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World History Unit 3: Land-based empires (c. 1450–1750)

Large land empires used gunpowder weapons, bureaucracies and religion to expand and hold power.

Covers: Gunpowder empires, Ming and Qing China, Russia, administration, belief systems

Study guide

The Ottoman, Safavid and Mughal empires are called gunpowder empires because cannons and firearms helped them conquer and control territory. The Ottomans captured Constantinople in 1453 and ruled much of the Middle East, North Africa and southeastern Europe. They used the devshirme system, taking Christian boys to train as janissaries (elite soldiers) or officials. The Safavids in Persia made Shia Islam the state religion, creating lasting conflict with the Sunni Ottomans. The Mughals ruled most of India; Akbar promoted religious tolerance and abolished the jizya tax on non-Muslims, while later Aurangzeb restored it and enforced stricter Islam.

In China, the Ming dynasty restored Han Chinese rule, rebuilt the Great Wall and ran a Confucian bureaucracy. The Manchus founded the Qing dynasty in 1644, expanding into Central Asia and keeping Confucian officials while requiring men to wear the queue hairstyle. The Tokugawa shogunate unified Japan and later restricted contact with Europeans. Russia expanded east across Siberia under the tsars; Peter the Great westernized Russia, and Catherine the Great continued expansion.

Rulers legitimized and consolidated power in several ways. They used religion (divine right in Europe, the Mandate of Heaven in China), monumental architecture like the Taj Mahal and Versailles, bureaucracies of trained officials, and tax systems such as the Mughal zamindars who collected land taxes. Religion also divided societies: the Protestant Reformation, begun by Martin Luther in 1517, split Western Christianity, and the Catholic Church responded with the Counter-Reformation. Sikhism developed in South Asia, blending Hindu and Islamic ideas.

Mughal emperors ranked nobles in the mansabdari system, giving them land-revenue assignments in return for supplying troops, and rotated them so they could not build local power bases. Akbar also encouraged a blending of Persian and Indian art and held interfaith debates at court. The Ottomans let religious minorities such as Christians and Jews run their own communal affairs through the millet system. They increasingly relied on tax farming, selling the right to collect taxes to private contractors, which raised revenue but encouraged overtaxing. Under Suleiman the Magnificent, Ottoman expansion reached its height, including a siege of Vienna in 1529.

The Safavid state relied on Turkic Qizilbash warriors and Persian bureaucrats. Its defeat by Ottoman cannon and muskets at Chaldiran (1514) showed the military power of gunpowder. Peter the Great's Table of Ranks tied noble status to service in the army and bureaucracy. Russian expansion depended on serfdom, which grew harsher in Russia even as it faded in Western Europe.

Key ideas

• Gunpowder weapons helped the Ottomans, Safavids and Mughals expand.
• The Sunni Ottomans and Shia Safavids were rivals.
• The Qing were Manchus who kept China's Confucian bureaucracy.
• Rulers used religion, architecture, bureaucracy and taxes to legitimize power.
• The Protestant Reformation divided Western Christianity.

Formulas and rules

Common mistakes

• Mixing up which empire was Shia (Safavid) and which was Sunni (Ottoman, Mughal).
• Thinking the Qing were Han Chinese; they were Manchus.

Words to know

Gunpowder empires

The Ottoman, Safavid and Mughal empires, which expanded with firearms.

Ottoman Empire

Sunni Muslim empire centered on Constantinople (Istanbul).

Devshirme

Ottoman system of taking Christian boys to serve the state.

Janissaries

Elite Ottoman soldiers trained through the devshirme.

Safavid Empire

Persian empire that made Shia Islam its state religion.

Mughal Empire

Muslim empire that ruled most of India.

Akbar

Mughal ruler known for religious tolerance.

Jizya

Tax on non-Muslims in Muslim states.

Zamindar

Mughal tax collector and landholder.

Qing dynasty

Manchu-ruled Chinese dynasty founded in 1644.

Tokugawa shogunate

Military government that unified Japan.

Peter the Great

Russian tsar who westernized Russia.

Divine right

The belief that monarchs' power comes from God.

Protestant Reformation

Movement begun by Martin Luther that split from the Catholic Church.

Counter-Reformation

The Catholic Church's response to Protestantism.

Sikhism

South Asian religion blending Hindu and Islamic ideas.

Sample practice questions

5 more questions like these, from level 1 to 5, are in the practice set.