Just catching up after like a month.
The mazkan system sounds a lot like the Portuguese factory system. Andalusia would be hard-pressed to do even Portuguese levels of colonial adventures in the Indian Ocean, as they don't have cannon-armed ships and musket-armed sailors.
One of my pet AH ideas is Greek Muslim Roman Empire and I'm happy to see something like that popping up. Would love to see the Bataids fall to a local Hellenic Muslim dynasty, though. That would make things even more interesting.
Regarding the Bataid economy: Armenians were one of the primary trading and banking peoples in the Roman and Ottoman empires. They'll probably be even more important ITTL, as the Greeks are becoming Muslim and thus won't be able to take care of trade between Rumelia and Christendom like they did OTL. They will probably be the primary maritime traders for the Muslim Mediterranean, though, as they can trade openly and gladly with other Muslims.
Also, the Ottoman economy was so poor primarily because of how they maintained governance. The Beylik system was basically feudalism but with nomads in charge. This softened over time as the Turks settled, but there was another huge problem. The mamluk administrations in Iraq and Egypt were based on support from pastoral tribes who provided the army with horsemen and the sultan loyal authority, but had a vested interest in keeping down settled agriculture and cities. They also basically constantly looted their own land. Cairo managed to grow huge despite this, but as long as Iraq and Egypt don't end up with the government becoming actively hostile to irrigation, they might not ever become weak enough for the Bataids to roll in. And if they do, the Bataids might find the same incentives to keep the economies of the Arab areas down as the Ottomans did.
The Bataids, however, have probably mainly inherited the Roman structure of government, considering there are many Greeks high in the government. This means they probably have the feudalistic theme system, but they probably don't have the antipathy towards commerce and urbanism that the Turks had, thanks to the Greeks being in charge of most things. This, combined with the lack of a janissary system, makes me think that they would do far worse against a true Crusade against them by the Holy Roman Empire. But it would make them resistant to invasion in their core lands, as although they don't have a huge professional army, they can keep raising levies and equipping men with modern weaponry. They maintain that unmatched Roman resilience, but lack the amazing offensive capacity of the Turks.
The Mande are getting really rich in the 14th century OTL and I was wondering if perhaps a major Mansa takes a Hajj by the new sea route and ends up basically setting up a bunch of mazkan by paying Andalusians to supply the voyage. The influx of all this gold to the Andalusian merchants supplying this Hajj could fund the foundation of even more mazkan in the Algarves and Hindu Ocean.
The mazkan system sounds a lot like the Portuguese factory system. Andalusia would be hard-pressed to do even Portuguese levels of colonial adventures in the Indian Ocean, as they don't have cannon-armed ships and musket-armed sailors.
One of my pet AH ideas is Greek Muslim Roman Empire and I'm happy to see something like that popping up. Would love to see the Bataids fall to a local Hellenic Muslim dynasty, though. That would make things even more interesting.
Regarding the Bataid economy: Armenians were one of the primary trading and banking peoples in the Roman and Ottoman empires. They'll probably be even more important ITTL, as the Greeks are becoming Muslim and thus won't be able to take care of trade between Rumelia and Christendom like they did OTL. They will probably be the primary maritime traders for the Muslim Mediterranean, though, as they can trade openly and gladly with other Muslims.
Also, the Ottoman economy was so poor primarily because of how they maintained governance. The Beylik system was basically feudalism but with nomads in charge. This softened over time as the Turks settled, but there was another huge problem. The mamluk administrations in Iraq and Egypt were based on support from pastoral tribes who provided the army with horsemen and the sultan loyal authority, but had a vested interest in keeping down settled agriculture and cities. They also basically constantly looted their own land. Cairo managed to grow huge despite this, but as long as Iraq and Egypt don't end up with the government becoming actively hostile to irrigation, they might not ever become weak enough for the Bataids to roll in. And if they do, the Bataids might find the same incentives to keep the economies of the Arab areas down as the Ottomans did.
The Bataids, however, have probably mainly inherited the Roman structure of government, considering there are many Greeks high in the government. This means they probably have the feudalistic theme system, but they probably don't have the antipathy towards commerce and urbanism that the Turks had, thanks to the Greeks being in charge of most things. This, combined with the lack of a janissary system, makes me think that they would do far worse against a true Crusade against them by the Holy Roman Empire. But it would make them resistant to invasion in their core lands, as although they don't have a huge professional army, they can keep raising levies and equipping men with modern weaponry. They maintain that unmatched Roman resilience, but lack the amazing offensive capacity of the Turks.
The Mande are getting really rich in the 14th century OTL and I was wondering if perhaps a major Mansa takes a Hajj by the new sea route and ends up basically setting up a bunch of mazkan by paying Andalusians to supply the voyage. The influx of all this gold to the Andalusian merchants supplying this Hajj could fund the foundation of even more mazkan in the Algarves and Hindu Ocean.