The 16th century was a time when Islamic leaders of the world fought and conquered the lands of other cultures to spread their beliefs while using their military strength to gain political control. Europe, Spain, Northern Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, Persia, and parts of Asia were all affected. This religion rose to a great power as three major theocratic governments. Supreme rulers included the Mughal Empire, the Safavid Dynasty, and the Ottoman Empire. Each sovereignty, though they shared a common faith of Islam and strong military powers, was not in agreement with how they sustained their states. From 1500 CE to 1600 CE all three overlap, though are most importantly, separated geographically and obtained levels of power that also differentiated. …show more content…
The Ottoman Empire (1300-1923), was the strongest and largest encompassing southeastern Europe to Vienna, present-day Hungary, the Balkan region, Greece, parts of Ukraine; portions of the Middle East now occupied by Iraq, Syria, Israel, and Egypt; North Africa; and large parts of the Arabian Peninsula. The Safavid Dynasty (1501–1736), occupied Iran and at one point defended itself from the Ottoman Empire. The Mughal Dynasty (1526-1857), developed in Northern India, Southern India, and what is today, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan. The success of the empire is unique to the others as it is looked at as a nexus of success developed by the third ruler, Abu'l-Fath Jalal ud-din Muhammad Akbar. Political unity, religious tolerance, intellectual pursuit, and fortune came about for and from India under its new reign, the Mughal Empire. The previous rule in India was an Afghan power called the Lodi Dynasty. In 1526 at The First Battle of Panipat, Zahiruddin Babur and his army defeat the Lodi and gained control over India. Babur was a Turkic prince from Central Asia who became the first to rule under the Mughal Empire. Militant natured Babur, found his reign in India was amongst a Hindu population. "For the Muslim rulers of India there was always the issue that they were ruling a vast non-Muslim population. When it came to the point, these Muslim rulers were dependent on Hindu bankers, clerks, craftsmen and laborers." (Robinson) Relying on the non-Muslim people or dhimmis, did not however demonstrate complete equality. Dhimmi's were required to pay a special tax called jizya due to their alternate beliefs. After four years of reign, at his death, Babur passed on his power to his son, Nasirudin Mohammad Hūmayūn. Hūmayaūn faced several troubles with Afghan rivals forcing him to seek refuge and lose territory. With help from military commander Bairam Khan, he was able to regain control over his previous losses but soon died in an accident. At thirteen years of age, his son and heir was Akbar. Cultural structure for this Emperor was original compared to any previous Muslim leader.
Akbar took in mind his minority presence in a Hindu state and realized that social support was necessary for strength by means of centralization. Jizya was abolished and other religious practices were welcomed. Experimental in character, Akbar also encouraged gatherings of intellectual conversations from all religions or scholarly individuals and artists. Not all agreed with Akbar's unorthodox break from tradition, however monuments were still built inspired by unifying Persian, Islamic, and Hindu elements. Indo-Persian progressed through book translations and Persian was declared official language of …show more content…
administration. Trade and economy in India was healthy for both Muslim and Hindu merchants nonetheless. Export goods and inland markets consisted of mainly cotton but also, indigo, spices, sugar, opium, raw silk, velvet, coral, ship building, precious stones and much more. Various sea ports and roads reached distances such as Southeast Asia, east Africa, Arabia, Egypt, Persia, Istanbul, and through Dutch and English connections, Europe. While Indian goods were in high demand, luxury became a trend. Imports included horses, silver and gold. "Akbar's India earned the distinction of being the place of refuge and abode of peace where the wise and the learned earned encouragement." (Alam) Emperor Akbar was a dominion of commerce raising the status of craftsmen and opening a large number of factories to further trade. Government was designed to include the Hindu citizens at high ranks and in military.
Akbar's ability to accept others regardless of their background also allowed him to gain Rajput or Hindu generals through marriage of their daughters, into the same level of his family. Iranian ties into India's political administration would also occur with connections to the Safavid Dynasty. "The centrality and importance of the Imperial household in the organization of Akbar's empire parallels the position of the rulers establishment in the ideal type of a patriarchal bureaucratic system." (Blake) The Mughal Empire contained a web of government officials who held their separate levels of positions. Since Akbar consolidated his men by merit they were also expected to accomplish any
job. Today the Mughal Empire is seen as a time that flourished under he reign of Abu'l-Fath Jalal ud-din Muhammad Akbar. The Emperor's military focus and mainly, his curiosity and liking to other cultures enticed his followers to become loyal constituents and in part, spiritually connected to Akbar. Trade routes, religious unification, and political unification manifested as a change in the traditional ways. For forty-nine years Akbar's attempt of globalization was done to the best of his ability with grace, amongst the rest of the Islamic world.
The political structure of the Arabian and Byzantine empires greatly differed from each other. The Arabian empire was ruled over by a Caliphate. The Caliphate was the successor to the great prophet Muhammad. Politically, the Caliphate sometimes caused trouble for the stability of the empire. With multiple groups such as the Umayyad and the Abbasid believing the were in charge of the Caliphate led to conflicts and violence. An example of conflict would be towards the end of the Abbasid empire when the death of Harun al-Rashid brought several full scale revolutions. Another example would be at the beginning of Abbasid empire when they went as far as too kill off all of the remaining Umayyad leaders to sustain full control with little to no interference. Politically, the Arab/Muslim empire stretched from India and the Middle East into the Africa, the Mediterranean, and Iberia. They also had a large influence in Southeast Asia. When they conquered these areas, there was no forced conversion. On the other hand, they did enforce a higher tax for non-Muslims which prompted people to convert. Only later were there violently forced conversions. A testimony to this would be when the Muslims invaded India and did not touch the Buddhist or Hindus already there. They even respected the Hindu leadership and allowed them to continue. The Muslim empire was successful in other parts of the world due to tolerance, and continued to operate in the face of power struggles.
Akbar was considered the best of the Mughal rulers partly because of his tolerance of all religions. Akbar did his best to unify the Hindus and Muslims by giving both religions positions in the government. Traditionally, only Muslims would could be rulers zamindars while most of the population was Hindu. Akbar also married women of both religions, as an attempt to unify Hindus and Muslims. Akbar himself was interested in religions, inviting different people to discuss other religions with him. Akbar's greatest impact in trying to unite the Hindus and Muslims was creating the Divine Faith religion, but most people did not convert. When Akbar died, the following rulers did not support the same religious tolerance policy that he had. Aurangzeb tried to rid the empire of all Hindu. This caused revolts from both Hindus and Muslims, which created a period of instability allowing Europeans to come and take
Who doesn’t love celebrations? When we celebrate something it’s usually because the event influenced or impacted history in some way. In the case of Zheng He, I do believe we should commemorate his voyages. Zheng he did experience a bad child-hood; as he was involved in many devastating events like the death of his father, becoming a prisoner by the Ming dynasty and being forced to work for a royal family. Zheng didn’t let that bring him down and eventually became a trusted advisor and earned power and wealth. These actions lead to his first of 7 voyages. His voyages had successful outcomes and they also showed that great leadership skills were needed to complete these voyages. Therefore, I do believe we should memorialize the voyages of Zheng
The failure of defensive development in Egypt, the Ottoman Empire, and Persia had a large and long-lasting effect on the Muslim world. The original goal of the reforms was to end European intervention, revive the weakening empires, and to be on equal standing with Europe. Yet, all three empires over-utilized the wealth and knowledge of Europe, leading to their ultimate demise. The empires wished to impose reforms in the military, economics, education, and law which the region had not experienced previously. This resulted in backlash, violence, and division within the empires eventually leading to bankruptcy, ironically, to those which they wished to separate themselves.
In the colonization period, the urge to conquer foreign territories was strong, and many lands in the Western Hemisphere were conquered. With the colonization of these areas, a mercantilist relationship was formed between the conquered civilization and the maternal country. A major part of this was the restriction of exportation of native resources only to the mother country as well as the banning of trading with colonies of other countries. In turn, there was an increasing in the number of smuggling activities during the time. According to a British sailor named William Taggart in 1760, the illegal smuggling of goods into these areas had a positive impact because it brought prosperity to the people in Monte Christi, as there were only one hundred poor families. Likewise, Dominica governor John Orde praised the trading because it created prices much lower than with its maternal country. However, British admiral David Tyrell, Roger Elletson, Dominica governor John Orde, and a 1790 Bahaman newspaper report all had similar views on the harmful effects and corruptness present in smuggling. Despite this, physician George Lipscomb and British Lieutenant Governor Thomas Bruce had neutral opinions on the matter, and only stated what they witnessed in the process.
The Ottomans and Spanish built flourishing empires based on different philosophies from 1450 to 1800. The Ottoman and Spanish were two powerful empires during that time. During the building of the two empires, the Spanish and the Ottoman both developed similarities in their social, political, and economic structures. The Ottoman took control of Europe, while the Spanish saw it as easy to monitor new lands. The different tactics employed made the both empires flourish. For instance, the Spanish were not tolerant of religion. They conquered other areas with the aim of converting Christians to Islam, if they refused, they would be killed. On the other hand, the Ottoman leaders incorporated leaders of diverse culture
In 1789, the French people began to stand up to their current monarchical government in order to obtain rights and laws that they felt they deserved. The Reign of Terror followed after the Revolution and seemed to stand for the complete opposite of what the people had previously stood up for. The Reign of Terror began in 1793 and ended in 1794 due to the decapitation of Maximilien Robespierre. The Reign of Terror can be explained as a time period in France when many counter revolutionaries were killed because of their traditional beliefs. Counter revolutionaries believed in preserving the ways of the monarchy, but since the majority of people thought otherwise, these opposing beliefs led to death. The French government did not have good reason to conduct such drastic measures against those who challenged the Revolution.
Liberty, equality, and freedom are all essential parts to avoiding anarchy and maintaining tranquility even through the most treacherous of times. The Reign of Terror is well known as the eighteen month long French Revolution (1793-1794). In this period of time, a chief executive Maximilien Robespierre and a new French government executed gigantic numbers of people they thought to be enemies of the revolution; inside and outside of the country. The question is; were these acts of the new French government justified? Not only are the acts that occurred in the Reign of Terror not justified, they were barbaric and inhumane.
Three Muslim empires rose during the spread of Islam. These empires are different, yet also similar. They are the Ottomans, Safavids, and Mughals. They united other Muslims but also conquered other territories to form their own empires.
For example, the spread of Islam to the Byzantines and the Persians. The other caliphs (Umar, Uthman and Ali) expanded the Islamic empire rapidly and grew faster than any other religion. The Muslims conquered a massive amount of land from the Indus River, across North Africa and into Spain. There were many factors that helped Islam succeed; for example, people would rather fight for God and their salvation instead of fighting for a king, the use of military force by the Muslims and how easy it was to convert to Islam.
The modern world is linked through networks of communication and exchange between peoples. These exchanges between regions has changed cultures, economics, and politics. Through time the cultural influence between regions has consisted of many factors and elements but comes down to the spread of religion and religious teachings , movement of peoples, technological and cultural advancements affecting trade and commerce. Beginning with the Middle Ages in the years 1100-1500 , Africa, Asia, and Europe developed and influenced each other in several different ways. Starting with religion. The birth of Islam in the Middle East rapidly spread throughout Afro- Eurasia. Islam was attractive to people who were uninterested in the requirements of Christianity and the Church.
During the Middle Ages, the politics and religious systems of the former western Roman Empire changed in many ways due to a number of events and interactions. One of the most important and defining events of this period was the rise of both Latin Christendom and the rise of the Islamic Caliphates. More specifically, is was the ensuing interactions between the two as both faiths struggled to establish their dominance. The rise of the heirs to the Roman Empire, Byzantium, the Caliphates and Latin Christendom, led to conflict and a more clearly defined and structured western world. This “new” western world was no longer simply divided along geographical and political lines, but was now demarcated by an additional principal characteristic:
...ommunity into two. Both Ansary and Gardner present this idea of Rahman III claiming himself as Khalifa and the issued that come along with it are of extreme significance. This disunity of what is supposed to be a single Muslim community (umma) made many Muslims angry and gave them the idea that religion needed to be purified, this sparked a purification of religion in Christianity as well. This eventually led to Islamic Spain falling into the hands of Ferdinand and Isabel who expelled all Muslims from Spain and ended the long-lived Islamic Spain.
Islamic civilization began in Arabia, but it spread to many areas in the proximity of the peninsula. It spread as far as Spain, as well as many areas between the two locations. The civilization reached the Eastern Roman Empire, Persia, Egypt, and Africa. The Muslim warriors were extremely courageous, and their religious zeal aided in the conquests of many empires surrounding Arabia. However, the weakn...
During Muhammad’s time, he united many areas in Arabia and was able to establish a religious communi...