Introduction for Chapter 17

17 The Islamic World Powers 1300–1800

> What were the strengths and weaknesses of the three great Islamic empires? Chapter 17 examines developments in Islamic empires during the early modern period. The Ottoman Empire was one of the largest, best-organized, and most enduring political entities in world history. In Persia (now Iran) the Safavid Dynasty created a Shi’a state and presided over a brilliant culture. In India the Mughal leader Babur and his successors gained control of much of the Indian subcontinent. Although often at war with each other, these three states shared important characteristics and challenges and were strongly linked culturally. Before the end of this period, Europeans were also active in trade in these empires, especially in India.

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Persian Princess The ruling houses of the Islamic empires were great patrons of art and architecture. This depiction of a princess in a garden is from an early-seventeenth-century palace built by Shah Abbas of the Safavid Dynasty in Persia. (Safavid Dynasty [fresco]. Chehel Sotun, or The 40 Columns, Isfahan, Iran/Giraudon/The Bridgeman Art Library)

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1299–1326 1521
Reign of Osman, founder of the Ottoman Dynasty Piri Reis produces Book of the Sea, a navigational map book
1299–1922 1526–1857
Ottoman Empire Mughal Empire
1336–1405 1556–1605
Life of Timur Reign of Akbar in Mughal Empire
ca. mid-1400s 1570
Coffeehouses become centers of Islamic male social life Ottomans take control of Cyprus
1453 1571
Ottoman conquest of Constantinople First major Ottoman defeat by Christians, at Lepanto
1501–1524 1587–1629
Reign of Safavid Shah Isma’il Reign of Shah Abbas; height of Safavid power; carpet weaving becomes major Persian industry
1501–1722 1631–1648
Safavid Empire Construction of Taj Mahal under Shah Jahan in India
1520–1558 1658–1707
Hürrem wields influence in the Ottoman Empire as Suleiman’s concubine and then wife Reign of Aurangzeb; Mughal power begins to decline
1520–1566 1763
Reign of Ottoman sultan Suleiman I; period of artistic flowering in Ottoman Empire Treaty of Paris recognizes British control over much of India