1. The Muslim Empires: The Ottomans, the Safavids, and the Mughals

2. The Ottoman Empire
Beyond the domains of China and Europe, the Islamic civilization, which had been fragmented since about 900 CE, crystallized into four major empires: the Ottoman, the Safavid, the Mughal, and the Songhay.
The most impressive and enduring of these new states was the Ottoman Empire, which lasted in one form or another from the 14th to the early 20th centuries.

3. The Ottoman Empire

4. The Ottoman Empire
The Ottomans began around 1300 CE as the creation of Turkic warrior groups which raided agricultural settlements in northwestern Anatolia (Turkey).
Named after their warrior chieftain Osman I (in Arabic: Uthmon); ( )

5. The Ottoman Empire
During its long duration (it will have Islam’s longest dynasty, lasting approx 623 years) it encompassed a huge territory of many diverse peoples and had economic and cultural sophistication.
The Ottomans will, through time, be transformed from a small frontier group to a prosperous, powerful, cosmopolitan empire, heir to both the Byzantine Empire and claimants to the Islamic world’s leadership.

6. The Ottoman Empire
It would be the Ottoman Empire that represented the emergence of the Turks as the dominant people of the Islamic world.
By the mid 15th century, they had carved an empire that encompassed most of Anatolia and they had pushed deep into southeastern Europe (the Balkans).
In the two centuries that followed, they had extended their control over most of the Middle East, coastal North Africa, the lands surrounding the Black Sea, and deeper into Eastern Europe.

7. The Ottoman Empire
Ottoman sultans brought unity to the Islamic world by combining the roles of a Turkic warrior prince, a Muslim caliph (successor to the prophet Muhammad), and a conquering emperor who was the great defender of the faith, bearing the “strong sword of Islam.”
Since Ottoman territory included the holy cities of Mecca, Medina, and Jerusalem, the Ottomans had the responsibility and prestige of protecting the holiest sites in Islam.

8. The Ottoman Empire
The Ottomans represented a new phase in the long encounter between Christendom and Islam.
During the Crusades, Europeans had taken the aggressive initiative…the rise of the Ottomans reversed that role.

9. The Ottoman Empire
In the 14th century, the Ottomans created an elite guard of infantry troops called the Janissaries.
Through a process known as the devshirme (the collecting or gathering), Balkan Christian communities were required to hand over a quota of young men who would be removed from their families, required to learn Turkish, converted to Islam, and trained for civil administration or military service.

10. The Ottoman Empire
These young men were loyal to the sultan (instead of to their local tribal leaders) because the sultan gave them uniforms, cash salaries, and marching music.
Although a terrible blow to their families, the devshirme represented a means of upward social mobility within the Ottoman system.

11. The Ottoman Empire
The Janissaries were the first standing army in the Middle East since the days of the Roman Legions.
Janissaries were among the first to use muskets, grenades, and hand-held cannons.

12. The Ottoman Empire
By 1453, the Byzantine Empire was a mere shadow of its earlier glory and the Ottoman seizure of Constantinople marked the final demise of Christian Byzantium.
The Ottomans had already spread their influence across much of the eastern Mediterranean, the Balkans, the Holy Lands, and Anatolia...Constantinople was almost all that was left of the once great empire.

13. The Ottoman Empire
Wanting to make Constantinople the capital of his expanding empire, the 19 year old sultan, Mehmet II, carefully planned his assault.
Mehmet spoke seven languages fluently, studied history, philosophy, science, literature, fine arts, and architecture.

14. The Ottoman Empire
First, he had a fortress built on the European side of the Bosporus (in 4 months) across from another Ottoman fortress (built 60 years earlier by his grandfather).
Realizing what Mehmet was doing, the Byzantine emperor begged him to stop.

15. The Ottoman Empire
By early April, Ottoman soldiers were camped outside Constantinople.
As Ottoman ships and cannons were moved into place, the Byzantine defense was barely 7,000 men (against over 80,000 Ottoman Janissaries and several thousand (peasant) conscripted infantry).

16. The Ottoman Empire
The Byzantines relied on their fabled Wall of Theodosius to save them, because it had repelled invading armies for centuries. But it was on the land side.

17. The Ottoman Empire
In late April, in an incredible feat of engineering and muscle power, the Ottomans pulled ships along log rollers up a 200 foot hill and several miles across the “Golden Horn” so that they could attack the weaker river walls.

18. The Ottoman Empire
Fearing an attack from the weaker side (the “Golden Horn”), the Byzantines moved more men along the river walls, weakening their defense along the land side walls.
In early May, Mehmet II sent in ground troops to soften up the Byzantine defenses (but not the elite Janissaries).

19. The Ottoman Empire
When the attack began, every bell in the city rang the alarm. The Hagia Sophia was full of people praying and singing Kyrie Eleison (“Lord, have mercy”).

20. The Ottoman Empire
The Byzantines put up a good fight and repelled wave after wave of Ottoman attackers.

21. The Ottoman Empire
After three weeks of continued assault with the Byzantines not giving up, Mehmet II proposed peace: he would spare the city if annual tribute was paid; or he would grant safe passage if the citizens gave up the city…both offers were rejected.

22. The Ottoman Empire
With this rejection, Mehmet ordered his cannons to begin their bombardment, including a 19 ton “bombard,” believed to be the largest cannon in the world (it was 26 ft long and fired balls weighing 1,200 lbs up to 1 mile).

23. The Ottoman Empire
Shooting the “bombard” created so much heat, it could only be fired three times a day, and the barrel had to be wiped with olive oil to keep the brass from cracking.
At the same time, spies found a weakness in the Byzantine defenses… someone accidentally left a small gate open on an outer wall and by dawn the next morning, the Turks were in the city.

24. The Ottoman Empire
Seeing a Turkish flag being raised on one of the watch towers, the last Byzantine emperor, Constantine XI, dismounted from his horse and flung himself into the advancing Janissaries.
He died in the fighting and his head was paraded around the city.

25. The Ottoman Empire
The battle now over, Mehmet allowed his men the customary three days of pillaging…they were allowed to take anything they wished from the remaining inhabitants of the city.
Realizing this could destroy the city he wanted, Mehmet ordered his men to stop the pillaging on the second day.

26. The Ottoman Empire
That afternoon, the 19 year old Ottoman emperor made his entry, escorted by his bodyguard of Janissaries.

27. The Ottoman Empire
When he reached the gates of the Hagia Sophia he dismounted, stooped down at the threshold and scooped up a handful of earth, which he let fall on his turbaned head (as an act of humiliation before the God who had brought him victory).
Mehmet then ordered every church to be converted into a mosque and Constantinople’s name changed to the Turkish version of the Greek eis tin polin (“in the city”…Istanbul).

28. The Ottoman Empire
In an honorable Muslim tradition, the Ottomans planned a multicultural and tolerant city.
Skilled craftsmen and merchants from around the empire were brought into the city to live and help it thrive.
The Orthodox patriarch was left in charge of the (Orthodox) Church and when Jews were expelled from Spain (1492), many came to Istanbul where it was official policy to welcome them and let them live in peace.

29. The Ottoman Empire
The Ottomans now saw themselves as the successors to the Roman Empire.
Mehmet II, the sultan who captured Constantinople became known as “the Conqueror”.

30. The Ottoman Empire
As the empire expanded across Anatolia, its largely Christian population converted to Islam and by 1500, 90% of Anatolia’s inhabitants were Muslim.
In the Balkans, Christians welcomed the Ottoman conquests because the Ottomans were less oppressive than their former Christian rulers and they required fewer taxes.

31. The Ottoman Empire
The Ottomans also allowed Christian churches greater autonomy and freedom.
As a result, only about 20% of the population became Muslim.
His successors Bayezid II and Selim I continued with victories over Poland, Hungary, Venice, the Safavids of Persia, and the Mamluks of Egypt.

32. The Ottoman Empire
Even though Ottoman authorities were relatively tolerant of Christians within their borders, the empire itself represented an enormous threat to Christendom generally.
One of the most celebrated Ottoman victories occurred in August 1526 when they arrived on the plains of Hungary to battle the Christian Hungarians.

33. The Ottoman Empire
The Ottomans came with 100,000 soldiers and 300 new long-range cannons.
The Battle of Mohacs began at noon and was over in two hours.

34. The Ottoman Empire
The Hungarian cavalry was destroyed and 20,000 foot soldiers drowned in a swamp.
The Ottomans lost fewer than 200 men.

35. The Ottoman Empire
Two weeks later the Ottomans captured the Hungarian capital of Buda and began preparations to lay siege to the Austrian capital of Vienna (it would take three years to actually begin the siege).
Vienna was the seat of the Hapsburg king (Ferdinand-who was the brother of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V).

36. The Ottoman Empire
Vienna was only a few days’ march from Buda. In 1529 the Ottomans began their assault of the city, in the heart of Central Europe.
The siege lasted 45 days.

37. The Ottoman Empire
Several attacks on the city failed, so the Ottomans withdrew in October 1529 (before the coming of winter).
Suleiman expected to resume his attack the following year (but he never did).
By the fall of 1529, the Turks had overrun most of Hungary, annexed Bulgaria, and moved into Austria. Baghdad was captured in 1535.

38. The Ottoman Empire
Many Europeans then spoke fearfully of the “terror of the Turk.”
When the Turks withdrew from their attack of Vienna, Martin Luther said “The day of judgment is at hand, and will destroy Gog the Turk and Magog the Pope, the one the political and the other the ecclesiastical enemy of Christ.” (1529)
Gog and Magog symbolized the enemies of the Kingdom of God (Revelation 20:8)

39. The Ottoman Empire
On the Mediterranean, the Ottoman navy dominated the eastern sea.
Suleiman’s admiral Barbarossa (the “Red Beard”) was the most feared sailor on the seas.

40. The Ottoman Empire
They had also extended their power into the western Mediterranean, causing Europeans to fear they would turn the whole sea into a “Turkish lake.”
The Ottomans would dominate the Mediterranean until 1571, when a monumental battle for supremacy was fought, with the future of European naval hegemony hanging in the balance.

41. The Ottoman Empire
In 1571, the “Holy League” (Spain, Venice, Papal States) met and defeated the Turkish fleet at Lepanto (off the coast of Greece), ending this threat.

42. The Ottoman Empire
The Ottomans lost between 25,000-30,000 killed and wounded and an additional 3,500 captured…the Holy League lost 8-13,000.
Their fleet lost 210 (of 286) ships, of which 130 were captured by the Holy League.
Coming at what was seen as a crisis point for Christianity, the victory at Lepanto stemmed Ottoman expansion in the Mediterranean and prevented their influence from spreading westward.

43. The Ottoman Empire
Even though the Ottomans rebuilt their fleet within a year and retained their naval base in Cyprus, for the moment, Spain now controlled the Mediterranean.

44. The Ottoman Empire
By mid-1683, the Ottomans were again marching through Hungary towards Vienna.
This time they were stopped by a mixed army of Austrians, Poles, Bavarians, and English.

45. The Ottoman Empire
The Ottomans never again mounted a major offensive on European soil.
The Ottomans would face new challenges from the growing Austrian Empire (to the west) and the Russians (to the north).

46. The Ottoman Empire
The head of the Ottoman system was the Sultan (always hereditary-but not always the eldest son). The sultan was the supreme authority in all military and political matters.
Struggles for power between brothers often led to the death of the loser (usually strangled with a silk bowstring) or to imprisonment.

47. The Ottoman Empire
An heir to the throne was first trained to rule by becoming a general or a governor of a province.
The heart of the sultan’s power was Topkapi Palace, in the heart of Istanbul.

48. The Ottoman Empire
Topkapi Palace is the world’s oldest and largest to survive into the 21st century (it has been a museum since 1924).
Besides being home to the sultan’s residence, within the palace walls (over 5 km long) were the centers of Ottoman administrative affairs, the treasury, mint, and state archives.
There were also two hospitals, a bakery, and the University of the Sultan located inside.

49. The Ottoman Empire
The empire was efficiently divided into provinces and districts, each governed by bureaucrats.
The sultan controlled his bureaucracy through an imperial council that met four times a week.
The council was led by the chief minister, called the Grand Vizier (or wazir).

50. The Ottoman Empire
The Grand Vizier was the Sultan’s deputy in charge of all routine administrative business.

51. The Ottoman Empire
During nearly half of the 16th century, the Ottomans were ruled by Suleiman the Magnificent, who came to power after the death of his father Selim I in 1520.
Suleiman was 26

52. The Ottoman Empire
Suleiman had to immediately prove himself in order to become a respected sultan.
Suleiman performed many acts of kindness and mercy toward his people including freeing hundreds of slaves, bestowing his officers with gifts, and erecting a school for slaves.
Leading his troops at Belgrade (1521), Rhodes (1522), Mohacs (1526), and against Vienna (1529), Suleiman quickly won respect, and fear, by raising “the specter of a Muslim takeover of all of Europe.”

53. The Ottoman Empire
Suleiman was considered the most dangerous man in the world by the Europeans, but he was actually a very fair ruler.
Suleiman fought corruption and was a great patron of the arts, sciences, and philosophy.

54. The Ottoman Empire
Suleiman filled his palace with music and he wrote beautiful poetry (considered by scholars to be among the finest ever written in Islam).
He was also very tolerant of Jews (unlike the Europeans) and Christians, who found a safe haven within his territory.
It is believed that his capital, Istanbul, was the largest and most sophisticated city in the world.

55. The Ottoman Empire
Suleiman had schools, mosques, hospitals, city walls, bridges, and an aqueduct built that surpassed any built by Rome.

56. The Ottoman Empire
Suleiman was known as “The Magnificent” in Europe because of his conquests and opulent court and lifestyle.
To the Ottomans, he was known as “The Lawgiver”, because of his forward thinking and changes to the legal and

57. The Ottoman Empire
His lifestyle at his palace displayed his wealth (he was believed to be the world’s richest man).
He would never wear the same clothes twice, he ate off of solid gold plates encrusted with jewels, and his harem consisted of over 300 women.
The walls in one room of the palace were covered in solid gold.

58. The Ottoman Empire
During his forty-six year reign, Suleiman undertook thirteen military campaigns of conquest.
He managed to conquer large parts of Eastern Europe, Austria, and nearly Rome itself.
He pushed his armies to the edge of Vienna, and at one point ruled over 30,000,000 people.

59. The Ottoman Empire
The Ottomans had grown rich collecting transit taxes from goods traded between Asia and Europe that were transported across their territory.
The reason the Portuguese pushed into the Indian Ocean was cut out the Ottoman middlemen.

60. The Ottoman Empire
The all-water trade route the Portuguese discovered meant untold prosperity for the Europeans but ultimate disaster for the Ottomans.
This started a chain reaction that over the next 250 years disrupted the political, military, and social coherence of Ottoman society.

61. The Ottoman Empire This, plus a halt in conquests, caused
the Ottoman treasury to lose income which halted Ottoman growth.
Global trade also increasingly shifted towards the Atlantic Ocean and away fro the Mediterranean or Indian Oceans.

62. The Ottoman Empire
The Middle East remained the Ottoman heartland, but they lost territory in North Africa, Eastern Europe, and around the Black Sea.
The Empire shrank in size but remained culturally and politically independent. It remained the force in the Middle East until the end of WWI (1918) when the European victors carved up the Empire into several sovereign states (including IRAQ).

63. The Safavid Empire
To the east of the Ottoman Empire in the neighboring Persian lands, another Islamic state was taking shape in the late 15th and early 16th centuries—the Safavid Empire.

64. The Safavid Empire
Like the Ottomans, the Safavid Empire started as a Turkic nomadic group from central Asia (not Persian).
The Safavids descended from Turks who followed the mystical branch of Sunni Islam called Sufism (who then converted to Shiah Islam in the early 15th century).

65. The Safavid Empire
So unlike the Ottomans (Sunni), the Safavids were Shi’ite (leaders of the faith should be the “true” heirs of Islam… descendents of Muhammad’s son-in-law Ali).
Shi’ites believed that the true heirs of Islam, called the imams, continued until the 9th century when the 12th descendent disappeared as a child, only to become known as the “Hidden Imam.”

66. The Safavid Empire
According to Shiah tradition, after the 11th imam was killed, his successor (the 12th imam) was hidden by Allah in order to save his life.
Shi’ites claim he remains miraculously alive and will one day return to guide the faithful.

67. The Safavid Empire
Early in the 16th century a young (12 yrs old) Safavid named Ismail claimed to be the representative of the “Hidden Imam.”
He acquired a devoted following and led troops that captured Shirvan in 1500 (today’s Azerbaijan).
He proclaimed himself Shah of Azerbaijan.

68. The Safavid Empire
Ismail then announced he was the “Hidden Imam” who had returned to rule and lead the faithful.
He proclaimed Shia to be the official faith.
Within 10 years, Ismail had conquered most of Persia (Iran), captured Baghdad, and had defeated and driven back the Uzbeks.

69. The Safavid Empire
This expansion caused the Safavids to come up against Ottoman territory.
When the caliphate passed to the Ottomans they saw themselves as the interpreters and governors of the faith.
The Shi’ite Safavids were anti-Ottoman.
The Safavids now posed a threat to the Ottomans.

70. The Safavid Empire
In early 1514, Selim I (Suleiman’s father) wrote to the Safavid ruler Ismail:
“You have denied the sanctity of divine law…you have deserted the path of salvation and the sacred commandments…you have opened to Muslims the gates of tyranny and oppression…you have raised the standard of irreligion and heresy…Therefore the ulama (conservative religious scholars) and our doctors have pronounced a sentence of death against you, perjurer, and blasphemer.”

71. The Safavid Empire
During the summer of 1514, the Ottomans under Selim I, marched into Persia and fought Ismail and his Safavids.
The Ottomans (Sunnis) and the (Shia) Safavids hated each other, and this sectarian hatred set up one of the most fateful battles in Islamic history.

72. The Safavid Empire
In August 1514, the Safavids met the Ottomans in battle at Chaldiran (NW Persia). It was a monumental battle of Sunni vs Shia.
The Safavid’s sent their best cavalry, the qizilbash (“red heads”) armed with swords and knives.

73. The Safavid Empire
The Battle of Chaldiran (1514).

74. The Safavid Empire
Ismail was wounded and nearly captured…he survived but lost his aura of invincibility.
He died in 1524.

75. The Safavid Empire
Even though the Ottomans won a decisive victory, they didn’t follow up because winter was approaching and the Safavid capital (Isfahan) was too far from Ottoman supply lines.

76. The Safavid Empire
The Safavids eventually recovered, eventually acquired gunpowder weapons (from Europeans…violating a papal decree against doing so), and occasionally fought the Ottomans for the next 200 years…but Shi’ite expansion was stopped at Chaldiran.

77. The Safavid Empire
The Safavids reached their peak of power in the late 1500’s – early 1600’s under Abbas I (r ).
Abbas negotiated a peace treaty with the Ottomans and reorganized his military on the European model of a standing army.

78. The Safavid Empire
Like the Ottoman Janissaries, the Safavids had Russian boys captured, educated, converted to Islam, and trained to use gunpowder weapons.

79. The Safavid Empire
Even though the Safavids thought Europeans were infidels, they hired English brothers to develop their armaments industry.
But no navy was ever created, and the capital city of Isfahan was far inland, away from the sea-based trade that was transforming the world.

80. The Safavid Empire
Abbas’ capital city, Isfahan was considered one of the wonders of the world and its beauty astounded European visitors.
It had 163 mosques, more than 250 public baths, and about 1,800 shops.

81. The Safavid Empire
Isfahan was filled with beautiful parks, large squares, libraries, and religious schools.
Isfahan’s blue-tiled Shah Mosque (built ) is one of the architectural masterpieces of the early modern era.

82. The Safavid Empire
The Imam Mosque (Isfahan):

83. The Safavid Empire
The Sio-se Pol Bridge (Isfahan):

84. The Safavid Empire
Safavid Architecture:
Ottoman Architecture:

85. The Safavid Empire
The long-term significance of the Safavid Empire was its decision to forcibly impose a Shia version of Islam as the official religion of the state.
Over time, this defined the unique identity of Persian (Iranian) culture.

86. The Safavid Empire
This Shia empire was a sharp political and religious contrast to its Sunni neighbors to the east and west.
Between periodic wars erupted between the Ottomans and Safavids, reflecting territorial rivalry and their sharp religious differences.

87. The Safavid Empire
This Sunni/Shia hostility continued to divide the Islamic world well into the twentieth century.

88. The Safavid Empire
This culminated in the early 1980’s as Iran and Iraq fought a bloody war that killed over 1,000,000 people.
The United States supported Iraq and Saddam Hussein.

89. Mughal India
Not long after Europe arrived in India a new and powerful dynasty established itself—the Mogul or Mughal (Persian for Mongol) dynasty. This was an Islamic, not Hindu, dynasty.

90. Mughal India
Even though the Mughal Empire was an Islamic one operating in a Hindu world, this was one of the few periods in India’s history of political unity and was the last era of independence and political unity before the British took over.

91. Mughal India
The founder of the Mughal dynasty was Babur, “The Tiger,” who lived from 1483 to 1530 (r ).
Descended from Ghengis Khan and Timur, he defeated the Delhi Sultanate.

92. Mughal India
Babur was not interested in or motivated by spreading Islam (like his Ottoman and Safavid neighbors to the west)…he was an opportunist who wanted plunder and treasure.
He didn’t really like the green and well watered India, instead preferring his homeland (Ferghana) on the arid steppes of central Asia (today’s eastern Uzbekistan).

93. Mughal India
Besides being a fierce military genius who fought alongside his troops, he had technological superiority over his enemies for Babur was among the first Islamic conquerors to use muskets and artillery pieces.

94. Mughal India
Like his ancestors, Babur was as much a scholar, poet, musician, and gardener as a soldier.
He brought to India a taste for luxury and culture, the influences of his Islamic faith, and a love of order, symmetry and formality.

95. Mughal India
When Babur died suddenly (aged 48), his eldest son, Humayan “the Fortunate” inherited the throne (aged 22).
He was an ineffective ruler known for his opium addiction and as a seeker of pleasure.

96. Mughal India
Challenged by one of his brothers and eventually deposed by an Afghan chieftain after ruling 10 years, he fled to the Safavid court for where he lived for the next 16 years.
While living with the Safavids, he was greatly influenced by Persian culture.

97. Mughal India
He regained the throne in 1556 but ruled less than a year before he met an unfortunate death.
He is considered one of history’s great “losers.”
Humayan’s tomb.

98. Mughal India
The most famous Mughal emperor was Akbar (b r ) in Arabic his name means “the Great”.

99. Mughal India
He was very progressive (for a 16th century ruler) and is considered by most historians to be the greatest emperor in Indian history, (and one of the greatest in all history) despite the fact he was illiterate (the only Mughal emperor who was).

100. Mughal India
Despite his illiteracy, Akbar had a great desire for knowledge. This led him not only to maintain an extensive library but also to learn.
Even though he couldn’t read, he had courtiers read to him and he became as knowledgeable as most scholars.

101. Mughal India
Akbar had many kingly qualities…he was brave to the point of folly (he enjoyed riding his own fighting elephants into battle and once he killed a tiger with his sword).

102. Mughal India
He won over the Hindus by naming them to important military and civil positions, by conferring honors upon them, and by marrying several Hindu princesses.

103. Mughal India
Akbar surrounded himself with writers, scholars, musicians, painters, and translators. His court had the fabled Nine Gems - nine famous personalities from different walks of life.

104. Mughal India
Akbar developed an efficient bureaucracy (which was later adopted by the British), was innovative on tax issues, and he was tolerant of different religions.
He even developed a new universalistic religion (called Din-i Ilahi).

105. Mughal India
Akbar’s Din-i-Ilahi blended Hinduism, Islam, and Zoroastrianism…it was his attempt to end the religious divisions of his people.
He eliminated the special tax assessed on non-Muslims (the jizya, which the Hindus bitterly resented) and he eliminated the “pilgrimage” tax put on Hindus traveling to Hindu pilgrimage sites.
He ordered Muslims to respect cows.

106. Mughal India
Hindu temples were respected. Akbar even had some Hindu temples built.
He abolished slavery, forced suttee (sati), and purdah (women living in forced seclusion).
He even allowed the Hindu women of his harem to practice the rites of their own religion (an unprecedented act for a Muslim ruler).

107. Mughal India
Akbar had Hindu literature translated (the epic Ramayana was translated into Persian), he participated in Hindu festivals, and he understood that a strong and stable empire depended on alliances with his Hindu nobility (known as Rajputs).

108. Mughal India
While Europe and Asia were embroiled in sectarian persecution and violence, Akbar took a genuine interest in all creeds and doctrines (why he was known to be a Philosopher-king/Enlightened ruler).
His son (and successor) Jehangir wrote proudly of his father: “He associated with the good of every race and creed and persuasion…The professors of various faiths had room in the broad expanse of his incomparable sway.”

109. Mughal India
He built a culture based on Persia: one which stressed and valued philosophy, literature, painting, and architecture.
Persian artists and writers were welcomed into the empire and Persian classics were translated into Hindi and Sanskrit.
Instead of a purely Islamic identity, Akbar created a cosmopolitan hybrid of Indian- Persian-Turkic culture.

110. Mughal India

111. Mughal India
In the 1570’s, Akbar set about building a new capital city…the “perfect city”…called Fatehpur Sikri (“City of Victory”).

112. Mughal India
But Akbar’s policies fostered sharp opposition among some Muslims. The philosopher Shayk Ahmad Sirhindi ( ), claiming to be the “renewer” of authentic Islam, strongly objected to his cultural synthesis.

113. Mughal India
The worship of saints, the sacrifice of animals, supporting Hindu religious festivals all represented impure intrusions that needed to be rooted out.
According to Sirhindi, it was the duty of a Muslim ruler to impose sharia law, to enforce the jizya on nonbelievers, and to remove non-Muslims from high offices.

114. Mughal India
Akbar’s favorite son Jehangir (means “World Dominator” r ) came to the throne at Akbar’s death.
Also tolerant of other religions, he was known for releasing prisoners of war.

115. Mughal India
He set up a "Chain of Justice" outside his palace. Anyone in trouble could simply pull the chain and receive a hearing from the Emperor.

116. Mughal India
He lavishly patronized the arts: painting, architecture, philosophy, and literature.
His reign is often called the “Age of Mughal splendor.”
Jehangir and Abbas I.

117. Mughal India
He was also an alcoholic and opium addict, easily swayed by others (especially his wife).
It was during Jehangir's reign that the British (British East India Company) got formal permission to trade freely within the Mughal Empire.
This is often thought to be his greatest blunder.

118. Mughal India
When Jehangir died, his son Shah Jahan (r ) replaced him.
Shah Jahan was known as a lover of all things big…big mosques, big forts, big gemstones, etc.

119. Mughal India
He had an extravagant solid gold throne made (completed 1635), encrusted with hundreds of precious gemstones (the famous Peacock Throne).

120. Mughal India
Shah Jahan’s Peacock Throne was constructed out of 1150 kg of gold and kg of precious stones.
It was said to be modeled after the throne of King Solomon and supposed to mirror the throne of God in Heaven.

121. Mughal India
To ascend the Peacock Throne were three jewel encrusted steps made of sterling silver.
On the top of each pillar there were to be two peacocks, thick-set with gems and between every two peacocks a tree set with rubies and diamonds, emeralds and pearls.

122. Mughal India
Among the historical diamonds decorating it were the famous Kohinoor (186 carats), the Akbar Shah (95 carats), the Shah (88.77 carats), the Jehangir (83 carats) and the second largest ruby in the world — the Timur ruby (283 carats).
When made, it cost more than the Taj Mahal.

123. Mughal India

124. Mughal India
The Taj Mahal was built by Shah Jahan between as a tomb for his deceased wife (after she gave birth to their 14th child).

125. Mughal India
It is considered one of the world’s greatest pieces of architecture and one of the seven wonders of the world.
Legend has it that Shah Jahan had the hands of every workman cut off so that the same masterpiece could never be built again.
But the incredible expense of Mughal court and building projects (like the Taj Mahal and Peacock Throne) impoverished the country.

126. Mughal India
To pay for his projects, Shah Jahan raised taxes on the land from 30% to 50% creating major discontentment.
Unable to gauge this discontentment among his own court, he was deposed by his third son Aurangzeb and spent the last eight years of his life imprisoned in his Red Fort, watching the building of the Taj Mahal.

127. Mughal India
Shah Jahan planned to build a companion tomb for himself across the river in black marble but that was foiled by his son’s revolt.
He is buried in the Taj Mahal, next to his wife (but her tomb is much bigger than his).

128. Mughal India
Aurangzeb (“Conqueror of the World” b. 1618, r ) ascended to the throne after having his father imprisoned and three brothers killed.

129. Mughal India
Honest, intelligent, and hard-working, Aurangzeb took over an India that had been in need of administrative, military, and social reforms for decades.

130. Mughal India
Under Jehangir and Shah Jahan (who both preferred living a good life to effectively running an empire), India was threatened by internal decay and external enemies.
The Mughal bureaucracy was bloated and corrupt and so was the military (as well as backward in weaponry and tactics).

131. Mughal India
Aurangzeb was determined to do two things: 1). extend Muslim control over the whole Indian subcontinent; and 2). purify Indian Islam and rid it of Hindu influences that he was convinced were steadily corrupting it.
He forbade the building of Hindu temples and he reinstated taxes assessed on non-Muslims (the jizya).

132. Mughal India
Music and dance were now banned at court, and previously tolerated vices such as gambling, drinking, prostitution, and opium were actively suppressed.
“Censors of public morals” enforced Islamic law in the larger cities.

133. Mughal India
He conducted several military campaigns to extend the empire and was able to increase Mughal India to its greatest extent, but it drained the treasury (one campaign lasted 26 years).

134. Mughal India
The peasantry was taxed to near starvation because of Aurangzeb’s constant wars of expansion, and the political alliances established by Akbar fell apart.
To be a Hindu and advance within the bureaucracy of the government or military became less and less likely; conversion became necessary for success.

135. Mughal India
Aurangzeb ended a century of religious toleration and one major result was the alienation of many subjects’ loyalties.
Antagonized Hindus openly opposed the emperor: “Your subjects are trampled underfoot…every province of your empire is impoverished…God is the God of all mankind, not the God of the Mussalmans (Muslims) alone.”

136. Mughal India So Aurangzeb was the last of the “Great” Mughal emperors.
The empire had become too large and unwieldy to be managed effectively.
There would be a Mughal emperor for the next 150 years (until 1857).

137. Mughal India
When Aurangzeb died, a crisis of succession arose among his three sons and the empire almost at once began to break apart.
The Europeans (especially the British) were waiting in the wings to assert their power over the weakened dynasty.