1.
Sultan of the Ottoman Empire
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The sultans of the Ottoman Empire, made up solely of the members of the Ottoman dynasty, ruled over the transcontinental empire from its inception in 1299 to its dissolution in 1922. At its height, the Ottoman Empire spanned from Hungary in the north to Yemen in the south, the Ottoman Empires early years have been the subject of varying narratives due to the difficulty of discerning fact from legend. The empire came into existence at the end of the thirteenth century, according to later, often unreliable Ottoman tradition, Osman was a descendant of the Kayı tribe of the Oghuz Turks. The eponymous Ottoman dynasty he founded endured for six centuries through the reigns of 36 sultans, the Ottoman Empire disappeared as a result of the defeat of the Central Powers with whom it had allied itself during World War I. The Ottoman Empire was an absolute monarchy during much of its existence and he was theoretically responsible only to God and Gods law, of which he was the chief executor. His heavenly mandate was reflected in Islamic titles such as shadow of God on Earth, all offices were filled by his authority, and every law was issued by him in the form of a decree called firman. He was the military commander and had the official title to all land. Osman son of Ertuğrul was the first ruler of the Ottoman state, newly enthroned Ottoman rulers were girded with the Sword of Osman, an important ceremony that served as the equivalent of European monarchs coronation. A non-girded sultan was not eligible to have his children included in the line of succession, although absolute in theory and in principle, the sultans powers were limited in practice. Political decisions had to take account the opinions and attitudes of important members of the dynasty. Constitutionalism was only established during the reign Abdul Hamid II, who became the empires last absolute ruler. Although Abdul Hamid II abolished the parliament and the constitution to return to rule in 1878. Since 2009, the head of the House of Osman and pretender to the defunct Ottoman throne has been Bayezid Osman, the table below lists Ottoman sultans, as well as the last Ottoman caliph, in chronological order. The tughras were the seals or signatures used by Ottoman sultans. They were displayed on all official documents as well as on coins, the Notes column contains information on each sultans parentage and fate. For earlier rulers, there is usually a gap between the moment a sultans reign ended and the moment his successor was enthroned. Because of the infighting and numerous fratricides that occurred, a death date therefore did not always coincide with the accession date of his successor. In 1617, the law of succession changed from survival of the fittest to a system based on agnatic seniority and this in turn explains why from the 17th century onwards a deceased sultan was rarely succeeded by his own son, but usually by an uncle or brother
2.
Caesar (title)
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Caesar is a title of imperial character. It derives from the cognomen of Julius Caesar, the Roman dictator, the change from being a familial name to a title adopted by the Roman Emperors can be dated to about AD 68/69, the so-called Year of the Four Emperors. For political and personal reasons Octavian chose to emphasize his relationship with Caesar by styling himself simply Imperator Caesar, without any of the other elements of his full name. His successor as emperor, his stepson Tiberius, also bore the name as a matter of course, born Tiberius Claudius Nero, he was adopted by Caesar Augustus on June 26,4 AD, as Tiberius Julius Caesar. The precedent was set, the Emperor designated his successor by adopting him, Claudius in turn adopted his stepson and grand-nephew Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, giving him the name Caesar in the traditional way, his stepson would rule as the Emperor Nero. Galba helped solidify Caesar as the title of the heir by giving it to his own adopted heir. Galbas reign did not last long and he was deposed by Marcus Otho. Otho did not at first use the title Caesar and occasionally used the title Nero as emperor, Otho was then defeated by Aulus Vitellius who acceded with the name Aulus Vitellius Germanicus Imperator Augustus. Vitellius did not adopt the cognomen Caesar as part of his name, vespasians son, Titus Flavius Vespasianus became Titus Flavius Caesar Vespasianus. By this point the status of Caesar had been regularised into that of a given to the Emperor-designate. After some variation among the earliest emperors, the style of the Emperor-designate on coins was usually Nobilissimus Caesar Most Noble Caesar, on March 1,293, Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus established the Tetrarchy, a system of rule by two senior Emperors and two junior sub-Emperors. The two coequal senior emperors were styled identically to previous Emperors, as Imperator Caesar NN, pius Felix Invictus Augustus, and were called the Augusti, while the two junior sub-Emperors were styled identically to previous Emperors-designate, as Nobilissimus Caesar. Likewise, the junior sub-Emperors retained the title Caesar upon accession to the senior position, an exceptional case was the conferment of the dignity and its insignia to the Bulgarian khan Tervel by Justinian II who had helped him regain his throne in 705. The title was awarded to the brother of Empress Maria of Alania, according to the Klētorologion of 899, the Byzantine Caesars insignia were a crown without a cross, and the ceremony of a Caesars creation, is included in De Ceremoniis I.43. The title remained the highest in the hierarchy until the introduction of the sebastokratōr by Alexios I Komnenos. The title remained in existence through the last centuries of the Empire, in the late Byzantine hierarchy, as recorded in the mid-14th century Book of Offices of pseudo-Kodinos, the rank continued to come after the sebastokratōr. Pseudo-Kodinos writes that the forms of another form of hat, the domed skaranikon, and of the mantle. In the Middle East, the Persians and the Arabs continued to refer to the Roman and Byzantine emperors as Caesar
3.
Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques
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The title refers to the ruler taking the responsibility of guarding and maintaining the two holiest mosques in Islam, Al-Masjid al-Haram in Mecca and Al-Masjid an-Nabawi in Medina. It is believed that the first person to use the title was Saladin, after defeating the Mamluks and gaining control of the two Muslim holy cities, Mecca and Medina in 1517, the Ottoman Sultan Selim I adopted the title. Rather than style himself the Ḥākimül-Ḥaremeyn, he accepted the more pious title Ḫādimül-Ḥaremeyn and this title was used by all subsequent Ottoman Caliph Sultans until Mehmed VI, the last. The first King of Saudi Arabia to assume the title was Fahd bin Abdul Aziz in 1986 and he replaced the term His Majesty with Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques. The reigning king, Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, took the title after the death of King Abdullah, his half brother
4.
Ottoman Caliphate
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The Ottoman Caliphate, under the Ottoman dynasty of the Ottoman Empire, was the last Sunni Islamic caliphate of the late medieval and the early modern era. During the period of Ottoman growth, Ottoman rulers claimed caliphal authority since Murad Is conquest of Edirne in 1362, strengthened by the Peace of Westphalia and the Industrial Revolution, European powers regrouped and challenged Ottoman dominance. The Ottoman state defaulted on its loans in 1875-6, part of a financial crisis affecting much of the globe. Sultan Abdul-Hamid II, who ruled 1876–1909, felt that the Empires desperate situation could only be remedied through strong and determined leadership. Taking a hard-line against Western involvement in Ottoman affairs, he emphasized the Empires Islamic character, reasserted his status as the Caliph, refused to join the insurrectionists and had placed themselves under the control of our army, thereby recognizing American sovereignty. The Ottoman Sultan used his position as caliph to order the Sulu Sultan not to resist, collaboration between the American military and Sulu sultanate was due to the Sulu Sultan being persuaded by the Ottoman Sultan. As the Moros have never asked more than that, it is not surprising, if the reader will pause to consider what this means in men and also the millions in money, he will appreciate this wonderful piece of diplomacy, in averting a holy war. The Moro Rebellion then broke out in 1904 with war raging between the Americans and Moro Muslims and atrocities committed against Moro Muslim women and children such as the Moro Crater Massacre, the coup by the three Pashas in 1909 marked the end of his reign. Western-inclined Turkish military officers opposed to Abdul-Hamids rule had steadily organized in the form of secret societies within and outside Turkey. By 1906, the movement enjoyed the support of a significant portion of the army, the Young Turks sought to remodel administration of the Empire along Western lines. Their ideology was nationalist in character, and was a precursor of the movement that would seize control of Turkey following World War I, CUP leaders presented their ideas to the public as a revival of true Islamic principles. Under the leadership of Enver Pasha, a Turkish military officer, a counter-coup launched by soldiers loyal to the Sultan threatened the new government but ultimately failed. Many aspects of this revolt, which started within certain sections of the army in Constantinople, are still yet to be analyzed. Its generally admitted perception of a movement has sometimes been challenged. Abdul-Hamid was deposed on 13 April 1909 and he was replaced by his brother Rashid Effendi, who was proclaimed Sultan Mehmed V on 27 April. In 1911 Italy warred with the Ottomans over Libya, and Turkeys failure to defend these regions demonstrated the weakness of the Ottoman military. In 1912 Bulgaria, Serbia, Montenegro, and Greece formed the Balkan League, the ensuing Balkan Wars eliminated what little presence the Ottomans had left in Europe, and only infighting between the Balkan League allies prevented them from advancing into Anatolia. Internally, the Ottomans continued to be troubled by political instability, nationalist uprisings that had plagued the Empire sporadically for the past fifty years intensified
5.
Padishah
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Its Arabized pronunciation as Badishah was used by Mughal emperors. The rulers on the following thrones – the first two effectively commanding major West Asian empires – were styled Padishah, The Shāhanshāh of Iran, the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire The emperors of the Mughal Empire, who used the Arabic version of the title, Badshah. Miangul Golshahzada Abdul Wadud of the tiny Pakistani North West Frontier state of Swat called himself badshah from November 1918 to March 1926, ahmed Shah Durrani founded the Durrani Empire in 1747 with the title Pādshah-i Afghanistan in Persian and Badcha Da Afghanistan in the Pashto language. The Sadozai were overthrown in 1823 but there was a restoration by Shah Shujah in 1839 with the help of Ranjit Singh and the Sikh Empire. The last Basha bey of Tunisia, Muhammad VIII al-Amin, adopted the sovereign style padshah 20 March 1956 –25 July 1957, the paramount prestige of this title, in Islam and even beyond, is clearly apparent from the Ottoman Empires dealings with the European powers. The compound Pādshah-i-Ghazi is only recorded for two individual rulers, H. H, there is a large family of Turkish origin using the surname Badi in modern-day Libya. In 2008, a cricket team, the Lahore Badshahs, was founded. In India, Padishah is often a Muslim surname, from the trend of adopting titles as names by both royalty and commoners. In Frank Herberts 1965 novel Dune, the head of human space is styled Padishah Emperor of the Known Universe. In the Pathfinder role-playing game, the ruler of the Empire of Kelesh is styled Padishah Emperor, baig Emir Rana Shah Sultan RoyalArk — Select present country, then choose dynasty from its menu WorldStatesmen idem, more cases but less thorough Bartbleby. com Dictionary & Etymology
6.
Mustafa I
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He was born in the Manisa Palace, as the younger brother of Ahmed I. His mother was Halime Sultan, an Abkhazian lady, before 1603 it was customary for an Ottoman Sultan to have his brothers executed shortly after he gained the throne. But when the thirteen-year-old Ahmed I was enthroned in 1603, he spared the life of the twelve-year-old Mustafa, Mustafa might have been left alive because Ahmed had not yet produced any sons, so at the time Mustafa was his only heir. Though Ahmed went on to several sons, he did not execute Mustafa. Another factor in Mustafas survival is the influence of Kösem Sultan, however, the reports of foreign ambassadors suggest that Ahmed actually liked his brother. If Osman became Sultan, he would try to execute his half-brothers. This scenario later became a reality when Osman II executed his brother Mehmed in 1621, until Ahmeds death in 1617, Mustafa lived in the Old palace, along with his mother, and grandmother Safiye Sultan. Ahmeds death created a dilemma never before experienced by the Ottoman Empire, multiple princes were now eligible for the Sultanate, and all of them lived in Topkapı Palace. A court faction headed by the Şeyhülislam Esad Efendi and Sofu Mehmed Pasha decided to enthrone Mustafa instead of Ahmeds son Osman, Sofu Mehmed argued that Osman was too young to be enthroned without causing adverse comment among the populace. The Chief Black Eunuch Mustafa Agha objected, citing Mustafas mental problems, Mustafas rise created a new succession principle of seniority that would last until the end of the Empire. It was the first time an Ottoman Sultan was succeeded by his brother instead of his son and it was hoped that regular social contact would improve Mustafas mental health, but his behavior remained eccentric. He pulled off the turbans of his viziers and yanked their beards, others observed him throwing coins to birds and fish. The Ottoman historian İbrahim Peçevi wrote this situation was seen by all men of state and the people, Mustafa was never more than a tool of court cliques at the Topkapı Palace. In 1618, after a rule, another palace faction deposed him in favour of his young nephew Osman II. The conflict between the Janissaries and Osman II presented him with a second chance, after a Janissary rebellion led to the deposition and assassination of Osman II in 1622, Mustafa was restored to the throne and held it for another year. Nevertheless, according to Baki Tezcan, there is not enough evidence to establish that Mustafa was mentally imbalanced when he came to the throne. Mustafa made a number of excursions to the arsenal and the docks, examining various sorts of arms and taking an active interest in the munitions supply of the army. After Ahmeds death, he completed the outer court of the Blue mosque, the mausoleum
7.
Ibrahim of the Ottoman Empire
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Ibrahim was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1640 until 1648. He was born in Constantinople the son of Ahmed I by Valide Kösem Sultan and he was later called Ibrahim the Mad by twentieth century historians due to his reputed mental condition. Ibrahim was born on 5 November 1615, the son of Sultan Ahmed I, when Ibrahim was 2, his father suddenly died, and Ibrahims uncle Mustafa I became the new sultan. By that time, Kosem Sultan and her children, including young Ibrahim had been sent to the Old Palace, after the succession of his brother Murad IV, Ibrahim was confined in the Kafes, which affected his health. However, after his brothers death, Ibrahim became the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, one of the most notorious Ottoman Sultans, Ibrahim spent all of his early life in the close confinement of the Kafes before succeeding his brother Murad IV in 1640. Four of his brothers had been executed by Murad, and Ibrahim lived in terror of being the next to die and his life was only saved by the intercession of Kösem Sultan, mother of Ibrahim and Murad. After Murads death, Ibrahim was left the sole surviving prince of the dynasty, upon being asked by Grand Vizier Kemankeş Kara Mustafa Pasha to assume the Sultanate, Ibrahim suspected Murad was still alive and plotting to trap him. It took the combined persuasion of Kösem and the Grand Vizier, Ḳara Muṣṭafā Pasha remained as Grand Vizier during the first four years of Ibrahim’s reign, keeping the Empire stable. With the treaty of Szön he renewed peace with Austria and during the same year recovered Azov from the Cossacks, during these years, Ibrahim showed concern with properly ruling the empire, as shown in his handwritten communications with the Grand Vizier. Ḳara Muṣṭafā in turn wrote a memo on public affairs to coach his inexperienced master, Ibrahim’s replies to Ḳara Muṣṭafās reports show he had actually received a good education. Ibrahim often traveled in disguise, inspecting the markets of Istanbul, Ibrahim was often distracted by recurring headaches and attacks of physical weakness, perhaps caused by the trauma of his early years. The distractions of the harem allowed Kösem Sultan to gain power and rule in his name, yet even she fell victim to the Sultans disfavor, cinci Hoca became Kadiasker of Anatolia, Yusuf Agha was made Kapudan Pasha and Sultanzade Mehmed became Grand Vizier. In 1644, Maltese corsairs seized a ship carrying high-status pilgrims to Mecca, since the pirates had docked in Crete, Kapudan Yusuf Pasha encouraged Ibrahim to invade the island. This began a war with Venice that lasted 24 years—Crete would not completely fall under Ottoman domination until 1669. In spite of the decline of La Serenissima, Venetian ships won victories throughout the Aegean, capturing Tenedos, Kapudan Yusuf enjoyed temporary success in conquering Canea, starting a jealous rivalry with the Grand Vizier that led to his execution and the Grand Viziers deposition. With his cronies in power, Ibrahims extravagant tendencies went unchecked and he raised eight concubines to the favored position of haseki, granting each riches and land. After legally marrying the concubine Telli Haseki, he ordered the palace of Ibrahim Pasha to be carpeted in sable furs and given to her. Mass discontent was caused by the Venetian blockade of the Dardanelles—which created scarcities in the capital—and the imposition of heavy taxes during a war economy to pay for Ibrahims whims
8.
Constantinople
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Constantinople was the capital city of the Roman/Byzantine Empire, and also of the brief Latin, and the later Ottoman empires. It was reinaugurated in 324 AD from ancient Byzantium as the new capital of the Roman Empire by Emperor Constantine the Great, after whom it was named, Constantinople was famed for its massive and complex defences. The first wall of the city was erected by Constantine I, Constantinople never truly recovered from the devastation of the Fourth Crusade and the decades of misrule by the Latins. The origins of the name of Byzantion, more known by the later Latin Byzantium, are not entirely clear. The founding myth of the city has it told that the settlement was named after the leader of the Megarian colonists, Byzas. The later Byzantines of Constantinople themselves would maintain that the city was named in honour of two men, Byzas and Antes, though this was likely just a play on the word Byzantion. During this time, the city was also called Second Rome, Eastern Rome, and Roma Constantinopolitana. As the city became the remaining capital of the Roman Empire after the fall of the West, and its wealth, population, and influence grew. In the language of other peoples, Constantinople was referred to just as reverently, the medieval Vikings, who had contacts with the empire through their expansion in eastern Europe used the Old Norse name Miklagarðr, and later Miklagard and Miklagarth. In Arabic, the city was sometimes called Rūmiyyat al-kubra and in Persian as Takht-e Rum, in East and South Slavic languages, including in medieval Russia, Constantinople was referred to as Tsargrad or Carigrad, City of the Caesar, from the Slavonic words tsar and grad. This was presumably a calque on a Greek phrase such as Βασιλέως Πόλις, the modern Turkish name for the city, İstanbul, derives from the Greek phrase eis tin polin, meaning into the city or to the city. In 1928, the Turkish alphabet was changed from Arabic script to Latin script, in time the city came to be known as Istanbul and its variations in most world languages. In Greece today, the city is still called Konstantinoúpolis/Konstantinoúpoli or simply just the City, apart from this, little is known about this initial settlement, except that it was abandoned by the time the Megarian colonists settled the site anew. A farsighted treaty with the emergent power of Rome in c.150 BC which stipulated tribute in exchange for independent status allowed it to enter Roman rule unscathed. The site lay astride the land route from Europe to Asia and the seaway from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean, and had in the Golden Horn an excellent and spacious harbour. He would later rebuild Byzantium towards the end of his reign, in which it would be briefly renamed Augusta Antonina, fortifying it with a new city wall in his name, Constantine had altogether more colourful plans. Rome was too far from the frontiers, and hence from the armies and the imperial courts, yet it had been the capital of the state for over a thousand years, and it might have seemed unthinkable to suggest that the capital be moved to a different location. Constantinople was built over 6 years, and consecrated on 11 May 330, Constantine divided the expanded city, like Rome, into 14 regions, and ornamented it with public works worthy of an imperial metropolis
9.
Ottoman Empire
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After 1354, the Ottomans crossed into Europe, and with the conquest of the Balkans the Ottoman Beylik was transformed into a transcontinental empire. The Ottomans ended the Byzantine Empire with the 1453 conquest of Constantinople by Mehmed the Conqueror, at the beginning of the 17th century the empire contained 32 provinces and numerous vassal states. Some of these were later absorbed into the Ottoman Empire, while others were granted various types of autonomy during the course of centuries. With Constantinople as its capital and control of lands around the Mediterranean basin, while the empire was once thought to have entered a period of decline following the death of Suleiman the Magnificent, this view is no longer supported by the majority of academic historians. The empire continued to maintain a flexible and strong economy, society, however, during a long period of peace from 1740 to 1768, the Ottoman military system fell behind that of their European rivals, the Habsburg and Russian Empires. While the Empire was able to hold its own during the conflict, it was struggling with internal dissent. Starting before World War I, but growing increasingly common and violent during it, major atrocities were committed by the Ottoman government against the Armenians, Assyrians and Pontic Greeks. The word Ottoman is an anglicisation of the name of Osman I. Osmans name in turn was the Turkish form of the Arabic name ʿUthmān, in Ottoman Turkish, the empire was referred to as Devlet-i ʿAlīye-yi ʿOsmānīye, or alternatively ʿOsmānlı Devleti. In Modern Turkish, it is known as Osmanlı İmparatorluğu or Osmanlı Devleti, the Turkish word for Ottoman originally referred to the tribal followers of Osman in the fourteenth century, and subsequently came to be used to refer to the empires military-administrative elite. In contrast, the term Turk was used to refer to the Anatolian peasant and tribal population, the term Rūmī was also used to refer to Turkish-speakers by the other Muslim peoples of the empire and beyond. In Western Europe, the two names Ottoman Empire and Turkey were often used interchangeably, with Turkey being increasingly favored both in formal and informal situations and this dichotomy was officially ended in 1920–23, when the newly established Ankara-based Turkish government chose Turkey as the sole official name. Most scholarly historians avoid the terms Turkey, Turks, and Turkish when referring to the Ottomans, as the power of the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum declined in the 13th century, Anatolia was divided into a patchwork of independent Turkish principalities known as the Anatolian Beyliks. One of these beyliks, in the region of Bithynia on the frontier of the Byzantine Empire, was led by the Turkish tribal leader Osman, osmans early followers consisted both of Turkish tribal groups and Byzantine renegades, many but not all converts to Islam. Osman extended the control of his principality by conquering Byzantine towns along the Sakarya River and it is not well understood how the early Ottomans came to dominate their neighbours, due to the scarcity of the sources which survive from this period. One school of thought which was popular during the twentieth century argued that the Ottomans achieved success by rallying religious warriors to fight for them in the name of Islam, in the century after the death of Osman I, Ottoman rule began to extend over Anatolia and the Balkans. Osmans son, Orhan, captured the northwestern Anatolian city of Bursa in 1326 and this conquest meant the loss of Byzantine control over northwestern Anatolia. The important city of Thessaloniki was captured from the Venetians in 1387, the Ottoman victory at Kosovo in 1389 effectively marked the end of Serbian power in the region, paving the way for Ottoman expansion into Europe
10.
Sultan Ahmed Mosque
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The Sultan Ahmed Mosque or Sultan Ahmet Mosque is a historic mosque located in Istanbul, Turkey. A popular tourist site, the Sultan Ahmed Mosque continues to function as a mosque today, the Blue Mosque, as it is popularly known, was constructed between 1609 and 1616 during the rule of Ahmed I. Its Külliye contains Ahmeds tomb, a madrasah and a hospice, hand-painted blue tiles adorn the mosque’s interior walls, and at night the mosque is bathed in blue as lights frame the mosque’s five main domes, six minarets and eight secondary domes. It sits next to the Hagia Sophia, another popular tourist site, after the Peace of Zsitvatorok and the crushing loss in the 1603–1618 war with Persia, Sultan Ahmet I, decided to build a large mosque in Istanbul to reassert Ottoman power. It would be the first imperial mosque for more than forty years, while his predecessors had paid for their mosques with the spoils of war, Ahmet I procured funds from the Treasury, because he had not gained remarkable victories. It caused the anger of the ulema, the Muslim jurists, big parts of the south shore of the mosque rest on the foundations, the vaults of the old Grand Palace. The Sultan Ahmed Mosque has five domes, six minarets. The design is the culmination of two centuries of Ottoman mosque development and it incorporates some Byzantine Christian elements of the neighboring Hagia Sophia with traditional Islamic architecture and is considered to be the last great mosque of the classical period. The architect, Sedefkâr Mehmed Ağa, synthesized the ideas of his master Sinan, aiming for overwhelming size, majesty and splendour. At its lower levels and at every pier, the interior of the mosque is lined with more than 20,000 handmade İznik style ceramic tiles, made at Iznik in more than fifty different tulip designs. The tiles at lower levels are traditional in design, while at gallery level their design becomes flamboyant with representations of flowers, fruit, the tiles were made under the supervision of the Iznik master. The price to be paid for each tile was fixed by the sultans decree, as a result, the quality of the tiles used in the building decreased gradually. The upper levels of the interior are dominated by blue paint, more than 200 stained glass windows with intricate designs admit natural light, today assisted by chandeliers. On the chandeliers, ostrich eggs are found that were meant to avoid cobwebs inside the mosque by repelling spiders, the decorations include verses from the Quran, many of them made by Seyyid Kasim Gubari, regarded as the greatest calligrapher of his time. The floors are covered with carpets, which are donated by the faithful and are replaced as they wear out. The many spacious windows confer a spacious impression, the casements at floor level are decorated with opus sectile. Each exedra has five windows, some of which are blind, each semi-dome has 14 windows and the central dome 28. The coloured glass for the windows was a gift of the Signoria of Venice to the sultan, most of these coloured windows have by now been replaced by modern versions with little or no artistic merit
11.
Istanbul
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Istanbul, historically known as Constantinople and Byzantium, is the most populous city in Turkey and the countrys economic, cultural, and historic center. Istanbul is a city in Eurasia, straddling the Bosphorus strait between the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea. Its commercial and historical center lies on the European side and about a third of its population lives on the Asian side, the city is the administrative center of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, both hosting a population of around 14.7 million residents. Istanbul is one of the worlds most populous cities and ranks as the worlds 7th-largest city proper, founded under the name of Byzantion on the Sarayburnu promontory around 660 BCE, the city developed to become one of the most significant in history. After its reestablishment as Constantinople in 330 CE, it served as a capital for almost 16 centuries, during the Roman and Byzantine, the Latin. Overlooked for the new capital Ankara during the period, the city has since regained much of its prominence. The population of the city has increased tenfold since the 1950s, as migrants from across Anatolia have moved in, arts, music, film, and cultural festivals were established at the end of the 20th century and continue to be hosted by the city today. Infrastructure improvements have produced a complex transportation network, considered a global city, Istanbul has one of the fastest-growing metropolitan economies in the world. It hosts the headquarters of many Turkish companies and media outlets and accounts for more than a quarter of the gross domestic product. Hoping to capitalize on its revitalization and rapid expansion, Istanbul has bid for the Summer Olympics five times in twenty years, the first known name of the city is Byzantium, the name given to it at its foundation by Megarean colonists around 660 BCE. The name is thought to be derived from a personal name, ancient Greek tradition refers to a legendary king of that name as the leader of the Greek colonists. Modern scholars have hypothesized that the name of Byzas was of local Thracian or Illyrian origin. He also attempted to promote the name Nova Roma and its Greek version Νέα Ῥώμη Nea Romē, the use of Constantinople to refer to the city during the Ottoman period is now considered politically incorrect, even if not historically inaccurate, by Turks. By the 19th century, the city had acquired other names used by foreigners or Turks. Europeans used Constantinople to refer to the whole of the city, pera was used to describe the area between the Golden Horn and the Bosphorus, but Turks also used the name Beyoğlu. The name İstanbul is commonly held to derive from the Medieval Greek phrase εἰς τὴν Πόλιν and this reflected its status as the only major city in the vicinity. The importance of Constantinople in the Ottoman world was reflected by its Ottoman name Der Saadet meaning the gate to Prosperity in Ottoman. An alternative view is that the name evolved directly from the name Constantinople, with the first, a Turkish folk etymology traces the name to Islam bol plenty of Islam because the city was called Islambol or Islambul as the capital of the Islamic Ottoman Empire
12.
Murad IV
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Murad IV was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1623 to 1640, known both for restoring the authority of the state and for the brutality of his methods. Murad IV was born in Istanbul, the son of Sultan Ahmed I, brought to power by a palace conspiracy in 1623, he succeeded his uncle Mustafa I. He was only 11 when he took the throne, in the early years of Murads reign, he was under the control of his relatives. His absolute rule started around 1632, when he took the authority and repressed all the tyrants, Murad IV was for a long time under the control of his relatives and during his early years as Sultan, his mother, Kösem Sultan, essentially ruled through him. Murad IV feared suffering the fate of his brother, Osman II. At the age of 16 in 1628, he had his brother-in-law, Murad IV tried to quell the corruption that had grown during the reigns of previous Sultans, and that had not been checked while his mother was ruling through proxy. Murad IV also banned alcohol, tobacco, and coffee in Istanbul and he ordered execution for breaking this ban. Rivaling the exploits of Selim the Grim, he would sit in a kiosk by the water near his Seraglio Palace and he restored the judicial regulations by very strict punishments, including execution, he once strangled a grand vizier for the reason that the official had beaten his mother-in-law. Historians including Halil İnalcık as well as primary sources report that though he was a ruthless supporter of alcohol prohibition. Murad IVs reign is most notable for the Ottoman–Safavid War against Persia in which Ottoman forces managed to conquer Azerbaijan, occupying Tabriz, Hamadan, Murad IV himself commanded the invasion of Mesopotamia and proved to be an outstanding field commander. Mesopotamia was irrevocably lost for the Persians, the borders per the outcome of the war is more or less the present border line between Turkey - Iraq and Iran. Murad IV himself commanded the Ottoman army in the last years of the war and he was the third Ottoman Sultan to command an army on the battlefield since the death of Suleiman the Magnificent in 1566. Sultan Murad IV put emphasis on architecture and in his period many monuments were erected, some of them are Meydanı Mosque, Bayram Pasha Dervish Lodge, Tomb, Fountain, Primary School, Konya Serefeddin Mosque. Both of them later comprised among the Mughal team that would design, in the year 1626, the Mughal Emperor Jahangir began to contemplate an alliance between the Ottomans, Mughals and Uzbeks against the Safavids, who had defeated the Mughals at Kandahar. He even wrote a letter to the Ottoman Sultan Murad IV, however, Jahangirs son and successor Shah Jahan pursued the goal of alliance with the Ottoman Empire. Murad IV gave them the finest weapons, saddles and Kaftans and ordered his forces to accompany the Mughals to the port of Basra, Murad IV was known having affairs with both men and women. In his Iran campaign he brought the commander of Revan Castle Emirgûneoğlu Tahmasp Kulu Khan to Istanbul, changed his name to Yusuf Pasha and made a garden namely Feridun Bahçesi for him. According to Dimitri Kantemir and Eremya Çelebi Murad IV was constantly meeting the well known homosexuals of time Yusuf Pasha, Musa Çelebi and Silahtar Mustafa Pasha in Feridun Bahçesi
13.
Dynasty
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A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family, usually in the context of a feudal or monarchical system but sometimes also appearing in elective republics. The dynastic family or lineage may be known as a house, historians periodize the histories of many sovereign states, such as Ancient Egypt, the Carolingian Empire and Imperial China, using a framework of successive dynasties. As such, the dynasty may be used to delimit the era during which the family reigned and to describe events, trends. The word dynasty itself is often dropped from such adjectival references, until the 19th century, it was taken for granted that a legitimate function of a monarch was to aggrandize his dynasty, that is, to increase the territory, wealth, and power of his family members. The longest-surviving dynasty in the world is the Imperial House of Japan, dynasties throughout the world have traditionally been reckoned patrilineally, such as under the Frankish Salic law. Succession through a daughter when permitted was considered to establish a new dynasty in her husbands ruling house, however, some states in Africa, determined descent matrilineally, while rulers have at other times adopted the name of their mothers dynasty when coming into her inheritance. It is also extended to unrelated people such as poets of the same school or various rosters of a single sports team. The word dynasty derives via Latin dynastia from Greek dynastéia, where it referred to power, dominion and it was the abstract noun of dynástēs, the agent noun of dynamis, power or ability, from dýnamai, to be able. A ruler in a dynasty is referred to as a dynast. For example, following his abdication, Edward VIII of the United Kingdom ceased to be a member of the House of Windsor. A dynastic marriage is one that complies with monarchical house law restrictions, the marriage of Willem-Alexander, Prince of Orange, to Máxima Zorreguieta in 2002 was dynastic, for example, and their eldest child is expected to inherit the Dutch crown eventually. But the marriage of his younger brother Prince Friso to Mabel Wisse Smit in 2003 lacked government support, thus Friso forfeited his place in the order of succession, lost his title as a Prince of the Netherlands, and left his children without dynastic rights. In historical and monarchist references to formerly reigning families, a dynast is a member who would have had succession rights, were the monarchys rules still in force. Even since abolition of the Austrian monarchy, Max and his descendants have not been considered the rightful pretenders by Austrian monarchists, nor have they claimed that position. The term dynast is sometimes used only to refer to descendants of a realms monarchs. The term can therefore describe overlapping but distinct sets of people, yet he is not a male-line member of the royal family, and is therefore not a dynast of the House of Windsor. Thus, in 1999 he requested and obtained permission from Elizabeth II to marry the Roman Catholic Princess Caroline of Monaco. Yet a clause of the English Act of Settlement 1701 remained in effect at that time and that exclusion, too, ceased to apply on 26 March 2015, with retroactive effect for those who had been dynasts prior to triggering it by marriage to a Catholic
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Ottoman dynasty
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The Ottoman dynasty was made up of the members of the imperial House of Osman. According to Ottoman tradition, the family originated from the Kayı tribe branch of the Oghuz Turks, the Ottoman dynasty, named after Osman I, ruled the Ottoman Empire from c.1299 to 1922. During much of the Empires history, the sultan was the regent, head of state. The imperial family was deposed from power and the sultanate was abolished on 1 November 1922 after the Turkish War of Independence, the Republic of Turkey was declared the following year. The living members of the dynasty were sent into exile as persona non gratae, though some have been allowed to return. In its current form, the family is known as the Osmanoğlu family, before Orhans proclamation of the dynasty, the tribe was known as the Bilecik Söğüt Beylik or Beys but was renamed Osmanlı in honor of Osman. The Ottoman dynasty is known in modern Turkish as Osmanlı Hanedanı, meaning House of Osman, in Ottoman Turkish it was known as Hanedan-ı Âl-i Osman, thus they still formally acknowledged the sovereignty of the Seljuk Empire and its successor, the Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm. The first Ottoman ruler to claim the title of Sultan was Murad I. The holder of the title Sultan was in Arabic-Islamic dynasties originally the power behind the throne of the Caliph in Bagdad, the Ottoman sultans also claimed the title of Caliph starting with Murad I, who transformed the Ottoman state into a transcontinental empire. With the Conquest of Constantinople in 1453, Sultan Mehmed II Fatih claimed the title Kaysar-i-Rûm Emperor of Rome and he appointed the Patriarch of Constantinople Gennadius Scholarius, whom he protected and whose status he elevated into leader of all the Eastern Orthodox Christians. As Emperor of Rome he laid claim to all Roman territories, Sultan Mehmed II also took the title of Padishah, a Persian title meaning Master of Kings and ranking as Emperor, claiming superiority among the other kings. He was the first Ottoman ruler to adopt the title of Padishah. The Ottoman claim to caliphate was strengthened when they defeated the Mamluks in 1517, as the empire grew, sultans adopted secondary titles expressing the empires claim to be the legitimate successor of the absorbed states. Furthermore, they tended to enumerate even regular provinces, not unlike the long lists of -mainly inherited- feudal titles in the style of many Christian European monarchs. Some early Ottoman Sultans even had to accept the status in the eyes of a foreign overlord. However, the Ottoman Caliphate too was abolished soon afterwards, and Abdulmecid II was utterly deposed and expelled from Turkey with the rest of the Ottoman dynasty on 3 March 1924
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Ahmed I
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Ahmed I was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1603 until his death in 1617. Ahmeds reign is noteworthy for marking the end of the Ottoman tradition of royal fratricide and he is also well known for his construction of the Blue Mosque, one of the most famous mosques in Turkey. Ahmed was born on 18 April 1590 at the Manisa Palace, Manisa, when his father Şehzade Mehmed was still a prince, after his grandfather Murad IIIs death in 1595, his father came to Istanbul and ascended the throne as Sultan Mehmed III. His father ordered the execution of nineteen of his brothers and half brothers and his elder brother Şehzade Mahmud was also executed by his own father on 7 June 1603, just before his own death on 22 December 1603. Mahmud was buried along with his mother in a mausoleum built by Ahmed in Şehzade Mosque. Ahmed ascended the throne after his fathers death in 1603, when ascended the throne, his powerful grandmother Safiye Sultan was still alive. He broke with the traditional fratricide and sent his brother Mustafa to live at the old palace at Bayezit along with their grandmother Safiye Sultan. A far lost uncle of Ahmed, Yahya, resented his accession to the Ottoman throne in 1603, in contrast to previous enthronements, Ahmed did not order the execution of his brother Mustafa, thus the Ottoman tradition of royal fratricide was brought to an end. This was most likely due to Ahmeds young age - he had not yet demonstrated his ability to sire children and his brothers execution would have endangered the dynasty, and thus he was spared. In the earlier part of his reign Ahmed I showed decision and vigor, the new borders were drawn per exactly the same line as confirmed in the Peace of Amasya of 1555. Upon ascending the throne, Ahmed I appointed Cigalazade Yusuf Sinan Pasha as the commander of the eastern army, despite the conditions being favourable, Sinan Pasha decided to stay for the winter in Van, but then marched to Erzurum to stop an incoming Safavid attack. This caused unrest within the army and the year was practically wasted for the Ottomans, the Ottoman army was routed Urmia and had to flee firstly to Van and then to Diyarbekir. Here, Sinan Pasha sparked a rebellion by executing the Beylerbey of Aleppo, Canbulatoğlu Hüseyin Pasha and he soon died himself and the Safavid army was able to capture Ganja, Shirvan and Shamakhi in Azerbaijan. Under Mehmed Pasha, the army recaptured Pest and Vác, but failed to capture Esztergom as the siege was lifted due to unfavourable weather. Meanwhile, the King of Transylvania, Stephen Bocskay, who struggled for the independence and had formerly supported the Habsburgs. Upon the promise of help, his forces joined the Ottoman forces in Belgrade. With this help, the Ottoman army besieged Esztergom and captured it on 4 November 1605, bocskai, with Ottoman help, captured Nové Zámky and forces under Tiryaki Hasan Pasha took Veszprém and Palota. Sarhoş İbrahim Pasha, the Beylerbey of Nagykanizsa, attacked the Austrian region of Istria, however, with Jelali revolts in Anatolia more dangerous than ever and a defeat in the eastern front, Mehmed Pasha was called to Constantinople
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Sunni Islam
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Sunni Islam is the largest group of Islam. Its name comes from the word Sunnah, referring to the behavior of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. According to Sunni tradition, Muhammad did not clearly designate a successor and this contrasts with the Shia view, which holds that Muhammad intended his son-in-law and cousin Ali ibn Abi Talib to succeed him. Political tensions between Sunnis and Shias continued with varying intensity throughout Islamic history and they have been exacerbated in recent times by ethnic conflicts, as of 2009, Sunni Muslims constituted between 87–90% of the worlds Muslim population. Sunni Islam is the worlds largest religious denomination, followed by Catholicism and its adherents are referred to in Arabic as ahl as-sunnah wa l-jamāʻah or ahl as-sunnah for short. In English, its doctrines and practices are sometimes called Sunnism, while adherents are known as Sunni Muslims, Sunnis, Sunnites, Sunni Islam is sometimes referred to as orthodox Islam. The Quran, together with hadith and binding juristic consensus form the basis of all traditional jurisprudence within Sunni Islam, sunnī, also commonly referred to as Sunnīism, is a term derived from sunnah meaning habit, usual practice, custom, tradition. The Muslim use of this term refers to the sayings and living habits of the prophet Muhammad, in Arabic, this branch of Islam is referred to as ahl as-sunnah wa l-jamāʻah, the people of the sunnah and the community, which is commonly shortened to ahl as-sunnah. One common mistake is to assume that Sunni Islam represents a normative Islam that emerged during the period after Muhammads death, and that Sufism and Shiism developed out of Sunni Islam. This perception is due to the reliance on highly ideological sources that have been accepted as reliable historical works. Both Sunnism and Shiaism are the end products of centuries of competition between ideologies. Both sects used each other to further cement their own identities and doctrines, the first four caliphs are known among Sunnis as the Rashidun or Rightly-Guided Ones. Sunni recognition includes the aforementioned Abu Bakr as the first, Umar who established the Islamic calendar as the second, Uthman as the third, Sunnis believe that the companions of Muhammad were the best of Muslims. Support for this view is found in the Quran, according to Sunnis. Sunnis also believe that the companions were true believers since it was the companions who were given the task of compiling the Quran, furthermore, narrations that were narrated by the companions are considered by Sunnis to be a second source of knowledge of the Muslim faith. A study conducted by the Pew Research Center in 2010 and released January 2011 found that there are 1.62 billion Muslims around the world, Islam does not have a formal hierarchy or clergy. Leaders are informal, and gain influence through study to become a scholar of Islamic law, according to the Islamic Center of Columbia, South Carolina, anyone with the intelligence and the will can become an Islamic scholar. During Midday Mosque services on Fridays, the congregation will choose a person to lead the service
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Tughra
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A tughra is a calligraphic monogram, seal or signature of a sultan that was affixed to all official documents and correspondence. It was also carved on his seal and stamped on the coins minted during his reign, the tughra was designed at the beginning of the sultans reign and drawn by the court calligrapher or nişancı on written documents. The first tughra belonged to Orhan I, the ruler of the Ottoman Empire. Tughras served a similar to the cartouche in ancient Egypt or the Royal Cypher of British monarchs. Every Ottoman sultan had his own individual tughra, the tughra has a characteristic form, two loops on the left side, three vertical lines in the middle, stacked writing on the bottom and two extensions to the right. Each of these elements has a meaning, and together they make up the form that is easily recognizable as a tughra. The name of the sultan is written out in the bottom section, depending on the period, this name can be as simple as Orhan, son of Osman in the first tughra in 1326. In later periods honorifics and prayers are added to the name of the tughra holder. The loops to the left of the tughra are called beyze, the vertical lines on the top of the tughra are called tuğ, or flagstaff. The lines to the right of the tughra are called hançer and signify a sword, symbol of power and might. Although the tughra is largely identified with the Ottoman Sultans, they have sometimes been used in other Turkic states, such as the Qajar dynasty, Safavid Empire. Later, tughras were used among the Tatars of Imperial Russia, there are modern artists of calligraphy that use the characteristic tughra form today. Examples are the tughras of Russian president Vladimir Putin and Akihito, the Emperor of Japan, created by artist Vladimir Popov
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Sultan
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Sultan is a noble title with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning strength, authority, rulership, derived from the verbal noun سلطة sulṭah, the dynasty and lands ruled by a sultan are referred to as a sultanate. A feminine form of sultan, used by Westerners, is Sultana or Sultanah, but Turkish and Ottoman Turkish also uses sultan for imperial lady, because Turkish grammar uses the same words for women and men. However, this styling misconstrues the roles of wives of sultans, in a similar usage, the wife of a German field marshal might be styled Frau Feldmarschall. The female leaders in Muslim history are known as sultanas. Special case in Brunei, the Queen Consort is known as Raja Isteri with suffix Pengiran Anak if the queen consort is a royal princess. Among those modern hereditary rulers who wish to emphasize their secular authority under the rule of law and these are generally secondary titles, either lofty poetry or with a message, e. g. g. Sultan ul-Mujahidin as champion of jihad, ghaznavid Sultanate Sultans of Great Seljuk Seljuk Sultanate of Rum Sultans of the Ottoman Empire, the Osmanli Elisu Sultanate and a few others. A Sultan ranked below a Khan and this usage underlines the Ottoman conception of sovereign power as family prerogative. Western tradition knows the Ottoman ruler as sultan, but Ottomans themselves used padişah or hünkar to refer to their ruler, the emperors formal title consisted of sultan together with khan. In formal address, the children were also entitled sultan, with imperial princes carrying the title before their given name. Example, Şehzade Sultan Mehmed and Mihrimah Sultan, son and daughter of Suleiman the Magnificent, henceforth, the mother of the reigning sultan was the only person of non imperial blood to carry the title sultan. In Kazakh Khanate a Sultan was a lord from the ruling dynasty elected by clans, the best of sultans was elected as khan by people at Kurultai. See ru, Казахские султаны In a number of states under Mongol or Turkic rule. These administrations were often decimal, using originally princely titles such as khan, malik, in the Persian empire, the rank of sultan was roughly equivalent to that of a modern-day captain in the West, socially in the fifth-rank class, styled Ali Jah
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Ottoman Greeks
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Ottoman Greeks were ethnic Greeks who lived in the Ottoman Empire, the Republic of Turkeys predecessor. Ottoman Greeks, who were Greek Orthodox Christians, belonged to the Rum Millet and they were concentrated in what is today modern Greece, western Asia Minor, central Anatolia, northeastern Anatolia (especially in Erzurum vilayet, in and around Trebizond and in the Pontic Mountains. In the Ottoman Empire, in accordance with the Muslim dhimmi system, Greeks, as Christians, were guaranteed limited freedoms, Christians and Jews were not considered equals to Muslims, testimony against Muslims by Christians and Jews was inadmissible in courts of law. Violation of these statutes could result in punishments ranging from the levying of fines to execution, beginning in 1839, the Ottoman government implemented the Tanzimat reforms to improve the situation of minorities, although these would prove largely ineffective. In 1856, the Hatt-ı Hümayun promised equality for all Ottoman citizens irrespective of their ethnicity and confession, the reformist period peaked with the Constitution, which was promulgated on November 23,1876. It established freedom of belief and equality of all citizens before the law, on July 24,1908, Greeks hopes for equality in the Ottoman Empire brightened with the removal of Sultan Abd-ul-Hamid II from power and restored the country back to a constitutional monarchy. The Committee of Union and Progress, a party opposed to the absolute rule of Sultan Abd-ul-Hamid II, had led a rebellion against their ruler. The pro-reform Young Turks deposed the Sultan and replaced him with the ineffective Sultan Mehmed V, before World War I, there were an estimated 1.8 million Greeks living in the Ottoman Empire. Some prominent Ottoman Greeks served as Ottoman Parliamentary Deputies, in the 1908 Parliament, there were twenty-six Ottoman Greek deputies but their number dropped to eighteen by 1914. From 1914 until 1923, Greeks in Thrace and Asia Minor were subject to a campaign including massacres, the International Association of Genocide Scholars recognizes it as genocide and refers to the campaign as the Greek Genocide. The position of the Patriarchate in the Ottoman state encouraged projects of Greek renaissance, the Greeks were a self-conscious group within the larger Christian Orthodox religious community established by the Ottoman Empire. They distinguished themselves from their Orthodox co-religionists by retaining their Greek culture, customs, language, throughout the post-Byzantine and Ottoman periods, Greeks, as members of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, declared themselves as Graikoi and Romaioi or Romioi. Basil Zaharoff, arms dealer and financier, elia Kazan, director, producer, writer and actor. Pargali Ibrahim Pasha, Grand Vizier to Suleyman the Magnificent, kösem Sultan, wife of Ottoman sultan Ahmed I. Michael Vasileiou, 19th century merchant and benefactor
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Caucasus
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The Caucasus /ˈkɔːkəsəs/ or Caucasia /kɔːˈkeɪʒə/ is a region at the border of Europe and Asia, situated between the Black and the Caspian seas. It is home to the Caucasus Mountains, which contain Europes highest mountain, politically, the Caucasus region is separated between northern and southern parts. The southern parts consist of independent sovereign states, and the parts are under the jurisdiction of the Russian Federation. The region is known for its diversity, aside from Indo-European and Turkic languages, the Kartvelian, Northwest Caucasian. Pliny the Elders Natural History derives the name of the Caucasus from Scythian kroy-khasis, German linguist Paul Kretschmer notes that the Latvian word Kruvesis also means ice. According to German philologists Otto Schrader and Alfons A. Nehring, the South Caucasus region and southern Dagestan were the furthest points of Persian expansions, with areas to the north of Caucasus Mountains practically impregnable. The mythological mountain of Qaf, the worlds highest mountain that ancient lore shrouded in mystery, was said to be situated in this region, therefore, the Caucasus might be associated with the legendary mountain. The Ciscaucasus contains the majority of the Greater Caucasus Mountain range. It includes Southwestern Russia and northern parts of Georgia and Azerbaijan, the Transcaucasus is bordered on the north by Russia, on the west by the Black Sea and Turkey, on the east by the Caspian Sea, and on the south by Iran. It includes the Caucasus Mountains and surrounding lowlands, all of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia are in South Caucasus. The main Greater Caucasus range is generally perceived to be the line between Asia and Europe. The highest peak in the Caucasus is Mount Elbrus in the western Ciscaucasus in Russia, the Caucasus is one of the most linguistically and culturally diverse regions on Earth. The nation states that comprise the Caucasus today are the post-Soviet states Georgia, Armenia, three territories in the region claim independence but are recognized as such by only a handful or by no independent states, Nagorno-Karabakh, Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Abkhazia and South Ossetia are recognised by the majority of independent states as part of Georgia, the Russian divisions include Krasnodar Krai, Stavropol Krai, and the autonomous republics of Adygea, Karachay–Cherkessia, Kabardino-Balkaria, North Ossetia, Ingushetia, Chechnya, and Dagestan. The region has many different languages and language families, there are more than 50 ethnic groups living in the region. Russian is used as a common language, today the peoples of the Northern and Southern Caucasus tend to be either Eastern Orthodox Christians, Oriental Orthodox Christians, or Sunni Muslims. Shia Islam has had many adherents historically in Azerbaijan, located in the part of the region. Located on the peripheries of Turkey, Iran, and Russia, the region has been an arena for political, military, religious, throughout its history, the Caucasus was usually incorporated into the Iranian world
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Turkey
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Turkey, officially the Republic of Turkey, is a transcontinental country in Eurasia, mainly in Anatolia in Western Asia, with a smaller portion on the Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. Turkey is a democratic, secular, unitary, parliamentary republic with a cultural heritage. The country is encircled by seas on three sides, the Aegean Sea is to the west, the Black Sea to the north, and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. The Bosphorus, the Sea of Marmara, and the Dardanelles, Ankara is the capital while Istanbul is the countrys largest city and main cultural and commercial centre. Approximately 70-80% of the countrys citizens identify themselves as ethnic Turks, other ethnic groups include legally recognised and unrecognised minorities. Kurds are the largest ethnic minority group, making up approximately 20% of the population, the area of Turkey has been inhabited since the Paleolithic by various ancient Anatolian civilisations, as well as Assyrians, Greeks, Thracians, Phrygians, Urartians and Armenians. After Alexander the Greats conquest, the area was Hellenized, a process continued under the Roman Empire. The Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm ruled Anatolia until the Mongol invasion in 1243, the empire reached the peak of its power in the 16th century, especially during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent. During the war, the Ottoman government committed genocides against its Armenian, Assyrian, following the war, the conglomeration of territories and peoples that formerly comprised the Ottoman Empire was partitioned into several new states. Turkey is a member of the UN, an early member of NATO. Turkeys growing economy and diplomatic initiatives have led to its recognition as a regional power while her location has given it geopolitical, the name of Turkey is based on the ethnonym Türk. The first recorded use of the term Türk or Türük as an autonym is contained in the Old Turkic inscriptions of the Göktürks of Central Asia, the English name Turkey first appeared in the late 14th century and is derived from Medieval Latin Turchia. Similarly, the medieval Khazar Empire, a Turkic state on the shores of the Black. The medieval Arabs referred to the Mamluk Sultanate as al-Dawla al-Turkiyya, the Ottoman Empire was sometimes referred to as Turkey or the Turkish Empire among its European contemporaries. The Anatolian peninsula, comprising most of modern Turkey, is one of the oldest permanently settled regions in the world, various ancient Anatolian populations have lived in Anatolia, from at least the Neolithic period until the Hellenistic period. Many of these peoples spoke the Anatolian languages, a branch of the larger Indo-European language family, in fact, given the antiquity of the Indo-European Hittite and Luwian languages, some scholars have proposed Anatolia as the hypothetical centre from which the Indo-European languages radiated. The European part of Turkey, called Eastern Thrace, has also been inhabited since at least forty years ago. It is the largest and best-preserved Neolithic site found to date, the settlement of Troy started in the Neolithic Age and continued into the Iron Age
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Iran
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Iran, also known as Persia, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, is a sovereign state in Western Asia. Comprising a land area of 1,648,195 km2, it is the second-largest country in the Middle East, with 82.8 million inhabitants, Iran is the worlds 17th-most-populous country. It is the country with both a Caspian Sea and an Indian Ocean coastline. The countrys central location in Eurasia and Western Asia, and its proximity to the Strait of Hormuz, Tehran is the countrys capital and largest city, as well as its leading economic and cultural center. Iran is the site of to one of the worlds oldest civilizations, the area was first unified by the Iranian Medes in 625 BC, who became the dominant cultural and political power in the region. The empire collapsed in 330 BC following the conquests of Alexander the Great, under the Sassanid Dynasty, Iran again became one of the leading powers in the world for the next four centuries. Beginning in 633 AD, Arabs conquered Iran and largely displaced the indigenous faiths of Manichaeism and Zoroastrianism by Islam, Iran became a major contributor to the Islamic Golden Age that followed, producing many influential scientists, scholars, artists, and thinkers. During the 18th century, Iran reached its greatest territorial extent since the Sassanid Empire, through the late 18th and 19th centuries, a series of conflicts with Russia led to significant territorial losses and the erosion of sovereignty. Popular unrest culminated in the Persian Constitutional Revolution of 1906, which established a monarchy and the countrys first legislative body. Following a coup instigated by the U. K. Growing dissent against foreign influence and political repression led to the 1979 Revolution, Irans rich cultural legacy is reflected in part by its 21 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, the third-largest number in Asia and 11th-largest in the world. Iran is a member of the UN, ECO, NAM, OIC. Its political system is based on the 1979 Constitution which combines elements of a democracy with a theocracy governed by Islamic jurists under the concept of a Supreme Leadership. A multicultural country comprising numerous ethnic and linguistic groups, most inhabitants are Shia Muslims, the largest ethnic groups in Iran are the Persians, Azeris, Kurds and Lurs. Historically, Iran has been referred to as Persia by the West, due mainly to the writings of Greek historians who called Iran Persis, meaning land of the Persians. As the most extensive interactions the Ancient Greeks had with any outsider was with the Persians, however, Persis was originally referred to a region settled by Persians in the west shore of Lake Urmia, in the 9th century BC. The settlement was then shifted to the end of the Zagros Mountains. In 1935, Reza Shah requested the international community to refer to the country by its native name, opposition to the name change led to the reversal of the decision, and Professor Ehsan Yarshater, editor of Encyclopædia Iranica, propagated a move to use Persia and Iran interchangeably
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Iraq
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The capital, and largest city, is Baghdad. The main ethnic groups are Arabs and Kurds, others include Assyrians, Turkmen, Shabakis, Yazidis, Armenians, Mandeans, Circassians, around 95% of the countrys 36 million citizens are Muslims, with Christianity, Yarsan, Yezidism, and Mandeanism also present. The official languages of Iraq are Arabic and Kurdish, two major rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates, run south through Iraq and into the Shatt al-Arab near the Persian Gulf. These rivers provide Iraq with significant amounts of fertile land, the region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, historically known as Mesopotamia, is often referred to as the cradle of civilisation. It was here that mankind first began to read, write, create laws, the area has been home to successive civilisations since the 6th millennium BC. Iraq was the centre of the Akkadian, Sumerian, Assyrian and it was also part of the Median, Achaemenid, Hellenistic, Parthian, Sassanid, Roman, Rashidun, Umayyad, Abbasid, Ayyubid, Mongol, Safavid, Afsharid, and Ottoman empires. Iraqs modern borders were mostly demarcated in 1920 by the League of Nations when the Ottoman Empire was divided by the Treaty of Sèvres, Iraq was placed under the authority of the United Kingdom as the British Mandate of Mesopotamia. A monarchy was established in 1921 and the Kingdom of Iraq gained independence from Britain in 1932, in 1958, the monarchy was overthrown and the Iraqi Republic created. Iraq was controlled by the Arab Socialist Baath Party from 1968 until 2003, after an invasion by the United States and its allies in 2003, Saddam Husseins Baath Party was removed from power and multi-party parliamentary elections were held in 2005. The American presence in Iraq ended in 2011, but the Iraqi insurgency continued and intensified as fighters from the Syrian Civil War spilled into the country, the Arabic name العراق al-ʿIrāq has been in use since before the 6th century. There are several suggested origins for the name, one dates to the Sumerian city of Uruk and is thus ultimately of Sumerian origin, as Uruk was the Akkadian name for the Sumerian city of Urug, containing the Sumerian word for city, UR. An Arabic folk etymology for the name is rooted, well-watered. During the medieval period, there was a region called ʿIrāq ʿArabī for Lower Mesopotamia and ʿIrāq ʿajamī, for the region now situated in Central and Western Iran. The term historically included the south of the Hamrin Mountains. The term Sawad was also used in early Islamic times for the region of the plain of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. In English, it is either /ɪˈrɑːk/ or /ɪˈræk/, the American Heritage Dictionary, the pronunciation /aɪˈræk/ is frequently heard in U. S. media. Since approximately 10,000 BC, Iraq was one of centres of a Caucasoid Neolithic culture where agriculture, the following Neolithic period is represented by rectangular houses. At the time of the pre-pottery Neolithic, people used vessels made of stone, gypsum, finds of obsidian tools from Anatolia are evidences of early trade relations
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Safavid dynasty
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The Safavid dynasty was one of the most significant ruling dynasties of Iran, often considered the beginning of modern Iranian history. The Safavid shahs ruled over one of the so-called gunpowder empires, the Safavid dynasty had its origin in the Safaviyya Sufi order, which was established in the city of Ardabil in the Azerbaijan region. The Safavids have also left their mark down to the present era by spreading Shia Islam in Iran, as well as parts of the Caucasus, Anatolia. The Safavid Kings themselves claimed to be Seyyeds, family descendants of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, There seems now to be a consensus among scholars that the Safavid family hailed from Persian Kurdistan, and later moved to Azerbaijan, finally settling in the 11th century CE at Ardabil. Traditional pre-1501 Safavid manuscripts trace the lineage of the Safavids to the Kurdish dignitary, a massive migration of Oghuz Turks in the 11th and 12th centuries not only Turkified Azerbaijan but also Anatolia. The Azeri Turks are Shiʿites and were founders of the Safavid dynasty, by the time of the establishment of the Safavid empire, the members of the family were native Turkish-speaking and Turkicized, and some of the Shahs composed poems in their native Turkish language. Furthermore, the dynasty was from the very start thoroughly intermarried with both Pontic Greek as well as Georgian lines, Safavid history begins with the establishment of the Safaviyya by its eponymous founder Safi-ad-din Ardabili. In 700/1301, Safi al-Din assumed the leadership of the Zahediyeh, due to the great spiritual charisma of Safi al-Din, the order was later known as the Safaviyya. The Safavid order soon gained great influence in the city of Ardabil, after Safī al-Dīn, the leadership of the Safaviyya passed to Sadr al-Dīn Mūsā. The leadership of the order passed from Sadr ud-Dīn Mūsā to his son Khwādja Ali, when Shaykh Junayd, the son of Ibrāhim, assumed the leadership of the Safaviyya in 1447, the history of the Safavid movement was radically changed. Savory, Sheikh Junayd was not content with spiritual authority and he sought material power, Junayd sought refuge with the rival of Kara Koyunlu Jahan Shah, the Aq Qoyunlu Khan Uzun Hassan, and cemented his relationship by marrying Uzun Hassans sister, Khadija Begum. Junayd was killed during an incursion into the territories of the Shirvanshah and was succeeded by his son Haydar Safavi, Haydar married Martha Alamshah Begom, Uzun Hassans daughter, who gave birth to Ismail I, founder of the Safavid dynasty. Marthas mother Theodora—better known as Despina Khatun—was a Pontic Greek princess and she had been married to Uzun Hassan in exchange for protection of the Grand Komnenos from the Ottomans. After Uzun Hassans death, his son Yaqub felt threatened by the growing Safavid religious influence, Yaqub allied himself with the Shirvanshah and killed Haydar in 1488. By this time, the bulk of the Safaviyya were nomadic Oghuz Turkic-speaking clans from Asia Minor, the Qizilbash were warriors, spiritual followers of Haydar, and a source of the Safavid military and political power. After the death of Haydar, the Safaviyya gathered around his son Ali Mirza Safavi, according to official Safavid history, before passing away, Ali had designated his young brother Ismail as the spiritual leader of the Safaviyya. After the decline of the Timurid Empire, Persia was politically splintered, the demise of Tamerlanes political authority created a space in which several religious communities, particularly Shi’i ones, could come to the fore and gain prominence. Among these were a number of Sufi brotherhoods, the Hurufis, Nuqtawis, of these various movements, the Safavid Qizilbash was the most politically resilient, and due to its success Shah Isma’il I gained political prominence in 1501
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Baghdad Eyalet
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Baghdad Eyalet was an Iraqi eyalet of the Ottoman Empire centered on Baghdad. Its reported area in the 19th century was 62,208 square miles, Safavid shah Ismail I took the Baghdad region from the Aq Qoyunlu in 1508. After the Safavid takeover, Sunni Muslims, Jews and Christians became targets of persecution, in addition, Shah Ismail ordered the destruction of the grave of Abu Hanifa, founder of the Hanafi school of law which the Ottomans adopted as their official legal guide. In 1534, Baghdad was captured by the Ottoman Empire, between 1623 and 1638, it was once again in Iranian hands. It was decisively recaptured by the Ottomans in 1638, whos possession over Iraq was agreed upon in the 1639 Treaty of Zuhab, for a time, Baghdad had been the largest city in the Middle East. The city saw relative revival in the part of the 18th century under a largely autonomous Mamluk government. Direct Ottoman rule was reimposed by Ali Ridha Pasha in 1831, from 1851-1852 and from 1861–1867, Baghdad was governed, under the Ottoman Empire by Mehmed Namık Pasha. The Nuttall Encyclopedia reports the 1907 population of Baghdad as 185,000, sanjaks of Baghdad Eyalet in the 17th century, Ottoman Iraq List of Ottoman governors of Baghdad
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Anatolia Eyalet
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The Eyalet of Anatolia was one of the two core provinces in the early years of the Ottoman Empire. Consisting of western Anatolia, its capital was Kütahya and its reported area in the 19th century was 65,804 square miles. The first capital of the province was Ankara, but in the late 15th century it was moved to Kütahya
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Janissaries
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The Janissaries were elite infantry units that formed the Ottoman Sultans household troops, bodyguards and the first standing army in Europe. The corps was most likely established during the reign of Murad I and they began as an elite corps of slaves made up of conscripted young Christian boys, and became famed for internal cohesion cemented by strict discipline and order. Unlike typical slaves, they were paid regular salaries, forbidden to marry or engage in trade, their complete loyalty to the Sultan was expected. By the seventeenth century, due to a increase in the size of the Ottoman standing army. Civilians bought their way into the corps in order to benefit from the socioeconomic status it conferred upon them. Consequently, the corps gradually lost its character, undergoing a process which has been described as civilianization. The corps was abolished by Sultan Mahmud II in 1826 in the Auspicious Incident in which 6,000 or more were executed, the formation of the Janissaries has been dated to the reign of Murad I, the third ruler of the Ottoman Empire. From the 1380s to 1648, the Janissaries were gathered through the system which was abolished in 1638. This was the taking of non-Muslim boys, notably Anatolian and Balkan Christians, Jews were never subject to devşirme, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica, in early days, all Christians were enrolled indiscriminately. Later, those from Albania, Bosnia, and Bulgaria were preferred, the Janissaries were kapıkulları, door servants or slaves of the Porte, neither freemen nor ordinary slaves. They were subjected to strict discipline, but were paid salaries and pensions upon retirement, as such, they became one of the ruling classes of the Ottoman Empire, rivalling the Turkish aristocracy. The brightest of the Janissaries were sent to the palace institution, through a system of meritocracy, the Janissaries held enormous power, stopping all efforts at reform of the military. These boys were taken from their parents and given to Turkish families in the provinces to learn Turkish language and customs. The recruits were indoctrinated into Islam, forced into circumcision and supervised 24 hours a day by eunuchs and they were subjected to severe discipline, being prohibited from growing a beard, taking up a skill other than soldiering, and marrying. As a result, the Janissaries were extremely well-disciplined troops, and became members of the askeri class, most were non-Muslims, because it was not permissible to enslave a Muslim. The Janissary system was introduced in the 14th century, the Janissary Corps was a trained and loyal group of slaves to the sultan. In the late 16th century, a sultan gave in to the pressures of the Corps and permitted Janissary children to members of the Corps. They also became rent-seeking and sought protection of their special rights, according to paintings of the era, they were also permitted to grow beards
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Osman II
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Osman II, commonly known in Turkey as Genç Osman, was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1618 until his death by regicide on 20 May 1622. Osman II was born at Topkapı Palace, Constantinople, the son of Sultan Ahmed I and his first wife Mahfiruz Hatun, according to some sources either a Greek or Evdoksiya, a Serbian. Osmans failure to capture the throne at the death of his father Ahmed may have been caused by the absence of a mother to lobby in his favor, his own mother probably already dead or in exile. He ascended the throne at the age of 14 as the result of a coup détat against his uncle Mustafa I the Intestable. The basic and exceptional weakness from which Osman II suffered was the absence of a female power basis in the harem. From 1620 until Osmans death, a governess was appointed as a stand-in valide, according to Piterberg, Osman II did not have haseki sultan, opposite with Peirce who claim that Ayşe was Osmans haseki. But it is clear that Ayşe could not take valides role during her spouses reign, seeking a counterweight to Janissary influence, Osman II closed their coffee shops and started planning to create a new and more loyal army consisting of Anatolian sekbans. The result was an uprising by the Janissaries, who promptly imprisoned the young sultan in Yedikule Fortress in Istanbul. Transformation of the Ottoman Empire Media related to Osman II at Wikimedia Commons
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Selim I
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Selim I, known as Selim the Grim or Selim the Resolute, was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1512 to 1520. On the eve of his death in 1520, the Ottoman Empire spanned about 576,900 sq mi and his conquests dramatically shifted the empires geographical and cultural center of gravity away from the Balkans and toward the Middle East. Born in Amasya around 1470, Selim was the youngest son of Bayezid II, Selims mother was Gülbahar Hatun, a Turkish princess from the Dulkadir State centered around Elbistan in Maraş, her father was Alaüddevle Bozkurt Bey, the eleventh ruler of the Dulkadirs. Some academics state that Selims mother was a lady named Gülbahar Hatun, by 1512, Şehzade Ahmet was the favorite candidate to succeed his father. Bayezid, who was reluctant to continue his rule over the empire, angered with this announcement, Selim rebelled, and while he lost the first battle against his fathers forces, Selim ultimately dethroned his father. Selim ordered the purge of Bayezid to a far away sanjak, Selim put his brothers and nephews to death upon his accession in order to eliminate potential pretenders to the throne. His nephew Şehzade Murad, son of the heir to the throne Şehzade Ahmet. Selim I was described as tall, with broad shoulders. He was skilled in politics and was said to be fond of fighting, in 1494, at Trabzon, he married Hafsa Sultan. By 1510, he had conquered the whole of Iran and Azerbaijan, southern Dagestan, Mesopotamia, Armenia, Khorasan, Eastern Anatolia and he was a great threat to his Sunni Muslim neighbors to the west. In 1511, Ismail had supported a pro Shia/Safavid uprising in Anatolia, in 1514, Selim I attacked Ismails kingdom to stop the spread of Shiism into Ottoman dominions. Selim and Ismāil had been exchanging a series of belligerent letters prior to the attack, Selim I defeated Ismāil at the Battle of Chaldiran in 1514. Ismāils army was more mobile and their soldiers were better prepared, Ismāil was wounded and almost captured in battle, and Selim I entered the Iranian capital of Tabriz in triumph on September 5, but did not linger. The Battle of Chaldiran was of significance, as the reluctance of Shah Ismail to accept the advantages of modern firearms. After the battle, Selim, referring to Ismail, stated that his adversary was, Always drunk to the point of losing his mind and totally neglectful of the affairs of the state. Selim then conquered the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt, defeating the Mamluk Egyptians first at the Battle of Marj Dabiq, and then at the Battle of Ridanieh. This led to the Ottoman annexation of the sultanate, from Syria and Palestine in Sham, to Hejaz and Tihamah in the Arabian Peninsula. This permitted him to extend Ottoman power to the Muslim holy cities of Mecca and Medina, rather than style himself the Ḥākimül-Ḥaremeyn, or The Ruler of The Two Holy Cities, he accepted the more pious title Ḫādimül-Ḥaremeyn, or The Servant of The Two Holy Cities
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Grand vizier
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In the Ottoman Empire, the Grand Vizier was the prime minister of the Ottoman sultan, with absolute power of attorney and, in principle, dismissible only by the sultan himself. His offices were located at the Sublime Porte, the term “vizier” was originally a denomination used by the Abbasid Dynasty in the 8th century AD. This position then came to the Ottomans in the early 14th century by way of the Seljuks of Anatolia, during the nascent phases of the Ottoman state, vizier was the only title used. The first of these Ottoman viziers who was titled Grand Vizier was Çandarlı Halil Pasha the Elder, the purpose in instituting the title Grand Vizier was to distinguish the holder of the Sultans seal from other viziers. The initially more frequently used title of vezir-i âzam was gradually replaced by sadrazam, throughout Ottoman history, the grand viziers have also been termed sadr-ı âlî, vekil-i mutlak, sâhib-i devlet, serdar-ı ekrem, serdar-ı azam and zât-ı âsafî. Çandarlı Halil Pasha the Elder reformed the role of the vizier in several ways, several before him held an equivalent but differently named office, he was the first who held the position of “Grand Vizier”, during the reign of Sultan Murad I. He was the first advisor with a military background – his forerunners had come from a more class of men. It is also significant that he was the first of a family that, at the time. Several of Çandarlı Halil Pasha the Elder’s kin went on to hold the office of Grand Vizier in the following his death. Çandarlı Halil Pasha the Younger, the grandson of Pasha the Elder, was highly influential in shaping the role of the Grand Vizier. During the reign of Mehmed II, the Younger opposed the siege of Constantinople, two days after the siege was won by Mehmed II, the Younger was executed for his opposition. After his death, the position of Grand Vizier was chosen nearly exclusively from the kul system, often and this was usually a political move, designed to appease powerful European factions to Ottoman supremacy. Grand Viziers gained immense political supremacy in the days of the Ottoman Empire. Power was centralized in the position of the Grand Vizier during the Köprülü era, Köprülü Mehmed Pasha was a powerful political figure during the reign of Mehmed IV, and was appointed to the office of Grand Vizier in 1656. He consolidated power within the position and sent the Sultan away from the city on hunting trips, next, he forcibly removed any officers suspected of corruption, those who did not leave were executed. He also conducted campaigns against Venice and the Hapsburgs, as well as quelling rebellions in Anatolia, on his deathbed five years later, he convinced Mehmed to appoint his son as the next Grand Vizier, thus securing his dynasty a position of supreme power in the Empire. It was during the Köprülü era that the Ottoman Empire reached its largest geographic expansion across Europe, Asia Minor, in Ottoman legal theory, the Sultan was supposed to conduct affairs of state exclusively via the Grand Vizier, but in reality this arrangement was often circumvented. He might, too, be inclined to take the advice of his mother
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Azerbaijan
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Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a country in the South Caucasus region, situated at the crossroads of Southwest Asia and Southeastern Europe. It is bound by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west and Iran to the south. The exclave of Nakhchivan is bound by Armenia to the north and east, Iran to the south and west, the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic proclaimed its independence in 1918 and became the first democratic state in the Muslim orient world. The country was incorporated into the Soviet Union in 1920 as the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic, the modern Republic of Azerbaijan proclaimed its independence on 30 August 1991, prior to the official dissolution of the USSR in December 1991. In September 1991, the Armenian majority of the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region seceded to form the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, the region and seven adjacent districts outside it became de facto independent with the end of the Nagorno-Karabakh War in 1994. These regions are recognized as part of Azerbaijan pending a solution to the status of the Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijan is a unitary semi-presidential republic, the country is a member state of the Council of Europe, the OSCE and the NATO Partnership for Peace program. It is one of six independent Turkic states, a member of the Turkic Council. Azerbaijan has diplomatic relations with 158 countries and holds membership in 38 international organizations and it is one of the founding members of GUAM, the Commonwealth of Independent States and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. Its term of office began on 19 June 2006, Azerbaijan is also a member state of the Non-Aligned Movement, holds observer status in World Trade Organization and is a correspondent at the International Telecommunication Union. The Constitution of Azerbaijan does not declare an official religion and all political forces in the country are secularist. However, the majority of the population are of a Shiite Muslim background, Azerbaijan has a high level of human development which ranks on par with most Eastern European countries. It has a rate of economic development and literacy, as well as a low rate of unemployment. According to the Davos World Economic Forum, Azerbaijans economy has scored 37th place within 138 countries in 2016, Global Competitiveness Index 2015 indicates that Azerbaijan scores highest in its region. ASAN services, established with Presidential Decree, are known for eliminating bribery. ASAN Service has been awarded with United Nations Public Service Award 2015, the ruling party, the New Azerbaijan Party, has been accused of authoritarianism and human rights abuses. The original etymology of name is thought to have its roots in the once-dominant Zoroastrianism. In the Avesta, Frawardin Yasht, there is a mention of âterepâtahe ashaonô fravashîm ýazamaide, the name Atropates itself is the Greek transliteration of an Old Iranian, probably Median, compounded name with the meaning Protected by the Fire or The Land of the Fire
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Tabriz
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Tabriz is the most populated city in the Iranian Azerbaijan, one of the historical capitals of Iran, and the present capital of East Azerbaijan Province. Located in the Quru River valley between the ridge of the volcanic cones of the Sahand and Eynali mountains, Tabrizs elevation ranges between 1,350 and 1,600 metres above sea level. The valley opens up into a plain that slopes down to the eastern shores of Lake Urmia,60 kilometres to the west. With cold winters and temperate summers, the city is considered a summer resort, Tabriz is named Worlds Carpet and Crafts City, it is also appointed as the exemplary tourism city in 2018 by Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. With a population of 1.6 million, Tabriz is the biggest economic hub, the population consists mostly of Iranian Azerbaijanis and the most spoken language in the city is Azeri Turkish. Tabriz is a heavy industry hub for automobile, machine tools, refineries and petrochemical, textile. The city is famous for its handicrafts including hand-woven rugs and jewelry, local confectioneries, chocolates, dried nuts, and traditional food of Tabriz are recognized all around Iran as some of the best Iranian food. Tabriz is also a hub and a site for some of the most prestigious cultural institutes in the northwest of Iran. The city contains many historical monuments representing the transition of Iranian architecture in its long historical timelines. Most of the historical sites in the city belong to Ilkhanid, Safavid. From the early era, the city was pivotal in the development, movement. From the 19th century, it became the most important city in the country in numerous respects, as the closest Iranian hub to Europe, many aspects of the early modern modernisation in Iran started in Tabriz. During almost the entire Qajar period, it functioned as the seat for the prince as well. According to some sources, including Encyclopædia Britannica, the name Tabriz derives from tap-riz, in AD297, it became the capital of Tiridates III, king of Armenia. However, this story has an origin and no ancient source has recorded such event. This is based on accounts of Vardan, the Armenian historian in 13th century, the early history of Tabriz is not well-documented. The earliest inscription about Tabriz, referring to the city as Tarui or Tauris, is on the Assyrian King Sargon IIs epigraph in 714 BC, Tabriz has been chosen as the capital for some rulers commencing from Atropates era and his dynasty. A recent excavation at the site of the Iron Age museum, in the north of the Blue Mosque site, more likely the city has been destroyed multiple times either by natural disasters or by the invading armies
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Hamadan
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Hamadān or Hamedān is the capital city of Hamadan Province of Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 473,149, Hamadan is believed to be among the oldest Iranian cities and one of the oldest in the world. It is possible that it was occupied by the Assyrians in 1100 BCE, Hamadan has a green mountainous area in the foothills of the 3, 574-meter Alvand Mountain, in the midwest part of Iran. The city is 1,850 meters above sea level, the special nature of this old city and its historic sites attract tourists during the summer to this city, located approximately 360 kilometres southwest of Tehran. The main symbols of city are the Ganj Nameh inscription, the Avicenna monument. The majority of the population is Persian, however, there is a considerable Azerbaijani minority, according to Clifford Edmund Bosworth, Hamadan is a very old city. Hamadan was established by the Medes and was the capital of the Median Empire and it then became one of several capital cities of the Achaemenid Dynasty. Hamadan is mentioned in the book of Ezra as the place where a scroll was found giving the Jews permission from King Darius to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem. Its ancient name of Ecbatana is used in the Ezra text, because it was a mile above sea level, it was a good place to preserve leather documents. During the Parthian era, Ctesiphon was the capital of the country, after the Parthians, the Sassanids constructed their summer palaces in Hamadan. In the year 633 the battle of Nahavand took place and Hamadan fell into the hands of the Muslim Arabs, during the Buwayhids, the city suffered much damage. In the 11th century, the Seljuks shifted their capital from Baghdad to Hamadan, the city of Hamadan, its fortunes following the rise and fall of regional powers, was completely destroyed during the Timurid invasion. During the Safavid era, the city thrived, Hamadan stands on the Silk Road, and even in recent centuries the city enjoyed strong commerce and trade as a result of its location on the main road network in the western region of Persia and Iran. During World War I, the city was the scene of fighting between Russian and Turko-German forces. It was occupied by both armies, and finally by the British, before it was returned to control of the Iranian government at the end of the war in 1918, Hamadan province lies in a temperate mountainous region to the east of Zagros. The vast plains of the north and northeast of the province are influenced by strong winds, the various air currents of this region are, the north and north west winds of the spring and winter seasons, which are usually humid and bring rainfall. Hamadan is in the vicinity of the Alvand mountains and has a dry continental climate, in transition with a cold semi-arid climate. In fact, it is one of the coldest cities in Iran, the temperature may drop below −30 °C on the coldest days
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Western Armenia
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Western Armenia is a term used to refer to eastern parts of Turkey that were part of the historical homeland of Armenians. Western Armenia, also referred to as Byzantine Armenia, emerged following the division of Greater Armenia between the Byzantine Empire and Sassanid Persia in 387 AD, the area was conquered by the Ottomans in the 16th century during the Ottoman–Safavid War against their Iranian Safavid arch-rivals. Being passed on from the former to the latter, Ottoman rule over the region became only decisive after the Ottoman–Safavid War of 1623–1639, the area then became known as Turkish Armenia or Ottoman Armenia. During the 19th century, the Russian Empire conquered all of Eastern Armenia from Iran, the regions Armenian population was affected during the widespread massacres of Armenians in the 1890s. The Armenians living in their lands were exterminated or deported during the Armenian Genocide in 1915. The over two thousand year Armenian presence in the area ended and their cultural heritage was systematically destroyed by Turkey. Only assimilated and crypto-Armenians live in the area today, and some irredentist Armenians claim it as part of United Armenia, the most notable political party with these views is the Armenian Revolutionary Federation. In Armenian, there are names for the region. Today, the most common is Arevmtyan Hayastan in Eastern Armenian and Arevmdean Hayasdan in Western Armenian, archaic names include Tačkahayastan in Eastern and Daǰkahayasdan in Western Armenian. Also used in the period were Turkahayastan or Trkahayastan, both meaning Turkish Armenia. Also some Kurds refer to the parts of region as Bakurê Kurdistanê. After the Ottoman-Persian War, Western Armenia became decisively part of the Ottoman Empire, Western Armenia consisted of six vilayets — the vilayets of Erzurum, Van, Bitlis, Diyarbekir, Kharput, and Sivas. The fate of Western Armenia — commonly referred to as The Armenian Question — is considered a key issue in the history of the Armenian people. The massive deportation and killings of Armenians began in the spring 1915, on April 24,1915 Armenian intellectuals and community leaders were deported from Constantinople. Depending on the sources cited, about 1,500,000 Armenians were killed during this act, during the Caucasus Campaign of World War I, the Russian Empire occupied most of the Armenian-populated regions of the Ottoman Empire. A temporary provincial government was established in occupied areas between 1915 and 1918, the chaos caused by the Russian Revolution of 1917 put a stop to all Russian military operations and Russian forces began to conduct withdrawals. The first and second congresses of Western Armenians took place in Yerevan in 1917 and 1919, since 2000, an organizing committee of the congress of heirs of Western Armenians who survived the Armenian Genocide is active in diasporan communities
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Capture of Baghdad (1638)
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Capture of Baghdad refers to the second conquest of the city by the Ottoman Empire as a part of the Ottoman–Safavid War. Baghdad, once the capital of Arab Abbasid Caliphate, was one of the most important cities of the Muslim World, in the second half of the Medieval age, Turkic rulers as well as others always tried to control this prestigious city. From 1508 till 1534 it was ruled by the emerging Safavid dynasty of Iran, in 1534, Ottoman sultan Suleyman I captured the city without any serious combat during the Ottoman–Safavid War, which got confirmed in the resulting Peace of Amasya. However,90 years later it was recaptured by Abbas I of Persia, attempts of several Ottoman commanders to retake the city following 1624, were fruitless. According to a legend only the sultans could capture the city, Murat was seen as a warrior hero and thus it seemed as his duty to campaign and regain Baghdad. He had been victorious against the Druze rebels a decade earlier, in 1638 Ottoman Sultan Murat IV decided to recapture the city. According to the account of Zarain Agha the Ottoman mobilization for the siege of Baghdad was 108,589 men composed of 35,000 infantry in part Janissaries. The birds flight distance between Istanbul and Baghdad is about 1,600 kilometres, according to historian Joseph von Hammer the Ottoman army covered this distance in 197 days with 110 staging stations in between. The siege began on 15 November 1638, the Safavids had increased the garrison size of the city by around 4-5 times. There were four gates of the city, the North Gate, Azamiye or Imam-i Azam. The city walls featured 114 towers between the North and South Gate, and another 94 towers that ran parallel to the Tigris, the Safavid commander, Bektash Khan, had made extensive repairs to the fortifications. Two Pashas were deployed against the first two gates, but the Grand Vizier Tayyar Mehmet Pasha noticed that these two gates were very well fortified. So he chose to attack on the gate which seemed less fortified. During the siege the Safavids made sallies of around 6,000 men at a time, this was followed by a retreat into the city and these types of attacks greatly increased the casualties of the Ottomans. The siege continued for 40 days, towards the end, impatient Murat urged the Grand Vizier for a general attack. The attack was successful and the city was captured on 25 December 1638, but during the final clashes, the Grand Vizier was shot down. Although the defenders were given passage to Persia, some resumed fighting after the capture of the city around Karanlık gate. The human loss during the fighting was severe
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Baghdad
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Baghdad is the capital of the Republic of Iraq. The population of Baghdad, as of 2016, is approximately 8,765,000 making it the largest city in Iraq, the second largest city in the Arab world, and the second largest city in Western Asia. Located along the Tigris River, the city was founded in the 8th century, within a short time of its inception, Baghdad evolved into a significant cultural, commercial, and intellectual center for the Islamic world. This, in addition to housing several key institutions, garnered the city a worldwide reputation as the Centre of Learning. Throughout the High Middle Ages, Baghdad was considered to be the largest city in the world with a population of 1,200,000 people. The city was destroyed at the hands of the Mongol Empire in 1258, resulting in a decline that would linger through many centuries due to frequent plagues. With the recognition of Iraq as an independent state in 1938, in contemporary times, the city has often faced severe infrastructural damage, most recently due to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and the subsequent Iraq War that lasted until December 2011. In recent years, the city has been subjected to insurgency attacks. As of 2012, Baghdad was listed as one of the least hospitable places in the world to live, the site where the city of Baghdad developed has been populated for millennia. By the 8th century AD, several villages had developed there, including a Persian hamlet called Baghdad, the name is of Indo-European origin and a Middle Persian compound of Bagh god and dād given by, translating to Bestowed by God or Gods gift. In Old Persian the first element can be traced to boghu and is related to Slavic bog god, a similar term in Middle Persian is the name Mithradāt, known in English by its Hellenistic form Mithridates, meaning gift of Mithra. There are a number of locations in the wider region whose names are compounds of the word bagh, including Baghlan. The name of the town Baghdati in Georgia shares the same etymological origins, when the Abbasid caliph, al-Mansur, founded a completely new city for his capital, he chose the name Madinat al-Salaam or City of Peace. This was the name on coins, weights, and other official usage. By the 11th century, Baghdad became almost the exclusive name for the world-renowned metropolis, after the fall of the Umayyads, the first Muslim dynasty, the victorious Abbasid rulers wanted their own capital whence they could rule. They chose a site north of the Sassanid capital of Ctesiphon, on 30 July 762, the caliph Al-Mansur commissioned the construction of the city, mansur believed that Baghdad was the perfect city to be the capital of the Islamic empire under the Abbasids. Mansur loved the site so much he is quoted saying, This is indeed the city that I am to found, where I am to live, and where my descendants will reign afterward. The citys growth was helped by its excellent location, based on at least two factors, it had control over strategic and trading routes along the Tigris, the abundance of water in a dry climate
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Shah Jahan
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Shahab-ud-Din Muḥammad Khurram better known by his regnal name, Shah Jahan, was the fifth Mughal emperor, who reigned from 1628 to 1658. Emperor Jahangirs death, in late 1627, was a signal for a last paroxysm of fighting among his sons and these fratricidal conflicts were carried out with ruthlessness and Jahangirs third son, Khurram, proved the most ruthless of all. He was crowned at Agra and his name, Shah Jahan, was read at the Jama Masjid there in January 1628. Shah Jahan maintained an aggressive military pressure along the frontiers of the Mughal Empire, as his predecessors had. His building programme was capped by the new capital in Delhi named for himself Shahjahanabad. Here, he erected a new fortress-palace, the Red Fort, in matters of religion, his plain straightforward creed permitted no licence, although he never became a bigot. In 1633, Shah Jahan ordered the demolition of Hindu temples which had begun in the previous reign. These orders were followed by a prohibition of the erection of new shrines or the repair of older buildings, intermarriage between Hindus and Muslims was forbidden in 1634. Shah Jahan, himself, sustained the established alliances at a level and did not marry Hindu women, like his father. Mass conversions of Hindus to Islam were also encouraged, and in cases were forcibly effected. All these acts, however, were dictated rather by the desire to maintain the strict tenets of Islam than to pursue the course of iconoclasm which was adopted by his son Aurangzeb. In September 1657, Shah Jahan fell seriously ill, which set off a war of succession among his sons, Shah Jahan recovered from his illness, but Aurangzeb kept his father under house arrest in Agra Fort from June 1658 until his death in 1666. On 31 July 1658, Aurangzeb crowned himself emperor with the title of Alamgir, the Mughal Empire reached the pinnacle of its glory during Shah Jahans reign and he is widely considered to be one of the greatest Mughal emperors. His reign is described as the Golden Age of the Mughals. Shahab-ud-din Muhammad Khurram was born on 5 January 1592 in Lahore to Prince Salim and his second wife, the name Khurram was chosen for the young prince by his grandfather, Akbar, with whom he shared an extremely close relationship. Just prior to Khurrams birth, a soothsayer had predicted to the childless Empress Ruqaiya Sultan Begum that the still unborn child was destined for imperial greatness. Ruqaiya assumed the responsibility for Khurrams upbringing and he grew up under her care. Her step-son, Jahangir, noted that Ruqaiya had loved his son, Khurram, Khurram remained with her until he had turned 13
38.
Kaftan
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A kaftan or caftan is a variant of the robe or tunic, versions of which have been worn by several cultures around the world for thousands of years. The kaftan is worn as a coat or overdress, usually reaching to the ankles. It can be made of wool, cashmere, silk, or cotton, the caftan is of ancient Mesopotamian origin, and was worn by many middle-eastern ethnic groups. Through its dissemination and evolution, the kaftan has acquired different styles, purposes, in many regions with a warm climate, the kaftan is worn as a light-weight, loose-fitting garment, while in some cultures, the kaftan has served as a symbol of royalty. Kaftans were worn by the Ottoman sultans in the Ottoman Empire, the decorations, including the colours, patterns, ribbons, and buttons, indicated the rank of the person to whom they were presented. From the 14th century through 17th century, textiles with large patterns were used, the decorative patterns on the fabrics became both smaller and brighter in the late 16th and in the 17th centuries. By the second half of the 17th century, the most precious fabrics were those with yollu, vertical stripes with various embroideries and small patterns, the so-called Selimiye fabrics. Most fabrics manufactured in Turkey were made in Istanbul and Bursa, kaftans were made from velvet, aba, bürümcük, canfes, çatma, gezi, diba, hatayi, kutnu, kemha, seraser, serenk, zerbaft, tafta. Favoured colours were blue, kermes red, violet, pişmis ayva or cooked quince. The Topkapi Palace Museum in Istanbul possesses a collection of Ottoman kaftans. In the Maghreb, kaftans are worn by women, the word kaftan in the Maghreb is commonly used for one piece dress. However, there are versions of maghrebi kaftans called Takchita. Kaftans can be worn on both casual and extremely formal occasions, depending on the materials used and this dress actually was masculine in the beginning which has become a dress worn by women during the centuries. Today, kafta is only used the women dress and people would rather describe the mans dress as Djellaba. The Maghrebi kaftan is a result of the spreading of Middle-Easterners to North-Africa, in Algeria, Kaftan has been the main dress for the nobles and weddings for many centuries. It comes with different designs, most notably the Fergani Caftan from the Constantine region, kaftans have been made by many Moroccan dynasties over the centuries including the Almoravids dynasty. More recently, many Moroccan fashion designers has succeeded in promoting internationally the Moroccan Kaftan, kaftans are worn by both men and women. In West Africa, the robe is called a kaftan
39.
Basra
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Basra, also al-Baṣrah, is an Iraqi city located on the Shatt al-Arab between Kuwait and Iran. It had an population of 1.5 million in 2012. Basra is also Iraqs main port, although it not have deep water access. The city is part of the location of Sumer, one of the ports from which Sinbad the Sailor journeyed. It played an important role in early Islamic history and was built in 636, Basra is consistently one of the hottest cities in Iraq, with summer temperatures regularly exceeding 50 °C. The city was called by many throughout its history, Basrah being the most common. In Arabic the word means the overwatcher, which might have been an allusion to the citys origin as an Arab military base against the Sassanids. Some sources claim that the name is derived from the Persian word Bas-rah, others have argued that the name is derived from the Aramaic word basratha, meaning place of huts, settlement. During the pre-Islamic era, the area was known to the Arabs as al-Khariba due to the existence of an ancient city called al-Kharba. After the present city was built, it was called by names, including the mother of Iraq, the reservoir of Arabs, the prosperous city. The name Al-Basrah, which in Arabic means the over watching or the seeing everything, was given to it because of its role as a base against the Sassanid Empire. However, other sources claim the name originates from the Persian word Bas-rāh or Bassorāh meaning where many ways come together, in 639 Umar established this encampment as a city with five districts, and appointed Abu Musa al-Ashari as its first governor. Abu Musa led the conquest of Khuzestan from 639 to 642 and was ordered by Umar to aid Uthman ibn Abu al-ʿAs, then fighting Iran from a new, more easterly miṣr at Tawwaj. In 650, the Rashidun Caliph Uthman reorganised the Persian frontier, installed ʿAbdullah ibn Amir as Basras governor, Ibn Amir led his forces to their final victory over Yazdegerd III, the Sassanid King of Kings. In 656, Uthman was murdered and Ali was appointed Caliph, Ali first installed Uthman ibn Hanif as Basras governor, who was followed by ʿAbdullah ibn ʿAbbas. These men held the city for Ali until the death in 661. The Sufyanids held Basra until Yazid Is death in 683, the Sufyanids first governor was Umayyad ʿAbdullah, a renowned military leader, commanding fealty and financial demands from Karballah, but poor governor. In 664, Muʿawiyah I replaced him with Ziyad ibn Abi Sufyan, often called ibn Abihi, on Ziyads death in 673, his son ʿUbaydullah ibn Ziyad became governor
40.
Thatta
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Thatta (Sindhi, ٺٽو, is a city and capital of Thatta District. It will be capital of the announced Banbhore Division and it is a historic town of 220,000 inhabitants in the Sindh province of Pakistan, near Lake Keenjhar, the largest freshwater lake in the country. Thattas major monument, the necropolis at Makli Hill, is listed among the World Heritage Sites, the Shah Jahan Mosque, Thatta is mentioned separately on the tentative list since 1993. Located 100 km east of the capital of Sindh, Karachi. Thatta may be the site of ancient Patala, the port on the Indus in the time of Alexander the Great. The site of Patala has been subject to much debate, ahmad Hasan Dani, director of the Taxila Institute of Asian Civilisations, Islamabad, concluded, “There has been a vain attempt to identify the city of Patala. The geographer Strabo recorded that, “The Indus falls into the sea by two mouths, encompassing the country of Patalênê, which resembles the Delta in Egypt”. In the late second century BC Agatharchides of Cnidus recorded merchants from Patala, or as he called it, “Potana”, the city, formerly commanding the delta of the Indus, was the capital of Lower Sindh from the 14th century onwards. Some suggested the name derived from the word Thab implying closeness of population, while others find its origin in the common word Thatta, the city was destroyed by Mirza Jani Beg in the 16th century. During the Samma dynasty, Thatta was the capital of Sindh for 95 years, between 1592 and 1739, it was governed in the name of the Mughal emperors of Delhi. In 1739, however, following the Battle of Karnal, the province was ceded to Nadir Shah of Persia, between 1652 and 1660, the Dutch East India Company had a small tradingpost in Thatta. This competed with the English one, which was established in 1635, a second British factory was set up during the Kalhora period, in 1758, which lasted until 1775. In the early 19th century Thatta had declined to a population of about 18,000, to the Arabs it was known as Dibal and the remnants of the brick wall from the Mirza Isa Tarkhan period were visible at that time. On 23 April 2014, the Peoples Party government announced to form Sindhs sixth division Banbhore Division with Thatta as capital and these sources reveal that this formation is made to improve governance in Thatta. Climate of Thatta, The average annual rainfall is 210mm, The average annual temperature in Thatta is 26.8 °C. Monthly rainfall, January, 5mm, February, 8mm, March 5mm, April, 3mm, May, 5mm, June, 17mm, July, 98mm, August, 50mm, September, 15mm, October, 1mm, November, 2mm, December 3mm
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