was a common practice throughout all 3
empires.       Safadids were Shi'ite Muslims
      Mughals were Sunni and very similar in
government to the Ottomans.

• Safavid Shahs claimed to be spiritual
  leader of all Islam.

8
Military
The Ottomans       The Ottoman empire sacked
Constantinople and renamed it Istanbul.      
They eventually control the Bosporus and the
Dardanelles       The Ottomans eventually moved
from the Bosporus to set up their first European
base at Galilipoli       The new emperor Murad
developed the Janissaries, they were taken from
the Christian population, trained in the Balkans,
converted to Islam and then trained as foot
soldiers or administrators.        Also a
change in firearms spread in the late fourteenth
century       Turks began to master this new
technology making cannons and musketsSafavids
      In 1501 The Safavids defeated much of Iran
and Iraq.       The Ottomans attacked the
Safavids and forced them to sign a peace treaty
were the Safavids lost much land       Shah
Abbas, the leader of the Safavids at that time
strengthend his army during the peace and then
tried to take back the lost land.  However he was
for the most part unsuccessful
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Military Continued
The Mughals       Babur, the descendant of
Tamerlane was driven south by the Uzbeks and the
Safavids in Persia and took Kabul in 1504.  He
then marched into northern India.       He used
mobile cavalry and artillery to great advantage
      In 1526 Babur attacked Delhi with only
12,000 troops against an army nearly ten times
his size.       A british historian described
Baburs son Hamuyan as intelligent but lazy and
when Babur died most of the military victories
were taken away