Ottoman Empire · 1516-1517

Selim I takes Cairo, Mecca and Medina

In two short campaigns Sultan Selim I destroyed the Mamluk Sultanate and made the Ottomans masters of Syria, Egypt and the holy cities of Islam. Students compare the map before and after 1517.

Teach it live New Open on the map
Length
45 minutes
Ages
12–15
On the map
3 steps, AD 1500 to AD 1530
Live lesson
7 rounds, 3 on the map
Worksheet
Two A4 pages, with Classroom
You need
A projector; phones for live

Live lesson · new in Classroom

Teach it live. The class answers on their phones.

Put the board on the projector. Students join with a six-digit code, no account needed, and tap the map: where was the frontier, where did the grain come from. Their pins drop in together when you reveal, and the closest student takes the round.

€19 per month: every lesson live, every worksheet, cancel anytime. Rome at its height runs live for free.

A live lesson on the projector: the class's pins on the map around Alexandria, the closest students listed beside it A student's phone: the question and a map to tap
7 rounds
3 places to find on the map, quiz questions, a class vote and a one-line answer.
About 15 minutes
Run it as the map step, or to open the discussion. You move on with the space bar.
A report
Every answer, per student and per round, to read back or print after the lesson.
1

Introduction

5 min

Read aloud

In two short campaigns Sultan Selim I destroyed the Mamluk Sultanate and made the Ottomans masters of Syria, Egypt and the holy cities of Islam. Students compare the map before and after 1517.

By the end of the lesson, students can

  • Compare the Ottoman Empire on the map in 1500 and in 1530.
  • Describe the campaigns of 1516-1517 against the Mamluks.
  • Explain why ruling Egypt and protecting Mecca and Medina mattered to the sultans.
2

Explore the map

12 min

Project the map, or let students follow on their own devices. Each step opens the map at the right year and place.

a

AD 1500

Two sultans

Open the map in 1500. Find the Ottoman Empire and the Mamluk Sultanate. Where do they meet? Which holy cities lie inside the Mamluk lands?

Open this view on the map
b

AD 1517

The conquest of Egypt

Turn on Historical Events and move to 1517. Find the Ottoman Conquest of Egypt. What did Egypt offer an empire: grain, ports, money?

Open this view on the map
3

Class discussion

14 min

Pick two or three. They run from what happened to why it mattered.

  1. Selim I first fought Shah Ismail in 1514, then the Mamluks in 1516-1517. Why turn east and south instead of west into Europe?
  2. The Mamluks had beaten the Mongols in 1260 but lost to the Ottomans. What had changed in warfare since then?
  3. After 1517 the Ottoman sultan called himself "Servant of the Two Holy Sanctuaries". Why did protecting Mecca and Medina bring so much prestige?
  4. A later story says the last Abbasid caliph handed his title to Selim. Historians doubt it. Why might later sultans have liked that story?
  5. Egypt stayed an Ottoman province for almost 300 years. What did it give the empire, and what did Egyptians get in return?
4

Game round

9 min

Play one round of Rule History as Suleiman the Magnificent, Selim's son, who inherited the new lands in 1520. Discuss: how did Egypt's wealth and the protection of the holy cities change what an Ottoman sultan could do?

Open Rule History
5

Worksheet

5 min

This worksheet comes with Classroom

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