The Ottoman, Safavid and Mughal Empires: Decline or Transformation?

Gunpowder empires

In 1650 three large Muslim-ruled empires stretched from the Balkans to the Bay of Bengal: the Ottoman Empire (centred on Istanbul), Safavid Persia (Isfahan) and the Mughal Empire (Delhi and Agra). Some historians call them "gunpowder empires" because cannons and muskets helped them conquer and hold large territories. All three ruled over many religions and languages.

Older textbooks told a simple story: after 1650 these empires declined while Europe rose. This lesson asks you to test that story against the evidence.

The Ottoman Empire: crisis, recovery and reform

• Recovery. From 1656 a family of grand viziers, the Köprülüs, restored order and finances.
• Vienna, 1683. The Ottomans besieged the Habsburg capital for the second time. A relief army led by the Polish king Jan III Sobieski defeated them. In the long war that followed, the Ottomans lost most of Hungary at the Treaty of Karlowitz (1699), their first major permanent loss of territory in Europe.
• The Tulip Era (1718–1730). Under Sultan Ahmed III, the court enjoyed gardens, poetry and tulip festivals. An Ottoman ambassador visited Paris in 1720–1721 and reported on French palaces and gardens. İbrahim Müteferrika, a convert who had grown up in Transylvania, opened the first Ottoman Turkish printing press, printing his first book in 1729. A revolt in 1730, led by the Janissary Patrona Halil, ended the era.
• Wars with Russia. After defeat, the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca (1774) made the Crimean Khanate independent of the Ottomans and gave Russia access to the Black Sea. Russia annexed Crimea in 1783.
• Change inside the empire. Power shifted toward provincial notables (ayan) and tax-farmers. Religious communities (millets) kept much of their own law. Istanbul's coffeehouses became centres of news and debate.

Safavid Persia and Nader Shah

The Safavid dynasty, which had made Shi'a Islam the official faith of Iran, weakened in the late 1600s. In 1722 Afghan forces captured the capital, Isfahan. A military commander, Nader, drove them out and in 1736 made himself shah. In 1739 Nader Shah invaded Mughal India and sacked Delhi, carrying off enormous treasure, including the Mughals' jewelled Peacock Throne and the Koh-i-Noor diamond. Nader was assassinated in 1747; Iran then divided among rival rulers until the Qajar dynasty united it near the end of the century.

The Mughal Empire: Aurangzeb and after

Aurangzeb (ruled 1658–1707) won the throne in a war against his brothers. He pushed the empire to its largest size by conquering the Deccan sultanates of Bijapur and Golconda in the 1680s. A devout Sunni Muslim, he governed more strictly according to Islamic law, reimposed the jizya on non-Muslims in 1679, and had the ninth Sikh guru, Tegh Bahadur, executed in 1675. Historians debate how much these religious policies, compared with costs and politics, weakened loyalty to the empire.

Two powers grew in resistance:

• The Marathas. Shivaji built a kingdom in western India and was crowned in 1674. Maratha armies fought the Mughals for decades.
• The Sikhs. In 1699 Guru Gobind Singh founded the Khalsa, a community of initiated Sikhs committed to defending their faith.

Aurangzeb spent his last 25 years fighting in the Deccan. After his death in 1707, succession wars weakened the centre. Governors in Hyderabad, Bengal and Awadh became hereditary princes who still used Mughal titles. The Marathas expanded across much of India under their chief ministers (Peshwas), until an Afghan army under Ahmad Shah Durrani defeated them at the Third Battle of Panipat (1761). In the south, Haidar Ali and his son Tipu Sultan built a strong state in Mysore. Into this competitive world came the British East India Company (see the lesson on European companies in Asia, Africa and the Pacific).

India's economy

In this period India was one of the world's great manufacturing regions. Its cotton textiles (calicoes, muslins, chintzes) were sold from Southeast Asia to West Africa and Europe. Economic historians estimate that South Asia produced roughly a quarter of the world's output around 1700. Weavers in Bengal and Gujarat were among the most skilled in the world. Political fragmentation did not mean economic collapse: many regional courts encouraged trade and banking.