Composition of the Ottoman Empire in 16th and 17th Centuries

• Huge in territory, but weak in central authority– Largest and most stable empire after the collapse

of Roman Empire

• Many different ethnic and language groups

• Administered inefficiently

• Split religiously

• No merchant class or overseas empires

• No uniform calendar amongst regions

Christian Europe Versus Islamic Mediterranean

• Middle Ages—Islamic Empire included Spain, North Africa, and the Middle East

• In 1453, Constantinople, center of the Byzantine Empire, fell to the Turks

• Eastern Europe was prey to Islamic expansion

The Fall of Constantinople: 1453

The Ottoman Capital -- Constantinople

The End of the Byzantine Empire

Suleiman the Magnificent (r. 1520—1566)

• Hungary and the Habsburg Empire were defenders of Eastern Europe

• The Turks captured Belgrade in Hungary and took over almost half of eastern Europe

Suleiman the Magnificent:(1520-1566)

Suleiman’s Signature

Collection of Taxes in Suleiman’s Court

The Golden Age of the Ottomans

Map 13–5 THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE IN THE LATE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. By the 1680s the Ottoman Empire had reached its maximum extent, but the Ottoman failure to capture Vienna in 1683 marked the beginning of a long and inexorable decline that ended with the empire’s collapse after World War I.

The Ottoman Government

• religious toleration allowed more there than anywhere else in Europe

• sultans governed their empire through millets – officially recognized religious communities

• still some religious discrimination – dhimmis – non-Islamic persons in the Empire could worship, but couldn’t rise in power, had to pay a poll tax, could not serve in the military and were prevented from wearing certain colors

• devshirme – Christian boys recruited and raised as Muslims and put into the military as infantry troops known as Janissaries / they were basically well treated slaves

An Ottoman portrayal of the Devshirme. This miniature painting from about 1558 depicts the recruiting of young Christian children for the Sultan’s elite Janissary corps.British Library, London, UK/Bridgeman Art Library

Janissaries

Turkish Decline in the 17th Century

• Overextension of military over vast empire

• Kidnapping of Christian children to force entry into Janissary system

• Sultans were absolutists, but relied on capital punishment to put fear into its inhabitants

• Lacked a true economy; gov’t finances were based on the spoils of war

The Siege of Vienna (1683)• For six weeks attempted to strangle the

Habsburg city and Austrian capital• 50,000 Polish troops under King Sobieski

came to the relief of Vienna• The Turks massacred 30,000 Christian

soldiers BUT were then defeated– In defeat, the Turks left behind coffee beans

never before enjoyed by the Viennese– Coffee houses begin popping up in Vienna and

spread throughout Europe

In 1683 the Ottomans laid siege to Vienna. Only the arrival of Polish forces under King John III Sobieski (r. 1674–1696) saved the Habsburg capital.

The Decline of the Ottoman Empire

• the Ottomans attempt to expand their empire into Europe, but fail– 1699 Austrian conquests in Hungary and

Transylvania end Ottoman claim to area• Ottomans suffer military loses to the united

European states and Russia and in consequence lose land and revenue

• Internal rebellions by the janissaries force sultan Ahmed to abdicate in 1730

Ottoman Collapse (1730—1789)• Austria and Russia will work together to

dismember the Ottomans• Janissaries will disintegrate as an effective

military rank• Provincial governors began to gain more

power• 1774 Catherine the Great forced the Turks

to surrender Crimea on the Black Sea• By end of 18th century, Ottomans no longer

an important power in Europe

Europe and the Ottoman Empire

• Europe passes the Ottomans in learning, science, and military prowess

• Europe sees the Ottoman Empire as one in decline and Islam as an inferior religion

• European nations, sometimes rivals, joined forces against an Islamic foe

Blue Mosque

Blue Mosque - interior

Europeans vs. Turks

Hagia Sophia

Hagia Sophia - interior

Faith Mosque

Qur’an Page:Arabic Calligraphy

“Golden Horn” from space

“Golden Horn”

Sunset on the “Golden Horn”

Conversations Between Muslims & Christians

Scholars at the Galata Observatory

(Suleiman’s Constantinople), 1557

The Ottoman Empire During the 16c