Gunpowder empires

"Gunpowder empires", or "Islamic gunpowder empires", is a term coined by the American historians Marshall G. S. Hodgson and William H. McNeill to describe three early modern Muslim empires: the Ottoman Empire, Safavid Empire and the Mughal Empire, which flourished between the mid-16th and early 18th centuries.

McNeill focused on the history of gunpowder use across multiple civilizations in East Asia, Europe, and India in his 1993 work The Age of Gunpowder Empires. The gunpowder empires conquered vast amounts of territory with the use and deployment of newly invented firearms, especially cannon and small arms; together they stretched from Southeastern Europe and North Africa in the west to Bengal and Arakan in the east. In the case of Europe, the introduction of gunpowder weapons also prompted changes such as the rise of centralised monarchical states. As a result, the three empires were among the most stable of the early modern period, leading to commercial expansion, cultural patronage, and the consolidation of political and legal institutions.

According to Hodgson, in the gunpowder empires these changes went well beyond military organisation. The Mughals, based in the Indian subcontinent, inherited in part the Timurid Renaissance, and are recognised for their lavish architecture and for having heralded in Bengal an era of what some describe as proto-industrialization. The Safavids created an efficient and modern state administration for Iran and sponsored major developments in the fine arts. The sultans of the Ottoman Empire controlled the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, and hence were the recognised Caliphs of Islam. The power, wealth, culture and other various contributions made by these Islamic empires significantly influenced the course of world history.