ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Middle Eastern empires

Okay, so a long long time ago, there were some big and powerful groups of people who lived in what we now call the Middle East. These groups were called empires, and they were called that because they were really big and strong, basically like kingdoms but much much larger.

At that time, there were many empires in the Middle East, but one of the most famous was the Ottoman Empire, which lasted from the 14th century all the way up until after World War I ended in 1918. The Ottoman Empire was really really big, so big that it was even called an empire, and it included many countries that we now know like Turkey, a part of Europe, and even a part of Africa.

The Ottomans were Muslims, which was a big part of their identity and culture. They had a lot of rules and traditions that they followed and made them who they were. They had a special group of people called the sultans who were like the kings, and they were in charge of everything. They even made the laws, determined what was allowed to be printed or written, and were often involved in religious matters.

The Ottomans were also really good at building things, like mosques and palaces, and they had a lot of very talented artists and architects. They had a very distinctive style of buildings that included big domes, minarets, and lots of intricate tile patterns.

Another really famous empire was the Persian Empire, which existed way earlier than the Ottomans, from around 550 BC to 330 BC. The Persians were also Muslims but a lot earlier when Islam did not even exist yet. They were very famous for their art and culture, and they built a lot of really big and impressive buildings like the Persepolis which was a really big palace that was built by Persian King Darius.

Persians were also very famous for their strategies in wars, and they were very advanced people when it came to education, trade, and politics. They had a really important system of government that used a lot of different officials to manage things like taxes and justice.

In conclusion, the Middle Eastern empires were groups of people who lived in the Middle East long ago, and they were really big and strong like kingdoms but even bigger. They had a lot of rules, traditions, and religions that made them who they were, and they built a lot of big and impressive buildings that still exist today.