The ruling class of this empire is Turkish. Now, one of their distinguishing characteristics is what's known as the Devshirme system, in which the sultan, the emperor, would have a personal army of what could be called slaves, these janissaries. These janissaries were actually Christian boys taken at a young age and then indoctrinated into the janissary system. The reason why I said you can kind of call them slaves is that although they were forced to become janissaries and taken from their families, they were given many privileges, and over time, many of these janissaries became some of the most notable figures in the Ottoman Empire, some of them even becoming the Grand Vizier, effectively ruling over the empire. Now, the Ottomans are also known for one of the earliest empires to very successfully to use gunpowder in battle. The Safavids, as you can see here, were really founded in the very early 16th century, officially 1501, by their founder Shah Ismail, sometimes known as Ismail I, and he is the heir to a religious dynasty, the Safavids. Safavids, it is a Muslim dynasty like the Ottoman Empire, but unlike the Ottoman Empire, it is based on 12-er Shia Islam.