1. Introduction

   Between 1450 and 1750, the growth of three great empires continued trading contacts, and the dissemination of the Islamic faith typified the Islamic zone. Although the growth of the Western trade system had relatively little internal impact on the Muslim empires, the Western nations were establishing the commercial bases for economic dominance after the 18th century. In the wake of the nomadic incursion of the Mongols and the armies of Timur, three great empires coalesced: the Ottoman, Mughal, and Safavid. Like Russia and the western European overseas empires, these empires depended on new technology.

2. The Ottomans: From Frontier Warriors to Empire Builders
   
   
   1. Introduction

      The Mongols destroyed both the Abbasid empire and the Seljuk dominance of the Middle East. In the aftermath of the Mongol withdrawal, the Ottomans under Osman became the dominant force in Asia Minor. By the middle of the 14th century, the Ottomans had extended their control over the lands of the Balkans. In 1453, Mehmed II besieged and conquered the Byzantine capital of Constantinople. In the 200 years after the fall of Constantinople, the Ottomans extended their control over much of the Middle East and North Africa. Ottoman navies seized control of the eastern Mediterranean, while land forces pressed into southeastern Europe.

   2. A State Geared to Warfare

      Ottoman society was based on war. The original Turkic cavalry developed into an aristocracy with much control over land and resources. The aristocracy yielded Constantinople to the sultans but built up local power bases. By the mid-15th century, the sultans came to rely on infantry forces, the Janissaries, who were forcibly conscripted from among the conquered Christian populations of the Balkans. Given control over firearms and artillery, the Janissaries became the most potent part of the Ottoman military and became involved in court politics.

   3. The Sultans and Their Court

      Sultans maintained power by balancing other sources of authority: the Janissaries, the military aristocracy, and the religious scholars. Ottoman administration, although brutal, was often efficient. Early sultans were politically active and led troops directly into battle. Over time, the elaborate Ottoman court grew isolated from the people. A vizier headed the central bureaucracy of the empire and often wielded the real authority within the government. Without a principle of succession, deaths of sultans often led to civil and external strife among the rival claimants.

   4. Constantinople Restored and the Flowering of Ottoman Culture

      Following the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople, sultans restored the city and began a campaign of building. The most spectacular additions were mosques, such as the Suleymaniye. Sultans also sponsored the construction of schools, hospitals, and rest houses. Bazaars and markets did business in international goods. Coffeehouses provided a public forum for debate and religious discussion. The artisans of Constantinople formed guilds. By the 17th century, the primary language of the Ottoman court was Turkish.

   5. The Problem of Ottoman Decline

      The Ottoman Empire managed to maintain its vigor into the late 17th century. At that time, the empire, which was overextended, began to retreat from its most distant borders in Europe and the Middle East. Once the Ottoman Empire began to contract, its administrative structure, which had always depended on military expansion, began to deteriorate. Venality and corruption became more apparent at all levels of the bureaucracy. Oppressive taxation sparked resistance and flight among the peasantry. The ability of individual sultans also declined after the 17th century. Later sultans were often reduced to puppets dominated by viziers or the Janissaries.

   6. Military Reverses and the Ottoman Retreat

      The Janissaries' resistance to any military technology that might have threatened their dominance caused the Ottoman Empire to fall behind Western nations. Ottoman armies became less threatening to the West. On the seas, the Ottoman defeat at Lepanto in 1571 signaled the end of their dominance of the Mediterranean. The Portuguese feat of reaching the Indian Ocean ended the Muslim monopoly of trade with Asia. The influx of bullion from the New World in the 16th century unsettled the stagnant Ottoman economy and introduced inflation. Competent sultans temporarily halted the Ottoman decline, but technological and cultural conservatism continued to cause the Ottoman Empire to disregard important changes in Europe. The Ottomans became progressively weaker in comparison to their Western rivals.

3. The Shi'ite Challenge of the Safavids
   
   
   1. Introduction

      Like the Ottomans, the Safavids emerged following the political wreckage of the Mongols. Of the Muslim empires, the Safavids alone adopted Shi'ite theology. The dynasty had its origins in a family of Sufi mystics. The first prominent member of the family, Sail al-Din was a Sufi evangelist among the Turkish tribes near the Caspian Sea. The family achieved military success under Ismâ'il. In 1501, Ismâ'il was proclaimed shah at Tabriz, the first capital. Although the Safavid successor of Ismâ'il extended Safavid control to Iran and what is now Iraq, the Safavids were turned back by the Ottomans at the battle of Chaldiran in 1514 from attempts to penetrate farther west.

   2. Politics and War Under the Safavid Shahs

      Following the defeat at Chaldiran, Ismâ'il's government deteriorated into a succession crisis. Order was restored under Tahmasp I, and Shah Abbas I extended Safavid territories to their greatest extent. The Turkic cavalry was, as in the Ottoman Empire, eventually established as a regional aristocracy that exploited the agrarian population. Increasingly, positions at the Safavid court were held by Persians to offset the Turkish aristocratic influence. Also like the Ottomans, Tahmasp I began the practice of recruiting a military force from among slaves captured in southern Russia. Shah Abbas I used the slave regiments and even elevated members of the unit to provincial governorships. Abbas imported European technology and military advisors to aid the Safavids in their conflicts with the Ottomans.

   3. State and Religion

      After Chaldiran, Persian became the primary language of the court. Shahs also developed elaborate court rituals based, in part, on their claims to be descendants of one of the Shi'ite imams. The state officially supported Shi'ite theology and supervised the education of religious leaders. Much of the Safavid population was converted to Shi'ism, occasionally by force. Shi'ism thus became a critical aspect of Iranian culture.

   4. Elite Affluence and Artistic Splendor

      Shah Abbas I was most heavily involved in cultural patronage and commercial expansion. Abbas encouraged trade with Asia and Europe. He engaged in a program of public works, particularly at his capital of Isfahan. His financial support for the construction of mosques in Isfahan resulted in a series of spectacular architectural designs.

   5. Society and Gender Roles: Ottoman and Safavid Comparisons

      The social hierarchy of the Ottoman and Safavid Empires was similar. The elite consisted of the military aristocracy in the countryside and the shahs and their courts. As the central government weakened, depredation of the regional aristocracy led to discontent and flight in the countryside among the peasantry. Both dynasties encouraged the growth of artisan organizations and craft production. Rulers in both governments fostered international trade, although the Safavid economy remained more constricted and less market-oriented. Women in Ottoman societies faced legal and social restrictions. Households were patriarchal. There is some evidence that some women of the Islamic heartlands opposed the increasing social restrictions. Many women remained active in trade.

   6. The Rapid Demise of the Safavid Empire

      The Safavid decline after the reign of Abbas I was rapid. Abbas removed all obvious successors during his lifetime. Following his death, there was no capable heir. Subsequent rulers proved ineffective. Internal disorder plagued the empire, despite occasional able shahs. In 1722, the capital at Isfahan fell to Afghan tribesmen, effectively ending the dynasty. Order was temporarily reestablished under Nadir Khan Afshar, who proclaimed himself shah in 1736.

4. The Mughals and the Apex of Muslim Civilization in India
   
   
   1. Introduction

      In 1526, Babur, who had lost his kingdom in central Asia to other Turks, invaded India from Afghanistan, ushering in a period in which Islam became a potent force in South Asia. The booty from his raids in India supported unsuccessful campaigns to recover his initial kingdom. Babur's troops defeated the last of the Lodi rulers of Delhi at the battle of Panipat. Within two years of his entry into India, Babur controlled much of the Indus and Ganges River valleys. He established a capital at Delhi, but did little to reform the previous Lodi administration. He was succeeded in 1530 by his son Humayan. Within a decade rival forces drove Humayan into exile with the Safavids. Only in 1556 was Humayan able to restore the Mughal rule in India. He died within a year of his restoration.

   2. Akbar and the Basis for a Lasting Empire

      Humayan's successor, Akbar, was the most successful of the Mughal rulers. Akbar rapidly developed a more centralized military and administrative system to govern India. After consolidating his hold on the government by 1560, Akbar expanded Mughal control over the Indian subcontinent. He attempted to join the Hindu and Mughal aristocracies of India through intermarriage. As a further incentive for Hindus to support the Mughal regime, Akbar abandoned the traditional Islamic tax on unbelievers. Hindu advisors and bureaucrats filled the Mughal administration. Akbar's most imaginative attempt to bridge the cultural differences between the Islamic elite and Hindus was his introduction of a new religion, the Din-i-Ilahi, which sought to combine beliefs of many faiths. The Muslim and Hindu aristocracy were granted lands in the countryside in return for pledges of military support. Local administration remained in the hands of local Hindu rulers who promised loyalty to the Mughals.

   3. Social Reform and Social Change

      Akbar sought to improve living conditions through public works, living quarters for the urban poor, and the regulation of alcohol. The ruler attempted to improve the condition of women in India. He permitted remarriage of widows, discouraged child marriages, and prohibited the practice of sati. Akbar encouraged merchants to establish separate market days for women.

   4. Mughal Splendor and Early European Contacts

      Despite his administrative and military successes, Akbar's attempts to unify Muslims and Hindus failed. Mughal India reached the peak of its prosperity under Akbar's successors, Jahangir and Shah Jahan. The Mughal cities and military power impressed European visitors, although the more perceptive noted the poverty of the masses and the lack of military discipline and advanced technology. Europeans came to India with products from Asia to exchange for the valuable cotton textiles of the subcontinent. Indian cotton became fashionable among all classes in Britain.

   5. Artistic Achievement in the Mughal Era

      Neither Jahangir nor Shah Jahan attempted much administrative reform. Fundamental alliances between the Mughals and the Hindu elite remained unchanged. Both rulers favored an elaborate court. Jahangir and Shah Jahan were renowned patrons of the arts. Miniature painting and building were two of the areas that received much royal largesse. The Taj Mahal is only one of the famous structures completed during this era.

   6. Court Politics and the Position of Elite and Ordinary Women

      In the reigns of Jahangir and Shah Jahan, royal women played an important role. Outside of the elite, the position of women in Indian society declined during the later Mughal era. Child marriage once again became popular, and widow remarriage effectively died out. Seclusion and veiling were common. Sati spread among upper-class Hindus.

   7. The Beginnings of Imperial Decline

      The last of the powerful Mughals, Aurangzeb, inherited an empire in which expenditures for art and architecture rivaled military outlay. He determined to extend Mughal control to the entire Indian subcontinent and purify Islam of its Hindu influences. His successful campaigns to enlarge the Mughal Empire drained his treasury and increased his enemies. Even during his successful campaigns in the south, rebellions broke out in the north. Local rulers became increasingly autonomous. Aurangzeb's religious policies threatened to break the long established alliance between the Mughal administration and the Hindu elite. Attempts to halt construction of Hindu temples and reimpose the tax on unbelievers increased resistance to his regime. Following Aurangzeb's death in 1707, rebellions tore the Mughal Empire apart. Islamic invaders, Hindu separatists, and Sikh revolutionaries weakened Mughal power.

5. Global Connections: Gunpowder Empires and the Restoration of the Islamic Bridge Between Cultures

   Internal weaknesses were sufficient to destroy the Muslim empires, but each also failed to recognize the threat to their dominance posed by the rise of the West. In technology and science, the Muslim regions fell behind as European nations advanced. Failure to take account of Europe also resulted in economic weakness. European trade empires in Asia removed one of the sources of profits for Islamic merchants. These changes were gradual, as Muslims dominated central Asian trade and Europeans paid in American silver for luxury goods. But Europeans became more aggressive as the technological gap widened. Mughal decline in India paved the way for British and French intervention, leading to the British Empire in India.

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