Unit 3 Overview | World History Project AP®

Unit 3: Land-Based Empires, 1450–1750

The video introduces how governments maintain authority, using the Ottoman Empire and Sultan Suleiman I as a central example. Governments rely not only on force—such as armies and police—but also on symbols, traditions, religious claims, and practical incentives that encourage people to accept their rule. Currency, founding stories, impressive buildings, and religious justifications can all reinforce a government’s legitimacy.

Major Empires and Their Setting

After the Mongol Empire fractured, several powerful land-based empires rose across Eurasia and North Africa. From 1450 to 1750, the principal states discussed are:

• Ottoman Empire
• Russian Empire
• Safavid Empire
• Mughal Empire
• Ming and Qing empires of China

They are sometimes called “gunpowder empires” because they used gunpowder weapons in conquest and rule. These empires governed vast, connected territories containing diverse populations. They competed for territory and trade, including conflicts between the Ottomans and Russians, and between the Ottomans, Safavids, and Mughals. They also increasingly encountered European maritime powers toward the end of the period.

Shared Strategies of Governance

The empires used several methods to expand and maintain control:

• Military power: Conquest and armed force helped rulers expand their territory and suppress opposition.
• Centralized authority: Rulers sought to keep power concentrated in the emperor’s hands rather than leaving it to distant local aristocrats.
• Bureaucracies: Because rulers could not govern vast territories alone, professional officials managed tasks such as collecting taxes and administering the state.
• Religion and culture: Rulers used religious institutions and beliefs to strengthen the authority of the dynasty and central government.
• Selective tolerance: Some rulers allowed religious minorities limited self-government or participation in administration, helping prevent unrest while maintaining loyalty and tax revenue.

Religious policy varied by empire. Russia’s Orthodox Church cooperated with the tsars; Ottoman sultans claimed authority over Sunni Islam; Safavid rulers established Shi’a Islam as the state religion; and Chinese rulers supported or rejected different traditions over time, including Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, and Islam.

Suleiman and Ottoman Rule

Suleiman I ruled the Ottoman Empire for 46 years. He expanded its territory and wealth, including into North Africa, Hungary, and Mesopotamia, and reformed its legal system. His many titles reflected different sources of Ottoman authority:

• “Lawgiver” referred to his legal reforms.
• “Magnificent” reflected his powerful and prosperous reign.
• “Caliph” presented the sultan as a religious and political successor to the Prophet Muhammad and a leader of the Islamic world.
• “Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques” referred to Ottoman control of Mecca and Medina after the conquest of Arabia.
• “Caesar of the Romans” expressed the Ottoman claim to inherit Roman imperial authority after conquering Constantinople in 1453.

Claims to succeed earlier empires were a common way for rulers to strengthen their legitimacy.

Ottoman Systems for Governing a Diverse Population

The Ottomans used two notable systems to manage their multiethnic and multireligious empire:

• Millet system: Religious communities, including Christians and Jews, could govern themselves according to their own laws, provided they remained loyal to the sultan and paid taxes. This gave communities some autonomy while helping the central government avoid provoking rebellions.
• Devshirme: Christian boys from the Balkans were taken into the sultan’s service and trained as soldiers or bureaucrats. Some rose to positions of great power, including Grand Vizier. The system supplied the sultan with an army and administrative officials whose loyalty was directed toward him rather than rival elites.

These strategies helped land-based empires remain highly powerful through this period, although their dominance began to weaken in the late eighteenth century as European overseas empires challenged them.

Speakers and Sources Featured

• Rachel Hansen — Narrator and presenter.
• Historical figures and groups discussed: Suleiman I and the Ottoman sultans, as well as rulers and institutions associated with the Ottoman, Russian, Safavid, Mughal, Ming, and Qing empires.