PRESENTATION OUTLINE
RELIGION
Ottomans - Ottomans were Sunni Muslims. The Ottoman Empire was were Islam was practiced and wrere many islamic holy places were located. Ottomans didn't believe Muhammad chose a leader so they tried to elect one.
Safavids - They were Shi'ite Muslims and were against Sunni Muslims. They believed that Muhammad chose a leader for them, Ali. Since they had strong religious beliefs against Sunni Muslims, they tried to conquer their territory.
Mughals - They were Muslim as well as Sunni Muslim. They did not believe in religious tolerance and they tried to convert large areas of Hindu bound religion to islamic. They mainly invaded other places to convert religions, which the ottomans didn't do as much of.
ADMINISTRATIVE TECHNIQUES
Ottoman Empire: Ottoman military leaders first organized ghazi into two forces; a light Calvary and a voluntary infantry. Later they added a professional calvary equipped with heavy artillery and financial help from land grants. The Ottoman people were ruled by a central goverment and an emperor. Their capital was an administrative zone.
Safavid empire: The Safavid empire at first relied little in Persian bureaucracy and administrative talents. They were also integrated into the extremes of Safavid ideology, which associate the emperor with Allah in favor of a more conventional Twelver Shiism. However, after their destructive war against the Ottomans, they abandoned their past govermental techniques, and assigned land grants to the quziblash officers to retain their loyalty and give them a stake to the survival of the empire. Shah Abbas helped restore the empire.
Mughal Empire: Akbar gained complete control over the empire, after kicking out adman Khan, a powerful figure of the imperial court and commander of the Mugal army. He established centralized administrative govermet with ministries regulating the various provinces of the empire. His military campaigns consolidated Mughal power in Hujarat and Bengal, as well as other Asian and middle eastern regions.
ECONOMY AND TRADE
The Ottoman Empire participated in the transporting raw silk from Persia to supply the Italian market. It old capital of Bursa was used for this purpose. France and England were granted special trading concessions to merchants, this alliance was created from the belief of a common enemy (Spain and Central Europe ).
Shah Abbas promoted Isfahan as a commercial center, extending trading and allowing Christian monastic orders to set up missions there to help create a positive and favorable enviroment .European merchants sought Safavid raw silk, carpets, ceramic, and high quality crafts. The English East India company, French east India company , and the Dutch VOC all traded actively with the Safavids. In exchange the English company would send military advisors to help introduce gunpowder weapons.
Mughals disregarded trade unlike their counterparts partly because of their enormous size and productivity of the domestic indian economy. The were also more interested on expanding their empire other than maritime or trade affairs. They did however allowed the creation of trading stations from French, Portuguese, and Dutch merchants.
