Quaestio What innovations enabled the Ottomans to conquer

Quaestio: What innovations enabled the Ottomans to conquer Constantinople and beyond? Nunc Agenda: In Marco Polo’s accounts of his travels in China, he write about something he finds amazing: paper money. He says that Kublai Khan has discovered the secret of alchemy, the ability to turn worthless objects into gold. What do you think he meant by that, and why do you think he was so amazed by paper money?

Gunpowder Empires Ottomans, Safavids, Mughals

Timurid Dynasty • The weakening of the Yuan Dynasty after Kublai led to less unity between the Khanates • Timur, aka Tamerlane, a Turko-Mongolian conqueror, took control of the Chagatai Khanate and from there conquered the territories of the Ilkhanate as well as parts of the Golden Horde, creating the Timurid Empire

Timurid Dynasty (Tamerlane)

Timurid Dynasty • Last great nomadic conqueror, his conquests are estimated to have killed 17 million people, or 5% of the population of earth at the time • Empire did not last long, became divided and fell to other rising powers

• 1300 s – Turkish military leader named Osman began to conquer Ottoman and unite Turkish tribes in Western Anatolia (Asia Minor), beginning the Ottoman Sultanate • Mainly motivated by a desire for spoils of war • Like previous Turkic warriors, they originally used cavalry forces in battle • These mounted warriors, called Sipahis, received land from the Sultan and passed down their positions much like European knights Turks

Ottoman Turks • Mid-1300 s: Sultan Murat I worried about the growing threat of the power of Turkish Nobles – Set out to conquer Christian lands in Europe where he would not have these challenges – Conquered the Balkans (a region in Southeastern Europe to the north of Greece)

– Created Devşirme System- Policy of recruiting (by force) mostly Christian boys from the Balkans, converting them to Islam, and then training them as elite soldiers called Janissaries, loyal only to the Sultan – Janissaries were forbidden to have children so they could not pass down their positions and grow too powerful – The most skilled Janissaries often went on to great careers in the Ottoman government – Christian communities at first tried to avoid having their children taken but eventually competed for it due to the honor it brought Ottoman Turks

Conquest of Constantinople • 1400 s: Byzantine Empire weak due to many invasions over centuries • 1453: Sultan Mehmet II led a successful conquest of Constantinople, ending the Byzantine Empire – Gunpowder made the victory - Cannons destroyed the walls of the city

Conquest of Constantinople – Renamed the city Istanbul and made it their capital – Added minarets to the Hagia Sophia and made it a mosque – The Sultan began to also use the title Qayser-i-Rum, or Caesar of Rome

Hagia Sophia

Inside the Hagia Sophia