Houghton Mifflin Social Studies
Chapter 7, Lesson 2, The Ottoman Empire (pp. 170-177)
I. The Early Ottoman Empire
B. Around 1300, a Turkish Muslim chief named Osman began conquering Christian lands in Asia Minor.
C. Osman and his followers, who became knows as Ottomans, expanded the frontiers of Islam and established a powerful empire.
B. Muslim subjects followed the Islamic courts. Other religious groups were tolerated and organized into self-regulatory groups called "millets."
C. The Ottomans were famed for the fine education received by boys at the Palace School, as well as the excellence of their soldiers, or janissaries.
B. The Ottoman Empire reached new heights of power and culture under Suleiman the Magnificent, who ruled from 1520 to 1566.
B. In 1923, a large part of the Ottoman Empire was reorganized into independent countries.
C. The remaining lands became the country of Turkey--which expelled the members of the Ottoman Dynasty thus ending the Ottoman Empire.
Lesson at a Glance Outline
A. Driven from their homelands by the Mongols, some Islamic Turkish tribes settled in Asia Minor and established small Muslim states.
II. Rulers and Subjects
A. The ruler of the Ottoman Empire, the sultan, was advised on state affairs by the grand vizier, or prime minister, who ran the Imperial Council.
III. The Empire at Its Height
A. Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror, who captured Constantinople in 1453, renamed the city Istanbul and made it the capital of the Ottoman Empire.
IV. Decline of the Ottoman Empire
A. After Suleiman, the Ottoman Empire began to decline, losing territory and military power over a 350-year period.
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