CHAPTER 19 LESSON 1

In their expansion westward, the Ottomans came to control the Bosporus and the Dardanelles. These two straits (narrow water passageways), separated by the Sea of Marmara, connect the Black Sea and the Aegean Sea, which leads to the Mediterranean Sea. The Byzantine Empire had controlled this area for centuries.

From 1514 to 1517, Sultan Selim I conquered Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Arabia—the original heartland of Islam. Through these conquests, Selim I was now in control of several of Islam's holy cities. These cities included Jerusalem, Makkah (Mecca), and Madinah (Medina). Selim declared himself the new caliph, or defender of the faith and successor to Muhammad. 

Under Süleyman I, whose reign began in 1520, the Ottomans advanced anew up the Danube, seized Belgrade, and won a major victory over the Hungarians in 1526 at the Battle of Mohács (MOH • hach). They then conquered most of Hungary and moved into Austria. Advancing to Vienna, they were defeated in 1529. They moved into the western Mediterranean until the Spanish destroyed a large Ottoman fleet at Lepanto in 1571. 

At the head of the Ottoman system was the sultan, who was the supreme authority in a political and a military sense. 

The private domain of the sultan was called the harem ("sacred place"). Here, the sultan and his wives resided.

The sultan controlled his bureaucracy through an imperial council that met four days a week. The grand vizier, a chief minister who carried the main burdens of the state, led the meetings of the council.

The empire was divided into provinces and districts, each governed by officials. They were assisted by bureaucrats known as pashas, who had been trained in a palace school for officials in İstanbul.

Like most Turkic-speaking peoples in the Anatolian Peninsula and throughout western Asia, the Ottomans were Sunni Muslims. 

In theory, they were responsible for guiding the flock and maintaining Islamic law. In practice, the sultans gave their religious duties to a group of religious advisers, scholars known as the ulema. This group administered the legal system and schools for educating Muslims. 

The subjects of the Ottoman Empire were divided by occupation. In addition to the ruling class, there were four main occupational groups: peasants, artisans, merchants, and pastoral peoples (nomadic herders). Peasants farmed land that the state leased to them. Ultimate ownership of all land resided with the sultan.

Technically, women in the Ottoman Empire were subject to the same restrictions as women in other Muslim societies. However, their position was somewhat better. Within the Ottoman empire, Islamic legal scholars were more tolerant in defining the legal status of women. This relatively tolerant attitude was probably due to Turkish traditions that regarded women as almost equal to men.