ABSTRACT
The Ottomans survived the thrashing that Timur Lang administered to them in 1402 and by 1453 had captured Constantinople. It was perhaps the world’s dominant power during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries but faded in the eighteenth. The Golden Horde, characterized by a weak central government, experienced schisms in the fifteenth century, and Muscovy captured most of its successor statesby 1600. The only remaining one was Crimea, which flourished until the eighteenth century. The interior of the Arabian Peninsula was little known except for the Hijaz, which was important for the pilgrimage. The coasts of Yemen and Oman, however, flourished due to international trade.
