Download Chapter 15 ppt - Everett Public Schools

ISLAMIC EMPIRES
IN AFRICA AND INDIA
WEST AFRICA (MALI) 1200-1450
• Replaced Ghana, but LARGER and MUSLIM
• Grew from Sub-Saharan trade route –
controlled gold fields
• Sundiata founded empire and took over cities
such as Gao, Jenne
• Griots – oral historians told stories of Sundiata
• He created basic rules and relationships of
society – clans & jobs, crime punished
MANSA MUSA
• Mansa (“emperor”) Musa pilgrimmage to
Mecca showed wealth
• Ibn Battuta saw Mali’s government as safe (p.378)
Timbuktu – Sankore Mosque
Timbuktu became a great trading and financial capital and later a center of
learning: universities, libraries and over 150 schools devoted to the Qur’an.
SONGHAY
• Songhay replaced Mali in Niger valley
• Sunni Aki took over Timbuktu and Jenne
• A fusion of Islamic, pagan and African
traditions…local interpretation meant that
men and women mixed freely, women went
unveiled – often matrilineal
INDIA – DELHI SULTANATE
• Indian Islam more violent than Africa –
Hindu’s never forgave the violence (problems later)
• NORTHERN INDIA: Sultan Iltutmish became a
benign ruler – gave throne to daughter Raziya
• Raziya never accepted: later Sultan
Muhammad ibn Tughluq (tolerated other
religions) and Sultan Firuz Shah (no toleration,
taxed Brahmins)
• Islam helped centralize political authority
INDIAN OCEAN TRADE
• 1200-1500: more trade
in Indian Ocean
• Dhow produced in SW
India on Malabar coast
• Junks were larger and
developed in China
• Ibn Battuta describes 12
sails, 1000 men crew
• Trade decentralized and
cooperative
SWAHILI/ZIMBABWE AND ADEN
• Swahili cities such as Kilwa exported gold near
Great Zimbabwe (GZ)
• GZ economy: agriculture, cattle herding, trade
Great Zimbabwe declined because of deforestation
• Aden: S. Arabia: rainfall for drinking water, grain –
stopover for trade from India to Africa
• “sorting spot” (cotton-India; spices-SE; horses-Arabia;
pearls-Red Sea;slaves/gold/ivory-Ethiopia; grain & opium)
MALABAR COAST and MALACCA
• INDIA: Malabar Coast – Trade included:
cotton, leather skins, embroidey, gold thread,
linen, silk, gemstones, jewelry, ivory, beads
• Calicut, Cambay
• SE ASIA: Malacca - Sumatra and Siam – Islamic
trade instead of Hindu helped it grow
SOCIAL & CULTURAL CHANGES
• Islamic influence in Africa & Asia saw changes
in architecture – rock carving in Africa
• Islam brought literacy to Africa (arabic script)
• Islam brought study of law, administration,
math, medicine, Greek science
• Delhi, Timbuktu & Malacca learning centers
• Islam usually spread peacefully through trade,
marriage but developed differently by
adopting local practices
SOCIAL AND GENDER DISTINCTIONS
• Elites and commoners gap widened with
wealth of trade
• In India, some lower castes adopted Islam as it
offered “hope” from inequalities of Hinduism
• Slavery increased in Africa and India
• Slaves were often trained for special purposes
• Women’s status determined by males: India
women expected to marry before puberty
• African Muslim women: not required veil,
could interact with men