Chapter 19: Southwest Asia and the Indian Ocean, 1500-1750

Question 1

Who were Janissaries?

Answer 1

Infantry of Christian POW slave origin armed with firearms, elite of the Ottoman army. They gave the military flexibility because they were more willing to battle since they were brought up as Christians. They weren’t from a culture of horse nomads, so they accepted fighting on foot and using guns.

Question 2

What did Sultan Mehmed II of the Ottoman Empire do?

Answer 2

Seiged and conquered Constantinople in 1453 using cannons, warships, and infantry. This brought the Byzantine Empire to an end

Question 3

What did Selim of the Ottoman Empire do?

Answer 3

Conquered the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt and Syria. The Red Sea became the frontier.

Question 4

Who was Suleiman the Magnificent and what did he do?

Answer 4

He was the son of Selim I.

He expanded the empire and laid seige to Vienna. He wanted to defeat Christianity

Question 5

Who did the Ottomans fight in order to control the Mediterranean?

Answer 5

Venice, a rich maritime empire. They fought a series of wars from 1396-1718. The Venitians’ military power decreased and had to give annual tribute payment to the Ottomans.

Question 6

How did the selection for Janissary training change in the early 15th century?

Answer 6

New system:

Devshirme: boys in Christian villages were taken by the Ottoman state to serve.

Question 7

What was the court language Osmanli? Who was it spoken by?

Answer 7

It shared Turkish grammar vocabulary and Arabic and Persian elements. It was spoken by those in the military and bureaucracy, or the askeri/military class.

Question 8

What was the askeri?

Answer 8

Military class- exempt from taxes and dependent on the sultan.

Question 9

What was the reaya?

Answer 9

The lower class/commonfolk, “flock of sheep”

A mass of population flooded into the Ottoman after expulsion from Spain to create the reaya.

Question 10

How were people in the Ottoman Empire paid?

Answer 10

Military: mounted archers (Turks) given grants of land

Jannasairies, Serbs: paid from central treasury

Question 11

The Safavids were slower to adopt what?

Answer 11

firearms and advance into SE Europe

Question 12

What caused the Ottoman crisis of the late 16th century?

Answer 12

• decrease of landholding calvarymen to pay Jannasairies
• inflation due to flood of silver from New World (European traders with access to it could buy more goods than Ottoman subject w/ same amount
• peasants were overburdened by emergency taxes
• salaried soldiers were hired for the duration of a campaign and were out of work once it ended

Question 13

How did the Jannasairies take advantage of their growing influence during the crisis?

Answer 13

• became involved in commerce
• married and enrolled sons in corps
• military became hereditary class, not elite fighting force

Question 14

What changes occurred after the Ottoman crisis?

Answer 14

• sultan no longer led armies
• devshirme= discontinued- corps= hereditary
• land grants for military service disappeared, tax farming took place
• shift to cotton and other cash crops
• relied more on provincal governments and wealthy men
• Europeans dominated trade- Tulip Period, ended in revolt

Question 15

How was the Safavid Empire similar to the Ottoman?

Answer 15

• initially used land grants to support calvary
• population spoke several languages
• focused on land over sea power

Question 16

Who had naval superiority during this time?

Answer 16

the Ottomans

Question 17

What religion did the Safavids practice and how was it implemented?

Answer 17

Shi’ite Islam. Ismail called on subjects to abandon Sunni beliefs. They resisted, and there were wars and persecutions, Shi’ite scholars were imported

Question 18

Who was the “Hidden Imam?”

Answer 18

12th descendant of Ali: Shi’ites believe leadership of Muslim community should be w/ divinely appointed Imams from Ali’s family. The 12th descendent disappeared in 9th century; community lacks religious leader until return

Question 19

Who declared Isfahan Iran’s capital?

Answer 19

Shah Abbas I- 5th and most renowned ruler of the Safavid dynasty

Question 20

What were the similarities between Istanbul and Isfahan?

Answer 20

• favored walking

- women seldom in public

Question 21

What was the mainstay of Safavid foreign trade?

Answer 21

CARPETS

Question 22

What caused the decline of the Safavid Empire?

Answer 22

inflation caused by cheap silver

• faced problem of finding money to pay the army and bureaucracy
• demands from the government caused nomads to withdraw to pastures
• Afghans took over

Question 23

What was the demographic of the Mughal Empire like?

Answer 23

A land of Hindus ruled by Muslim minority

Question 24

Who was Babur and what did he do?

Answer 24

“Bābur , orig. Ẓahīr al-Dīn Muḥammad, (born Feb. 15, 1483, principality of Fergana—died Dec. 26, 1530, Agra, India), Emperor (1526–30) and founder of the Mughal dynasty of India. A descendant of Genghis Khan and Timur, he came from a tribe of Mongol origin but was Turkish in language and upbringing. In his youth he tried for 10 years (1494–1504) to gain control of Samarkand, Timur’s old capital. Those efforts ended in his losing his own principality in Fergana (modern Uzbekistan), but he consoled himself by seizing and holding Kabul (1504). After four failed attempts, he successfully occupied Delhi (1525). Surrounded by enemy states, Bābur (the name means “Tiger”) persuaded his homesick troops to stand their ground, and over the next four years he defeated his foes. His grandson Akbar consolidated the new empire. Bābur was also a gifted poet and a lover of nature who constructed gardens wherever he went. The Bābur-nāmeh, his prose memoirs, has become a world classic of autobiography.” (https://www.britannica.com/summary/Babur)

Question 25

Who was Akbar and what did he do?

Answer 25

Babur’s grandson and Mughal emperor (r. 1556-1605). He established central administration, put all of India except the s. tip under Mughal rule

Question 26

What were mansabs?

Answer 26

“The Mughal rulers employed the Mansabdari system to establish the rank and remuneration of Mansabdars, who were esteemed nobles serving in diverse administrative roles within the Mughal Empire. These Mansabdars were appointed and dismissed at the discretion of the Mughal Emperor. The mansabdari system was introduced by Akbar in 1571 AD as the administrative framework for the Mughal Empire. Mansab is an Arabic word that means rank or position. As a result, Mansabdar refers to a rank holder or an officer. Mansabdari’s objective was to establish a system for ranking Mughal government officials and determining their civil and military duties and remuneration.​” (https://testbook.com/ias-preparation/mansabdari-system)

Question 27

What was Mughal economy based on?

Answer 27

Cotton cloth

Question 28

What were most of the mansabdars (officials with land grants) under Akbar?

Answer 28

Hindus–mostly Rajputs- warriors from the north

Question 29

What was Akbar’s religious policy?

Answer 29

Religious tolerance. He married a Hindu Rajput princess and took away the non-Muslim tax.
he started the “Divine Faith” - Muslim, Hindu, Zoroastrian, and Christian beliefs

Question 30

What was Sikhism?

Answer 30

“Sikhism, religion and philosophy founded in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent in the late 15th century. Its members are known as Sikhs. The Sikhs call their faith Gurmat (Punjabi: “the Way of the Guru”). According to Sikh tradition, Sikhism was established by Guru Nanak (1469–1539)” (https://www.britannica.com/topic/Sikhism)

Question 31

Who was Aurangzeb and what did he do?

Answer 31

Successor of Akbar. He ended religious tolerance.

“Aurangzeb (born November 3, 1618, Dhod, Malwa [India]—died March 3, 1707) was the emperor of India from 1658 to 1707, the last of the great Mughal emperors. Under him, the Mughal Empire reached its greatest extent, although his policies helped lead to its dissolution.” (https://www.britannica.com/biography/Aurangzeb)

Question 32

What did Bantu develop into?

Answer 32

Swahili- Bantu language with Arabic loanwords

“Swahili language, Bantu language spoken either as a mother tongue or as a fluent second language on the east coast of Africa in an area extending from Lamu Island, Kenya, in the north to the southern border of Tanzania in the south. (The Bantu languages form a subgroup of the Benue-Congo branch of the Niger-Congo language family.)

[…]

Swahili has been greatly influenced by Arabic; there are an enormous number of Arabic loanwords in the language, including the word swahili, from Arabic sawāḥilī (a plural adjectival form of an Arabic word meaning “of the coast”). The language dates from the contacts of Arabian traders with the inhabitants of the east coast of Africa over many centuries.” (https://www.britannica.com/topic/Swahili-language)

Question 33

What were the Ottoman social classes?

Answer 33

• Sultan: not directly involved
• Askeri: military
• Reaya: commonfolk/ sheep

Question 34

What 2 major cities were under Ottoman rule?

Answer 34

Medina and Mecca

Question 35

Who were the Ottoman’s #1 enemies?

Answer 35

Venitians

Question 36

Where was the Safavid Empire?

Answer 36

modern-day Iran

Question 37

Who were the Quizilbash?

Answer 37

Nomadic groups/ redheads because of red turbans

“Kizilbash, any member of the seven Turkmen tribes who supported the Safavid dynasty (1501–1736) in Iran. As warriors, they were instrumental in the rise of the Safavid empire and became established as the empire’s military aristocracy. The name Kizilbash was given to them by Sunni Ottoman Turks in reference to their attire: they wore red caps to signify their loyalty to the Safavids. The term was applied later to the followers of a mystical Islamic sect in eastern Anatolia. It also was given in Afghanistan to the Persian-speaking Turkmens, who settled in Kabul and other cities from about 1737 and engaged in government service and trade.” (https://www.britannica.com/topic/Kizilbash)

Question 38

What were the 2 capitals of the Safavid Empire?

Answer 38

Isfahan and Instanbul
Isfahan= inland, few Europeans
Instanbul= port city, many European merchants