Essay on Ottoman vs. Mughals

Zahir al-Din Muhammad Babur was a founder of India’s Mughal Empire; furthermore, he was a Chaghatai-Turkish prince and a direct descendant not only of Timur but also of Chinggis Khan (Balabanlilar 2). There was an effective centralized rule that was provided by the Mughal dynasty to the Indian subcontinent during the first half of the Mughal period (Stearns 32).

During the time in between the Middle Ages and today 's age, the once Gunpowder Empires dominated and stretched over three continents; India, Turkey, and Iran. The Gunpowder Empires consisted of The Ottoman Empire of Turkey, The Safavid Empire of Iran and The Mughal Empire of India. Each empire had some similarities as well as differences in certain parts of their evolutions and declines. All three empires were ruled in an well-organized and Islamic government with devoted officials. Their religion was dominant because for each empire it gave structure and played larger roles in their governmental systems. Because of their abilities to expand through their armies, each empire was able to exercise a dominant influence over the lands they conquered. Although they were similar in some aspects, they differed in others. Though each empires’ rise and fall there were some differences that played different roles in each empire’s history. The rise and fall of the Gunpowder Empires can be best described as an “arch” shape due to their rise through expansion and conquering, apex of power and control over vast amounts of people and lands, as well as their later decentralized governments that led to their declines.

The Ottoman Turks emerged on the periphery of the Byzantine Empire and the Saljuk Turks. Under a Turkish Muslim warrior named Osman, raids were conducted in western Anatolia on Byzantine settlements and a vast number of Turks were united under his banner. Those Turks who flocked to Osman's banner and followed him into the history books came to be called the Ottomans. The word Ottoman, fits these Turks well as it roughly translates from Turkish as "those associated with Oman."

Social classes were based on the religion. The Ottoman Empire was considered an Islamic empire because its founder was a Muslim. Unlike any other state or empire, classes were taken by religion. Muslim millets were the highest class society and were treated equally as the other millets but other religions had to pay more

In the Mughal Empire, Hindus had been allowed to build new temples despite the fact the empire had Muslim origins. To further gain the people’s loyalty, Akbar the leader of Mughal Empire eliminated tax on the non Muslims which would attract the Hindus and also the Christians into the empire creating a universal religion which a mix of Islam, Christians and Hindus.. Akbar had also secured the support and the allegiance of the different Hindus who existed in the region through the negotiation of the peace treaties. Akbar had endured that the local governors would be given grants rather than the salaries. Being dependent on the central government for their income, such a strategy helped them develop increased loyalty enhancing military operations of the army and the general government structure in the empire. On the other hand, Ottoman’s emperor enhanced social integration through striking the high levels of peoples’ loyalty (Gingeras 13).

The Ottoman Empire actually began to take shape several centuries before the dawn of the early modern period. However, its complete development didn’t take place until 1453 when a Turkish conquest resulted in control of Constantinople. The Ottomans, also known as the Osmanli group of Turks, were not the original Turkish people involved in Middle Eastern affairs. The success of the Ottoman Empire rested on two main

The Safavids, Mughals, and Ottomans were powerful islamic empires that were able to rise to great influence and power, becoming main rivals to other European states in the process. This rise into power was possible because of their prodigious investment and development of their militaries, government operation under a fair, merit-based system, and tolerance for various religions; however, these societies faced their demise after crippling government corruption through negligent leadership and ever increasing social tension began to materialize.

The Mughal Empire ruled most of India and Pakistan in the 16th and 17th centuries. The empire Islam in South Asia, and caused the spread of Muslim arts and culture as well as faith. The Mughals were Muslims who ruled a country with a large

In conclusion, the differences in early social and gender roles pertaining to the Ottoman and Mughal dynasties prominently lie mainly in gender roles and social structure. Both of these civilizations share a number of similarities but are all unique to their cultural and geographic history. Essentially allowing both civilizations to play vital roles in each other's history. How different world history would be without either of these

It is the intention of this paper to take an insightful look at two significantly major historical empires, the Ottoman Empire and the Safavid Empire. According to Quataert, “the Ottoman Empire was one of the greatest, long lasting and most extensive empires in the history of the world” (3). At its height, the Ottoman Empire had a reign of 600 years and during the 15th and 16th century was recognized as one of the most powerful states on the world’s stage. The Ottoman Empire shared its place of significance with several other places of influence, England, Spain, Rome, France and the Dutch Empire to the west and the Safavid state and the Moghul Empire to the east.

The Islamic empires of the Ottoman, Safivid, and Mughal were unique as they were some of the most dominant, powerful, and influential Islamic empires during their time and were considered more stable than their Islamic predecessors. These empires existed in some of the same and different eras and physical locations in the world; the Ottoman Empire existed in the 13th century through the 20th century in the modern day parts of Eastern Europe, North Africa, West Asia, and the Middle East, the Safavid Empire existed in the 16th century through the 18th century in the modern day parts of Eastern Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, specifically in modern day country of Iran (Persia), and the Mughal Empire existed in the 16th century through 19th century in the modern day parts of Southern Asia. These empires have had a continuing influence on civilizations years beyond their existence. These empires’ Islamic religion was also directly part of their politics, but they still were able to effectively control many areas with people that did not have the same religious or political beliefs.

In other words, the young boys have been kidnapped or taken by force from their homelands and later dispersed among court officers, the sipahlis, and the sultan. According to Professor Aslanian, the young Christian boys were re-educated, trained in military combat, and assimilated within the Muslim system. Consequently, some of the youth were employed through the ranks of a janissary while others gained the ability to attain any position available in the state. Essentially, the devshirme helped centralize the Ottoman Empire because it avoided individuals to come together and cause fragmentations within the dynasty. “Some observers remarked that this policy helped to keep the Christian population in subjection by drawing away future leaders (P.177, Fisher and

In the Islamic ruled empire, the Ottomans relied heavily on religion when it came to maintaining their empire as they used them to build an army using minorities and gain money for their empire them as well. In the Ottoman Empire, Christians and Jews were considered dhimmis, as dhimmis they had their rights protected by Ottoman law and were allowed to continue their own religious organizations, not be forced to follow Islamic law, and have freedom of choice; this system was seen as the Ottoman Empire’s greatest

The Ottomans took their name from Osman the chief of a band of seminomadic Turks that had moved into the western Anatolia. Also, Ottomans gradually expanded at the expense of other small Turkish states and the Byzantine Empire. The Ottoman ruler called himself border chief and leader of the Ghazis frontier raiders.

The 320 year rule of the Delhi Sultanate in the subcontinent of India ushered in a unique synthesis of cultures that would forever alter the fabric of the empire’s cultural landscape in countless ways. The Delhi Sultanate stretched from the years 1206 to 1526 with its perhaps most notable and lasting effect being its bringing together and assimilating of Indian and Islamic cultures, which had up until this point, never happened on quite this scale. This monumental conquest was part of a larger cultural and political growth, as during this time, nomadic Turkic peoples that had formerly been enslaved by Asian civilizations were gaining their freedom and rising through the ranks of Western Asian and Middle Eastern societies. This was also a period that saw a radical spread of Islam through the predominately at that point, Hindu-based societies in Western Asia, particularly in India which created the Indo-Persian culture that we still see today in this part of the world. The Delhi Sultanate can be credited with many widespread accomplishments but premierely, their creating of a new, Islamic India with a synthesized culture that proved to be decidedly different from the ancient Indian culture that the subcontinent had known for centuries.