Islamic Empires
By Justin Chen and John Bishop
Religious Differences
The Ottoman Empire was very dominant in spreading their religion. They spread Islam throughout Europe and Asia through conquest. The Sultan would lead conquests and promote imperialism to dominate and assimilate other lands. Mughals promoted both Hindu along with Islam. They spread a little bit different than the Ottomans however. They focused more on peaceful diffusion, mainly contagiously through the spread of person to person. The Safavids focused on spreading Twelver Shiism. All other forms of religion were suppressed in order to promote Twelver Shiism. They spread religion through expansion like the Ottomans.
Administrative Techniques
Early Authority and Empires followed the Steppe tradition. This means that Emperors would do whatever they wanted, without following religious or social norms. The Ottoman Sultans issued numerous legal edicts, the greatest of which was a set of laws created by Suleyman the Emperor. The Safavid and Mughal empires went even further to insert their religious dominance. Shah Ismail enforced and inserted his religion of Shiite onto the people of his Islamic Empire. Steppe practices led to problems of succession. Conflicts among family members created tension in Empires such as the Mughals. The Safavids also murdered to get to the throne. Ottoman kings would assign provinces to their sons, however after some time, the sons murdered each other to get to the throne. This was known as the Turko-Mongol style. The Ottomans, Mughals and Safavids also followed after the Empires of Chinggis Khan. They respected their wives and daughters as Chinggis Khan did. Women played a prominent role in both government and every day social life.
Economy
The ottomans were made into major commercial and industrial companies. So they controlled a lot of items that were being spread around the world. The Safavid used the Silk Road to trade and so they were the ones that was being traded in that part of the world. The Mughals major trade was gold and silver and high living standards, so the Mughals had control over how much people would trade in the world.