Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Strayer Ottoman/Safavid summary

In our reading, the book focused on the Ottoman, Safavid, Songhay, and Mughal Empire. All these great, powerful empires made a big affect on the Islamic World and is sometimes considered as a "second flowering of Islam." 
The Ottoman Empire grew around the early fourteenth to twentieth century covering the Middle East, some of Africa, and Eastern Europe. Throughout the time of control, the Ottoman carried with them quite a large group of the Christian population. Since this empire started a new phase of the combination of Christendom and Islamic world, Ottoman also included many diverse people. During the same time, a neighboring state begin to expand forming the Safavid Empire. This empire had a religious split of the Sufi and Shia, two types of the Muslim religion. Since the terroritory, laws, and religious aspects were so different, the Ottoman and Safavid empire continued a rivalry for years. 

Similarly to how the Ottoman and Safavid Empires had a large division, yet political success, there were two other empires that faced a common situation. In West Africa, the Songhay Empire emerged and was the lead way of the trans- Saharan trade routes. They were addressed as the center of Islamic learning because of the empires economical goods and strategies. Just like how the Ottoman Empire combined to religions, Christianity and Islam, the Mughal Empire did the same thing combining Islam and Hinduism. They strived to create a partnership in both this people and further helped each other in wars using each others soldiers. These four empires brought the Islam world to higher political status, and economical success, and religious background.

No comments:

Post a Comment