Bibliography

Source one:
Oakwood Mgt. "The Ottoman Empire: Focus on Society." Accessed November 30,2011. http://www.studyworld.com/newsite/ReportEssay/History/European/Ottoman_Empire_Focus_On_Society.htm

Source Two:
The American Forum of Global Education."Turkish Toleration." Accessed November 30,2011. http://www.globaled.org/nyworld/materials/ottoman/turkish.html

Source Three:
BBC. "Introduction:The Ottoman Empire." Accessed November 30,2011. http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/islam/history/ottomanempire_1.shtml

Source Four:
Ruggiero, Adraine. The Ottoman Empire:cultures of the past.Benchmark Books,2002.

Factors explianing how ottoman culture led to a great civilzation *outline and Intro

     The Ottoman Empire was one of the largest, richest and longest Turkish Muslim empires in history. With Constantinople as its capital city, it became the center of trade between the eastern and western world. Constantinople was in the middle of the black and Mediterranean Sea so they were able to control the trade routes and especially the Silk Road. By the 16^th century, the lands under Ottoman rule stretched from central Europe to the deserts of the Arabia.The people were trained to follow a neat power structure which spread incessantly across the islam world. Moreover, the Ottoman culture was influenced by the traditions of the land they conquered.

There were many factors that led the Ottoman empire to great success. The main factors that i'm going to talk about are: the equality of the social classes,their authority over religon and lifestyle (archieture, arts, music and dance). All of these topics played a major role in the Ottoman civilization.

The first reason why the Ottoman culture led to a well-organized empire was because of its social class. The Ottoman social class had the commander on top (sultan) and the slaves on the bottom (rayyah) but however, your social level could change anytime. The Sultan dealt with the decision of politics and state wealth. Under the Sultan were the wealthy leaders that defended the empire. The Sultan invested wealth and leaders protect it while the rayyah had to pay part of their profits from industry in form of taxes. Anyone could raise his or her social level by being loyal to the Sultan, practicing the Islam religion and following the Ottoman traditions. If a rayyah possessed all these qualities, he could become one of the wealthy leaders but if a leader is lacking one or more of these qualities, he will be removed from his position and become a rayyah again.  Everyone in the Ottoman social class was treated fairly and equally and that’s what made it a peaceful government.

 The second reason why the Ottoman culture led to a strong empire was because of the Ottoman toleration.  The Ottoman Empire enforced the practice of Islam and an extra tax was paid to be a non-muslim in return for tolerance of religious practice and protection of the islam state.Christains and Jews prayed in their own churches and trained their religon in their own schools and seminaries. Each religous community had its own court,school and welfare system (this was called the Millet System) and the Ottoman goverment was relieved because they didnt have to provide these needs.  Rulers had to be muslim and were not allwoed to convert to other religons, nor could non-muslims attempt to convert muslims. Religon was considered as the most important element of personal identification.The Ottoman toleration was so unique because it prevented people from revolting and that was why it was stable for so long.

 The third reason why the Ottoman culture led to a great civilzation was because it was influenced by land they conquered which was Persia, Arabia and Persian Greek. The architecture of the Ottoman Empire was influenced by the arab world and also european traditions.  The Orthodox catholic structures in the Byzantine empire and similar to the Ottoman structures. The artistic designs of windows, gates and roofs share characteristics with the italian architecture and the basic structures found in mosques and tekkes were adopted from the people of Anatolia.
 Music in the Ottoman empire brought music elements found in different nations of the empire together.  Writing was really important in the Ottoman empire.

 

II. The social classes and the beliefs to raise you to a higher level.

   a. Sultans had more power while the rayyah had less.

   b. Sultans invested wealth and leaders protect it while rayyah had to pay part of their profits from industry in form of taxes.

c. Evidence

iii. people had less freedom to chose their own religon.

a.  forced people to be islam so everyone had one belief system

 b. People had to pay a price for the ability to follow their own belief with tolerance of other religons.

c. Evidence (christain and jews)

 

IV: Lifestyle of the ottoman empire was based on the eastern and western world

a. Archieture,music, cuisine, language was infulenced by the lands they conquered.

 b. history of the lands they conquered (persian, persian greek and arabia)

c. Evidence

V: conclusion

a. Restate Title.

b. summarize main questions.