Ottoman Empire Institutions - Essay Example

Ottoman Empire s Political Institutions Ottoman Empire was well centralized whereby power was controlled by a single person, and not shared among the princes. The Ottoman was controlled by a single family for seven centuries thereby promoting unity among its people. Promotion to positions of power largely depended on merit of leaders thereby enhancing equality of everyone. This created unity among its people since their leaders were just and respected the needs of their people. The empire also created alliances across racial and political groups hence stability of the state. Ottoman administration was influenced by the needs of these forces. Provincial administration was coordination of military districts controlled by officials whose primary role in campaigns was to summon the timariots. Most of the effort of the central administration was dedicated to raising money and supplies required by the kapikulli forces. Roads and bridges were built to enhance the transport of troops. In its zenith, the administration was well organized in terms of its structure. It consisted of three principal parts: the Sultan’s extensive household, a branch of government managed by the Grand Vizier who served as the Sultan’s deputy in all state matters, and the Muslim religious institution, which included Muslim functionaries apprehensive with the law and educational grouped under the over lordship of the Shaykh al-Islam. Most imperative of these were the qadis; they looked after criminal law and some local administration. Before the 17th century, Muslims who were freeborn served in the religious institutions or primarily as sipahis; the rest of the state administration and even the kapikulli forces was constituted principally of Christian converts to Islam who was recruited in the manner of the kapikulli military forces. Their legal status evolved around that of slaves of the sultan, even though the term “slave” was not associated with plantation slavery, which was in the case of the Western countries. The administration engaged the people to a language (the Ottoman Turkish language), which was largely Arabic in vocabulary and Turkish in grammar. It was written in the Arabic script. The population of the Ottoman Empire was mixed linguistically, culturally, and by religion. Military Institutions The Empire was one of the largest and leading Empires in history. With its strong military base, finally led to its success by winning many battles and conquered majority of states, because it had strong slave-based army-the empire used gunpowder as military tools. War was the main business of the Ottoman state as the previous performance of its conquests suggests, and one of the most important institutions was its slave-based army. The early forces of Ottoman had consisted of Turkish cavalry (sipahis) paid by timars (land revenues) which are grants of government. Therefore, the more land that was seized the more income on behalf of Turkish Muslim ghazis. The ottoman recruits troops from mercenaries, slaves, prisoners of war by a levy of Balkan Christians (the devshirme) because the ghazi light equestrians were not sufficient for regular warfare. Incessant warfare plus judicious alliances got the Ottomans success. In around 1325, they seized Bursa, which became their capital, and through 1338, the Byzantines had been expelled from Anatolia. At the similar time, the territories of Ottomans extended southwards and eastwards at the cost of other Turkish princedoms and took Ankara in central Anatolia in 1354. According to Broome, in the same year, Gallipoli (Gelibolu) on the European side of the strait of the Dardanelle was occupied by ottomans, which later became their subsequent base for a drive into southeastern Europe. Later the Ottomans took Adrianople (Edirne) in 1361, which became their new capital and by 1389, again during Murad I victory over the Serbs at the Kosovo battle, the Ottomans conquered Thrace, Macedonia, Bulgaria, and Serbia. Religious Institutions Ottoman Empire was the one of the longest lasting and leading Empires in the entire history. It was sustained and inspired by Islamic institutions, and Islam. Religion was integrated in the state structure, and the Sultan was referred to as "the protector of Islam". Its’ people were united by Islamic ideology and Islamic warrior code with the ideal of increasing Muslim territory through Jihad. Islamic organizational and administrative structures united majority of Muslims Clerics from Muslim religions also encouraged loyalty from other faith groups since Christian’s were the majority of the population of the European provinces, Christians from Orthodox Church accepted the Ottoman rule because it was not as much of burden as Roman Catholic domination. Muslim settlement was extensive in Thrace, Macedonia, Bulgaria, and Albania; in addition, Bosnia there was mass conversion to Islam. Non-Muslim communities were organized according to a system known as millet, which gave minority religious/ethnic/geographical communities limited powers that regulate their own affairs – under Ottoman administration supremacy. In 1454, the first Orthodox Christian millet was established. This brought them together under the leadership of the Patriarch who was given authority by the Sultan. They paid tax to state as dhimmis. Under devshirme system, Christian community in Balkans had to surrender 20% of male children to state as tax. Then children converted to Islam and served as slaves, the forced removal of children from families was traumatic and seen as deprivation of human right. Some of the seized children were trained for government services, and elite military corps of the Ottoman Empire (janissaries) made up Christian convert. The devshirme conquered Constantinople and class technically slaves who owed sultan absolute loyalty and became vital to his power, which made some of them rich and wealthy. The devshirme system continued until the end of 17th century. During leadership under Mehmet, majority of churches were changed into mosques and inversely mosques into churches depending on who was the winner during Muslims and Christians battles. Social Institutions The Turks were socially structured in two major ways. For economic purposes, they were grouped in tribes, villages, and guilds in towns. The largest number were peasants; possibly 15 per cent were urban dwellers and a relatively larger fraction nomadic or semi nomadic. For social purposes (education, personal law, and most ordinary life), the Turks were structured into religious societies, which came to be known as millets. Majority of Muslims belonged to mystical orders of Sufism. The administration dealt with the leaders of the assorted religious communities rather than with individuals, and left the communities to deal with their own affairs. The leaders of the religious communities thus came to form a class of intermediaries between the people and government. Large-scale farmers, local leaders, and others acted in the same way and were later referred to as notables (a’yan). The Ottoman Empire was prosperous during its first three centuries and this success resulted to a brilliant culture in the development. This included painting, literature (especially history, geography, and poetry), and, above all, Turkish music, architecture, which is best seen in the Suleimaniye Mosque in Istanbul; the mosque was built by Sinan Pasha, Suleiman’s great architect. Economic Institutions Ottoman Empire was not only known of its stability in political and military dimensions but also of its economic dimension since it served as a junction of Asia, Africa, and Europe, hence known as one of the best trade centre’s in the world. Another significant trade city was Bursa, which served as a centre of the silk trade. Some of the later conquests of Ottoman were projected to give the Empire control over other trade routes. Goods traded were musk, silk and other cloth, porcelain from china, dyestuffs such as indigo, rhubarb, and spices such as pepper The economic stability of the Ottoman is greatly credited to Mehmets policy, which increased the figure of artisans and merchants in the Empire. Mehmet’s first encouraged traders to relocate to Istanbul, and later resettled traders from captured territories like Caffa. He also motivated Jewish merchants from Europe to settle in Istanbul and carry out business there. Afterwards, leaders continued these policies, which led to the prosperity of the Empire economically. Educational Institutions Though the Ottoman Empire was influenced by the customs and faiths of the peoples it integrated, the most significant influences came from Islam. The rulers worked their way up the hierarchy of the state religious schools known as the madrassahs and palace schools. They were educated to be apprehensive with the wants of government and to be heedful of the restrictions of Islamic law. In its organization, the rulers aim was directed towards a world of order, hierarchy in which status and promotion was rewarded on merit thus genealogy, and birth became almost irrelevant to success in the system. Sultan was the only one determined by his birth status. The empire was highly pragmatic since it took most ideas from other cultures and making them their own. The knowledge gained was used to teach the students thereby enhancing growth of the empires economically, politically, and socially. Education system was state-run hence; the empire provided educational equipments to schools and monitored performance of the students in Madrassahs. The bright students were awarded scholarships hence given opportunities to work in government offices after graduating. Judicial Institutions The Sultans life was governed by rituals imitated from the Byzantine court. For example, silk robes worn once by sultan were discarded (now Topkapi Museum preserved many of sultan robes). Many objects used to give legitimacy to the Ottomans and reinforcing the Sultans claims to be the leader of all Muslims was held by Topkapi palace. The most important object held by the museum was Prophet Muhammad mantle and his standard and footprint. These objects were shifted from Egypt when Ottomans captured Cairo. The Sultan spent his life in Harem. He commanded every occupant of the 230 small dark rooms in the Topkapi palace. He had more than a thousand concubines who came from all over the world, and permanent male staff consisted of eunuchs. The Sultan moved every night to avoid assassination because no one was trusted. The harem was a paradox since it acts as a trait of the Ottoman and other Islamic states yet enclosed so much that was not permissible in Islam. The harem as Ottoman Empire feature was extravagant, decadent, and vulgar. The focus of wealth, suffering, and injustice toward women was far from the principles of marriage and married life in Islam. Despite the injustice to women, the harem brought benefits to families who had women in the harem. It gave them access to Sultan who controlled the Empires wealth hence some of them were rewarded. Works Cited Broome Michael. J701 Ottoman Empire-FORVM ANCIENT COINS-Romans Coins. Web. May 05, 2013< http://www.forumancientcoins.com/historia/coins/j2/j701.htm> Read More