2.1: Gunpowder Empires

The Turks

One of the great trends of empire-building during this era was the emergence of several empires ruled by Turkic dynasties. At their height the three largest of these – the Ottoman, the Safavid, and the Mughal – controlled territory that stretched almost to the Atlantic Ocean in the west, deep into Central Asia in the east, and nearly to the tip of the Indian subcontinent in the south. In controlling this huge expanse of territory along with many tens of millions of subjects, these empires became some of the most influential forces of early-modern globalization.

The westward migration of Turkic-speaking groups across Asia began as early as the 6th century. Eventually, some of these migrations encountered the eastward expansion of Islam out of Arabia. For a time, a militarized frontier in central Asia was established with largely polytheistic Turkic tribes on one side and the lands of the Islamic rulers on the other. Turkic tribesmen captured through raids would often be sold into slavery and through this process would be Islamicized. At other times, entire clans or tribes would voluntarily convert and offer their military services to the highest bidder. Through this process, growing numbers of Turks became integrated into the Islamic world of the Middle East. Although initially subordinate to a largely Arab or Persian ruling class, the role of Turks as a military caste would eventually translate into direct or indirect political power as well. Figure 2.1.1 shows the location of much of the Muslim world on the globe. Notice that Muslims live in northern Africa, the Middle East and much of south Asia. There is also a substantial Muslim population in southeast Asia.

Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\): The Islamic World, modification of work “World map blank shorelines” by Maciej Jaros/Wikimedia Commons, Rice University, Open Stax, in the Public Domain

Religious Policies

The Ottoman Empire, the Safavid Empire, and the Mughal Empire had diverse origins, timelines, and governing ideologies, but shared a style of warfare that made effective use of gunpowder weapons. The other thing the three empires shared, of course, is that they were all founded and ruled by Muslims. The Islamic character of the ruling groups was certainly significant to elements of their rule and was also key to their claims to legitimacy.

Each ruled over a diverse set of subject peoples, and each managed that difference in distinct ways. Overall, the Ottoman Empire made no particular effort to reduce religious, linguistic, or cultural differences. Conversely, the Safavid Dynasty’s legitimacy was based on specific religious claims and thus from the late-16th century, there was a more concerted attempt on the part of the empire to impose their version of Shi’a Islam upon their subjects who had previously been mostly Sunni. Finally, the Mughals ruled a population in which Muslims were a significant minority meant that Islam did not serve as a legitimizing ideology. Instead, the early Mughal emperors embraced a range of spiritual and philosophical ideas while often distancing themselves from the more conservative Muslim clerics. Indeed, the emperors Akbar and Jahangir sometimes angered such tradition-minded Muslims by patronizing Hindu religious leaders.

Review Questions

• What do these three empires have in common?
• What are some differences between the three empires?