Spread of Islam

• 632 - Muhammad died

• Debate on who should succeed Muhammad

  • Shiites

    • Ali, Muhammad’s son-in-law, should rule

  • Sunni

    • Abu Bakr, loyal fried of Muhamad, should rule

• Abu Bakr becomes caliph or “successor” of Muhammad

• Future caliphs conquered Central Asia, northern India, and parts of North Africa

• Trade helped spread Islam

  • Brought new products to Muslim lands

  • Learned how to make paper and use gunpowder from Chinese

• Bought and sold on credit

Ottoman Empire

• Ottomans - Turkish-speaking nomads

• Migrated from Central Asia into northwestern Asia minor

• 1330s

  • Spread to Asia minor and southeastern Europe

• Saw themselves as ghazis or warriors of Islam

• 1300 - Ghazi named Osman creates small Muslim state that will become the Ottoman Empire

• Military success based on gunpowder

• 1453 - Mehmed II captures Constantinople and renames it Istanbul

  • Turns Hagia Sophia into a mosque

• Ruled by a sultan

  • Political and religious leader

• Law based on the Sharia

Social Structure

• Practiced religious toleration

• non-Muslims organized into millets, or religious communities

• Devshirme System

  • Ottomans used conquered people to recruit army and government officers

    • Young Christian boys were converted to Islam and put through military training

• Janissaries

  • Elite force of the Ottoman army

Suleiman the Magnificent

• Sultan Suleiman ruled from 1520-1566

  • Golden Age

• Modernized army and expanded empire into Mesopotamia, Hungary to Arabia, and across North Africa

• Created a law code

• Simplified taxes

Arts and Culture

• Painters created miniatures, or small, detailed, colorful paintings, and illuminates manuscripts

• Royal architect Sinan

  • Designed hundreds of mosques and palaces

    • Selimiye Mosque at Edrine most famous

Decline

• Weak Sultans

• Ottomans dependent on agriculture while Europe advancing in trade and military technology

• Russia and other European powers slowly took away Ottoman lands

Safavid Empire

• Early 1500s

  • Created empire in Persia

• Shiite Muslims

• Ruled by a shah, or king

Abbas the Great

• Ruled 1588-1629

• Revived glory of ancient Persia

  • Centralized the government

  • Created powerful military

  • Sought alliances with European states

• Reduced taxes on farmers and herders

• Unlike earlier shahs, Abbas tolerated non-Muslims

• Built new capital city - Esiahan

  • Center of silk trade

  • Center of Persian culture

    • Abbas invited scholars, poets, and artists

• Combined Chinese and Persian ideas together to create miniature paintings, glass work, pottery, metal work, and calligraphy

Decline

• After the death of Shah Abbas, the empire goes into decline

  • Threat of Ottoman armies

  • Shiite scholars challenged shahs with interpreting the law

  • Persecution of religious minorities

• 1722 - last Safavid ruler abdicates

Mughal Empire

• Founded by Babur in Northern India

  • 152601857

  • Claimed he was a descendant of Genghis Khan

    • Mughal - Persian word for Mongol

• Geography spans Himalayas to Deccan Plateau

Akbar the Great

• 1556 - 1605

• Created a strong central government

• Won support of Hindus through religious tolerating, blending of cultures, and marrying and Hindu princess

• Modernized the army

• Encouraged international trade

• Standardized weights and measures

• Introduced land reforms

Arts and Culture

• Mughal empire famous for miniatures

• Shah Jahan built tomb for wife Mumtaz Mahal

  • Taj Mahal

    • Designed in a Persian style

    • Verses from Quran on the wall

Mughal Rulers

• 1605 - Akbar died and his son, Jahangir, inherits through

  • His wife, Nur Jahan, was the real power behind the throne

• 1628-1658

  • Shah Jahan - next successor

    • Assassinated all rivals

• 1658-1707

  • Aurangzeb rules

    • Expanded empire

    • Observed strict Islamic law

Decline

• During Aurangzeb’s reign - central state weakened

  • Sons fought a war of succession

• Emperor more of a figurehead

• Western traders slowly built up power in the empire and acquire the port of Bombay