The Ottoman Empire and the Crimean Khanate (1300s–1700s)

Rise and rule: how the Ottoman Empire worked

The Ottoman Empire began about 1300 under a leader named Osman, in north-west Anatolia (now Turkey). Strong cavalry, good timing and weak neighbours helped it grow. In 1453 Sultan Mehmed II took Constantinople (now Istanbul), the capital of the Byzantine Empire. Later sultans took Syria and Egypt (1516–17), and the empire controlled the eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea coasts.

Internal policy: how it was run

• Sultan: the ruler at the top, from the Ottoman dynasty.
• Grand vizier and Divan: chief minister and council that ran daily affairs and courts.
• Provinces: run by governors. Cavalrymen (sipahi) received a land grant called timar and in return fought and collected local taxes.
• Janissaries: a paid, trained standing army, the sultan's guard. Many came from boys of Christian families who were taken for training (the devshirme system).
• Millets: communities of different faiths (Orthodox Christians, Jews, Armenians) managed their own religious courts and schools and paid a special tax.

Foreign policy: rise and turn

• 1526: Suleiman wins at Mohács, and much of Hungary falls under Ottoman control.
• 1529: first siege of Vienna fails. Suleiman (died 1566) is remembered as the peak.
• 1571: the Ottoman fleet loses at Lepanto but is rebuilt quickly.
• 1683: the second siege of Vienna fails. In 1699 the Treaty of Karlowitz gave up Hungary and other lands: the first big land loss in Europe.
• Trade deals (capitulations) with France and others gave foreign traders special rights.

The Crimean Khanate

The Crimean Khanate was a Tatar state that appeared in the 1440s, when Hacı Giray founded it as the Golden Horde broke up. Its capital was Bakhchysarai, in the hills of Crimea. The ruler was the khan, from the Giray family.

• Ottoman vassal from 1475. After Ottomans took the port of Caffa, the khanate kept its own khan and laws but gave soldiers and followed Ottoman foreign policy.
• Army: fast horsemen who raided northwards. They took captives who were sold in the Black Sea slave trade.
• Economy: herding, farming and trade; Crimea sat on a busy trade route across the Black Sea.
• End: in 1783 the Russian Empire took over the khanate.

Today the Crimean Tatars are an indigenous people of Crimea. Historians mention that raids caused real suffering in Ukrainian lands, but the khans were also trade partners and, at times, allies. Both sides of the story are part of history.

Ukrainian, Ottoman and Crimean Tatar neighbours

On the steppe, three societies met for centuries. Their relations were never only war and never only peace.

• War and raids: Tatar raids northwards; Cossack boat raids on Ottoman Black Sea coasts; the battle of Khotyn (1621), where Cossacks helped to stop an Ottoman army.
• Alliance: in 1648 Khmelnytsky allied with the Crimean khan against the Commonwealth. In 1669 hetman Doroshenko took Ottoman protection for a time. Allies were chosen by interest, not by faith.
• Trade: salt, fish, cattle, grain and cloth. Ukrainian traders called chumaks hauled salt from Crimea by ox cart.
• Border change: the Treaty of Buchach (1672) gave Podolia to the Ottomans, and Karlowitz (1699) returned it.
• Captivity and ransom: many people were taken captive. Cossacks freed some prisoners, and this is remembered in Ukrainian songs.

Peoples of South-East Europe under Ottoman rule

From the 1300s, Greeks, Serbs, Bulgarians, Albanians, Romanians and others came under Ottoman rule. A famous defeat for the Serbs was Kosovo (1389). Constantinople fell in 1453.

• Millet system: non-Muslims kept their churches, schools and many local customs and followed their own religious laws. The Orthodox Patriarch of Constantinople had power over Orthodox Christians.
• Taxes: farmers paid taxes; non-Muslims paid an extra tax (jizya) in return for protection and no army service.
• Different local rule: Moldavia and Wallachia were vassal principalities that paid tribute and had their own princes. Other lands were ruled by governors.
• Change: some people accepted Islam; cities grew with new bazaars and bridges; some groups rose in revolt later (for example the Serbs and Greeks in the 1800s).

Life varied from place to place and from century to century: sometimes quiet, sometimes harsh.

Try it: size your own empire timeline

Try it. Draw a straight line 20 cm long, 1299 at the left end and 1783 at the right end. Then 1 cm is about 24 years.

1. Mark 1453, 1566, 1683, 1699 and 1783.
2. Measure: how many years from the fall of Constantinople to Suleiman's death? (1566 − 1453 = 113)
3. Draw a circle for the empire at each date. Which circle is the biggest?

In the 3D, predict: will the disc be bigger in 1600 or in 1750? Then slide and check.

Key formulas and definitions

• Ottoman Empire: about 1300 (Osman) to 1922; this lesson: 1300s to 1700s
• 1453: Constantinople; 1475: Crimea becomes a vassal; 1566: Suleiman dies
• 1683 second Vienna; 1699 Karlowitz (first big loss in Europe)
• Timar = land grant for a horseman; janissary = paid standing soldier
• Millet = self-governing community of another faith
• 1783: Crimean Khanate ends (taken over by Russia)

Worked examples

Common mistakes

• Thinking the Ottoman Empire was only a military state. It also had courts, taxes, trade and a rich culture.
• Calling the janissaries a tribal army. They were a paid, trained standing army.
• Saying the Crimean Khanate was a part of the Ottoman Empire in all ways. It was a vassal that kept its own khan.
• Believing relations between Cossacks, Tatars and Ottomans were always war. There were also alliances and trade.