Ottoman Empire Essay, Research Paper

The Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman Empire was founded in the late thirteenth century and last until the early twentieth century. This empire was one of history s greatest military empires (564 McKay, Hill, Buckler) that was centered around the present day country of Turkey. The Ottoman Empire, once, at its peak had controlled a vast area extending from the Balkan Peninsula to the Middle East and North Africa in the middle of the sixteenth century. This was accomplished under the rule of Suleiman the Magnificent.

This empire was a Muslim based society. The Ottomans, also known as the Apostles of Islam, had not forced the conquered Christians to convert to Islam. Instead they had to pay a special poll tax called the cizye. These non-muslims that paid the tax were granted a covenant of protection called the dhimma.

The sultan, the leader of the Ottoman Empire, exploited the land and the people of his empire as he saw fit. Everyone was a slave to the sultan. There was no personal landholding; everything belonged to the sultan. The sultan also levied an annual tax of one to three thousand male children on the Christian s. These children were taken to Turkey and brought up as Muslims and trained to fight and administer. Some of these children rose up to the ranks of the Sultan s bureaucracy. The others formed an elite group of the Sultan s army called the Janissary Corps. The Janissaries were governed by different laws and had the privilege of protecting the sultan. There devotion to such discipline had made them a powerful army allowing them to conquer and rule the most powerful empire in the world during the sixteenth century.