Ottoman Turks’ first appearance
The ascent of the Ottoman came after the decline of the Seljurk Turks’s empire. The arrival of the first Ottomans, alias ghazis (Turkish warriors or raiders), to Anatolia (formerly called Asia Minor) was intended to evade the forces of Mongols. At first, the Turkish tribes were nomadic pastoralists but when the Seljuk Empire’s power was slowly falling apart, the Turks, under the rule of Osman (1280-1326), command the ghazis to begin the occupation and invasion of other territories for power and wealth thus he founded the Osmanli dynasty, with Bursa at its capital. The Osmanlis were later known as the Ottomans. The Ottoman’s power and dominion became stronger after capturing Bosporus and Dardanelles. Though …show more content…
After some time, their territory had expanded up to the Balkans. The Turkish forces had joined forces with the Bulgars and Serbians in order to defeat the Byzantines in Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul). Orkhan was able to expand the empire’s territory by capturing the remaining Byzantine towns in northwestern Anatolia and making the area as their residency. The Turkish provincial governor known as the Beys “knight” ostracized the previous landlords of Byzantine and collected taxes from the local residents. Orkhan began the military policy of hiring Christian mercenary troops, lessening his dependence on the nomads. Here the title Sultan was given to the Ottoman …show more content…
Ottoman Sultans were entitled as caliphs (“defender of the faith”) and were the ones who were responsible in maintaining the Islamic law, the Shari’a. The sultans assigned religious authorities to govern all administrations and schools to educate the Muslims. The Ottoman Empire strictly utilized and applied Islamic practices and values in their everyday lives thereby it certainly could not be denied that it has greatly contributed in maintaining the Islamic teachings.
There are minorities within the Ottoman Empire that existed such as Orthodox Christians, The Jews and Armenian Christians formed the minority groups and are tolerated by Muslim communities. Since they are exempted from serving in the military, these communities have to pay taxes to make up for having this privilege. They were allowed to practice their religion and were welcomed to convert to Islam if they wished to do so. Muslims however were not allowed to change their