1500–1800 CE
Age of Empires
عصر الإمبراطوريات
Ottoman, Safavid and Mughal civilisation
- Notables
- 42
- Profiles to read
- 4
- Women
- 9
- Leading fields
- Poets, Politicians, Astronomers
Three great empires, the Ottomans, Safavids and Mughals, together with Muslim states from Aceh to Timbuktu, produced some of the world's greatest architecture: Sinan's mosques, Isfahan's royal square and the Taj Mahal. Piri Reis mapped the Americas, and Taqi al-Din ran an observatory in Istanbul.
This was also an age of remarkable women rulers and patrons, of Persian, Turkish and Urdu poetry, and of scholarship in South Asia that reached from Shah Waliullah's Delhi to the Sufi poets of Sindh and Punjab.
Centres of learning
- Istanbul
- Isfahan
- Agra
- Delhi
- Lahore
- Timbuktu
- Fez
- Aceh
People of Age of Empires
16th century 1500–1599 CE
d. 1517
Coming soon
A'isha al-Ba'uniyya
عائشة الباعونية
Most prolific woman author of pre-modern Arabic
d. 1528
Coming soon
Abd al-Ali al-Birjandi
عبد العلي البيرجندي
Commentaries on Tusi; discussed Earth's rotation with an argument like Galileo's
c.1450–1535
Coming soon
Kamal ud-Din Behzad
کمالالدین بهزاد
Master of Persian miniature painting
d. 1525
Coming soon
Mirim Çelebi
ميرم چلبي
Ottoman astronomer; commentary on Ulugh Beg's zij
16th c.
Coming soon
Sulayman al-Mahri
سليمان المهري
Navigational treatises on the Indian Ocean and South China Sea
c.1465–1553
Profile
Piri Reis
بيري ريس
1513 world map including the Americas; Kitab-ı Bahriye on navigation
1483–1530
Coming soon
Babur
ظهیرالدین محمد بابر
Founded the Mughal Empire; Baburnama, first autobiography in Turkic
c.1494–1554
Coming soon
Hasan al-Wazzan (Leo Africanus)
الحسن الوزان
Description of Africa, Europe's main source on Africa for centuries
c.1480–1556
Coming soon
Fuzuli
فضولی
Leila and Majnun in Azerbaijani Turkish
1480–1564
Coming soon
Matrakçı Nasuh
مطراقچی نصوح
Mathematician, swordsman and pioneer of topographic miniature painting
c.1485–1561
Coming soon
Sayyida al-Hurra
السيدة الحرة
Governor of Tetouan and naval commander
d. 1550
Coming soon
Shams al-Din al-Khafri
شمس الدين الخفري
Alternative mathematical models for planetary motion
c.1502–1558
Profile
Hurrem Sultan
خرّم سلطان
Founded the Haseki Sultan complex: mosque, soup kitchen, hospital and schools
c.1490–1588
Coming soon
Mimar Sinan
معمار سنان
Chief architect of the Ottoman Empire; Süleymaniye and Selimiye mosques, 300+ buildings
1498–1563
Coming soon
Seydi Ali Reis
سیدی علی رئیس
Ottoman admiral; Mir'at al-Mamalik travelogue and the Muhit navigation book
1526–1585
Coming soon
Taqi al-Din ibn Ma'ruf
تقي الدين بن معروف
Istanbul observatory; described a steam turbine (1551) and precise mechanical clocks
c.1533–1610
Coming soon
Amina of Zaria
Hausa warrior queen of Zazzau; earthen city walls known as 'Amina's walls'
d. 1589
Coming soon
Fathullah Shirazi
فتح الله شيرازي
Akbar's engineer: multi-barrel gun, mechanical mill, calendar reform
16th c.
Coming soon
Ali Kashmiri ibn Luqman
علي كشميري بن لقمان
Made the first seamless (single-piece) metal celestial globe, Kashmir 1589
1551–1602
Coming soon
Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak
ابوالفضل
Akbarnama and Ain-i-Akbari, a statistical survey of the empire
1550–1599
Coming soon
Chand Bibi
چاند بیبی
Regent who defended Ahmednagar against the Mughals
17th century 1600–1699 CE
1547–1621
Coming soon
Baha al-Din al-Amili (Shaykh Bahai)
بهاء الدين العاملي
Khulasat al-Hisab arithmetic; architecture and engineering in Isfahan
d. 1609
Profile
Sadr al-Din Ali al-Gilani al-Hindi
Commentary on Ibn Sina's Canon of Medicine
1561–1631
Coming soon
Mir Damad
میرداماد
Founder of the School of Isfahan
c.1565–1635
Coming soon
Reza Abbasi
رضا عباسی
Leading painter of the Isfahan school
1571–1636
Coming soon
Mulla Sadra
ملا صدرا
Transcendent Theosophy; principle of substantial motion
1577–1645
Coming soon
Nur Jahan
نور جہاں
Effective co-ruler of the Mughal Empire; patron of architecture and trade
17th c.
Coming soon
Hezarfen Ahmed Çelebi
هزارفن أحمد چلبی
Reported glider flight over the Bosphorus (account of Evliya Çelebi)
c.1580–1649
Coming soon
Ustad Ahmad Lahori
استاد احمد لاهوری
Chief architect of the Taj Mahal and Delhi's Red Fort
17th c.
Coming soon
Muhammad Baqir Yazdi
محمد باقر يزدي
Found the amicable number pair 9,363,584 and 9,437,056
1614–1681
Coming soon
Jahanara Begum
جہاں آرا بیگم
Designed Chandni Chowk; Sufi author; endowed caravanserais
1609–1657
Coming soon
Katip Çelebi (Hajji Khalifa)
کاتب چلبی
Kashf al-Zunun bibliography of 15,000 books; Cihannüma geography
1612–1675
Coming soon
Sultanah Safiatuddin
سلطانة صفية الدين
Ruled Aceh for 34 years; patron of scholarship
1611–1682
Profile
Evliya Çelebi
اوليا چلبى
Seyahatname: ten-volume travelogue of the Ottoman world
d. 1083 AH (c.1672)
Coming soon
Qubad al-Badakhshi
Astronomer of Hyderabad Deccan, also known as Diyanat Khan
1638–1702
Coming soon
Zeb-un-Nissa
زیبالنساء
Poet and patron of libraries and translations
18th century 1700–1799 CE
1680–1757
Coming soon
Bulleh Shah
بلھے شاہ
Punjabi Sufi poetry
1689–1752
Coming soon
Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai
شاهه عبداللطيف ڀٽائي
Shah Jo Risalo, the classic of Sindhi poetry
1703–1762
Coming soon
Shah Waliullah Dehlawi
شاہ ولی اللہ دہلوی
Hujjat Allah al-Baligha; translated the Qur'an into Persian
1722–1798
Coming soon
Waris Shah
وارث شاہ
Heer, the Punjabi epic
1723–1810
Coming soon
Mir Taqi Mir
میر تقی میر
Shaped the Urdu ghazal
1751–1799
Coming soon
Tipu Sultan
ٹیپو سلطان
Iron-cased Mysorean rockets that inspired the British Congreve rocket
No one matches these filters. Clear the search or choose another field.