The Ottoman Empire in the 16th–18th centuries

At the start of the 16th century the Ottoman Empire was divided into provinces (eyalets, headed by a vali or beylerbey) and districts (sanjaks, headed by a sanjak-bey). The military cavalry — sipahis — received land for military service, and the regular infantry — the Janissaries — and a strong fleet were the empire’s mainstay. Sultan Selim I defeated the Iranian Shah Ismail Safavi at Chaldiran in 1514 and took Egypt in 1517. Under Suleiman I (“the Lawgiver”, 1520–1566) the empire was at its most powerful, and in 1526 Hungary was beaten at Mohács. The empire held wide lands in Europe, Asia and Africa and controlled important trade routes. From the mid-16th century the ruin and flight of peasants brought a crisis in agriculture and the empire began to weaken. In 1683 it was beaten near Vienna, in 1684 European states formed a “Holy League”, and in 1699 the Treaty of Karlowitz cost it Hungarian lands. In the 18th century defeats in wars with Russia deepened the crisis; customs privileges were given to French and other merchants. In culture the architect Sinan (16th century), the scholar Katip Çelebi and the traveller Evliya Çelebi (“Book of Travels”) became famous.