Chapter 19 - Southwest Asia & the Indian Ocean, 1500-1750

These notes will be "notebook style" instead of a summary because I feel lazy (and because I have a few chapters of notes to catch up on). Sorry if they don't flow as well as the paragraph style notes. 

• Ottoman Empire - Islamic state in Anatolia formed in c. 1300; based in Istanbul/Constantinople from 1453 - 1922 & encompassed the Middle East, North Africa, the Caucasus and Eastern Europe. Grew because of the control of the Dardanelles (major shipping port and choke point where, if blockaded, the movement of goods to different countries could be stopped altogether) and a traditional army equipped with new weapons. Conquered a Serbian kingdom at the Battle of Kosovo in 1389, and most of E. Europe conquered by Sultans in 1402.

• Most powerful and best organized power by 1520

• Janissaries - elite of the Ottoman army of slave origin, armed with firearms, from the 1400's to 1826

• Devshirme - imposed regular levy of male children on Christian Balkan villages (recruiting kids for the army by force)

• Askeri military class - those who served in the military or bureaucracy and spoke Osmanli, the court language

• Anatolian revolts - 1590 to 1610

• Petrona Halil rebellion (1730) -  Urban groups protesting new taxes were joined by the poor and leading religious officials in a rebellion against Sultan Ahmet III. The sultan was deposed, and conservative groups exercised took more power. Patrona Halil was a small-scale merchant who was a street leader of the rebellion.

• Land grants for military service ended, tax farming began (specific amounts paid so merchants could charge more for their products)

• 2nd siege of Vienna - Janissaries hired substitutes for military service, failed second siege in 1683, empire weakened as a result

• capitulations - trade agreements on European taxes (lower than other trading taxes with the Middle East)

• Tulip Period - last years of the reign of Ahmed III during which European styles and attitudes were popular in Istanbul (1718-1730)

• Safavid Empire of Iran - 1502-1722, declared Iran as a Shi'ite state, evolved Persian culture. Women were forced to cover themselves (burquas), but they could retain property after marriage

• Silk and carpet trade were important, but most Safavids were herders or farmers

• High military costs, inflation and the decline of overland trade weakened the Safavid state, which fell to Afghanistan in 1722 

• The Mughal Empire grew under Akbar and his successors to encompass most of India

• Prosperous w/ European trade

• Akbar included minorities in the government and a hybrid culture flourished

• The empire declined due to foreign invasion and the rise of regional powers

• European trading companies' success shifted the balance of power