The Janissaries

Hello Everyone,
Mondays class was an interesting one. We went further to talk about the Janissaries and there role in history. It was interesting to see that many historians can consider this "Slavery" while comparing to the slavery in the U.S or even part of Latin America. The restriction theses "soldiers" had were nothing compared to that of the Wester Hemisphere. Basically, theses individuals were given training in all aspect (reading, writing, combat, etc.) The one thing that really stands out as a difference from that of Wester Slavery is the Devshirme; only the 1st born sonhad to be given to the Turks from the conquered village, they were also taken from a non-muslim areas. The most amazing part is that even though slaves, they were given jons according to their interest and ability, which for one is not seen in normal "slave" history. The most important part is that givernement positions were based on merit, not by birth, so competition was high . Also, slaves were very loyal to the sultan/ I found this video very intersting. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jgPvU9e6oM There are 3 parts to this. You can learn much more about them here.