Chapter 2 Vocabulary
1. Ghazi- a warrior for Islam.
2. Ottoman- names of Osman’s followers; very successful military.
3. Sultan- “overload,” or “one with power;” title for Ottoman rulers during the rise of the Ottoman
Empire.
4. Timur the Lame- rebellious warrior and conqueror from Samarkand; burned the powerful city of
Baghdad and crushed the Ottoman forces.
5. Mehmed II- son of Murad; achieved the most dramatic feat in Ottoman history.
6. Suleyman the Lawgiver- son of Selim, ruled for 46 years, known in the west as Suleyman the
Magnificent, superb military leader.
7. Devshirme- in the Ottoman Empire, the policy of taking children from conquered Christian
people to be trained as Muslim soldiers.
8. Janissary- a member of an elite force of soldiers in the Ottoman Empire.
9. Safavid- a member of a Shi’a Muslim dynasty that built an empire in Persia in the 16 th-18th
centuries.
10. Isma’il- began to seize most of what is now Iran at 12 years old, he became king and established
Shi’a Islam as the state religion.
11. Shah- hereditary monarch of Iran.
12. Shah Abbas- took the throne in 1587; helped create a Safavid culture and golden age that drew
from the best of the Ottoman, Persian, and Arab worlds; reformed military and civilian life and
the government.
13. Esfahan- a new capital that covered four and a half miles, the city was considered the most
beautiful in the world; showplace for many artisans.
14. Mughal- one of the nomads who invaded the Indian subcontinent in the 16 th century and
established a powerful empire there.
15. Babur- an 11-year-old boy inherited a kingdom in the area that is now Uzbekistan and Tajikistan;
brilliant general
16. Akbar- recognized military power as the root of his strength, genius at cultural bending.
17. Sikh- a member of a nonviolent religious group whose beliefs bend elements of Buddhism,
Hinduism, and Sufism.
18. Shah Jahan- son of Jahangir, assassinated all his possible rivals, his two passions were beautiful
buildings and his wife, built the Taj Mahal in memory of his wife.
19. Taj Mahal- a beautiful tomb in Agra, India, built by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan for his wife
Mumtaz Mahal.
20. Auranqzeb- the third son of Shah Jahan, executed his older brother and arrested his father and
put him in prison. Master at military strategy, expanded the Mughal holdings to their greatest
size, the power of the empire weakened during his reign.