History of the Ottoman Empire

Catalog description

Both courses must be completed with a grade of C or higher. The History of the Ottoman Empire is an intensive survey of the political, economic, and cultural history of an empire that grew from a small principality in the Byzantine and Seljuk marches to a powerful force in global political and economic affairs. The course will evaluate Ottoman history from the Byzantine world and its contraction beginning with the rise of Islam, its imperialist expansion, and conclude with the weakening of the Empire and its final demise between 1914 and 1923. One of the main themes of the course is to understand how the Ottoman authorities were able to govern and maintain a heterogeneous population of Eastern European Christians (Slavs, Greeks, etc), Anatolian Kurds and Turks, and Arab Christians, Muslims, and Jews, and foreign travelers. The course includes a general overview of the intellectual and political contributions of women in the Empire.