Chapter 27 Empires in South and Southwest Asia

Qizilbash

"red heads", Turkish tribes that were important allies of Shah Ismail in the formation of the Safavid empire who wore red hats with twelve pleats in memory of the twelve Shiite imams

Babur

"the tiger" aka Zahir al-Din Muhammad, Asian descendent of Chinggis Khan and Tamerlane who founded the Mughal empire in northern India in 1526

Shah Ismail

12-yr-old boy who left the swamps of Gilan near the Caspian Sea, where he had hidden from the enemies of his family for 5 years, to seek his vengeance. When he returned to Tabriz (modern Iran) 2 yrs later at the head of an army, he laid claim to the ancient Persian imperial title of shah. He proclaimed the official religion of his new realm to be twelve-Shiism and used force to impose it when necessary.

Akbar

3rd Mughal emperor who ruled from 1556-1605 and was known for his religious tolerance

Shah Jahan

5th Mughal emperor who commissioned the building of the Taj Mahal for his deceased wife (Mumtaz Mahal/Arijumand Banu Begum 1593-1631) from 1632-53

Shah Abbas the Great

5th Safavid Shah of Iran who is generally considered the strongest of the Safavid rulers and moved the capital to Isfahan, a more centralized location which encouraged trade with other lands and reformed the administrative and military institutions of the empire

Aurangzeb

6th Mughal emperor, who ruled for 49yrs over almost all of the Indian subcontinent and imposed a tax on Hindus in an effort to encourage them to convert to Islam after breaking from Akbar's policy of religious toleration and demolishing several Hindu temples to convert them into mosques

Shaikh Salim Chishti

Akbar's Sufi pir ("master")

Topkapi Palace

Heart of Istanbul which housed government offices, such as the mint, and meeting places for imperial councils. It also had the sultan's residence with its harem, gardens, pleasure pavilions, and a repository for the most sacred possessions of the empire, including the mantle of the prophet Muhammad.

Dhimmi

Islamic concept of a "protected people" that was symbolic of Islamic toleration during the Mughal and Ottoman empires

Sufis

Islamic mystics who placed more emphasis on emotion and devotion than on strict adherence to rules

Wahhabi Movement

Islamic religious movement founded by Muhammad ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhab (1703-92) in the mid-18th century in central Arabia that denounced the Ottomans as dangerous religious innovators who were unfit to rule

Suleyman the Magnificent

Ottoman Turkish ruler (r.1520 - 1566), who was the most powerful and wealthy ruler of the 16th century and conquered Bagdad and added the Tigris and Euphrates valleys to the Ottoman empire

Devshirme

Ottoman requirement that the Christians in the Balkans provide young boys to be slaves of the sultan

Safi al-Din

Religious inspiration for the foundation of the Shi'a Safavid Dynasty

Millet

autonomous, self-governing community in the Ottoman empire

Twelver Shiism

branch of Islam that stressed that there were twelve perfect religious leaders after Muhammad and that the twelfth went into hiding and would return someday; Shah Ismail spread this variety through the Safavid empire

Fatehpur Sikri

city planned and constructed by Akbar that served as his capital from 1569 to 1585 where it commemorated his conquest of the prosperous commercial province of Gujarat in a campaign that enabled Akbar to head off both Portuguese attacks and Ottoman interventions there.

Janissaries/yeni cheri

highly respected, elite infantry units of the Ottoman Empire, who formed the first modern standing army in Europe

Safavid Empire

later Persian empire (1501-1722) that was founded by Shah Ismail and that became a center for Shiism; the empire reached its peak under Shah Abbas the Great and was centered on the capital of Isfahan

Mughal Empire

poorly organized empire in the south and southwest Asia during early modern times that imposed over the predominantly Hindu Indian subcontinent for more than 300yrs, but was especially diverse with subjects who were Hindus, but also had large numbers of Muslims who lived alongside smaller communities of Jains, Zoroastrians, Christians, and Sikhs

Ottoman Empire

powerful Turkish empire that lasted from the conquest of Constantinople (Istanbul) in 1453 until 1918 and reached its peak during the reign of Suleyman the Magnificent (r. 1520 - 1566)

Jizya

tax in Islamic empires that was imposed on non-Muslims

Suleymaniye Mosque

vast religious complex that blended Islamic and Byzantine architectural elements combining tall, slender minarets with large domed buildings supported by half domes in the style of the Byzantine church Hagia Sofia (which the Ottomans converted into the mosque of Aya Sofya) by the architect Sinan Pasha