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Siege Of Bursa
The siege of Bursa occurred from 1317 until the capture on 6 April 1326, when the Ottoman Turks deployed a bold plan to seize Prusa (modern-day Bursa, Turkey). The Ottomans had not captured a city before; the lack of expertise and adequate siege equipment at this stage of the war meant that the city fell only after six or nine years. The historian, Laonikos Chalkokondyles, notes that the Ottomans took advantage of the Byzantine civil war of 1321–1328 to capture the city: " Andronikos decided that he should hold the throne himself, as his grandfather had already grown old, and so they fell out with each other. He was too stubborn to submit and caused endless trouble. He brought in the Serbs and allied himself with the leading Greeks in his struggle for the throne. As a result they could do nothing to prevent the Turks from crossing over into Europe. It was at this time that Prusa was besieged, starved out, and taken by Osman, and other cities in Asia Minor were also capture ...
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Byzantine–Ottoman Wars
The Byzantine–Ottoman wars were a series of decisive conflicts between the Byzantine Greeks and Ottoman Turks and their allies that led to the final destruction of the Byzantine Empire and the rise of the Ottoman Empire. The Byzantines, already having been in a weak state even before the partitioning of their Empire following the 4th Crusade, failed to recover fully under the rule of the Palaiologos dynasty. Thus, the Byzantines faced increasingly disastrous defeats at the hands of the Ottomans. Ultimately, they lost Constantinople in 1453, formally ending the conflicts (however, several Byzantine Holdouts lasted until 1479). Taking advantage of the situation, the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum began seizing territory in western Anatolia, until the Nicaean Empire was able to repulse the Seljuk Turks from the remaining territories still under Byzantine rule. Eventually Constantinople was re-taken from the Latin Empire in 1261 by the Nicaean Empire. The position of the Byza ...
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Ottoman Architecture
Ottoman architecture is an architectural style or tradition that developed under the Ottoman Empire over a long period, undergoing some significant changes during its history. It first emerged in northwestern Anatolia in the late 13th century and developed from earlier Anatolian Seljuk architecture, Seljuk Turkish architecture, with influences from Byzantine architecture, Byzantine and Iranian architecture, Iranian architecture along with other architectural traditions in the Middle East. Early Ottoman architecture experimented with multiple building types over the course of the 13th to 15th centuries, progressively evolving into the Classical Ottoman architecture, classical Ottoman style of the 16th and 17th centuries. This style was a mixture of native Turkish tradition and influences from the Hagia Sophia, resulting in monumental mosque buildings focused around a high central dome with a varying number of semi-domes. The most important architect of the classical period is Mimar ...
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Sultan
Sultan (; ', ) is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it came to be used as the title of certain rulers who claimed almost full sovereignty (i.e., not having dependence on any higher ruler) without claiming the overall caliphate, or to refer to a powerful governor of a province within the caliphate. The adjectival form of the word is "sultanic", and the state and territories ruled by a sultan, as well as his office, are referred to as a sultanate ( '. The term is distinct from king ( '), though both refer to a sovereign ruler. The use of "sultan" is restricted to Muslim countries, where the title carries religious significance, contrasting the more secular ''king'', which is used in both Muslim and non-Muslim countries. Brunei, Malaysia and Oman are the only sovereign states which retain the title "sultan" ...
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Ibn Battuta
Ibn Battuta (; 24 February 13041368/1369), was a Maghrebi traveller, explorer and scholar. Over a period of 30 years from 1325 to 1354, he visited much of Africa, the Middle East, Asia and the Iberian Peninsula. Near the end of his life, Ibn Battuta dictated an account of his journeys, titled '' A Gift to Those Who Contemplate the Wonders of Cities and the Marvels of Travelling'', commonly known as ''The Rihla''. Ibn Battuta travelled more than any other explorer in pre-modern history, totalling around , surpassing Zheng He with about and Marco Polo with . Name "Ibn Battuta" is a patronymic, literally meaning 'son of a duckling'. His most common full name is given as Abu Abdullah Muhammad ibn Battuta. In his travelogue, '' The Rihla'', he gives his full name as " Shams al-Din Abu ’Abdallah Muhammad ibn ’Abdallah ibn Muhammad ibn Ibrahim ibn Muhammad ibn Yusuf Lawati al- Tanji ibn Battuta". Early life All that is known about Ibn Battuta's life comes from the au ...
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Moroccan Muslim
Islam is the largest religion in Morocco, with more than 99% of the population adhering to it. The largest subset of Muslims in Morocco are Maliki Sunni; other numerous groups include practitioners of Zahirism and non-denominational Muslims. Islam is the nation's state religion. Blasphemy against Islam is a punishable offense. History Islam was first brought to Morocco in 681 A.D. by an Arab invasion under the Uqba ibn Nafi, who was a general serving under the Umayyads of Damascus. In 788, The Shia Idrisids who espoused pro Zaydi views ruled large parts of Morocco. Their contemporaries included the heretical Barghawata state and the Khariji state of Sijilmasa. After, several Berbers formed more powerful Islamic dynasties that reigned over the country. Among them were the Almoravids (1040–1147), who was the first to unite Morocco, as well as significant regions in West Africa, Spain and Algeria. The Almoravids were responsible for making the Maliki school of Islamic jurispr ...
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Türbe
''Türbe'' refers to a Muslim mausoleum, tomb or grave often in the Turkish-speaking areas and for the mausolea of Ottoman sultans, nobles and notables. A typical türbe is located in the grounds of a mosque or complex, often endowed by the deceased. However, some are more closely integrated into surrounding buildings. Many are relatively small buildings, often domed and hexagonal or octagonal in shape, containing a single chamber. More minor türbes are usually kept closed although the interior can be sometimes be glimpsed through metal grilles over the windows or door. The exterior is typically masonry, perhaps with tiled decoration over the doorway, but the interior often contains large areas of painted tilework, which may be of the highest quality. Inside, the body or bodies repose in plain sarcophagi, perhaps with a simple inscription, which are, or were originally, covered by rich cloth drapes. Usually these sarcophagi are symbolic, and the actual body lies below t ...
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Medrese
Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , ), sometimes Romanization of Arabic, romanized as madrasah or madrassa, is the Arabic word for any Educational institution, type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whether for elementary education or higher learning. In countries outside the Arab world, the word usually refers to a specific type of religious school or college for the study of the religion of Islam (loosely equivalent to a Seminary, Christian seminary), though this may not be the only subject studied. In an Islamic architecture, architectural and historical context, the term generally refers to a particular kind of institution in the historic Muslim world which primarily taught Sharia, Islamic law and Fiqh, jurisprudence (''fiqh''), as well as other subjects on occasion. The origin of this type of institution is widely credited to Nizam al-Mulk, a vizier under the Seljuk Empire, Seljuks in the 11th century, who was responsible for buildi ...
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Caravanserai
A caravanserai (or caravansary; ) was an inn that provided lodging for travelers, merchants, and Caravan (travellers), caravans. They were present throughout much of the Islamic world. Depending on the region and period, they were called by a variety of names including ''khan'', ''funduq'' and ''wikala.'' Caravanserais supported the flow of commerce, information, and people across the network of trade routes covering Asia, North Africa and Southeast Europe, most notably the Silk Road. In the countryside, they were typically built at intervals equivalent to a day's journey along important roads, where they served as a kind of Stage station, staging post. Urban versions of caravanserais were historically common in cities where they could serve as inns, depots, and venues for conducting business. The buildings were most commonly rectangular structures with one protected entrance. Inside, a central courtyard was surrounded by an array of rooms on one or more levels.'''' In additio ...
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Mosque
A mosque ( ), also called a masjid ( ), is a place of worship for Muslims. The term usually refers to a covered building, but can be any place where Salah, Islamic prayers are performed; such as an outdoor courtyard. Originally, mosques were simple places of prayer for the early Muslims, and may have been open spaces rather than elaborate buildings. In the first stage of Islamic architecture (650–750 CE), early mosques comprised open and closed covered spaces enclosed by walls, often with minarets, from which the Adhan, Islamic call to prayer was issued on a daily basis. It is typical of mosque buildings to have a special ornamental niche (a ''mihrab'') set into the wall in the direction of the city of Mecca (the ''qibla''), which Muslims must face during prayer, as well as a facility for ritual cleansing (''wudu''). The pulpit (''minbar''), from which public sermons (''khutbah'') are delivered on the event of Friday prayer, was, in earlier times, characteristic of the central ...
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Turkish Bath
A hammam (), also often called a Turkish bath by Westerners, is a type of steam bath or a place of public bathing associated with the Islamic world. It is a prominent feature in the culture of the Muslim world and was inherited from the model of the Roman ''thermae.'' Muslim bathhouses or hammams were historically found across the Middle East, North Africa, al-Andalus (Islamic Iberia, i.e. Spain and Portugal), Central Asia, the Indian subcontinent, and in Southeastern Europe under Ottoman rule. In Islamic cultures the significance of the hammam was both religious and civic: it provided for the needs of ritual ablutions but also provided for general hygiene in an era before private plumbing and served other social functions such as offering a gendered meeting place for men and for women. Archeological remains attest to the existence of bathhouses in the Islamic world as early as the Umayyad period (7th–8th centuries) and their importance has persisted up to modern times. ...
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Imaret
Imaret, sometimes also known as a ''darüzziyafe'', is one of several names used to identify the public soup kitchens built throughout the Ottoman Empire from the 14th to the 19th centuries. These public kitchens were often part of a larger complex known as a ''külliye'', which could include hospices, mosques, caravanserais, and colleges. The imarets provided food that was free of charge to specific groups of people and unfortunate individuals. Imarets were not invented by the Ottomans but developed under their rule as highly structured groups of buildings. Etymology The Turkish word comes from Arabic , which signified "habitation and cultivation" or "the act of building, making habitable". The shift in the word's meaning to denote a religious complex or public kitchen appears to be unique to the Ottoman context. History According to historian Amy Singer, the ''imaret'' is an institution that is "perhaps unique to the Ottomans in its proliferation and purpose." It was ...
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Yeşil Mosque
The Green Mosque (), also known as the Mosque of Mehmed I, is a part of a larger complex () on the east side of Bursa, Turkey, the former capital of the Ottoman Empire, Ottoman Turks before they captured Constantinople in 1453. The complex consists of a mosque, a mausoleum known as the Green Tomb, a madrasa, a Imaret, public kitchen, and a Hammam, bathhouse. The name Green Mosque comes from its green and blue interior Ottoman architectural decoration, tile decorations. It is part of the historic UNESCO World Heritage Site. History Construction The Green Mosque is often seen as the culmination of the early Ottoman architectural style, mainly due to the level of aesthetic and technical mastery displayed within the mosque. The Green Mosque was commissioned by Mehmed I, Sultan Mehmed I Çelebi, who ruled from 1413 to 1421, after a fight against his brothers to reunite the Ottoman Empire. The mosque's construction was begun in 1412 and, according to the inscription over its entr ...
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