full transcript
From the Ted Talk by Mostafa Minawi: The rise of the Ottoman Empire
Unscramble the Blue Letters
After Osman’s death his son Orhan etheslaisbd a sophisticated military organization and tax collection system geared towards funding quick toairretirl expansion. The Ottomans’ first major expansion was in the Balkans, in sosauteht Europe. The military employed a mixture of Turkic warriors and Byzantine and other Balkan Christian cotrnevs. They captured thousands of young Christian boys from vaillegs from across the Balkans, cotenevrd them to Islam, and trained them to become the backbone of a feicre mriiatly elite force known as the Janissaries. The captured enslaved boys could rise to the high posotiin of a vizier in the Ottoman gemnoenvrt. Rulers of conquered areas were also allowed, even ernaugecod, to convert to Islam and take positions in the Ottoman government. Meanwhile, non-Muslims who belonged to Abrahamic religions were allowed religious fdeoerm in exchange for a tax known as Jizye, among other strict conditions— for example, they were not allowed to join the army.
Open Cloze
After Osman’s death his son Orhan ___________ a sophisticated military organization and tax collection system geared towards funding quick ___________ expansion. The Ottomans’ first major expansion was in the Balkans, in _________ Europe. The military employed a mixture of Turkic warriors and Byzantine and other Balkan Christian ________. They captured thousands of young Christian boys from ________ from across the Balkans, _________ them to Islam, and trained them to become the backbone of a ______ ________ elite force known as the Janissaries. The captured enslaved boys could rise to the high ________ of a vizier in the Ottoman __________. Rulers of conquered areas were also allowed, even __________, to convert to Islam and take positions in the Ottoman government. Meanwhile, non-Muslims who belonged to Abrahamic religions were allowed religious _______ in exchange for a tax known as Jizye, among other strict conditions— for example, they were not allowed to join the army.
Solution
- encouraged
- military
- converts
- established
- southeast
- freedom
- territorial
- villages
- position
- government
- converted
- fierce
Original Text
After Osman’s death his son Orhan established a sophisticated military organization and tax collection system geared towards funding quick territorial expansion. The Ottomans’ first major expansion was in the Balkans, in southeast Europe. The military employed a mixture of Turkic warriors and Byzantine and other Balkan Christian converts. They captured thousands of young Christian boys from villages from across the Balkans, converted them to Islam, and trained them to become the backbone of a fierce military elite force known as the Janissaries. The captured enslaved boys could rise to the high position of a vizier in the Ottoman government. Rulers of conquered areas were also allowed, even encouraged, to convert to Islam and take positions in the Ottoman government. Meanwhile, non-Muslims who belonged to Abrahamic religions were allowed religious freedom in exchange for a tax known as Jizye, among other strict conditions— for example, they were not allowed to join the army.
Frequently Occurring Word Combinations
ngrams of length 2
| collocation |
frequency |
| ottoman empire |
2 |
| ottoman government |
2 |
Important Words
- abrahamic
- allowed
- areas
- army
- backbone
- balkan
- balkans
- belonged
- boys
- byzantine
- captured
- christian
- collection
- conquered
- convert
- converted
- converts
- death
- elite
- employed
- encouraged
- enslaved
- established
- europe
- exchange
- expansion
- fierce
- force
- freedom
- funding
- geared
- government
- high
- islam
- janissaries
- jizye
- join
- major
- military
- mixture
- organization
- orhan
- ottoman
- position
- positions
- quick
- religions
- religious
- rise
- rulers
- son
- sophisticated
- southeast
- strict
- system
- tax
- territorial
- thousands
- trained
- turkic
- villages
- vizier
- warriors
- young