Other religious millets in the Ottoman Empire?

Part of Ottoman administration was the millet system, a non-territorial jurisdiction designed to oversee the various religious groups so they would be tried by their own laws, look out for their interests etc.

Eastern Orthodoxy, Armenian Copticism, Judaism and of course Islam all had a millet overseen by a paramount leader installed in Constantinople. Catholics due to their small numbers never got a full blown millet and Sulieman the Magnificent gave the honour of protecting them to Francis I as a gift. This gave France a solid excuse to intervene in the Empire in the 19th century but that's another story.

Anyway may question was, what if the Ottomans conquered more territory including even more diverse religions, how do you think new millets would be organised?

Now like the Catholics OTL, various Protestant sects that flourished in occupied Hungary were simply given protection by the puppet kings of Zapolya however I'd be interested in possible 'paramount leaders' in particular.

As well the west, how do you think Indian religions like Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism etc. would be dealt with if the Ottomans had commited more to the Indian Ocean and got a foothold on the sub-continent?
 
This really depends on whether territory is controlled directly, or in the form of tributaries.

I could see the Egyptian Copts being given their own millet.

Maybe the Rum Millet (the Orthodox) could be split between the Greeks, Serbs, Albanians, Bulgarians, Vlachs and Georgians? At the very least, I could see the Georgians being given their own.

Say the Ottomans manage to conquer all of Hungary and Croatia, instead of the Habsburgs being able to hold onto a sliver of it. Maybe the Protestants get their own millet, instead of being lumped together with the Catholics?

Depending on how they consider the Druze, maybe they get one as well?

As for non-Abrahamic faiths, that's trickier, and also depends on how much land they take. Assume the Ottomans somehow conquer/vassalise something in Kerela - the Thomasite Christians could be given their own millet, or lumped together with one of the Syriac millets.
 
This really depends on whether territory is controlled directly, or in the form of tributaries.

I could see the Egyptian Copts being given their own millet.

Maybe the Rum Millet (the Orthodox) could be split between the Greeks, Serbs, Albanians, Bulgarians, Vlachs and Georgians? At the very least, I could see the Georgians being given their own.

Say the Ottomans manage to conquer all of Hungary and Croatia, instead of the Habsburgs being able to hold onto a sliver of it. Maybe the Protestants get their own millet, instead of being lumped together with the Catholics?

Depending on how they consider the Druze, maybe they get one as well?

As for non-Abrahamic faiths, that's trickier, and also depends on how much land they take. Assume the Ottomans somehow conquer/vassalise something in Kerela - the Thomasite Christians could be given their own millet, or lumped together with one of the Syriac millets.
Does this only apply for Abrahamic religions ?
 
Does this only apply for Abrahamic religions ?

That's hard to say, given that IOTL the Ottomans didn't have people of non-Abrahamic faiths in any notable number.

However, I suspect that the Ottomans would give groups that behaved themselves millet status. They would still be heavily discriminated against, though - likely even so more than the Christian or Jewish population.
 
The millet system didn't exist for most of Ottoman history. It emerged only in the eighteenth century and was then retroactively justified as having always existed, when in reality there was just religious autonomy on a patchwork local level without any sort of the central hierarchy the millet system is associated with.
 
One thing that could be interesting is an Ottoman Empire that manages to vassalise the Kalmyks in the Volga region in a Russia screw situation- attempts to convert them to Islam probably wouldn’t do well considering the Kalmyks maintained regular contact with their Buddhist mongol kin to the east, and if they felt pressure they’d simply just join the rest of them. Their religious hierarchy respects the Dalai Lama in Tibet- even if the ottomans wanted to use religion to secure their loyalty how could they even go about doing that? Creating a Buddhist monastery in Istanbul? Inviting a Lama to join them- it’s incredibly unlikely, but if the Qing- Dzungar wars are much more destructive and drawn out in the Tibet area, could a lama temporarily join the Kalmyks on the Volga, and then end up staying due to perceived animosity from the victorious qing as the lama never quite thinks it’s the right time to return just yet. Then in the 19th century, when the millet system becomes more defined, the religious hierarchy are invited to set up in Istanbul? That seems like the most likely way the ottomans can incorporate a major non Abrahamic faith into the millet system, but it’s a stretch
 
Maybe the Rum Millet (the Orthodox) could be split between the Greeks, Serbs, Albanians, Bulgarians, Vlachs and Georgians? At the very least, I could see the Georgians being given their own.
Yeah, no. That's like giving Arabs, Turks and Kurds all their own Millets. They where based purely on religion with no attention payed to ethnicity
 
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Anawrahta

Banned
There are many potential millets in Ottoman empire
Mandaeism- Present day Gnostic christians
Yazidis: remnant of iranian religion in kurdistan
Yarsanis: Perhaps a remnant of Mithraism
Nestorianism: Church of the east
Vajrayana Buddhism: There were buddhist monasteries in Ilkhanate and Golden horde, perhaps a small community persists.
Bosnian Church: A bogomilian sect in bosnia, they were converted to islam in otl, but perhaps they could survive.
Paulicianism: There were groups of paulicians in Bulgaria in the ottoman empire
Manichaeism: The uyghurs were manichaeans until there were islamized, perhaps a small community of uyghurs settle in ottoman empire and are recognized
Samaritanism: A cousin of Judaism in west bank
Druze: pretty obvious
Hussitism: Hussites flee 30 year war to ottoman empire
Catharism: Some cathars flee to the anatolian beyliks in the 14th century.
Hinduism: parts of india come under ottoman control
Jainism: Same as above



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