The Ottoman Empire was one of the largest and longest lasting empires in history. Their leader was Othman Bay. In the 1400’s, the Byzantine Empire had been in decline for nearly two centuries. They faced a threat from the Ottomans; they were a group of nomadic people that migrated from central Asia to Asia Minor. In 1453, the Ottomans surrounded the capital of Constantinople. During a two-month siege, Ottoman cannons pounded Constantinople's city walls allowing attackers to break through and capture the city. The Ottomans changed the name of the city to Istanbul and made the ancient Christian city the capital of their Muslim empire. Which was the beginning of the Ottoman Empire.
The Ottoman Empire ruled a very large area that included many different people. There was a very big difference on how people lived in every social class in the Ottoman Empire. The top 2 classes were made up of entirely Muslims. The Empire consists of 4 social classes. The highest class of the Ottoman Empire is the men of the pen and then men of the sword and then men of negotiation and then men of husbandry. So as you can see there was a very big difference between life in the Ottoman Empire.
The men of the pen are the highest social class in the Ottoman Empire. This class consists of highly educated scientists, lawyers, doctors, and judges. They would have bigger homes and more land than the other classes in the Ottoman Empire. For example there was a famous doctor in he Ottoman Empire his name was Moses Hamon he was a refugee from Nasrid kingdom. He was famous for building a school in Constantinople that was controlled by Joseph Taitazak. In the Ottoman Empire it was very important that lawyers and doctors etc. were to be in the highest social class on the pyramid so they can have more advanced technology.
The men of the sword is the second highest class in the Ottoman empire, this class consists of military personal such as the ghazi which were the names of a warrior in the Ottoman empire. Alemdar Mustafa Pasha was a famous general in the Ottoman Empire because he lead his army’s into numerous victorious battles. This class will not have such a interesting and easy life like the men of the pen it may be the second highest social class but they had to go to war and fight battles but the military also had a lot of land but not like the men of the pen.
The Men of negotiation were the third social class on the pyramid. This class consists of merchants, artisans, and tax collectors. In this class the merchants had a lot of privileges that no other class had, they were exempt of taxes and government regulations. Which shows a big difference in life between merchants and other social classes.
The men of husbandry were the lowest social class on the Ottoman Empire social Pyramid. This class consists of farmers and herders. In the Ottoman Empire Trade and commerce was more important than agriculture even though most empires put agriculture before trade. The men of husbandry worked for people that had land because they didn’t have any land at all but they could move to higher class if they saved up money.
