15 THE MIDDLE EAST

PERSIA (IRAN)

The Safavid dynasty experienced a resurgence under Shah Abbas I (1571-1629), who successfully reclaimed Baghdad and the Armenian border provinces from the Ottomans. This led to periods of relative peace, during which the arts and crafts flourished. The region became renowned for its magnificent horses, which were highly valued for warfare and as luxury items, often adorned with opulent harnesses featuring silver, gold, and precious stones. These horses were frequently transported in large caravans, sometimes numbering over a thousand, highlighting their significance in Safavid society. The eventual conclusion of a lasting peace with the Ottomans in 1639 further solidified the dynasty’s position.

Wealthy Safavid women, such as Fatima Begum (d. 1666), a prominent patron of architecture, played a crucial role in promoting the arts and enhancing their public status by commissioning architectural projects and endowing public buildings. Elite women, in particular, recognized the importance of trade to both the state and individual wealth, often funding the construction or maintenance of caravansaries. Artists like Reza Abbasi (1565-1635), a renowned miniature painter, and Muhammad Qasim (active 1590-1620), a skilled calligrapher, benefited from this patronage, creating works that reflected the country’s strategic location at the center of global trade routes. The silk industry was a vital sector in Iran, with Persian carpets made from silk and wool highly sought after in Europe and other parts of the Islamic world. The blending of artistic influences and the emphasis on luxury goods underscore the significant cultural and economic achievements of the Safavid dynasty.

For ordinary people, life in Safavid Iran was marked by hard work and limited social mobility. Men worked as farmers, artisans, or traders, while women managed the household and raised children. Gender roles were strictly defined, with women’s public appearances restricted and their primary role seen as domestic caregivers. However, women from lower social classes enjoyed more freedom, often working alongside men in agriculture or trade. Despite these limitations, ordinary people found joy in communal celebrations, such as the Nowruz spring festival, and took pride in their cultural heritage, including the revered Persian poetry and literature.

THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE (modern day Turkey)

The Ottoman Empire was the foremost and longest-lived of the Islamic empires of the early modern world. Formed by a small group of Turkic-speaking warriors at the end of the thirteenth century, the Ottoman state lay at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa for nearly seven hundred years.  As was discussed in chapter 3, at its height under Sultan Suleiman I in the sixteenth century, the Ottoman military was the most technologically advanced in the Mediterranean world, threatening the gates of Vienna to the west, reaching the Persian Gulf to the east, and conquering Yemen and the Islamic holy cities of Mecca and Medina to the south. In the seventeenth century, as its enemies grew stronger, the empire became more inward-looking, focusing less on external expansion and more on resolving domestic affairs, professionalizing its bureaucracy, and conducting internal reforms.

Completed in 1616, the Sultan Ahmed Mosque is popularly known as the Blue Mosque (Source: Wikimedia)

The Ottoman state’s geographic position was an important advantage from its beginning well into the height of its power in the seventeenth century. After signing a peace treaty with Austria in 1606, the Ottomans fought with Persia and lost Azerbaijan and Georgia. There was a long war with Venice (1645-1660) and again the Ottomans lost. The Treaty of Carlowitz (also spelling Karlowitz) of 1699 by which most of Hungary was surrendered to Austria marked a turning point in the European-Ottoman military balance.

European military technology caught up to and then surpassed Ottoman capabilities over the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Ottoman territory was gradually lost to European kingdoms, particularly in the western part of North Africa and in the Balkans. While the empire’s land wars against the Habsburgs in Europe continued for another century, culminating in yet another failed siege of Vienna in 1683, it was also recognized at court that foreign wars were becoming more expensive but leading to far less economic and territorial gain.  In addition, the growing power of Russia became another threat from the North. Beginning in the seventeenth century, Russian forces pushed south across the steppes toward Ottoman territory. Under Tsar Peter the Great, Russian armies temporarily captured the Ottoman-held territory of Azov in the Crimea along the Black Sea in 1696.

Other factors also aggravated a growing crisis in the Ottoman state. New sea routes to the East left the great Ottoman ports increasingly bypassed. Silver from American mines swamped the Ottoman economy, cutting the value of the standard Ottoman coin to fifty percent of its former value. The Janissaries, who had reached 51,647 in number in the 17^th century, were already deteriorating due to the admission of free Muslims to their ranks in the previous century and the carefully trained slave-militia was no more.

In response to internal and external challenges, Ottoman rulers sought to fortify their control over their core territory by streamlining their administrative systems and promoting scientific inquiry. They dispatched delegations to observe and learn from various regions within their vast empire, seeking innovative solutions to enhance governance and military prowess. Additionally, the Ottomans brought in experts from diverse backgrounds, including European military advisers, to train their soldiers and modernize their tactics.

As the Ottoman state grew in prestige and size, its sultans deliberately set out to become patrons of science and learning. The core of all education was religious; there was no separation between what today would be considered religious philosophy or doctrinal study and the “hard sciences” such as astronomy, chemistry, mathematics, and physics. On the contrary, scientific investigation was considered an act of devotion because of its exploration and discovery of the intricacies of the divinely created universe.  The geographic diversity of the empire was also an advantage to the development of medical science because it was possible to compare the results of medical treatments and experiments in several different geographic and climate zones. For this reason, many important medical treatises of the day were written in the Ottoman Empire. The tradition of medical writing built upon the foundation established by such famous Muslim scholars and physicians as Ibn Sina, who composed The Canon of Medicine in the tenth century. The works produced by physicians who made their home in the Ottoman Empire included one of the first treatises dedicated to dentistry, written by the Spanish Jewish scholar Musa bin Hamun (died 1603), who made his home in the Ottoman Empire after the Jewish people were expelled from Spain in the 16th century.