Geo 328: Geography of the Middle East and North Africa

24 January 2017

 

After the death of Ali, beginnings of important dynasties:

Umayyad 661-750, initiated by Mu'awiyah

Abbasid 750-1258, ended by Mongol Invasions

 

The Origins of the Ottoman Empire

• Osman and the Osmanlis (Ottomans) 
  • leader of a small principality in Anatolia
• Expansion during 14-16th century into Byzantine and Islamic Lands
  • Constantinople taken by the Ottomans on May 29, 1453 
• Late successes due in part to the use of gunpowder

The Ottoman Empire 

Early Muslim Conquest

From the early 1500s to the end of WWI the Ottoman empire ruled over the Middle East

Leaders of the Islamic Community

• Syria and Egypt captured in 1516 and 1517, driving out the Mamluks
• Ottomans over time become protectors of Mecca and Medina and rule over Jerusalem, Damascus and Baghdad

Practices of the Ottoman State

• War for the sake of land expansion/empire
• Investments in scholarship
• leadership of the Islamic community
• Administrative flexibility over conquered territories
• clear distinction between ruler-elites and subjects
• Fratricide (until the 17th century)

Slave System

• Devshirme
  • produced soldiers and civil servants
  • collection of Christian boys from the Balkans
  • oversaw almost all Ottoman ruling Institutions

Janissaries

• elite branch of slave-soldiers
• known for professionalism
• not allowed to engage in other endeavors, political or business
• best soldiers in the world during 15th century

Short Clip

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIBO-meEtC8

17:00-21:48

Tax-farming

Muslim military men were given parcels of land, on which they could collect taxes as payment for their service. The scheme assisted rulers with control of provinces and helped them deal with the cost of empire. Primarily practiced in the Balkans and Anatolia.

 

Shaykh al-Islam appointed and oversaw judges and teachers in Islamic schools

 

Ulama are scholars important for spreading and maintaining Islamic law (shari'ah) throughout the empire.

 

Millets were communities of non-muslims that were administered by leaders of their own faith

Religious Governance

Transformation of the Empire

beginning in the late 16th century :

• The entrance of European goods
• Capitulation
• loss of military dominance

The Entrance of European goods into the Ottoman Empire

• Late 17th and 18th century, industrial era goods competed with domestic artisans
• Regions of the empire produced raw goods in exchange for finished products from Europe
• local economies transformed to address European trends.

Capitulations

A set of legal privileges given to foreigner residing or trading in the Ottoman Empire.

• Outside countries had jurisdiction over their nationals who lived/worked in the empire
• foreigners exempt from prosecution in Ottoman courts
• Foreigners exempt from taxes
• Barats: certificates of protection for non-Muslims

Loss of military dominance

• Janissaries become ineffective and corrupt 
• Europe now militarily superior
  • nizam-i-jedid under Selim III
• loss of control over provinces
  • Egypt under the Mamluks and Mohammad Ali

Egypt under Muhammed Ali

• Of albanian/Greek origin
• Becomes governor in 1805
• Egypt becomes an autonomous province in the Ottoman empire
  • launches military campaigns
  • industrializes the country
  • draws heavily on European knowledge
  • seeks to establish a dynasty

19th century

• Tanzimat, era of reforms
  • European systems of governance widely adopted
  • Tax-farming abolished
  • equality of all subjects
    • The idea of citizenship
  • society begins to embrace secularism
  • 1826 Janisseries abolished

Europe pecks away at the Ottoman Empire

• For European powers wishing to become colonial powers, the lands of the Ottoman empire are rich in resources, strategic military importance and sites for the growth of economic wealth
  • The French make inroads throughout North Africa during the 19th and 20th century. After World War 1 they become protectors of Lebanon and Syria.
  • Britain interest in the Middle East is tied initially toward control of water routes and eventually oil for its naval fleets.

World War 1

• Ottomans sided with the Central powers (Ottoman Empire Germany, Bulgaria, Austria-Hungary)
• During the war Britain convinced Arabs, Led by the Amir of Mecca, Sharif Husain ibn Ali,  to launch attacks against Ottoman forces in exchange for an independent Arab State
  • Husayn McMahon correspondence.
• After the war and the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire, lands that would go toward an independent Arab state are divided between France and Britain.
  • The sense of betrayal, European colonialism throughout the region and late the conflict in Palestine between indigenous community and waves of Zionist settlers breed long standing distrust between the region and the West.

Mustafa Kemal 'Ataturk'

• Military officer
• moves to adopt European political and cultural customs
• Name Ataturk mean 'Father of the Turks'

The Ottoman Empire

• Diverse nationalities
• Islam has an important role within state affairs and daily life
• lead by a Sultanate in Istanbul

The Turkish Republic

• Embrace of Turkishness
• secularism in public life
• democratically elected body of national delegates

• Removes Ottoman royal family
• adoption of swiss civil code
• public religious worship curtailed
• bans Islamic clothing
• Latinization of the Turkish language

Cultural Transformations

Diversity

• Armenians sidelined by Turkish Republic
• Kurds repressed
• Greeks forcibly removed
• Christians and Jews seen outside the turkish nation-state

Women In turkey

• given the right to vote in 1934
• entrance of women into Turkish parliament in 1935
• women encouraged to adopt western dress
• Polygamy banned