D.+Ottoman+Empire


 The Ottoman empire began to grow in the 1400s after the death of Timur and the conquer of Constantinople by Mehmed 1. Their growth would mark a beginning of a new era after Timur and Mongol control. They would create a large empire, largest seen since the Abbasid Caliphate. Their success was based on their large military. Their economic proposal was agriculture and military conquest. They maintained no strong navy and did not participate in extensive maritime trade.


 The Ottomans proposed to use agriculture as their means of economic power. The empire rose during times of military victories and campaigns were held every year during the summer. The lands of the Empire were split into land grant systems: Turkish cavalry men were issued land in turn for military service every summer. The low class known as the raya they stayed on the land and worked it.

During the decline of the empire the land grant system was taken out. Now power went from the Turkish cavalry men and into the hands of provincial governors. Still the system of controlling land by governors was still in place.

The military was the basis of strength for the empire. The military was the high class in Ottoman society. With victories times of peace were established and the empire was stable. Taxes levied by the governors and by the Turkish cavalry on the raya population and farmers provided the money to pay for the campaigns.

Trade that was conducted in Ottoman lands was mostly land based. The Ottomans did participate in sea trade but the only reason was because they conquered the surrounding territory and it seemed a waste not to trade. The very rich and extensive Indian Ocean trade network they left to the Europeans.


 Since the military was the basis of power for the Ottomans their military leaders made up the high class of society. The Military leaders and government officials were exempt from taxes and relied on the sultan for their well being. The rich being exempt from taxes was a bad thing to the rest of the people. The remainder of the population was known as the raya, they were the ones who payed the taxes and worked the land. The Turkish cavalry men that controlled the territory they lived in were absent a lot from their lands and did not affect the everyday of the raya. They only collected taxes to fund the campaigns. The subjects of the empire were in conclusion not influenced by imperial standards of religion and politics but instead by local leaders and local religious leaders. Soon when the empire was declining the over taxed population and under taxed high class began taking a big toll on the empire. The military campaigns began to be a strain and economically drain the empire. Soon the military power that the Ottoman empire held was also corrupting. The military organization called the Janissary corps was the strongest in the world for a time before it began to take in nonmilitary aspects that hurt their military training and strength.


 The result of not trading in maritime trade was the major downfall of the empire. Soon with European empires gradually controlling the Indian Ocean trade network and their colonies in the Americas produced a silver inflation in the empire, which in turn hurt the ability to properly collect taxes and purchase military supplies for the landholding upper class. Later with the Janissary movement away from military dominance created a weak military and was a first showing that the central government was slipping, creating a new wealth of economic problems. With the central government slipping the taxes placed on the farmers and local population by the governors began to crush the people. Agriculture was failing to provide enough money to pay for the military campaigns. Soon European kingdoms made the Ottoman empire grant them special trade agreements so that they could trade the cash crops grown by Ottoman farmers in Anatolia and the surrounding regions next to the Mediterranean coast. This in turn gave two effects: a further slip of power for the central government and a dependence on European trade. In the end the Ottoman empire was suffering from rebellions and did not maintain the great military strength they had when they were growing.