Ottoman empire
Safavid Persia
Mughal India
trade
culture
100

This empire lasted from 1299 to 1922, ruling from Balkans to North Africa.

Ottoman Empire

100

Persian word for "king" used by Ismail when he captured Tabriz in 1501.

Shah

100

This founder claimed descent from Chinggis Khan and Timur, captured Kabul in 1504 and won at Panipat in 1526 with 12,000 men.

Babur

100

This was India's chief export, block-printed cotton made by home artisans and shipped worldwide from Gujarat.

cotton cloth

100

This beverage originated with Yemen Sufis in mid-15th century to stay awake, first Istanbul coffeehouse opened in 1555.

coffee

200

 This sultan conquered Constantinople in 1453 at age 21 and was called "the Conqueror".

Mehmet II

200

Nomadic Turkish Sufis called "redheads" for their red hats, who supplied troops for grazing rights.

Qizilbash

200

Akbar replaced Turkish with this language as official Mughal language until British replaced it in 1835

Persian

200

This Indian region's merchant bankers shipped cloth across the Indian Ocean to Aden, Hormuz, Malacca, China and Japan.

 Gujara

200

This 16th century Indian religion, influenced by Sufis, rejected caste, forbade alcohol/tobacco, and required men not to cut hair and wear turban.

Sikhism

300

 This system took Christian boys from the Balkans to train them as janissaries and civil servants.

devshirme

300

This compulsory religion of the Safavid Empire, Iran remains the only Muslim state where it is official.

Shi'ism

300

 Akbar's Hindu finance minister who created a uniform tax system for the empire.

Raja Todar Mal

300

This Christian merchant network stretched from Venice and Amsterdam to Guangzhou and Manila, dominating Persian silk trade

Armenians

300

Born Aleksandra Lisowska in Ukraine, captured by Tartars, given to Suleiman in 1520, her Turkish name means "joyful", first slave concubine made legal wife.

 Hurrem / Roxelana

400

 This 1638 treaty fixed the permanent border between Ottomans and Safavids after the capture of Baghdad.

Treaty of Kasr-i-Shirim

400

This city became Safavid capital when Shah Abbas moved it from Qazvin, with 162 mosques and 750,000 people

Isfahan

400

This jeweled throne took 7 years to build, cost $5 million equivalent, and was seized by Nadir Shah in 1739.

 Peacock Throne

400

Portuguese found them in south India in 1498, Akbar invited them to settle in this Mughal capital in late 16th century

Agra

400

Greek-born devshirme recruit, contemporary of Michelangelo, designed 312 buildings, his Suleimaniye Mosque was finished in this year.

1557

500

This devshirme-origin poet and scholar (d.1562) was ordered by Suleiman I to draw up a new law code with balanced budgets

Lutfi Pasa

500

 Shah Abbas built a slave army from the Caucasus to counter the Qizilbash, copying this Ottoman model.

devshirme / slave army / ghulam system

500

This practice of widow self-immolation on husband's funeral pyre was banned by Aurangzeb.

sati

500

This Indian printed cotton from southeast India, used for an English dress in 1770-1780, was banned in England for threatening local industry.

 chintz

500

This Ottoman geographer created the Book of the Sea in 1521 with 129 chapters and maps.

Piri Rais