THE AGE OF THE CALIPHATES:���EXPANDING IMPERIAL AND COMMERCIAL CONNECTIONS
OVER LAND AND SEA, 600s-1200
T
Age of migrations circa 500-700
Fall of Rome and Travels of Islam: circa 500-900
Islam Grows and Travels with Trade
570 Prophet Muhammad born
613 Muhammad begins public preaching in Mecca
622 Migration (Hijra) of early Muslims to Medina, the first year of the Muslim Calendar. “The Constitution of Medina,”
Muhammad marries Ayesha, daughter of first Caliph, Abu Bakr.
661 – 750 ʿUmayyad Caliphate—Arab military aristocracy
744 – 750 Third Muslim civil war and defeat of ʿUmayyads by ʿAbbasids
The Quraysh are a mercantile Arab tribe that historically inhabited and controlled Mecca and its Ka'aba. The Islamic prophet Muhammad was born into the Hashemite clan of the tribe.
Constitution of Medina, document from early Islamic history based upon two agreements concluded between the clans of Medina and the Prophet Muhammad soon after the Hijrah (Latin: Hegira), or emigration, to Medina in AD 622. The agreements established the muhājirūn, i.e., the early Muslims who followed Muhammad, on a par with the eight clans of Medina (called the anṣār, or “helpers”); collectively, the nine tribes formed the first Muslim community (ummah). The agreements also regulated the relations of the Muslims with the Jews of Medina.
This paper will analyse the Medina Charter1 as an early example of the presence of mediation and conflict resolution concepts in Islam. The Medina Charter, which was created as a basis for the Medina city-state established by the Prophet Muhammad, was the first written constitution in Islam and the earliest documented case of constitutional law in society. As such, the Medina Charter provides an early precedent for the application of Islamic conflict resolution methodologies. The Charter outlined the rights and duties of citizens, provided collective protections for all citizens of Medina including both Muslims and non-Muslims, and implemented the first means of seeking justice through law and community as opposed to tribal military actions. It also addressed specific social issues of the community in an attempt to regulate the tribal conflicts that had been plaguing the region for generations. The Medina Charter can be viewed as an example of the Islamic approach to conflict resolution, and many of the mediation techniques utilized by the Charter continue to be practised today. Through a comparison of the Medina Charter with contemporary Western approaches to conflict resolution, the role of cultural values in determining the methodology of conflict resolution can be glimpsed, and the shared assumptions motivating the pursuit of peace can be appreciated
Yetkin Yildirim, “The Medina Charter: A Historical Case of Conflict Resolution.”
Islamic Empires: Umayyad (661-750), Abbasid (750-1258)
750 – 1258 ʿAbbasid Caliphate — development of Islamic law, patronage of art and culture, booming trade, commerce, agriculture, and industry
The Great Abbasid Markets
Map from Mahmud al-Kashgari's Divanu Lughat at-Turk, showing the 11th century distribution of Turkic tribes
Silk Road Empires Extend to India: 650-1050
The Center of the World:
Sogdia and Samarkand
Fergana….. And …. Talas
Launching the age of commerce
Empire, War, Trade, and Eurasian Connections: 900-1200
Abbasid Caliphate --
Mediterranean-Indian Ocean
Fatimids --
Africa, Mediterranean, Indian Ocean
Cairo Genizah -
Mediterranean-Indian Ocean
Crusades --
Europe - Mediterranean - West Asia
Mahmud of Ghazni --
Persia, Indo-Persia
Kannauj Triangle --
Indo-Persia, Deccan, Bengal (South and East India)
Egypt, Eastern Mediterranean, Africa, and Europe
The Cairo Genizah and Jewish Mererchants
The Age of Commerce:
Imperial engines of long-distance trade, connecting the Steppe and the Sea
Monsoon seasons of wind, rain, trade, travel, planting, harvest, commerce, construction, debt, profit, and taxation
Emporia Port Regions: Yemen and Oman
Bagerhat Sundarbans Bangladesh 15th C
Emporia ports: Gujarat
Swahili Emporia Ports
Goods which came to the Swahili city-states were collected from Africa’s interior, including southern Africa where Kilwa had a trade emporium, Sofala, near the kingdom of Great Zimbabwe (c. 1100 - c. 1550 CE). These goods could be consumed in the cities themselves, passed on to other African communities (after payment of duties to the cities’ rulers) or exported away from the continent by sea. In the other direction, goods came from Arabia, Persia, and India - and through these places, from China and Southeast Asia. Again, the foreign products were both consumed in the Swahili city-states and traded on to African settlements throughout East and southern Africa. Finally, Swahili city-states also manufactured goods for both their own residents and for trade such as pottery, cloth, and highly decorated siwa, the typical brass trumpet of the region.
Goods from Africa included:
Cholas and Srivijaya
Met Museum Text
�Chinese Loanwords
Abbasid Chinese Pottery
Silk Road, Sea Trade, and Foreigners in T’ang China
The Great Anti-Buddhist Persecution initiated by Tang Emperor Wuzong reached its height in the year 845 AD. Among its purposes were to appropriate war funds and to cleanse China of foreign influences. As such, the persecution was directed not only towards Buddhism but also towards other religions, such as Zoroastrianism, Nestorian Christianity, and Manichaeism.
Chinese Dictionary of Imported Foods
Endymion Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual, Fifth Edition, Fifth edition.
(Cambridge, Massachusetts: Endymion Wilkinson, 2017), 490
(with thanks to Matyas Mervay)