MESAS 200W Lecture 6: 2/13 - Knowledge and the ordering of Islamic societies
20 Feb 2019
School
Department
Course
Professor
Anatolia - the origin of ottoman empire (in modern turkey)
● Dominated the Middle east until its dissolution in 1923
● Ottomans (last longer) - called the last great empire of Islam
● Satavids
● Anatolia was right on top of Syria
● Constantinople → Istanbul now
● The leader who founded the ottoman state/Anatolia - Osman → Ottoman by English
speakers
○ Same as arabic uthman
■ Uthman was the 3rd rightly guided caliph and prophet muhammed
■ 644-656
○ Led a small group of nomadic pastoralists who settled down and formed a small
state that eventually formed the Ottoman empire
○ 1299 but obscure origins
○ He is Muslim
● They are muslim….they are islamized already when they go there...but still a lot of
christians left
○ Large eastern orthodox christian population - remnants of the roman empire
● Turkish principalities of Anatolia at the time of Ibn battuta -
○ Smaller principalities for the most part
○ Each has limited territory
○ Ruled by tribal leaders called amirs
○ **Turcumen - an ethnic designation for Turkic men
■ Tribally organized groups that were semi nomadic who sometimes joined
the Mongols or joined the mongols
■ Seljuks - WAS CHRISTIAN until belonged to the Byzantines so until the
seljuks conquered them
● They established themselves over anatolia in 1171(?) and
established heavily persianized courts while the religious
language was arabic
■ They are separate from the Mamluks which shows the multiplicity of
Turkish ethnicities, bc they are from different families - only have
language in common
■ Ibn battuta calls them amirs, but the Turkics use a turkic word which is
beyliks
● Ibn Battuta goes through early ottoman 1331
○ He is the first source we have to describe first hand the beginning of the ottoman
state
○ Reading
■ It’s obvious that there were lots of christians and muslim people living
here
● A cathedral converted to a central mosque
○ Speaks to one kind of interaction of tension...but not sure if
they did it violently
Document Summary
Anatolia - the origin of ottoman empire (in modern turkey) Dominated the middle east until its dissolution in 1923. Ottomans (last longer) - called the last great empire of islam. Anatolia was right on top of syria. The leader who founded the ottoman state/anatolia - osman ottoman by english speakers. Uthman was the 3rd rightly guided caliph and prophet muhammed. Led a small group of nomadic pastoralists who settled down and formed a small state that eventually formed the ottoman empire. They are muslim . they are islamized already when they go therebut still a lot of christians left. Large eastern orthodox christian population - remnants of the roman empire. Turkish principalities of anatolia at the time of ibn battuta - **turcumen - an ethnic designation for turkic men. Tribally organized groups that were semi nomadic who sometimes joined the mongols or joined the mongols. Seljuks - was christian until belonged to the byzantines so until the seljuks conquered them.
