The Ottoman Empire Essay

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 religion and lifestyle (architecture, 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. Christians and Jews prayed in their own churches and trained their religion in their own schools and seminaries. Each religious community had its own court, school and welfare system (this was called the Millet System) and the Ottoman government was relieved because they didn’t have to provide these needs.  Rulers had to be Muslim and were not allowed to convert to other religions, nor could non-Muslims attempt to convert Muslims. Religion 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 civilization was because it was influenced by land they conquered which were 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 were very similar to the Ottoman structures. Their artistic designs of windows, gates and roofs share characteristics with the Italian architecture and their basic structures found in mosques were adopted from the people of Anatolia.  The Ottomans collected different ideas from other countries and made them into one magnificent piece which is why architecture was a major aspect of Ottoman culture.

            Another main advancement in the Ottoman Empire was in technology.  Science and technology emerged in the Ottoman Empire due to the establishment of educational institution by Mehmet II. Scholars started to work ranging from metaphysics to mathematics to surgery. By the 16^th century, cartographers of the Ottoman Empire made great development in map-making. Other geographical works included navigation, nautical astronomy and lastly the invention of the mechanical astronomical clock was made during this period
            Writing was really important to the Ottoman Empire and they managed to build a large collection of libraries. Mehmet II ordered a Greek scholar to translate and make available to the Ottoman educational institutions the geography book of Claudius Ptolemy who was a famous mathematician, geographer and astronomer.  The purpose of this might have been because of their desire to conquer more land by learning about their developments.  During that period, mathematicians emerge and the Piri Reis map was discovered in 1929 in Topkapi Palace, Istanbul.
            The Ottoman Empire had an excellent strategy during their time period. They made sure that everyone had equal rights and the rules applied to everyone. They accepted other religions and gave them the freedom to run their own communities.  With their powerful leaders, they were able to control lands and developed their own lifestyle and culture based on the areas they conquered. They had new advancements in science, technology and got into new ideas brought in from other places. The Ottoman Empire was greatly admired, successful, strong, well-organized and anyone would be proud to be called an “Ottoman”.

Bibliography;
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

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

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

Ehow. "Ottoman Culture."  Accessed December 9th,2011.
http://www.ehow.com/about_6069925_ottoman-culture.html

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