Fold your paper in half

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The Seljuk Turks

1. Fold your paper in half
2. For each slide, create a question that can be
   answered by the information on the slide- On one
   side
3. On the other side compose your answer to the
   question you wrote

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Origins/Geography

• Seljuk Turks were
• nomadic steppe herders Goats/sheep/camels
• Clashed with Islamic empires on northeastern
  frontiers
• 10C began conversions and migration into the
  Abbasid territory
• Abbasid took note of their military skills

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Slaves to Masters

• Turkish children purchased for soldiers/bodyguards
  called Mameluks
• Mameluk forces overpowered Abassid caliph masters
• Abassids had hemorrhaged territory (Spain, North
  Africa, and parts of Persia)

• Seljuks (mameluks named for the Persian family
  that owned them) captured Baghdad
• Marched on Byzantines
• 1055 and held most of Anatolia

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Turks secure Persian Support

• Seljuk rulers wisely won over the hearts of their
  Persian conquests
• Named Isfahan as capital
• Nomadic Seljuks prized Persian learning adopting
  culture and language
• Arabic language waned
• Used only by religious scholars

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Isfahan
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The Crusades and the Turks

• Crusades
• Crusaders were Christian knights and peasants
  from Europe
• Pope Urban II launched them to unify
• regain control of the Holy Lands?
• Between 8 and 11 crusades were launched over
  nearly two centuries
• First two were successful (1096 and 1099)
  Muslim and Jewish inhabitants massacred by the
  rampaging Christians

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After 1187 Crusader strength dwindled

• Seljuk empire gathered strength under Saladin to
  recover Jerusalem
• Signed a truce with Richard I granting access to
  pilgrims
• Further Crusades called, but less successful

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Saladin and Richard I
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• Impact of the Crusades was greater on Europeans
  than on Muslims
• Civilizations had been in contact because of
  trade through Spain and Italy
• Europeans gained weapons, architecture,
  medicine, Greek learning, Arabic numerals, chess,
  foods
• Most of the exchange was one way

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Mongol Armies

• Genghis Khan emerges in early 1200s
• Had already conquered China
• Leveled cities, Baghdad included
• Mongols eventually utilized Turkish/Muslim
  administration techniques, converting

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