Ottoman Empire a Progressive Era in Muslim History

After ruling for more than 600 years, the Ottoman Turks are often remembered for their powerful military, ethnic diversity, artistic ventures, religious tolerance, and architectural marvels. (history.com)

The Middle East, Eastern Europe, and North Africa remained under the rule for 600 years, the longest rule ever in the history of mankind. Ottoman Empire is famously known as the superpower of its time.

Although Eastern Europeans considered it a threat for their survival and propagated against the Ottoman Empire, however, according to famous historians it was regarded as a great and vital source of progress in its time. Take it as art, science, education, societal progress, and reforms, it helped the world a lot and helped it grow in a better way. 

A brief overview of the early days of the Ottoman Empire

Osman 1 founded the Ottoman Empire, it was the time 1299 in our history. The etymology of the word Osman is Uthman, which means its original language is Arabic. Osman 1, Bayezid, Muran 1 are the pioneers of the Ottoman Empire. The world has seen the great upheavals at the time of the Ottoman Empire, the 1000 long rule of Byzantine empire ended in the same era.

The city of Islam “Istanbul” was coined in the same era, this was the time of Sultan Mehmed. Syria, Arabia, and Pelstian were brought under the control of the Great Empire of the Ottoman. The years between 1522 and 1566 are the most vital years of the Ottoman Empire and this was the time of the Ottoman Empire’s climax. The world has seen great stability between these years, the reason behind the popularity of the Empire.

Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria, Egypt, Hungary, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Romania were under the rule of this vast superpower.

Ottoman Empire put great emphasis on education. It was a time of exploration and the people learned the fields of science, art, studied different branches of mathematics, astronomy, philosophy, geography. If we do not mention here the great name of Piri Reis, a famous geologist, it would be an injustice to his contribution to the world.

“Ottoman admiral Piri Reis (Turkish: Pîrî Reis or Hacı Ahmet Muhittin Pîrî Bey) was a navigator, geographer, and cartographer active in the early 1500s. He is known today for his maps and charts collected in his Kitab-ı Bahriye (Book of Navigation), and for the Piri Reis map, one of the oldest maps of America still in existence.

His book contains detailed information on navigation, as well as accurate charts (for their time) describing the important ports, and cities of the Mediterranean Sea. His world map, drawn in 1513, is the oldest known Turkish atlas showing the New World. The map was rediscovered by German theologian Gustav Adolf Deissmann in 1929 in the course of work cataloging items held by the Topkapı Palace library.” (Wikipedia)

In addition to this, the Ottoman Empire gave the world great advancement in the field of medicine, textile, and art. 

The treatment with other religions of the time was remarkable. Other religions were given respect and there was not strict allegation on them rather they were given limited control for their own affairs but under the rule of the Ottoman Empire.

It was the empire of 36 Sultans in total from 1299 to 1922 and the world has seen a remarkable time contributions by the Ottoman Empire.

In the battle of Vienna, Turks were defeated that added to their decline but this was not the only reason for their decline. They abandoned the struggle for the glories in the field of education, science, and the industrial revolution, on the other hand, the world welcomed the Renaissance that left the great empire behind in every field.

Ottoman Empire officially ended in 1922, the time when they were defeated in World War 1, The whole Empire at that time divided into Britain, France, Greece, and Russia, respectively.

Turkey was declared a separate nation in 1923.

In today’s time, there is much talk for the continuation of the Great Ottoman Empire, in the form of Turkey becoming more prominent day by day. As it is very much prominent with their viewpoint in their past history, as current Turkey takes pride in their origins and they do not discriminate against anyone on the way of their development. I want to add a line here by Turkish president before closing today’s discussion,

We take pride in our history without making discrimination.”  (Tayyib Erdogan)

The world is soon going to see another great period in its history, with the revival of the Ottoman Empire perhaps, what are your thoughts, do let us know.