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Expansion of the Ottoman Empire

Page history last edited by Robert W. Maloy 3 weeks, 3 days ago

 

Constantinople

 

 

Focus Question: What factors propelled the expansion of the Ottoman Empire in the 15th and 16th centuries?

 

Topics on the Page

 

The Ottoman Empire

 

Factors Supporting Expansion

  • Location
  • Rise to Power
  • A Gunpowder Empire
  • Governmental Structure
  • Sultanate of Women

 

Suleiman the Magnificent

  • Roxelana, A Woman with Political Power 

 

Decline in the 17th Century

 

 Wiki Cross-Links 

 

 

 

 

Map highlighting the expansion of the Ottoman Empire. It shows what Sultans were ruling by color codes 

Expansion of the Ottoman Empire.

 

The Ottoman Empire

 

The Ottoman Empire is the name given to a political and geographical entity governed by the Muslim Ottoman Turks.

 

  • It is one of three notable Muslim empires grounded in the Islamic faith that arose during the time of Europe’s Age of Exploration and maintained considerable control of trade and economics in the Middle East

 

  • In so doing, was a force of resistance to European efforts to control global trade markets.

 

  • It was one of the largest and longest lasting empires in world history. 

 

Interactive timeline of Ottoman expansion

 

  • Crash Course World History on Ottoman Empire video

 

  • Video of Ottoman territorial expansion (1300-1900)

 

  •  TED-Ed Talk which details the territorial and cultural expansion of the Ottoman Empire 

 

Learning plan for teaching the Ottoman Empire's expansion and effects of expansion

 

For more information, read about Jewish life during the Ottoman Empire.

 

external image 500px-Hebrew_timeline.svg.png  The 15th and 16th Centuries


Mehmed II (The Conqueror)
- Becoming Sultan in 1451, Mehmed II quickly began expanding the empire he inherited. The first conquest was Constantinople, which became known
in Europe as the end of the Medieval age. This was also the most notable and impressive conquest of the Ottoman Empire cementing them as a major
global force.
- Mehmed then set his sights on the Balkan peninsula clashing with Hungary and Serbia
- Mehmed's expedition into the Balkans provided fruitful as Greece fell under the Ottoman rule.
- Mehmed also secured Trebizond and Crimea by the 1480s.
- The final significant expansion under Mehmed II was the consolidation of Western Anatolia, laying the foundation for further conquests in the Middle East

Here is a 10 minute documentary that details the early Ottoman conquests and the effects of the fall of Constantinople


The 16th Century:
Selim I (The Grim)
- Becoming Sultan in 1512, Selim I took the throne after a civil war ravaged the empire. Once his power was secure, Selim I began to further consolidate
southeastern Anatolia
- The consolidation of Anatolia led to conflict with the Mamluks of Egypt and Syria. War soon broke out between the two states and resulted in Ottoman
victory. This victory consolidated Ottoman power over Syria, Palestine, Egypt, the Northern coasts of the Red Sea and portions of modern Algeria.
- This victory was crucial as it:
- 1. Solidified Ottoman trade along the Red Sea - this opened the Indian ocean trade network to the eastern Mediterranean and Europe.
- 2. Solidified Ottoman rule within the Muslim world as the Sharif of Mecca presented Selim I the key to the city.

Suleiman (The Magnificent/The Lawgiver)
- Becoming Sultan in 1520, Suleiman quickly began a military campaign against Hungary. In 1521, this campaign secured Belgrade for the Ottomans, while also breaking the military power of Hungary and killing their king in the battle.
- Further advances would be made into Europe with Hungary becoming a vassal state to the Ottomans and a failed siege of Vienna

- Suleiman continued to expand the Ottoman power and territory, by becoming the prominent naval power of the Mediterranean after defeating a Spanish/Venetian fleet in 1538.
- This control was upset thirty years later at the Battle of Lepanto
- Suleiman also consolidated power over modern-day Iraq, clashing with the Safavid (Persian) Empire
- Finally, Suleiman connected the Ottoman territory of Algiers to Egypt, creating a continuous empire from Baghdad to Morocco.

 

 Ottoman siege of Vienna - 1529 by Peter Snayers


How the Siege of Vienna Changed the Course of History



The Imperial Palace Harem


- From 1520 to roughly 1650, the Harem, comprised of concubines and women in the royal family, had considerable influence over the Sultans.
- The Harem had a strict hierarchy with the mother of the current Sultan, the Valide Sultan, at the head.


- Next were the Kadins, or official wives, of the Sultan. The Kadins had their own quarters, female-slaves and servants.


- After Kadins were the Iqbals, who had the ability to rise within the Harem hierarchy. Starting off as a concubine, if an Iqbal gives birth then she is raised to the status of a Haseki. If the child is a son, then they are raised to the position of Kadin.


- There was a final level of concubines titled Odalisques. Odalisques were primarily servants to the palace and composed of slave women from various
military campaigns.

Life under Ottoman rule was rather accepting for the time as Millet system the allowed minority religious, ethnic, and geographical communities limited autonomy.

 

An academic essay on women and the Ottoman Empire by a professor of history from Brigham Young University

By the end of the 16th century, Ottoman rule was at its largest extent. With control over the entire Eastern Mediterranean as well as the whole Red Sea and the Black Sea, the Ottomans profited immensely from control over these trade routes. The Ottomans were also the predominant Muslim empire with smaller nations acknowledging the sultan as caliph.


Factors Supporting Expansion 

 

Location 

 

The Ottoman Empire was centered in present-day Turkey (formerly referred to as Anatolia) and extended its influence into southeastern Europe as well as the Middle East.

  • It began in the late thirteenth century (1280) when a tribal leader named Osman began consolidating power in the northwestern part of the Turkish peninsula.
  • It lasted until 1918, when it fell apart in the wake of the First World War and was replaced by the Turkish Republic.


View this interactive map of the Ottoman Empire, from the University of Chicago.

 

 View the expansion of the Ottoman Empire through this series of maps here from Facing History and Ourselves. (1300-1920)

    • They each detail the extent of Ottoman territorial expansion from 1300 to 1920, illustrating the rise, peak, and fall of the Ottoman Empire


Read here about the Ottoman Empire in Europe, including the extent of its conquest, and its influence on the Holy Roman Empire, Venice, Spain, and more.

Read about the Ottomans in Africa, from this lecture about Islam in North Africa, which places Ottoman conquest within a larger narrative of interactions between North Africa and the Middle East.

Rise to Power 

 

The Ottoman’s rise to power began in an area that had been part of the Byzantine Empire which itself was an extension of the Roman Empire The Rise of the Turks and the Ottoman Empire.

 

 

  • Mehmed II , known as "Mehmed the Conqueror" led the attack on Constantinople and for this and other successful campaigns of conquest was given his nickname.

 

  • Into this power vacuum, the Ottomans began expanding their control westward to the Black Sea, thus gaining dominance over key trade routes. In the mid-1300s, the Ottomans expanded into the Balkans and began asserting control over the waning Byzantine emperor in Constantinople.

 

  • The city fell to the Ottoman forces in 1453 and was renamed Istanbul. In the next 100 years, Ottoman power expanded further into Europe, the Middle East, and Northern Africa.
    • For more information: The Ottomans in Europe
    • Read more about Constantinople (Istanbul) after the 13th century here
    • The Ottomans profited from trading textiles in European markets. Read more about this, and the development of the contemporary "Ottoman style" here.


Read and listen to a history of the Ottomans as explored by the University of Texas-Austin. Part I available here and Part II available here.

 

  Diary of the Siege of Constantinople, 1453 by Nicolo Barbaro. A Venetian surgeon's eyewitness account.

A Gunpowder Empire

 

 Ottoman control has been called a “gunpowder empire” (Duiker & Spielvogel, 2002, p. 364). (See here ). The Ottomans mastered the art of warfare using firearms. This is part of the answer to why the empire was able to expand during the 15th and 16th centuries.

external image Mehmed_II_1.jpgThe Turkish Ottoman Empire was one of the earliest and longest-lasting of the gunpowder empires promoted by the spread of cannon and other firearms.

 

  • The Turks had been pushed into the Near East from the eighth century onward by Mughal expansion in their original territory, around what is now Turkestan.

 

  • At the beginning of the fourteenth century, the Turkish leader Osman I (c. 1258-1326) declared himself sultan, founding the Ottoman Empire. The Ottomans spread their control over the area formerly held by the Eastern Roman Empire, also known as the Byzantine Empire.

 

  • In 1453, Sultan Mehmed II (r. 1444-1446 and 1451-1481) conquered Constantinople, bringing the Byzantine Empire to an end.


Governmental Structure

 

 The governmental structure of the Ottoman Empire was another reason for its expansion. The leader of the empire was the Sultan who was the political and military leader. Local tribal leaders ran different sections of the empire, collecting taxes and administering justice according to tribal traditions. This led to a relatively benign form of control that did not create lasting discontent among the peoples who were made part of the empire during its expansion.

 

  • An important lynchpin of the Ottoman government and military were captured slaves of Christian origin, trained as children to be loyal only to the Sultan. A history of the Ottoman's use of slaves in both military and civil roles can be read in this article.

 

  • For a look at how slave armies and bureaucrats functioned in the empire, as well as how the Ottoman Empire dealt with European countries like Venice, see Crash Course: World History.

 

How Islamic religion played a role in establishing political legitimacy and government structure for the Ottoman Empire https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0191453714525389


The Weakening of the Empire

 

 Over time, the Sultan’s court took on the trappings of imperial rule, but this led to the isolation of the leader from the realities of the empire. Succession was hereditary and there was considerable infighting among heirs when a sultan died. The effect over time was to weaken the power of the central government of the empire. * For the in-depth look at the various political, economic, and military reasons why the Ottoman Empire fell, see this three part article.

 

 Sultanate of Women

 

 Another important political reality was the importance of women in the operation of the sultan’s court. The Queen Mother not only administered the imperial household, but also conducted diplomatic relationships with other countries and arranged marital alliances. This has been called the “sultanate of women” (further explanation of their influence can be seen in this video).

Among women in the population, the restrictions of Islam were less strictly enforced in the Ottoman Empire. Women could own and inherit property, could not be forced into marriage, and some held local governmental offices (Duiker & Spielvogel, 2002, p. 365).

Read this essay from Clark University about the extent of and limitations to women's autonomy in the Ottoman Empire, in politics, economics, and at home. The essay discusses Ottoman society from the 16th century onwards.

Read this essay from Binghamton University about how women in the Ottoman Empire used their role in harems as a channel for political agency, as well as misconceptions about Muslim women in the Western world.

Several of the Ottoman Empire's best poets were women.

 

  • Fitnat Hanim is largely considered one of the most notable of these poets. 

 

 

  • Click here for more information on women in the Ottoman Empire (Use the links on the left and top of the page to navigate around the site.)


Family Structures

 

  • Rural women worked, while urban women were contained to the home.
    • Visits to cemeteries and public baths were frequent and regarded as a woman's right.

 

  • Young men and women were not allowed to get to know one another and were not allowed to choose who they were to marry.
    • The man's family choose who he was to marry and if the woman's parents agreed, the parents would handle the details.

 

  • If women would not be in contact with men, they were allowed to work. They usually made money through weaving and embroidering.

 

  • Women worked as midwives as a moral obligation. Women were usually illiterate and therefore had to learn the skill through training or practice.

 

Suleiman the Great of the Ottomans

Suleiman the Great of the Ottomans
The height of Ottoman power came under Suleiman the Magnificent 

The Ottomans continued to expand geographically during Suleiman's rule, conquering new land in Europe and reaching as far as Vienna. Read more about this, and works of art and architecture created during this era, here

History in Artifacts: Tughra of Suleiman I from the British Museum.


  • Watch this video about Suleiman's official signature, which explains its political and artistic significance. The link also contains an interactive activity, teaching you how to read the complex calligraphy.

 

 

 Roxelana

 

 Roxelana, Department of Art History, Florida State University

 

Hurrem Sultan or Roxelana: Empress of the East


 

 

Decline of the Empire


The decline in the empire began in the 17th century and continued for the next two centuries.


external image 200px-Hebrew_timeline.svg.pngOttoman Empire Timeline

 


The fall of the Ottoman Empire - History of The Ottomans (1900 - 1922) - YouTube

 

Source Summery: Video shows how European nations slowly conquered Ottoman territory, and the Internal power struggles that plagued the nation with the rise of the Young Turks, and the foundations of the modern state of Turkey.

 

The Armenian Genocide, in History and Politics: What to Know - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

 

Source Summary: The fall of the Ottoman empire was not peaceful and in the years before its formal dissolution in 1922 the first modern genocide took place, and the source discusses why it is so complicated to get accountability from governments that commit atrocities. 

 

 

 Quiz Question

 

In what way was the Ottoman capture of Constantinople in 1453 a major turning point in European History?

 

a.) It allowed the Byzantine Empire to abandon its territories in the East and instead focus its power on conquering Latin Christian territory in the West.

 

b.) It signaled the end of the longstanding Holy Roman Empire and ushered a new age of intellectual thought in Western Europe.

 

c.) A new holy war characterized by crusading and territorial acquisition led to the retaking of Constantinople in the 1490s.

 

d.) Mehmed II, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, destroyed vital European texts and art, ushering a dark age for Eastern European Christians.

 

Answer B. This quiz question is crafted to make sure a student understands the impact of the Ottoman Empire on European history. In many curriculums, 1453 is often seen as an essential year that ends an era. That being, the fall of the Byzantine Empire. It is important to understand how the spread of Islam and the dissolution of the Byzantine Empire had major effects on Western Europe.

Question and Feedback by Kate Maskell, March 2022

 

 

 

 

 

 

Additional timeline of the Ottoman Empire 

https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780191737640.timeline.0001


View "Orientalism and the Ottoman Empire in Star Wars," a diagram and article about the representation of Eastern societies in Western pop culture, specifically discussing the portrayal of Jabba the Hutt in the Star Wars films, and what similar forms of representation tell us about stereotyping.

The Mirror of Countries (1557) by Sidi Ali Reis. An account of the author's travels in the Middle East.

 
Videos on the Rise of the Ottoman Empire and the Fall of the Ottoman Empire


Read Ahead to Post-Ottoman Empire and the founding of Modern Turkey Kemal Atatürk (1881-1938)
Read more: http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?historyid=ab37#ixzz1Du3ewSEg

Documents and Sources Web Resources The End of Europe's Middle Ages: Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries http://www.ucalgary.ca/HIST/ANME/resources.html 15th-16th Century Map of the Ottoman Empire http://www.ottomansouvenir.com/img/Maps/Ottoman_Empire_Map_1359-1856.jpg. = =

 

Video

Below is a 4:30. minuet video that addresses modern day afro-turks (descendants of the Ottoman Empire's African slave trade). The afro-turks are demanding their place in in Turkish society/history and no longer will allow for racism. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcfPVj5qR1E

  

 

 

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