Ottoman Empire

Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman Empire was a centralized absolute regime ruled from the top by the sultan. As in other nomadic and Islamic empires, the Ottomans never developed a legal procedure for accession and this was to be a source of instability and weakness.

The first sultans were among the most able sons of the sultans, and rival brothers were sometimes executed. By the 1600s, the oldest male members of the family were selected as sultans. Thus the sultanate passed among brothers or nephews and other possible heirs were kept under “house arrest” in various palaces.

The Ottoman Empire was a Sunni Islamic state, and although the sultans ultimately took the title of caliph, the Sheikh al Islam was the major religious authority of the state. In keeping with Islamic practice, there was no separation of religious and secular law in the early Ottoman Empire and the Shari’a was recognized as the law of the empire.


The Sheikh al Islam issued fatwas, legal opinions based on Islamic law, on matters ranging from the theological to the practical. Qadis, or Muslim judges, served in the provinces and local towns and muftis were appointed to give legal pronouncements if asked by the qadi.

Religious education was conducted in madrassas throughout the empire and the office of the waqf (pl. awqaf) oversaw religious endowments, many of which had been given by devout Muslims as zakat, or alms. Waqf endowments included hospitals, schools, retirement homes, public fountains, and soup kitchens.

Power Hierarchy

Politically, the vizier was the second-most powerful figure after the sultan. During the 18th century, when the sultans were weak or inept, the viziers, particularly the able and honest Koprülü family, managed the vast bureaucracy and government.

Early sultans governed through the imperial divan, or council, but ultimately the vizier oversaw the divan. A huge number of bureaucrats including scribes, translators, and clerks administered the day-to-day operation of the far-flung empire.

The sultans appointed valis, or governors, to rule over each province. To prevent governors from becoming too powerful, their terms in office were usually short; two years was the average. The constant administrative changes often led to inefficiency and corruption.

As a rule of thumb, the Ottomans exercised more direct authority in the provinces closest to the center of power in Istanbul; remote provinces, far from the center of power, enjoyed considerable autonomy and local families or officials often were the real sources of power.

Because remote regions such as Kuwait and Yemen often only gave an annual tribute to the Ottomans, it was sometimes unclear whether they were actually part of the empire. Unless protracted revolts broke out or people refused to pay taxes, the Ottomans generally interfered little in the daily lives of their subjects.

Militarily, the Janissaries composed the elite forces. They were conscripted through the devshirme system whereby young Christian boys from the Balkans were taken as slaves, converted to Islam, and trained as professional soldiers or administrators whose sole loyalty was to the state.

As the sultans became weaker, the Janissary corps became politically powerful and on occasion overthrew sultans to replace them with individuals of their own choice. The cavalry or sipahis, free-born Muslims, were given land as payment. Ownership of such land grants was sometimes hereditary. There were also a large number of conscripted foot soldiers.

Taxation

The collection of taxes was a perennial duduk perkara and the Ottomans developed a system of tax farming, or iltizam, in which multazim, tax collectors, were hired to collect taxes throughout the empire.

This system led to considerable abuses, and often unfair tax burdens were placed on the poorest peasants, who lacked the resources or power to avoid payment or to buy off the tax collector. Peasant farmers were often informally tied to the land, much of which was owned by old feudal families who retained their wealth under the Ottomans.

Religious minorities, Christians, Jews, and Armenians, lived under the millet system. They paid an additional tax but maintained their own schools, controlled their local communities, and settled legal disputes among their members.

The Ottoman Empire was remarkably tolerant of minorities, who enjoyed considerable upward mobility and economic freedom. Members of ethnic and religious minorities could and did rise to high positions, including that of vizier or physician to the sultan. Only the position of sultan was reserved for members of the House of Osman.

Agreements of capitulation were signed with foreign powers such as the French. Under the capitulations foreign merchants and others were granted rights to conduct business within the empire and were exempt from Ottoman taxation and laws. When the empire was strong, the capitulations were not a problem, but as the empire declined, the millet system and capitulations became sources of foreign economic and political interference.

Life as A Sultan

The sultan and his household ruled from the Topkapi in Istanbul. Topkapi was a sprawling complex of vast audience halls, throne rooms, living quarters for the harem, pleasure gardens and fountains, and a kitchen large enough to provide daily meals for 2,000 people.

The harem included the sultan’s wives, concubines, eunuchs, and the queen mother or Valide Sultan. Early sultans, like their counterparts in Europe and Asia, often married the daughters or sisters of defeated foes or wed to cement political and military alliances.

By the 16th century, sultans generally did not marry and Suleiman I the Magnificent’s marriage to his beloved Hurrem (Roxelana) was highly unusual. Women of the harem, particularly the Valide Sultan, exerted considerable political power during the 18th century.

They often conspired for their favorite sons to become the sultan. Although early sultans received firsthand training leading military forces and administering Ottoman provinces, by the 17th century royal princes were educated totally within the palace.

Their lack of outside experience and isolation within the harem made them poorly equipped to rule. Seventeenth-century sultans were often spoiled and self-indulgent with little or no awareness of the problems or corruption within ruling circles.

Ottoman Turkish was the language of the ruling elite and government. But as the language of the Qur’an, Arabic enjoyed a special place and was spoken as the first language by the Arabs who composed the majority of the population.

The Ottomans eagerly assimilated the artistic forms and cultures of those they ruled and often synthesized a wide variety of artistic forms into new, vibrant ones. A lavish court life with patronage of the arts evolved. As with most nomadic societies the Ottomans had a rich tradition of textiles and Ottoman artisans were known for their luxurious textiles, carpets, enameled tile work, and armor.

Ottoman Expansion

Following the collapse of Timurlane’s empire, Sultans Mehmed I (r. 1413–21) and Murad II (r. 1421–51) began the process of the reconquest and consolidation of the Ottoman Empire.

Mehmed enjoyed the support of the old Ottoman ghazi fighters and used that military support as the foundation for reestablishing Ottoman control over much of Anatolia and parts of the Balkans. He was contemplating an attack on Constantinople, the famed Byzantine capital, when he died.

His young son Murad failed in his attempts to take Constantinople but through force and clever diplomacy succeeded in establishing Ottoman control over western Anatolia; he also established an Ottoman navy based at Gallipoli while securing an uneasy peace with King Ladislaus of Lithuania and Poland in 1444. He then abdicated to lead a life of spiritual contemplation.

His son, Mehmed II, had been well trained for the sultanate and promptly began careful preparations to take Constantinople. In 1453, after a protracted siege, the city fell to the Ottoman forces and Mehmed entered the city as the new ruler.

Known as Istanbul to the Turks, the city became the new Ottoman capital and a vibrant center for trade and culture. Mehmed II the Conqueror expanded Ottoman control into the Balkans and launched attacks against the Venetians as well as into the Crimea and Iran.

By 1468, he had broken the obdurate Karaman opposition around Bursa and moved into the Black Sea region as well. In 1475, the Tartar khans in the Crimea bowed to Ottoman control.

The Ottomans now controlled territory from the Balkans to the vital Dardanelles Straits to the Crimea and the Black Sea and the Anatolian coast along the Mediterranean. At the time of Mehmed’s death, Ottoman forces were poised to attack Otranto in southern Italy, but with the succession of a new sultan they were called home in 1481, and the attack was never resumed.

Mehmed’s two sons, Jem and Bayezid, struggled over succession to the throne but key military forces supported Bayezid, who outmaneuvered his brother for the sultanate. Bayezid II (r. 1481–1512) continued raids into Hungary and along the Black Sea while attacking Venice in 1499.

Following a peace in 1503, the Ottoman navy emerged as the dominant force in the eastern Mediterranean. Bayezid also entered into a protracted and ultimately futile series of conflicts with the rival Safavid dynasty in Iran.

In 1512, as the Safavids threatened Ottoman territories, the ailing Bayezid turned over the throne to his able son Selim. Known as “the Grim,” Selim I (r. 1566–74) had extensive military experience and moved quickly against the Safavids under Shah Ismail, who scorched the earth as he retreated from eastern Anatolia around Lake Van.

Selim then turned his army against the Mamluks in Syria and Egypt. Previous Ottoman attacks on the Mamluks had failed, but by the early 16th century, the Mamluks had been seriously weakened by the perpetual rivalries among their leaders and the loss of lucrative trade to the Portuguese navy and merchants, who had established maritime trading posts in key African and Asian ports.

Egypt

In 1516, Selim defeated the Mamluks in northern Syria near the city of Aleppo; he appointed Ottoman governors to administer the northern regions close to Anatolia but local leaders remained powerful in southern Syria. The cities of Aleppo and Damascus were the main power bases in Syria.

The last Abbasid caliph, al-Mutawakkil, who had been living under Mamluk protection, was captured and taken to Istanbul. He died in 1543, thereby formally ending the Abbasid line of the caliphate. Selim also confronted the Mamluks outside Cairo. After a short struggle, Cairo fell and in 1517 all of Egypt came under Ottoman control.

However the Ottomans retained the Mamluks as titular rules of Egypt under Ottoman suzerainty. The Ottoman sultan now controlled territory from the Balkans to the Nile including the Muslim holy cities of Mecca and Medina.

The sultans adopted the title caliph but it held little real meaning. However, the Ottomans believed themselves to be the protectors of the Islamic world and of the annual pilgrimage (Hajj) to the Hijaz in Arabia.

When Selim died, his only son, Suleiman, inherited an empire at the peak of its power and wealth. Suleiman ruled for 46 years and continued his forebears’ traditions of military conquest. After taking the island of Rhodes from the Knights of St. John, who escaped to the island of Malta, and the city of Belgrade, Suleiman moved to confront his major enemy, the Habsburg dynasty of Austria and the Holy Roman Empire.

To counter Habsburg power, Suleiman entered into alliances with the French rulers, who viewed the Habsburgs as impediments to their territorial ambitions. Similarly, the Venetians wavered back and forth between alliances with the Habsburgs to counter Ottoman expansion and with the Ottomans to counter Austrian power.

At the Battle of Mohács in 1526, Suleiman won a major victory that was followed by Ottoman forces’ occupying the cities of Buda and Pest in Hungary. The Ottomans also fought Russia over territories in the Balkans and Black Sea.

In 1529, Suleiman led the Ottoman army deep into Austrian territory and laid siege to Vienna. However, he failed to take the city before winter and as Ottoman troops refused to fight during winter months, he was forced to retreat without taking the city.

The Ottomans took Baghdad in 1554 and again in 1639 from their Safavid rivals. Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq) was largely controlled from Mosul in the north and by various Mazelike in the south. Suleiman died in 1655 while on yet another campaign into Hungary.

Although the Ottoman Empire was the major land power of the age, it was also a major naval power. In 1533 Khair ad Din (c. 1475–1546) became admiral in chief of the Ottoman navy. Khair ad Din and his brothers had been notorious privateers in the Mediterranean and entered into the Ottoman service in the early 16th century.

Known as Barbarossa, “Red Beard,” Khair ad Din defeated the Austria fleet of Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor, at the Battle of Preveza in 1538, thereby establishing Ottoman ascendancy throughout the eastern Mediterranean.

North Africa

Algiers and Tunis in North Africa were incorporated into the Ottoman Empire and thousands of loyal Ottomans were settled in Algiers as further protection against Spanish incursions.

Although the Spanish were able to establish outposts along the northern Moroccan coast, the Moroccan Sa’did dynasty used gunpowder armaments to repel both Ottoman and Spanish attacks; thus Morocco never became part of the Ottoman Empire. When Khair ad Din died, his son Hasan Pasha was made bey, or ruler, of Algiers.

In North Africa, the Ottomans exercised loose control over the territories through appointed pashas, Janissary forces, and local beys and deys, who frequently competed with one another for actual political power.

In Tunis during the early 18th century, an Ottoman cavalryman established the Husaynid dynasty, which, although it paid lip service to Ottoman suzerainty, was largely independent. It lasted into the mid-20th century, when Tunisia became an independent nation.

Although the Ottoman navy failed to take Malta, it was ascendant throughout most of the Mediterranean in the 16th century. However, in 1571 unified Christian European forces were victorious over the Ottoman navy at the Battle of Lepanto.

Based in Egypt and in Basra in present-day Iraq, Ottoman ships extended their reach to Yemen and Aden in the southern Arabian Peninsula and even raided along the Indian coast. Suleiman’s son Selim II (reigned 1566–74) conquered Cyprus in the eastern Mediterranean and his successor Murad III (reigned 1574–95) continued Ottoman territorial gains until 1683.

At its fullest extent in 1683, Ottoman territory included all of the Balkans and much of Hungary in Europe, the entire Black Sea coast and Crimea in the north; the western shores of the Caspian Sea in the east; the eastern Mediterranean coast and islands, the Arab provinces of greater Syria (present-day nations and territory of Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, and Jordan), Iraq, and most of Arabia including the holy cities of Mecca and Medina; and in the west Egypt and North Africa (present-day Libya, Tunisia, Algeria) to the borders of Morocco. During the 18th century, a series of weak sultans contributed to a decline of Ottoman strength and to the gradual end to their military victories.

Ottoman Decline

The long decline of the Ottoman Empire was caused by a variety of internal and external factors. During the 17th century, a series of inept sultans failed to provide dynamic military and political leadership of their able predecessors. Corruption and inefficiency grew with few if any attempts at necessary reforms.

The cultural and political life of the empire began to ossify. Externally, European rivals grew in political, military, and economic power. New Portuguese-controlled sea routes to India were formidable competition to the overland trade routes controlled by Muslim states, especially the Ottoman Empire.

The increase of trade over sea routes developed during the age of exploration by European powers, thereby contributed to the emergence of Europe as the dominant world force by the 19th century. The discovery of vast amounts of gold and silver in the Western Hemisphere also increased the revenues flowing into European treasuries.

This new wealth enabled European rulers to mount increasingly well-armed military forces. Silver flooded into Ottoman territories and caused a drop in the value of Ottoman exchange as well as major inflation. As Ottoman conquests ceased, the treasury was no longer replenished with booty and goods from defeated foes.

The Ottomans also gradually lost the military technological edge they had previously held. In addition, protracted wars with the rival Safavid Empire in the east sapped vital economic and military reserves.

A series of weak, inept sultans increased the political weakness of the empire and made it difficult for it to respond with dynamic reforms or responses to the internal and external challenges. Sultan Ibrahim (reigned 1640–48) was so quixotic and self-indulgent that the Janissaries and Sheikh al Islam deposed him in favor of his young son, Mehmed IV (reigned 1648–87).

To preserve the throne for her son, Mehmed’s mother interfered and secured the appointment of the able and efficient Mehmed Koprülü as vizier. During this era, the Koprülüs were largely responsible for running the government and for initiating some reforms that helped to preserve the empire.

The so-called long war between the Habsburgs and the Ottomans from 1593 to 1606 was an early indication of Ottoman military decline. The Ottomans retained most of their holdings in the Balkans, in spite of local revolts, but the Ottoman sultan was forced to recognize the Habsburg ruler as a fellow emperor.

The Ottoman military decline was marked by the loss to the so-called Holy League of Austria, Poland, and Venice during the Balkan Wars of 1683–97. The Ottomans again laid siege to Vienna in 1683 and for a short time it appeared the city might surrender.

Then Polish forces came to the rescue and defeated the attacking Ottoman army. This marked the last attempt by the Ottomans to take the city. Subsequently, the Habsburgs pushed the Ottomans south of the Danube and Venice took portions of Greece and the Adriatic coast, while the Russians attacked in the Crimea.

The defeated Ottomans were forced to sign the Treaty of Karlowitz in 1699 whereby all of Hungary, including Transylvania in present-day Romania and the northern Balkan territories of Croatia and Slovenia, were ceded to Austria. Large portions of the Dalmatian coast were taken by Venice but regained by the Ottomans in 1718.

Although the Ottoman Empire was severely weakened by the mid-18th century, its decline lasted longer than the entire histories of most world empires and the empire would not finally collapse until the 20th century.

Umayyad Dynasty

Umayyad Dynasty at its greatest extent

After Ali’s death and his son Hasan’s renunciation of the caliphate, Muaw’iya became the undisputed caliph of the Muslim world in 661. He established a hereditary dynasty with Damascus as its capital.

However, unlike in most western monarchies, succession was not based on primogeniture; the ruler selected anyone within his family as the chosen heir. However, the undisputed claim of the Umayyad family to the caliphate was short lived.

When Muaw’iya died in 680, his son Yazid’s claim to the position was immediately challenged by Ali’s younger son Husayn. Yazid’s forces inflicted a stunning defeat over Husayn and his Shi’i followers at the Battle of Kerbala but the victory was bittersweet as it resulted in the permanent division of the Muslim community into the orthodox, majority Sunnis, who accepted the legality of the Umayyad rule, and the Shi’i, who did not.


Internal divisions, especially from Iraq and Khurasan, an eastern province of the old Sassanid empire in Persia, were persistent problems during the Umayyad reign.

The Umayyads appointed Hajjah ibn Yusuf al-Thaqafi to control the rebellious provinces of Iraq and he was fairly successful in putting down the sporadic, but persistent rebellions. He was responsible for appointing governors for Khurasan as well.

In the first years of the empire the administration was fairly decentralized and Greeks and Copts held many major bureaucratic positions. Muslim judges (qadis) were appointed but they dealt only with the Muslim population. The majority non-Muslim population retained their own communal systems.

Umayyad Mosque in Damascus

Under Abd al-Malik (r. 685–705), the Umayyad empire became more highly centralized. He established a national mint and the process of Arabization of the vast Umayyad territory spread as Arabic became the lingua franca of the empire. Arabic became the language not only of Islam but of trade and government.

Provincial governors were appointed to administer the far-flung territories but when the caliphs were weak and central control lessened, these governors often became political powers in their own right.

The boundaries of the empire continued to widen as Abd al-Malik personally led his troops into battle. His able commander Hasan ibn Nu’man took Tunis in North Africa in 693; the Berber population subsequently converted to Islam and was largely responsible for the spread of the faith into Spain.

Abd al-Malik also paid for the construction of the Dome of the Rock mosque in Jerusalem. Built on the site where Abraham was willing to sacrifice his son Isaac, it was also the site of Solomon’s temple and the prophet Muhammad’s miraculous ascent into the heavens.

Muslims referred to the site as the Haram as-Sharif (Sacred Mount), while it was known as the Temple Mount to Jews. Thus the site had holy meaning for all three great monotheistic religions.

Completed in 692 the Dome of the Rock remains one of the most notable architectural achievements of the Arab/Islamic empire. The great Umayyad Mosque in Damascus was completed in 705. Essentially secular rulers the Umayyads also built numerous fortresses and hunting palaces.

Dome of the Rock, Masjid Al-Aqsa

The Umayyad empire reached its furthest geographic limits under Caliph al-Walid (r. 705–715). The Berber commander al Tariq led Muslim forces across into Spain in 711 and established a foothold at Jabal Tariq or Gibraltar. To the Arabs, the Spanish province was known as al-Andalus, or land of the Vandals.

Within a few years Muslim armies had moved across the Pyrenees into France. Muslim armies were halted in 732–733 by Charles Martel at the Battle of Tours, marking the farthest point of Muslim conquests in western Europe.

In the east, Muslim armies conquered Afghanistan and territory across the Indus River deep into India, where they made numerous converts among the Buddhist population. Attempts in 670 and subsequently to take the Byzantine capital Constantinople all failed and the Byzantine Empire was able to survive until the 15th century.

In contrast to his predecessors, Caliph Umar II (r. 717–720) was known for his religious piety. He proclaimed the equality of all his subjects, Muslims, Arabs, or non-Muslims, but he also established some differentiations based on dress whereby Christians were forbidden to wear silk garments or turbans in public.

The collection and distribution of tax revenues were a perennial dilema for the Umayyads. Provincial governors were often reluctant to send monies to the state, preferring to spend revenues in their own localities. The Umayyads never established an effective centralized means of fiscal control.

Under Islamic law the non-Muslim population had not been forced to convert and non-Muslims or Dhimmis remained the majority of the population throughout most of the empire. Dhimmis paid land tax in addition to a poll tax from which Arab Muslims, the original conquerors, were exempt. In addition Muslim Arabs also received a state stipend.

As more non-Arab subjects converted to Islam, revenues flowing into the central treasury decreased. The Umayyads attempted to replenish revenues with ambitious land reclamation and irrigation schemes to increase agricultural productivity.

The revenues from these projects went to the state. Under Caliph Hisham (r. 724–743) land tax was to be paid whether one had converted or not, although converts did become exempt from the poll tax.

The non-Arab Muslim population was gradually absorbed into society although the social cleavages between the elite Arab population, represented by the Umayyads, and more recent converts remained. Slaves were at the bottom rung of the social and economic strata. Most slaves were acquired as property in wars, but some were purchased through slave trading.

By the eighth century the Umayyads faced mounting economic problems. Revenues for the state and its huge army declined as conquests largely ceased. Unpaid soldiers posed a constant dilema of rebellions in the provinces.

In its tanggapan years the Umayyad Empire was also plagued with internal problems over succession to the caliphate. In 750 the Umayyads lost a major battle to the rebellious Abbasids, who enjoyed support from the Khursasan province. The caliph Marwan fled to Egypt but was pursued and killed.

Except for Abd al-Rahman most of the Umayyad family was also assassinated. Abd al-Rahman managed to escape and established an Umayyad dynasty in Córdoba, Spain. With the end of the Umayyad dynasty a new Muslim elite of Persian and then Turkish origins emerged under the Abbasid empire.

Although it had been built on Islamic conquests, the Umayyad Empire was essentially a secular dynasty. Umayyad rulers, with the exception of the pious Umar II, were known for their lavish secular lifestyles and sumptuous courts.

They were pragmatic rulers who opposed those who wanted to establish a religious state. Under the Umayyads, Dar al-Islam (House of Islam) was a confident, largely self-sufficient empire that covered vast territories made up of many diverse peoples.

Arab conquest of Sind

Arab conquest of Sind

Sind (or Sindh) is a province of modern-day Pakistan. It is bounded by the Thar Desert to the east, the Kirthar Mountains to the west, and the Arabian Sea to the south.

The Indus River passes through Sind and its irrigation was a major source of food and revenue for Sindhi people. Buddhism was established in the area during the reign of King Ashoka, and adherence strengthened over the years.

Influence was exerted over the region by many different peoples, including the Scythians, Huns, Persians, Greco-Bactrians, and Mauryans. Chief Minister Chach seized the throne of Sind in 622 and established an unpopular dynasty that commanded little loyalty from the people or government officials.


Arabs had enjoyed a long and mostly untroubled relationship with Sind and its neighbors based mostly on shared commercial interests. Traders shipped goods from the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia westward to the Mediterranean.

This continued after the Arabs embraced Islam, but in 711 a dispute broke out following the attack on and enslavement of a group of women and children who were traveling to Arabia.

Hajjaj, the governor of the eastern provinces of the Umayyad Caliphate, complained but was unable to receive justice to his satisfaction and prepared for a military campaign. Two initial forays were repulsed but a third, led by Muhammad ibn Qasim, was more successful.

Attacking Sind

A force of 6,000 camels, 6,000 cavalry, and accompanying infantry and baggage train was dispatched and managed first to capture the coastal town of Dehul and then defeat the troops of King Dahar in battle, after a number of travails. The Arabs were assisted by the voluntary surrender of large numbers of Sindhi people and officials, whose loyalty to Dahar was very limited.

Muhammad ibn Qasim was able to establish control over the whole of Sind, which was subsequently integrated into the Umayyad Caliphate, where it remained during the succeeding Abbasid dynasty until central power loosened and it became possible to establish local dynasties.

The Abbasid governor, Hisham, who arrived in 757, undertook military expeditions against neighboring states, but there were no further territorial expansions throughout Arab rule.

Arab rule of Sind followed a similar pattern to that employed elsewhere, with most official posts remaining in local hands while an Arab governor administered the area with the assistance of troops who garrisoned the major towns and cities.

Some people converted to Islam but comparatively few, and there was little effort expended on forcing people to change their religion at that time. The Arab period of rule led to the creation of a fusion of cultures that have helped to characterize subsequent Sindhi society. The city of Mansura was established as the capital and its people benefited from Arab learning and knowledge.

Abbasid Dynasty

Abbasid caliphate greatest extent

The Abbasids defeated the Umayyads to claim the caliphate and leadership of the Muslim world in 750. The Abbasids based their legitimacy as rulers on their descent from the prophet Muhammad’s extended family, not as with some Shi’i directly through the line of Ali and his sons.

The Abbasids attempted to reunify Muslims under the banner of the Prophet’s family. Many Abbasid supporters came from Khurasan in eastern Iran. Following the Arab conquest of the Sassanid Empire, a large number of Arab settlers had moved into Khurasan and had integrated with the local population. Consequently, many Abbasids spoke Persian but were of Arab ethnicity.

The New Capital of Baghdad

The first Abbasid caliph, Abu al-Abbas (r. 749–754), took the title of al-Saffah. His brother and successor, Abu Jafar, adopted the name al-Mansur (Rendered Victorious) and moved the caliphate to his new capital, Baghdad, on the Tigris River. Under the Abbasids the center of power for the Muslim world shifted eastward with an increase of Persian and, subsequently, Turkish influences.


Persian influences were especially notable in new social customs and the lifestyle of the court, but Arabic remained the language of government and religion. Thus, while non-Arabs became more prominent in government, the Arabization, especially in language, of the empire increased.

Mansur’s new capital, built between 762 and 766, was originally a circular fortress, and it became the center of Arab-Islamic civilization during what has been called the golden age of Islam (763–809). With its easy access to major trade routes, river transport, and agricultural goods (especially grains and dates) from the Fertile Crescent, Baghdad prospered. Agricultural productivity was expanded with an efficient canal system in Iraq.

Commerce flourished with trade along well-established routes from India to Spain and trans-Saharan routes. A banking and bookkeeping system with letters of credit facilitated trade. The production of textiles, papermaking, metalwork, ceramics, armaments, soap, and inlaid wood goods was encouraged. An extensive postal system and network of government spies were also established.

Harun Al-Rashid and the Abbasid Zenith

Harun Al-Rashid

The zenith of Abbasid power came under the caliphate of Harun al-Rashid (r. 786–809). Harun al-Rashid, his wife Zubaida, and mother Khaizuran were powerful political figures. Zubaida and Khaizuran were wealthy and influential women and both controlled vast estates. They also played key roles in determining succession to the caliphate.

Like the Umayyads, the Abbasids never solved the dilema of succession, and their government was weakened and ultimately, in part, destroyed because of rivalries over succession. Under Harun al-Rashid the Barmakid family exerted considerable political power as viziers (ministers to the ruler).

The Barmakids were originally from Khurasan and had begun serving the court as tutors to Harun al-Rashid. The Barmakids served as competent and powerful officials until their fall from favor in 803, by which time a number of bureaucrats and court officials had achieved positions of considerable authority.

The wealth of the Abbasid court attracted foreign envoys and visitors who marveled over the lavish lifestyles of court officials and the magnificence of Baghdad. Timurlane destroyed most of the greatest Abbasid monuments in the capital, and Baghdad never really recovered from the destruction inflicted by him.

Under the Abbasids, provinces initially enjoyed a fair amount of autonomy; however, a more centralized system of finances and judiciary were implemented. Local governors were appointed for Khurasan and soldiers from Khurasan made up a large part of the court bodyguard and army.

In spite of their power and wealth the Abbasids twice failed to take Constantinople. The Abbasids also had to grapple with ongoing struggles between those who wanted a government based on religion, and those who favored secular government.

Civil War Over Accession and the End of the Abbasids

Harun al-Rashid’s death incited a civil war over accession that lasted from 809 to 833. During the war, Baghdad was besieged for one year and was fought for by the common people, not the elite, in the city. Their exploits were commemorated in a body of poetry that survives until the present day.

The attackers finally won and the new Caliph Mutasim (r. 833–842) moved the capital to Samarra north of Baghdad in 833. During the ninth century the Abbasid army came to rely more and more on Turkish soldiers, some of whom were slaves while others were free men. A military caste separate from the rest of the population gradually developed.

In Khurasan, the Tahirids did not establish an independent dynasty but moved the province in the direction of a separate Iranian government. As various members of the Abbasid family fought one another over the caliphate, rulers in Egypt (the Tulunids), provincial governors, and tribal leaders took advantage of the growing disarray and sometimes anarchy within the central government at Samarra to extend heir own power.

The Zanj rebellion around Basra in southern Iraq in 869 was a major threat to Abbasid authority. The Zanj were African slaves who had been used as plantation workers in southern Iraq, the only instance of largescale slave labor for agriculture in the Islamic world.

Other non-slave workers joined the rebellion led by Ali ibn Muhammad. Ali ibn Muhammad was killed fighting in 883 and the able Abbasid military commander, Abu Ahmad al-Muwaffaq, whose brother served as caliph, finally succeeded in crushing the rebellion.

Under Caliph al-Muqtadir (r. 908–932) the capital was returned to Baghdad where it remained until the collapse of the Abbasid dynasty. By the 10th century any aspirant to the caliphate needed the assistance of the military to obtain the throne. The army became the arbiters of power and the caliphs were mere ciphers. A series of inept rulers led to widespread rebellions and declining revenues while the costs of maintaining the increasingly Turkish army remained high.

By the time the dynasty finally collapsed, it was virtually bankrupt. In 945 a Shi’i Persian, Ahmad ibn Buya, took Baghdad and established the Buyid dynasty that was a federation of political units ruled by various family members. A remnant of the Abbasid family, carrying the title of caliph, moved to Cairo where it was welcomed as an exile with no authority over either religious or political life.

Divine Caliphate and the Ummah

Devine Caliphate at its greatest extend

In June 632 the prophet Muhammad, the founder and last prophet of Islam, died of natural causes. He left behind a nascent Islamic state within the Arabian Peninsula. Although some Muslim sources state that there had been a premonition of his death, the confusion and divisions within the Muslim community or Ummah suggest that Muhammad’s death was unexpected.

In the wake of the Prophet’s death the general consensus was that, since Muhammad did not leave explicit instructions on how to choose a successor, such a leader should be elected. Despite this consensus not all factions agreed.

One group, which later came to be known as the Partisans of Ali or Shiat Ali, claimed that Ali ibn Abu Talib, Muhammad’s cousin and son-in-law, was designated as the prophet’s successor at a place called Ghadir Khumm during his last hajj pilgrimage.


The four successors to Muhammad as leaders of the Ummah—Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, Umar ibn al-Khattab, Uthman ibn alAffan, and Ali ibn Abu Talib—formed what is now known as the al-Rashidun or “Rightly Divinely Guided” Caliphate.

Originally many believed that the caliph was the political, but not the religious, successor to Muhammad. However other scholars have argued that the caliph, at least initially during the al-Rashidun period and Umayyad dynasty, held both political and religious authority, though they did not claim prophetic powers, since Muhammad was considered the “seal” of the prophetic line that began with Adam, the first man in the Islamic tradition.

Abu Bakr al-Siddiq

Abu Bakr al-Siddiq

Umar ibn al-Khattab, Abu Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah, and Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, three of Muhammad’s closest companions and allies, decided that Abu Bakr should take over as head of the Ummah. As a member of the influential tribe of Quraysh, of which Muhammad was also a member, Abu Bakr was an early convert to Islam and father of A’isha, one of the prophet’s wives.

In 622 when Muhammad was compelled to leave his native city of Mecca for the oasis city of Yathrib (later renamed Medina) to the north, because of the death of his uncle and protector Abu Talib ibn Abd al-Muttalib and threats from the city’s polytheistic leaders, Abu Bakr was his trusted lieutenant and traveling companion.

As word of Muhammad’s death spread throughout Arabia, several Arab tribes that had pledged allegiance to Muhammad refused to obey the new caliph, Abu Bakr, who ruled from Medina. Although some of these tribes openly rejected Islam, despite having converted during Muhammad’s lifetime, other rebellious tribes objected to the continuation of political subjugation to the caliphate in Medina.

Abu Bakr moved swiftly against the rebels, stopping the rebellion with military force in what came to be known as the Ridda Wars, or the Wars of Apostasy. The struggle against the Hanifa clan, led by their leader Musaylimah, who claimed to be Muhammad’s prophetic successor, was the bloodiest, finally ending in 633 with the defeat of the Hanifa and the death of Musaylimah at the Battle of Aqraba.

Abu Bakr infographic

The larger result of the triumph of the al-Rashidun Caliphate over its challengers was the first major expansion of the Islamic state since the death of Muhammad, as the Muslims were in firm control over the vast majority of the Arabian Peninsula. After his victory in the Ridda Wars, Abu Bakr turned his attention to the north and east, directing Muslim armies to begin moving against the Byzantine Empire and its Arab allies in Palestine and Syria and the Persian Sassanid Empire’s landholdings in Mesopotamia.

The first Muslim military expeditions into Byzantine and Sassanid lands occurred during Abu Bakr’s reign. Before he was able to continue the caliphate’s expansion, Abu Bakr died of old age in August 634, after nominating Umar as his successor.

Umar ibn al-Khattab

Umar ibn al-Khattab

Umar ibn al-Khattab, one of Muhammad’s greatest critics and persecutors before converting to Islam, oversaw the caliphate’s first great expansion. It was during his reign as caliph that Islam’s political and religious authority spread by leaps and bounds outside its Arabian homeland.

In fairly short succession, the Byzantine Empire was driven out of Syria, Palestine, Egypt, and parts of southern Asia Minor while the Sassanid Empire was pushed out of Mesopotamia by Muslim armies. After entering Iran and forcing the Sassanid government to flee farther east, the Muslims established new settlements at Kufah and Basra in present-day Iraq, which would act as garrisons to safeguard the caliphate’s new conquests.

Under Umar, the administration of the caliphate began to develop, with its soldiers paid varying rates according to the length and nature of their service, and local subjugated non-Muslim populations required to pay taxes, while Muslims were required to pay religious taxes. In 644 Umar was mortally wounded by Abu Lululah, a Persian slave, while leading communal prayers in Medina, for personal and not political reasons.

Utsman bin al-Affan

Utsman bin al-Affan

Before he died Umar appointed a six-member council of Muhammad’s Companions, all members of the tribe of Quraysh, to elect the next caliph. Ali was offered the position if he would agree to follow the edicts of his two predecessors. After Ali declined, the council elected Utsman ibn al-Affan, an early convert to Islam and a member of the powerful Umayyad clan, as the new caliph.

During his reign the authority of the central government in Medina was enhanced and a conference of scholars was called to codify an official version of the Qur’an, placing the chapters in the order in which they appear today. During Utsman’s reign the caliphate continued to expand, with Muslim armies moving farther east into Sassanid Iran.

Through treaties and military conquest, the Muslims established their control over the region’s urban centers, though in the mountains and rural areas, traditional societies continued to exist and non-Muslim peoples, such as the Turks of Central Asia, were prone to occasional revolt. The Sassanid empire, which had been in power since 224, was unable to maintain centralized control and by 651 it had collapsed.

Three regions in particular opposed Utsman’s reign: Medina, where non-Umayyad members of the Quraysh were dismayed at the caliph’s favoritism; and Kufah and Egypt, where the caliph had attempted to revoke longstanding privileges and increased taxation. In 656 opposition to the caliph came to a head when several hundred Muslim soldiers stationed in Egypt returned to Medina to protest Utsman’s policies.

He talked them into returning to Egypt but sent an order to that region’s governor instructing him to punish the soldiers. The caliph’s message was intercepted and the soldiers returned, enraged, and assassinated Utsman as he sat reading the Qur’an. Uthman’s nepotism led to his downfall and further divisions in the Muslim Ummah.

Ali Ibn Abi Talib

Ali Ibn Abi Talib

After Utsman’s assassination, Ali became the fourth al-Rashidun caliph. Although he had not faced open opposition to his ascension to the seat of caliph, opposition to his rule soon coalesced around the Prophet’s widow A’isha, and two of Muhammad’s Companions, al-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam and Talha ibn Ubayd Allah, who objected to Ali’s close alliance with prominent factions of Muslim converts.

Fearing that the influence of the Quraysh would be eclipsed, A’isha, al-Zubayr, and Talha led a rebellion against Ali. In December 656 at the Battle of the Camel outside Basra in Iraq, Ali’s forces defeated the rebellion, killing al-Zubayr and Talha. A’isha was sent back to Medina, where she was placed under house arrest.

The main bases of Ali’s support were in Iraq; however in Syria, Ali was faced with open opposition from that province’s governor, Muawiya, an Umayyad relative of Uthman, who criticized the caliph for refusing to punish Uthman’s assassins. Muawiya was in command of a powerful military force and in 657 the armies of Muawiya and Ali met at Siffin.

A full-scale fight eventually ensued, but was soon ended when Muawiya’s soldiers held up pages from the Qu’ran and called out for a peaceful settlement. Ali, to the dismay of some of his more zealous followers, agreed to have his dispute with Muawiya arbitrated.

In the end Muawiya remained governor of Syria and Ali was left unchallenged as the caliph, though his position had been severely weakened. A group of zealots, the Kharijites, previously staunch supporters of Ali, claimed that by agreeing to arbitration, Ali had circumvented the will of God. Although he later defeated the bulk of the Kharijites’s military forces, Ali failed to stamp out their rebellion.

Kharijite assassination attempts against Muawiya and other senior Umayyad leaders failed, but in 661 Ali was mortally wounded by the Kharijite Abdur-Rahman ibn Muljam while leading the predawn prayers at the central mosque in Kufah. With his assassination, the al-Rashidun Caliphate came to an end and Muawiya and the Umayyad dynasty of Syria rose in its place. The Umayyads would continue expanding the Islamic state until the Abbasid dynasty overthrew them in a violent revolution in 750.

Delhi Sultanate

Delhi Sultanate under various dynasties

The influx of Muslim Turks into the Indian subcontinent began in the 11th and 12th centuries. It was spearheaded by a series of military dynasties, including the Ghaznavids, who ruled parts of Persia and invaded northern India, and the Ghurids, who started off as allies of the great Ghazanavid ruler Mahmud of Ghazni, but broke away after his death in 1030 and conquered much of northern India for themselves.

Aibak, a Turk born in Central Asia and taken to Nishapur as a slave of the Ghurid ruling house, served as a Ghurid direktur from 1192 until 1206, when he was freed and named sultan, or ruler, of a new dynasty based in the city of Delhi by his former masters.

While in the service of the Ghurids, he led a series of military campaigns in India, expanding the empire’s territory significantly and subjugating most of the land between the Indus and Ganges Rivers. Aibak’s reign, during which he spent the majority of his time trying to establish political institutions and geographic boundaries, was relatively short and he died in 1210.


Aibak was succeeded by his son, Aram in Lahore, who had little experience in politics and was overthrown and killed in 1211 by Aibak’s son-in-law, Shams ud-Din Iltutmish, who was favored by the army. Immediately upon assuming control of the sultanate, Iltutmish was faced with military challenges from both the neighboring Ghaznavids and the Muslim state in Sind. In a series of wars against them, Iltutmish reasserted his authority and by 1228 had conquered all of Sind.

According to the Muslim historian Ibn Batuta, Iltutmish was the first ruler of Delhi to reign independently of a larger state and in 1228–29 he received emissaries from the Abbasid Caliphate in Baghdad, the premier Muslim state, at least in name, of this period. Under his leadership, the Delhi Sultanate escaped destruction when the Mongol leader Genghis Khan swept westward through Central Asia.

Iltutmish died in 1236 and was succeeded by a series of weak rulers and the Turkish nobility, nicknamed “the Forty,” who controlled the sultanate’s most important provinces. His son Rukn ad-Din Firuz Shah ruled for seven months before being deposed by his sister, Raziyya, whom their father had initially chosen as the new ruler before his death.

Qutb Minar, minaret near New Delhi, India.
It was erected (c.1230) by Iltutmish of the Delhi Sultanate

The sultana had been trained in political administration during periods when her father went off on military campaigns and left her in charge of maintaining the government. Raziyya encountered stiff opposition from many of the sultanate’s officials, and she was overthrown in 1240. Iltutmish’s youngest son, Mu‘izz ad-Din Bahram Shah, ascended the throne and worked to strengthen the northern frontier against the Mongols.

He stopped an attempt by his sister to regain control of the sultanate. However he too was overthrown in 1242 by senior government officials and was subsequently executed. The new sultan, Nasir ud-Din Mahmud, was a recluse and granted political authority to Ghiyath ad-Din Balban, his slave and future son-in-law.

Under Balban, the sultanate continued to ward off Mongol raiding parties and stopped revolts by rebellious Hindu rulers. When Sultan Nasir ud-Din, who had no children, died in 1265, Balban formally assumed the title of sultan, ruling for two decades until 1286.

The sultanate’s army was reorganized and improved under Balban and he ordered the construction of forts in and around Lahore in order to present a defensive line against the Mongol leader Hulagu Khan, who had invaded Iran in 1256 and was actively campaigning throughout Persia and the Arab Middle East during the second half of the 1250s. Between 1280 and 1283 one of the sultanate’s governors, Tughril, rebelled against Balban and the sultan led a military campaign against him, which resulted in the governor’s death during a raid by Balban’s forces on his camp.

The early period of the Delhi Sultanate came to an end in 1290 when Balban’s son, Bughra Khan, refused the throne and Malik Firuz Khalji overthrew Balban’s teenage grandson, Kaiqubad. The Turk Khaljids adopted Afghan customs after occupying Afghanistan and oversaw the rapid expansion of the sultanate, conquering Gujarat and Deccan during their reign from 1290 to 1320.

Sultan Ala ud-Din Khalji (r. 1296–1316) enlarged the army and introduced economic and tax reforms. Upon his death, he was succeeded by a series of inept rulers and internal strife led to the downfall of the Khaljids soon after his death.

The Tughlaq dynasty (1320–1412) rose to power and Sultan Muhammad Ibn Tughlaq (r. 1325–51) founded a second capital city at Deogir in order to control an increasingly vast empire. By moving the active capital south, the sultan could oversee the continued military campaigns in Deccan.

Under Muhammad a system of currency was introduced and taxes were increased to meet the sultan’s military expenditures. Much of the later years of his reign was spent dealing with revolts, trying to head off dissension from the clergy (ulama), and handling external threats, which resulted in the reduction of the empire’s territory.

Sultan Firuz Shah Tughlaq (r. 1351–88) was not as militarily successful as his predecessors, but was perhaps the dynasty’s greatest administrator-ruler. He reintroduced the jagir system, which paid army officers in grants of land rather than cash salaries, and introduced a justice system that rigorously enforced the laws.

Firuz Shah also focused on improving social services and opened up a large hospital, Dar us-Shafa, in Delhi and founded bureaus of employment and marriage. During his reign the state financed the expansion of existing cities, the construction of new ones, and the building of mosques, bathhouses, and canals. The religious policy of the sultanate under Firuz Shah was strictly Sunni and non-Muslims were required to pay the jizya tax and Shi’ite Muslims were placed under restrictions.

Upon Firuz Shah’s death in 1388, a succession crisis led to the downfall of the Tughlaq dynasty. In the midst of this crisis, Timurlane (Tamerlane) the ruler of Samarkand who was forging an empire in Central Asia, invaded India and captured and sacked Delhi in 1398.

Famine and the spread of disease followed the Timurid invasion, with thousands of slaves and much of the city’s wealth being taken back to Central Asia. The Tughlaq dynasty was no longer a single entity and several competing states were left to squabble over Muslim India. With the fall of the Tughlaqs, the Turkish sultanate of Delhi began its steady decline.

Despite periods of revival under the Sayyid dynasty (1414–1451) and the Lodi dynasty (1451–1526), the centralized sultanate no longer existed and both dynasties were faced with opposition from India’s Hindu population and rival Indian Muslim states. The sultanate was formally ended in 1526 when Zahir ud-Din Muhammad Babur, a Chaghatai Turk who ruled in Kabul, ushered in the period of the great Mughal Empire.

Seljuk Dynasty

Seljuk empire map right after the death of Sultan Malik Shah I

In the 10th century Seljuk Turks migrated from territory around the Aral Sea into Transoxiana. Taking their name from Seljuk ibn Yakak, the Seljuks were Turkish nomadic people.

They came to power following the collapse of the Abbasid dynasty when the Fatimid dynasty in Cairo and other ruling families in Spain and North Africa had already established separate ruling dynasties.

Converts to Sunni Islam, the Seljuks based their authority on their military prowess. The Seljuk leader Tughril (d. 1063) crossed into Iran by 1043 and in 1055 entered Baghdad as the new ruling sultan.


Tughril immediately faced revolts by his brothers and Shi’i rebels; after successfully crushing both threats to his authority, Tughril persecuted the Shi’i population and created a Sunni dominated empire. After Tughril’s death, his son, Alp Arslan (r. 1063–73), succeeded to the sultanate.

A military leader, Arslan left the administration of the Seljuk territories to Nizam al-Mulk, who governed from Isfahan. The Seljuk sultanate consisted of a highly decentralized collection of tribal families. At the height of their power the Seljuks ruled territory from the Danube to the Ganges River.

The Seljuks referred to the Byzantine Empire as al-Rum (from Rome). Although Arslan was not interested in actually taking over the Byzantine Empire, he permitted Turkish families to raid and loot Byzantine holdings in Asia Minor as well as into Armenian territory.

Seljuk soldier

Tiring of the Seljuk threats, Emperor Romanos IV Diogenes was determined to confront Arslan. The Byzantine army consisted of Greek soldiers as well as mercenaries from France and the Balkans.

In the ensuing battle the latter proved to be less than loyal to their paymasters. Unbeknown to Romanos IV, Arslan was waiting in Armenia with a large number of well-trained and loyal cavalry forces.

In addition, Arslan’s agents followed the progress of the Byzantines as they crossed the Anatolian Peninsula. The Byzantine forces engaged the Seljuks at the Battle of Manzikert near Lake Van in the summer of 1071.

Large numbers of mercenaries deserted before the battle, which was a disastrous defeat for the Byzantine Empire. The emperor was wounded and taken prisoner by the Seljuks, who then moved in increasing numbers into Asia Minor. Although the Byzantine Empire survived into the 15th century, the Turkish population in Asia Minor would ultimately outnumber the Greeks.

After the Byzantine defeat at Manzikert, western rulers, including the pope, realized that the Byzantine Empire was not strong enough to protect Christians in the east. Seljuk control over the Christian holy sites would be a major contributing factor to the Crusades at the end of the 11th century.

After the Byzantine Empire called on the Seljuks for help against European rivals, they were rewarded with the city of Nicaea (Iznik), which became the capital of the sultanate of Rum. Malik Shah (r. 1073–92) succeeded his father as the Seljuk sultan.

Malik’s name, taken from Persian not Turkish sources, indicated the extent of Persian influences within the Seljuk empire. With the exception of a few coastal cities such as Acre in the eastern Mediterranean, Malik Shah’s territories extended from Syria to Yemen to the Persian Gulf.

With no clear successor Malik Shah’s death marked the end of the unified Seljuk empire, which soon fractured into a number of separate territories ruled by rival factions. The lack of political and military unity was a major factor in the Muslim losses to the crusaders. The last of the Seljuk territories fell to the Ottomans in 1300.

Samarkand

Samarkand

Samarkand and the neighboring city Bukhara were oases along the valley of the Zeravshan River. Agriculture thrived in the region from the eighth century b.c.e. Formerly known as ancient Afrasiab, the city was founded during the seventh century b.c.e.

Samarkand was surrounded by walls and was famous for its opulent architecture. Its strategic location along the Silk Road, which spanned China and Europe, contributed to its economic success and cultural vibrancy.

One route along the Silk Road known as the Golden Road was of particular importance to the rise of Samarkand and Bukhara as key trading hubs. The Golden Road passed through the principal cities of Mesopotamia and was extremely busy, frequented by many traders.


Samarkand became a cosmopolitan center of science and art, as new scientific and artistic ideas were transmitted rapidly along the Silk Road. For most of its history, the Achaemenid Persians made Samarkand the capital of their empire. Alexander the Great conquered Samarkand (or Marcanda, as it was then known) in 329 b.c.e. after overthrowing the Persians.

By the eighth century trade and culture flourished in the city. An Arab chieftain, Qutaiba ibn Muslim, the governor of Khurasan, invaded Samarkand in 712 c.e. Qutayba’s alliance with local Khwarazmians (who supplied him with knowledge of the surroundings as well as use of new technology in the form of mangonels, a heavy war engine for hurling large stones and other missiles) enabled his forces successfully to invade the city. Qutayba reneged on his promise to the Khawarazmians and expelled non-Muslims from the city.

From the eighth century, Samarkand became the center of the Umayyad dynasty. It was during this period that Samarkand was established as the center of Islamic civilization. In the ninth and 10th centuries Samarkand was ruled by the Abbasid dynasty and continued to be a major center of Islamic civilization.

The city retained its prominence as the capital of the Samanid dynasty and later, of the Seljuks (Turks) Empire. Sometime during the 13th century, the Venetian traveler Marco Polo reached Samarkand, and he described it as “very large and splendid.”

In 1220 the Mongols led by the powerful ruler Genghis Khan attacked the city. The destructive siege left Samarkand devastated. The city was left in ruins, but it did not experience total destruction for the Arab traveler Ibn Batuta recorded his observations of Samarkand as “one of the largest and most perfectly beautiful cities of the world,” supporting the view that certain vestiges of the city were still standing.

Among all its conquerors the fourth one, Timurlane (Tamerlane), a nobleman originally from a littleknown Turkic tribe, made the biggest impact on Samarkand. The despotic ruler made Samarkand the capital of his empire and rebuilt it in 1370 south of the old site.

By sparing all master craftsmen, including architects, from death upon his invasions, he was able to employ them in his service. Samarkand developed into a well planned urban civilization. Timurlane’s patronage led to the construction of many religious schools known as madrassas, grand mosques, mausoleums, and palaces.

Timurlane also made popular the use of turquoise ceramic. The enormous Bibi Khanum mosque added to the splendor of the city. Upon returning from his victory in India, Timurlane built the Bibi Khanum mosque in honor of his consort, Saray Mulk Khanum.

The Timurid phase occupies a distinct place in Islamic architecture, because of the wide use of ceramics. Building materials were not found in Samarkand and builders made mud bricks (out of clay, chopped straw, and camel urine) that were faced in glazed tiles in blue (Timurlane’s favorite color). These were then fashioned into minarets, portals, and domes.

The new city of Samarkand built by Timurlane was vastly different from the old city and was based on the Tatar concept. Under Timurlane, the city of Samarkand was home to Arabs, Persians, Turks, and North Africans of diverse sects as well as Christians, Greeks, and Armenians.

Timurlane’s grandson Ulugh Beg succeeded him, making Samarkand a major scientific hub by building an observatory. In his zeal to make Samarkand a center of learning Ulugh Beg also built two madrassas in the neo-Persian style, the Shir Dar and the Tilla Kari.