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THE MIDDLE EAST:
600-1450
KEY CONCEPTS
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The world of Islam represents peoples of different ethnicities,
cultures, and languages throughout the Middle East, Africa, Asia,
and parts of Europe who were unified through the religion of Islam
while still maintaining regional diversity.
The Islamic world made tremendous contributions to art, science,
and technology that vyould have a huge impact oJ) cultural and
.economic developments in Asia, Africa, and Europe.
The Mongols had a significant impact on the spread of Islam and
preserved and built upon Islamic intellectual discoveries.
The Mongols affected the Middle East in both positive and negative
ways in terms of soc~al, political, and economic stability.
, KEY TERMS
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Abbasid caliphate
bubonic plague
caliphate
Five Pillars
hajj
II-khan.
Islam
mamluks
Mongols
Ottomans
Quran
Seljuk Turks
Shari' a
Shi'ite
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or posted to a publicly accessible
website, in whole or in part.
138· .:. Chapter 7
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Sufism
Sunni
ulama
umma
Umayyad caliphate
Islam is discussed in depth ih The Earth and Its Peoples, fourth and
fifth editions, Chapter 8. The Crusades are discussed in Chapter 10,
the Mongols in Chapter 12, and the Ottoman Turks in Chapter 20.
THE ORIGINS OF ISLAM
Islam, the youngest of the monotheistic religions, began on the
Arabian peninsula. The founding prophet of the faith, Muhammad,
was born in the trading town of Mecca in 570. Mecca was important in
pre-Islamic history not only as an economic center but also as a holy
site. Pilgrims went to Mecca to visit the Ka'ba, a shrine believed to
have been built by the patriarch Abraham. Muhammad was raised as
an orphan by his uncle, chief of his clan, and grew up to be a
successful trading merchant. About 610, Muhammad began to
meditate and had visions in which he came to believe that God-Allah,
in Arabic-was revealing himself. Sharing his revelations, he began to
gather a following that embraced his belief that there is only one true
god, who was responsible for all of creation, and that people must
submit to the authority of God. The word Islam means submission; a
Muslim is one who submits to the will of Allah.
The basic tenets of the Muslim faith, called the Five Pillars of
Islam, are based on the practices of Muhammad and
affirmed by the first caliph, Abu Bakr. You may encounter
the Five Pillars on the AP exam, so knowing them is
important. The Five Pillars are
the statement of faith in one god and Muhammad as his
messenger,
prayer five times a day,
fasting during Ramadan,
charity through giving to the poor,
II completion of at least one pilgrimage to Mecca, known in
Arabic as the hajj.
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The tribal leaders in Mecca came to fear that Muhammad's belief in
one god threatened their power and security as well as the polytheistic
traditions of their communities. Muhammad was therefore forced to
flee to Medina in 622, a journey that is known as the Hijra, meaning
the migration or flight of Muhammad from Mecca to Medina. This
date, considered to be the beginning of the Islamic faith, marks the
start of tke Muslim calendar. It was in Medina that the Islamic
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or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
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The Middle East: 600':"'1450
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community, or umma, solidified and ultimately was able to 'win over
Mecca in 630. After' completing a pilgrimage to the Ka'ba, a tradition'
that lives on as the hajj, Muhammad returned to Medina to manage
both the political, and religious affairs of this reinvigorated city-state,
,until his death two years later, in 632. '
Muhammad's death immediately raised the question of who would
be Muhammad's successor, or caliph, which provoked the first major
split in the Islamic umma. This split ultimately divided Muslims into
two, major sects, the Sunnis and the Shi'ites. Shi'ite Muslims believe
that succession should be traced through the bloodline of Muhammad;
therefore, Muhammad's cousin Ali should have been the caliph and
only Ali's descendants should be imams, or religious leaders of the
Muslim community as a whole. To Shi'ites, the caliph is more of a
secular leader. Sunni Muslims, believing that the caliph is to be, chosen
by the community, regard the first three caliphs who succeeded
Muhammad as properly selected. Sunnis see the caliph as a secular
and religious leader; therefore the caliph is an imam as well. While the
concept of the caliphate was a unifying faCtor, in reality the caliphate
wa~ quite fragmented by the late ninth ceptury.
ISLAMIC CALIPHATES
One of the first tasks of Abu Bakr, the first caliph, was to collect and
organize Muhammad's revelations into a book. Muslims, like Jews and
Christians, are considered to be people of the book; their holy book is
the Quran. Unlike the Hebrew and' Christian Bibles, the Quran is
believed by Muslims to be the' literal words of God as given to
Muhammad, not a collection of writings by many authors over a long
period of time. The Quran was revealed in Arabic, is written in Arabic,
and is to be read in Arabic. As the Muslim world grew to non-Arabicspeaking regions, the need to read the Quran in Arabic encouraged
the growth of schools to teach the language and to interpret the
Quran. Out of this holy book and the traditions of Muhammad slowly
came Muslim law, Shari'a in Arabic, as well as the practices and
traditions that are essential to the religion.
As the dominant sect, Sunni Muslims established the Umayyad
caliphate in 661, with its capital in Damascus, Syria. The peoples living
under the control of the Umayyad caliph were predominately Arab. By
732 Arab Muslims had conquered Syria, Palestine, and North Africa;
they gained control of a part of southern Spain-referred
to as alAndalus-in
the early eighth century. Under Muslim rule Spanish
cities like Seville and Cordoba flourished as centers of government,
where Muslims, Christians, and Jews created a unique culture known
for its literature, art, architecture, and agricultural accomplishments.
After a period of increasing conflict, the Abbasid caliphate was
established in 750 and ruled until 1258 from its capital in Baghdad.
Effective rule over such a large empire proved challenging for the
Abbasids, particularly in terms of holding territory. The empire also
became more diverse as more non-Arabs converted to Islam.
Baghdad, the capital, became a thriving center for learning, culture,
, and technological advancements despite the political and territorial
fragmentation ,of the ninth century and, later, the Crusades. Islam
continued to spread despite territorial loss. Scholars from all over
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or post~d to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part,
140 .:. Chapter 7
Eurasia came to Baghdad to· learn about Islam and exchange
information. Thanks to the transmission of papermaking from China,
literature and books were much more available in the Middle East than
in Europe. Unlike Christianity at this time, in particular the Catholic
Church, Islam looked to many different sources ,for knowledge. Much
of the great knowledge of antiquity, including the Greek classics,
which would prove so important for the European Renaissance, as
well as works from Persia and India, had been copied into Arabic,
allowing the ideas to be shared across the Muslim world. Many of the
works from the Hellenistic past helped Muslims to excel in science and
technology. Astropomical observations, medicinal studies, and
mathematics from the Greek past were reexamined, and Muslim
scholars built on these studies.
Cities like Baghdad and Cordoba were essential for the Muslim
empire, both as ways of spreading the faith and as governing centers.
New converts, many of whom were not Arab, could count on the cities
as places to learn the language and traditions of their new faith free of
discrimination. The mosque, the Muslim house of worship,. became a
central architectural landmark that newcomers of the faith could
recognize because of its distinctive features.
One social group that rose in cities was the ulama, an Arabic word
for people with religious knowledge. As the Muslim empire grew in
cultural diversity under the Abbasid caliphate, the ulama sought to
preserve central teachings and tenets of the faith. Two examples, both
originating with Iranians, are the madrasa, or religious college; and
Sufi brotherhoods, mystic religious groups, widespread in the Muslim
world, that began to form in the early days of Islam.
Cities were also essential as places of trade. Since the time of the
Umayyad caliphate, a coinage system allowed for both local and longdistance trade that linked the more isolated portions of the Islamic
empire and encouraged the burgeoning textile industry as well as
other crafts: The Islamic world stood at the western end of the Silk
Road, the most important overland trade route of the period 600-1450.
Women in the· Islamic world had greater legal freedoms
than Jewish or Christian women. Although seclusion of
women and veiling are practices that are believed by many
to have originated with Islam, they actually date to
Byzantine and Sassanid times and later came to bea part of
the Islamic tradition. Although Muslim women were not
considered the equals of men, which was also true in the
Byzantine Empire and western Europe, they were influential
in family life, could own and inherit property, divorce,
remarry, and testify in court.
The Islamic faith spread through Muslim merchants who traveled
along the Silk Road, allowing the religion to spread from Spain to
China, aUhe eastern end ofthe SilkRoad.
By the. middle of the ninth century several provinces had broken
away and established their own caliphates, such as the Fatimid
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or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
'The Middle East:
600'-1450
.:. 141
caliphate in Egypt. Another example was the Samariid caliphate, an
Iranian dynasty that brought many Persian influences to the art and
literature of the Islamic world. Because of territorial fragmentation,
the Abbasid leaders came to rely on the mamluks, Turkish slaves from
central Asia with exceptional skill in warfare. They became a powerful
military presence in the Middle East during Islamic rule, and by the
eleventh century, Turkish groups had. significantly diminished the
territory and political power of the Abbasid caliphate. For example, in
the early eleventh century the Seljuk Turks created a Turkish Muslim
state that controlled territory from Baghdad up through Syria and into
Anatolia and Byzantine areas. Christians viewed the Seljuk Turks as a
tremendous threat, and they set out to take the Holy Land back from
Turkish Muslims.
THE CRUSADES
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The Crusades were a series of battles initiated by one monotheistic
faith, Christianity, against another monotheistic faith, Islam. Study of
the Crusades offers a wealth of fascinating ideas and details, but for
AP students, the causes of the Crusades and their impact are of
fundamental importance. The causes are discussed later, in Chapter 9,
but the impact of the Crusades on the Middle East is discussed here.
By the eleventh century, Muslim leaders were in control of many
cities that were considered sacred by Christians, among them
Jerusalem, Antioch, and Alexandria. Christians had been allowed to
make pilgrimage to these places, but as Muslims continued to eat away
at the Byzantine Empire and conquer more territory deemed precious
to Christendom, a campaign against the Muslims began to form in
both western Europe and the Byzantine Empire.
Jerusalem, a city of particular significance to Christians, Muslims,
and Jews, was in the hands of the Seljuk Turks, who at the time of the·
First Crusade were going through a period of internal dispute. Even
though Christian crusaders had wrested Jerusalem from the Seljuk
Turks in 1099, Islamic military forces under the dynamic leader Saladin
were able to take back the city in 1187. The Islamic world in the Middle
East continued to thrive despite the Crusaders' unsuccessful attempt
to take land permanently, and the Crusades had very little long-term
effects on Muslim territory.
The greatest impact of the Crusades was therefore not on the
Muslims themselves. Instead, European life, which was far less
sophisticated
than Muslims',. was dramatically improved. The
incredible amount of information, ideas, goods, and resources that the
Crusaders were exposed to in their encounter with the Muslim world
was remarkable. Over _time, the Crusaders brought back paper and
sugar, and they learned how to make many of the goods they
previously could only import. The establishment of trading ports in
Italian cities like Venice and Genoa helped open Europe to the diverse
Muslim world of the Middle East. Demand for goods from the Middle
East stimulated the markets of late medieval Europe and also
encouraged trade between the Muslim world, western Europe, and the
Byzantine Empire. Muslims also made enormous
intellectual
contributions to Europe in two ways: Their Arabic translations of
works by ancient Greek scientists and philosophers such as Aristotle
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or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Chapter 7
allowed for the restoration of ideas that had long heenburied during
the Middle Ages. Second, Arabs and Iranians, building on the work of
the ancient philosophers, .l:1adadded their own insights to give rise t6
new and innovative ideas. This double gift of knowledge by the
Muslim world was essential in laying the groundwork for the
Renaissance.
It is important to understand the similarities and differences
between the monotheistic religions of Islam and Christianity
as these two religions developed and grew into political and
religious forces during the period 600-1450.
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THE MONGOLS IN THE MIDDLE EAST
Migrating from the Central Asian steppes as a nomadic group, the.
Mongols were able to do what Europeans had failed to in the
Crusades: they shattered what had once been the heart of the Muslim
empire. The weakened and fragmented Abbasid caliphate was
destroyed when Baghdad was sacked in 1258. This event appalled the
Islamic world, which did not expect a catastrophe of this magnitude.
Rather than destroy all that Islam had contributed to the world,
however, the Mongols became ardent patrons of Islamic' culture,
including art, literature, and architecture. Many of the Mongol leaders,
known as khans, eventually converted to Islam and came to appreciate
the urban infrastructure of the Islamic world. Still, tensions between
Mongols and Muslims continued, much of it because of differences in
cultural practices.
The Mongols set up four khanates in Eurasia. The II-khan Empire in
the Middle East was established in 1256 by the grandson of Genghis.
Mongol nobles were placed in positions of power. Borrowing from an
earlier. Middle, Eastern economic practice, the Mongols used tax
farming-giving
out private contracts to merchants to collect taxes by
whatever means served them best. To foster the collection of as much
money as possible, these merchants were allowed to keep any money
above what was due to the government. Although this method was
initially successful, tax farming coupled with an experiment using
paper money from China eventually brought about an economic
depression that outlived the II-khan Empire.
The Islamic world had served as a major conduit for ideas and
goods in its position at the western ~nd of the Silk Road, and that
continued under Mongol rule. Fine products from the East such as silk
and porcelain flowed into the Middle East and from there to Europe.
Scholars, merchants, and missionaries traveled to the courts of the
Mongols and recorded what they saw there. In addition, scholars such
as Rashid aI-Din were patronized by the II-khans and wrote histories
describing the greatness of the world controlled by the Mongols as
well as histories of such faraway places as China and Europe. The
Mongols were also fascinated by the scientific and mathematical
innovation's of the Muslim world. Algebra and trigonometry, as well as
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or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
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"The Middle East: 600~ 1450
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astronomical work that would one day be used by Europeans such as
Copernicus, were all preserved and supplemented under both the II- .
khans and their successors,· the Timurids. This knowledge spread
across the world of the Mongols and Turks and eventually through
translation reached Europe. In addition, trade also brought disease,
specifically the bubonic plague, which made its way through the
Middle East'and into Europe during Mongol rule. Far more than any
attack or conquest, the plague would be the Mongols' most
devastating impact ..
By the fourteenth century, the Middle East was in the control of
Turkish sultans and the Mongol khans. The Seljuk Turks still had a
small kingdom that stood between the Byzantine Empire and the
Mongols. The Mamluk Sultanate controlled Egypt and had successfully
resisted a Mongol takeover to become a major player in shifting
alliances with various khans to keep both II-khan power at bay and the
Crusaders from gaining any ground. The II-khan Empire, which
controlled territory from Syria to the Indus River, gave way to the
Timurid Empire when the Central Asian Turkic leader Timur rose to
take much of the Middle East before his death in 1405.
The Timurid Empire was short-lived. The Ottoman Empire would
be the next great Turkish presence in the Middle East. Like the Seljuk .
Turks and the mamluks, the Ottomans were exceptionally skilled in
warfare and conquest. As Mongol power began to decline, the
Ottomans tightened their political organization and began their
political ascent, establishing Turkic principalities in western Anatolia.
Despite a defeat by Timur in 1402, the Ottoman sultans would take
over the Byzantine Empire in 1453 and create a Muslim empire that
would endure until the twentieth century .
.Multiple-Choice
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Questions
1. The mamluks were
(A) European mercenaries who traveled from the Byzantine
Empire to Jerusalem
(B) a Turkic nomadic group who migrated to Central Asia and
.. established independent kingdoms
(C) Indo-Europeans who converteq to Islam in the ninth century
(D) a subsect of Islam that developed shortly after Muhammad's
death
(E) Turkic mercenaries in the Abbasid caliphate who rose to
control powerful Muslim states
2. All of the following are characteristics of Islam EXCEPT
(A) a monotheistic belief in one god that must be worshipped as
the only god
(B) a belief in a community of believers unified by their faith above
all else
(C) a tradition of passing down the central teachings of their faith
orally
(D) a spreading of the faith to the three continents of Europe, Asia,
and Africa
(E) a belief in the importance of prayer, fasting, and charity
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or posted to a publicly accessible
website, in whole or in part.
144 .:. Chapter 7
3. The caliph
(A) always ruled over one extended area of land from Spain to
India
(B) was a position that dissolved a short time after Muhammad's
death
(C) was a position passed down through one family that traced its
roots to Mecca
(D) was a position created by the Abbasid family to solidify their
rule in Baghdad
(E) was considered to be the successor of Muhammad as well as a
political Jeader
4. The Sunni/Shi'ite split resulted from disagreement over
(A) whether Muhammad was a god
.
(B) the content of the Five Pillars
(C) the role of the Ka'ba in Islam
(D) who should succeed Muhammad
(E) the validity of the Quran
5. The word Islam means submission and refers to Muslims'
obligation.
(A) to submit to the single authority of the caliph
(B) to submit to the teachers of the ulama
(C) to complete a pilgrimage to Mecca
(D) to submit to the will of God in all of life
(E) to submit to a life of celibacy
6. The group in 'control of Jerusalem at the time of the Crusades was
the
(A) Mongols
(B) 'Persians
(C) Sufi
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(D) Abbasid caliphate
(E) Seljuk Turks
7. Cities were important in Islam for all of the following reasons ,
EXCEPT
(A) they were places to learn Arabic
(B) they were administrative centers for government
(C) they encouraged the exchange of new ideas
(D) they were the only places where women could travel freely
(E) they were central as places of trade
8. The Mongols
(A) destroyed all knowledge of the intellectual contributions of the
Muslim world
(B) spread the bubonic plague through overland trade routes into
Europe
(C) allied with Europeans to defeat the Abbasid caliphate in 1258
(D) defeated the mamluks at the Battle of Manzikert in 1071
(E) never converted to Islam because they disagreed with many
Muslim cultural practices
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or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
· The Middle East: 600-1450
.:. 145
9. The Silk Road flourished under Mongol rule because
(A) unlike the Muslims, who looked down on Il)erchants; the
Mongols encouraged trade
(B) the Mongols controlled all parts of the Silk Road, which
allowed for relatively easy eXl:;hange
(C) the Turks hired Mongol armies to protect the Silk Road
(D) the Silk Road came into existence only during the period of
Mongol rule in Eurasia
(E) Timur destroyed the Silk Road as part of his conquest, so the
only time the Silk Road succeeded as a trading network was
under Mongol rule
10. Timur was notable for all the following reasons EXCEPT
(A) helping to spread Muslim knowledge along the Silk Road
(B) patronizing Muslim art and learning in a variety of ways
(C) conquering former II-khan territories even though he was not a
Mongol
(D)'defeating the Ottomans in battle despite the sultan's growing
power
(E) creating the concept of tax farming in the Middle East
11. The Arabic peninsula is characterized by
, (A) lush oases dotting the peninsula
(B) arid desert throughout the majority of the peninsula
(C) coastal, cities and agricultural villages close to sources of water
and a large empty quarter in the central areas
(D) a uniform arid climate, which can support only sparse nomadic
populations throughout the peninsula
(E) agriculture in large portions of the southern area of the
peninsula, but no other economic activity of significance in'
other areas of the peninsula
12. The universal language of the Muslim empire was
(A) Semitic, because it was the common language of Christians,
Muslims, and Jews
(B) Persian, pecause scribes and other government officials
considered it to be the most beautiful of languages
(C) Spanish, because most of the translators and philosophers
studied in Andalucia, the Spanish area of the empire
(D) Arabic, because it was the language of the Quran
(E) Latin, because most of the important texts of western Eurasia
were written in that language
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13. The Muslim caliphate is significant in world history because
(A) it is the first Afro-Eurasian empire
(B) it peacefully incorporated many different cultural groups
(C) it became the largest empire in history
(D) it significantly improved the living standards of all its subjects
(E) its beginnings as a nomadic culture made it remarkably
egalitarian in its dealings between genders
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or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part
146 .:. Chapter 7
14. The Crusades are an important event in world history because
(A) they were the first manifestation of belligerence between
Muslims and Christians
(B) they proved clearly that Christians were technologically and
tactically superior to the Muslims
(C) they provided an occasion for the Christian pope to prove to
his detractors that he had secular power throughout western
Christendom
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(D) they gave many western Europeans an opportunity to get
closer to God
(E) they provided an opportunity for the diffusion of technology,
ideas, and warfare tactics
15. As a result of the fo;cible concentration of scholars initiated by
Timur
(A) most scholarship died because of the harsh conditions under
which the scholars worked
(B) scholars made some advances in math and science, but because
the Muslims and the Timurids were nomads, nothing was
written down
(C) Greek scholarship in astronomy and mathematics continued
CD) scholars were forced to work on scientific innovations, but
because of their enslaved nature, scholars exaggerated much
of their findings
(E) scholars in Samarkand improved on Greek and Chinese ideas
in astronomy and mathematics and also made many literary
innovations
Free-Response Questions
1. Compare the social and economic characteristics of the Muslim
caliphates and the Mongols in the Middle East from 600 to 1450.
2. Evaluate the political changes and continuities over time in the
Middle East from 600 to 1450.
ANSWERS
MULTIPLE-CHOICE
QUESTIONS'
1. ANSWER: E. The mamluks were originally purchased as slaves and
eventually grew more powerful than the weakened Abbasid <caliphate
and set up their own independent sultanates (The Earth and Its·
Peoples, 4th ed., p. 224/5th ed., pp. 258-259).
2. ANSWER: C. The Quran is the holy book of Islam, believed to be the
words of God, as given to Muhammad in Arabic, that were written
down and organized formally by 650 (The Earth and Its Peoples, 4th ed.,
p. 220/5th ed., pp. 256, 258).
(\;)2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated,
or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
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The Middle East: 600-1450
.:. 147
3. ANSWER: E. The word caliph means successor. The caliph could, lose
political power if lacking military and political strength (The Earth and
Its Peoples, 4th ed., p. 220/5th ed., p. 255).
Muhammad left no instructions for leadership after his
death and did not specify a form of government for the umma. This left
room for debate over who should be in power and the nature of their
rule (The Earth and Its Peoples, 4th ed., p: 221/5th ed., pp. 255-256).
4. ANSWER: D.
The central tenet of Isla~ is submission to Allah and
allowing his will to control all aspects of one's life. A Muslim is one
who, submits (The Earth and Its Peoples, 4th ed., p. 219/5th ed., p. 255).
5. ANSWER: D.
6. ANSWER: E. The Seljuks were a nomadic Turkic group who gained
power in the eleventh century after winning a battle against the
Byzantine army (The Earth and Its Peoples, 4th ed., p. 226/5th ed., p.
262).
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7. ANSWER: D. Women seldom traveled during this time period and
were often seclMded in their homes. They covered themselves when
outside the· home (The Earth and Its Peoples, 4th ed., p. 228/5th ed., pp.
267-268).
8. ANSWER: B. One of the most significant effects of Mongol rule was the
spread of the, bubonic plague along the trade routes supported and
stabilized by the Mongols in the fourteenth century .(The Earth and Its
Peoples, 4th ed., p. 331/5th ed. p. 379).
The Mongol khanates were positioned at either end of the
Silk Road, and for a time their khanate in Central Asia controlled the
middle portion as well. After Timur's conquest, powerful kingdoms
such as the Timurids controlled key cities along the trade route such as
Samarkand (The Earth and Its Peoples, 4th ed., p. 333/5th ed., pp. 378379).
9. ANSWER: B.
10. ANSWER: E. Timur was a Turk who wanted to be one of the great
khans. Because he was not ethnically. a Mongol he never became a
khan, but he was able to take significant territory in the Middle East
for a short period, and he encouraged the preservation and spread of
Muslim knowledge and culture (The Earth and Its Peoples, 4th ed., p.
333/5th ed., p. 381).
11. ANSWER: C. Although the Arabian peninsula is certainly arid in
many places, there are many coastal cities, and agriculture is the
dominant economic activity in the, southern portion of the peninsula
that is today called Yemen (The Earth and Its Peoples, 4th ed., pp. 216218/5th ed., p. 228).
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12. ANSWER: D. Although' its original speakers were relatively few in
numbers, the fact that the Quran was written and recited in Arabic
made this the universal language of the rapidly expanding empire.
Other languages, like Persian, continued their regional importance
(The Earth and Its Peoples, 4th ed., p. 22.1/5th ed., p. 233).
©20 11 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated,
or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
148 .:. Chapter 7
13. ANSWER: A. The Muslim empire, also known as· Dar-al-Islam, was
the world's first Afro-Eurasian empire. It was. large, very diverse, and
quickly fragmented into multiple smaller areas nominally controlled by
the caliph (The Earth and Its Peoples, 4th ed., p. 22115th ed., pp. 232-233).
14. ANSWER: E. Although western Cl;J.ristiansconsidered the Crusades a
holy war and established a Christian presence in Jerusalem for about a
century, the true significance of the series of wars was how exposure
to new plants, technology, architecture, and medicine affected Europe
(The Earth and Its Peoples, 4th ed., pp. 215-216/5th ed., p. 277).
15. ANSWER: E. Like the Mongols and even the Arab Muslim conquerors
before him, Timur promoted scholarship. In his capital, Isfahan, the
concentrated
scholars he accumulated made great strides in
mathematics· and astronomy, as well as history and literature (The
Earth and Its Peoples, 4th ed., p. 385/5th ed., p. 367).
FREE-RESPONSE QUESTIONS
1. FOR this essay you should include a comparison of treatment of
conquered peoples, religious practices, and cultural contributions.
Cultural contributions could also be considered in a comparative
analysis ·of the role of trade and cities in both empires as part of
economic characteristics. Another economic comparison could also be
drawn between the unsuccessful attempts by the Mongol II-khans to
incorporate paper money and tax farming (an economic policy used
earlier in the Middle East) and the Abbasid caliphate's economic
practices. The use of paper money by the Mongol~ is in contrast with
the Abbasid caliphate's continuation of coinage.
2. This essay calls for a discussion of both change and continuity as it
relates to' the caliphate and the khanate as political systems. The
caliphate's inability to control a large territory effectively resulted in
provinces breaking away and establishing their own caliphates. This
changed when the Mongols' came in and practiced varying degrees of
local political autonomy while still maintaining overall political
authority. The Mongols didn't attempt to rule the Middle East as part
of one huge empire but established a separate political khanate under
the II-khans. Abbasid reliance on the mamluks to enforce their,
authority militarily became a continuity in the region because Mongol
presence also forced Turkic groups such as the mamluks and the
Ottomans to grow in political strength. The Ottomans would
eventually come to dominate the Midd)e Eas't entirely.
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