Late Medieval Eurasia IDs

Question 1

Black Death

Answer 1

• 1320s-1350s

OVERVIEW

• Started in Central Asia, made way to other parts of area
• spread by fleas, not rats
• pandemic, black buboes, skin turns black

LARGE-SCALE IMPACT

• spread by Silk Road, but cities least destroyed by Genghis Khan were least impacted by plague
• social collapse in many cities, famine in China
• spread in stages
• not just social crisis but spiritual crisis
• comparable to spiritual crisis during virgin soil with Indians

Question 2

Mughal Empire

Answer 2

• 1526-1857
• in India
• drew from Indian teachings of religious/cultural tolerance
• were open-minded towards non-Muslim believers
• Emperor Babur built Taj Mahal in 1632 (symbol of imperial legislation after death)
• comparable to Mongols who practiced religious tolerance when Emperor Babur claimed descendancy from Genghis Khan, shows how powerful Mongols were after their collapse

Question 3

Safavid Empire

Answer 3

• 1301-1736
• Persia
• arose in the aftermath of the Mongols
• Did not tolerate diversity unlike the Ottomans - caused them to not have an expansive empire
• Shiite stronghold; no religious tolerance
• easier to convert people because of lack of diversity and lack of room to expand
• comparable to Mongols: did not practice religious diversity, did not allow for giant empire like Mongols

Question 4

Ottoman Empire

Answer 4

• 1299-1922
• Anatolia
• existed on periphery of empires (interactions between nomads and settled peoples)
• embraced Sunni Islam, but had religious tolerance; welcomed Jews after Spanish Inquisition to show them they’re better than Christians
• took over Constantinople, renamed Istanbul
• Suleiman I
• adopted Byzantine characteristics regarding empire: administrative practices to ally with Byzantine families; comparable to the Mongols who borrowed many aspects of the peoples they conquered (religion, language, etc.)

Question 5

Conquest of Constantinople

Answer 5

• 1453
• led by Mehmed the Conqueror
• strong weapons for Ottomans: Naval power and field canons (important symbols for legitimacy and conquest)
• loss of city sent shockwaves to entire Christian world; Islamic threat
• built huge new mosque, Suleymaniye; borrowed Christian architecture from Hagia Sophia

Question 6

Janissaries

Answer 6

• set up a system of janissaries to keep control over the provincial rulers to were gaining too much power due to large distances from main city/palace
• Ottomans would take Christian boys from birth and train them as soldiers
• loyal only to sultan but gained too much power and were persecuted

Question 7

Red Turban Movement

Answer 7

• 1351-1368
• uprising influenced by White Lotus Society that took over Mongol Yuan Dynasty and reestablished Ming Dynasty in China
• reestablished civil service exams and built Forbidden City
• gave power back from Mongols to Chinese, part of political imaginaries that shaped context of what people thought were possible - would get people to commit to new dynasties despite big changes

Question 8

Admiral Zheng He

Answer 8

• Chinese explorer sent by emperor to explore world
• empires can’t do anything without intermediaries
• helped bridge together multiple different peoples to one empire

Question 9

Hürrem Sultan

Answer 9

• 1502-1558
• one of the most powerful and influential women in the Ottoman Empire
• seduces Suleiman I, became his wife
• unusual because the sultan would usually have a great number of concubines to bear them sons but did not marry any of them (a mode of succession/fratricide)
• begins Sultanate of Women
• comparable to Mongol Queens (give example)

Question 10

Sultanate of Women

Answer 10

• 16th-17th centuries
• era during the Ottoman Empire where women of the Imperial Harem held a lot of political influence over state matters and the sultan
• creates cultural change within the harems
• role of Hürrem Sultan
• women included sultan’s wife, queen mother, mother of the sultan, and other noblewomen
• comparable to the Mongol queens and clan matrons

Question 11

Suleiman I

Answer 11

• 1520-1566
• was the longest reigning sultan of the Ottoman Empire
• was sultan during the height of Ottoman political, economic, and military power
• also oversaw the “Golden Age” of the Ottoman Empire - height of culture, architecture, and art
• led a series of military campaigns to take more land for empire
• lived in Topkapi Palace, a symbol of Ottoman wealth and power