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Page 3 of 5
1000 YEARS AGO
- Disintegration of the Arab dominated Islamic world.
- Invasion by Central Asian Turks and Mongols.
- Further expansion of the Islamic empire.
- The Christian Crusades.
By 800 AD, that is some 250 years after the huge Arabic led Islamic
geographical expansion, the Empire had broken up into at least ten
sub-cultures mainly separated by large distances but also separated by
theological aims. The main centres were:-
- Baghdad(the main centre)
- Mecca
- Damascus
and in the west,
- Cairo
- Alexandria
- Cordoba in
Spain
The Empire was therefore vulnerable to any major outside attack
and of course it came. The first to arrive were the Seljuk Turks (1038)
nomadic residents from modern day Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. Although
the Arabs initially beat them off they asked the Turks if they would
like to join forces, as the Arabs saw in the Turks a superb fighting
machine (The best horse cavalry in the world at the time.) It did not
take long for the Turks to be fully integrated with the Arabs with many
Turks ending up as generals in the Arab armies. The Turks rapidly
adopted the Islamic faith and lived peacefully with the Arabs often in
commanding positions in high office.
More importantly the Turks pushed
back the frontiers with the Byzantine Empire and settled in central
Anatolia. (Now central Turkey) This was too close to Constantinople for
comfort and the "Roman" emperor was forced to call on the Christian
Pope in Rome for help. The first Crusade was in 1096 and they re-took
Jerusalem from the Muslims. Indeed the Byzantine ruler was lucky to get
any help at all from the Pope in Rome at that time as the Eastern
Christian Church in Constantinople had spit away from Rome for
Theological and Political reasons some 40 years earlier, (in 1054).
Naturally the Pope would have been aware of the potential of the
Islamic threat to Europe as one of his predecessors had had to appoint
a Holy Roman Emperor/General for that very purpose (The Islamic Arabs
attacked France some 350 years earlier.) The now famous Turkish
Ruler/general, Saladin retook Jerusalem for the Muslims in 1187.
The second wave of
invaders from the east.
The birth of the Islamic Ottoman Empire, the most powerful nation in
the world for the 300 years prior to the growth of the British Empire.
In 1281 the grandson of the famous Mongol warrior, Genghis Kahn arrived
in Anatolia and started the foundations of a new Islamic empire that
would last a further 500 years. His name was Osman and his empire
became known as the Ottoman Empire (Click
here for more details).
Osman
and his successors were good Muslims in the sense of allowing their
victims to keep the religion of their birth. The extent of the Ottoman
territory was similar to that of the Arabs 100 years after the death of
Mohammed. The main differences being the loss of Spain to the Christian
King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella in 1492. The compensation was the
conquering of Constantinople and the whole of the Balkans by 1453. The
Ottomans were ruling Arabia, Egypt and by treaty with the Islamic
Algerian pirate, Barbarossa the whole of Mediterranean Africa by 1516.
It is interesting to compare the treatment by the re-conquering
Christians of the Muslims and Jews in Spain with the treatment by the
conquering Muslim of the Christians and Jews in the Balkans and
Constantinople city. In Spain all non Christians were expelled or
killed unless they converted to Christianity. (Spanish Inquisition). On
the other hand the Muslim conquerors in Constantinople which was the
centre of the Eastern Christian church, let non Muslims keep their
faith, all be it that they were effectively second class citizens.
Christians could regain their status if they joined the Sultan's elite
army called the Janissaries which many of them did and formed the most
formidable army of the period.
The Ottomans moved the Centre of the Islamic world to Istanbul and
became custodians of the Islamic centres of Mecca, Medina and
Jerusalem. Many of the Churches in Istanbul were converted into Mosques
and the centre of Orthodox Eastern Christianity was forced eventually
to move to Russia.
500 Years ago
Now three Islamic superpowers. 1500 to 1750
The Arab traders had spread the Islamic message from the Atlantic coast
of Spain to the Philippines on the edge of the Pacific by 1000 AD. 500
years ago this Islamic world was split into three main empires all
founded by Islamic Turkish warlords from present day Turkmenistan to
Kazakhstan east of the Aral Sea.
- The Ottoman Empire
(1300-1918) Headquarters Istanbul Turkey
- The Safavid Empire
(1502-1706) Headquarters Isfahan Persia (Iran now)
- The Mughal (Mongol)
Empire 1520-1750) Headquarters Delhi India
Each of the three major dynasties maintained and developed their
Islamic societies and were culturally and economically equal to, or in
advance of, Europe. However all three had reached or passed their
zeniths by 1750 at a time when Europe was on the threshold of their
massive cultural and economic gains fuelled by Christian Europe's
Religious and scientific "Enlightenment" and England's Industrial
Revolution. In addition to these superpowers Islamic territories
included Indonesia, Philippines, and the present day states around
present day Uzbekistan. The latter had already fallen from economic
prosperity created by being on the overland "Silk Route" from Europe to
China. This trade had been transferred to sea routes.
250 Years ago to 50 years
ago
- Christian Europe's turn to build global empires
- The beginning of the end of the golden age of Islam
Now it was the turn of the European traders to "conquer" the world.
England, France, Holland, Spain and Portugal had established their
positions in the East by following the great Portuguese explorer Vasco
Da Gama. He sailed round both the south of Africa and the south of
America to reach the eastern spice islands, as the short routes through
the Mediterranean were blocked by the Ottomans. There was no long term
resistance from the local Islamic Empires in the East to these new
European powerhouse traders who in essence were really only fighting
amongst themselves for local domination. The English who had started
the Industrial revolution were eventually dominant in most areas in the
East and the huge and powerful British Empire was created. India, Burma
and Malaysia are the good examples.
India, Pakistan and
Bangladesh.
By 1800 the "Christian" English were ruling the Islamic/Hindu
territories in India. (At that time including Pakistan and Bangladesh).
Some 150 years later (1947) the English gave India back to the Indians
but the country immediately split into Muslim and Hindu parts. The old
Sind territory where Islam had been first established by the Arabs
became Pakistan and the eastern province of Bengal where the English
had their first headquarters became Islamic East Pakistan and later
Bangladesh. India has now, therefore been self governing for 50 years.
The Ottoman Collapse
See also the section on this site describing the Ottoman Empire in
detail.
The Ottoman Empire collapsed to just Turkey from about 1830 to 1920
200 Years ago the huge Ottoman Islamic Empire still covered the
following areas of the world.
- Turkey (Click
here for link
to 200 years ago on the Ottoman section of this web site)
- Greece and The
Balkans
- Greece was the
second to get
independence from the Ottomans (1830) (See Egypt later) This involved
many years of terrorist/freedom warfare and considerable help from the
English. The Greeks returned to an Eastern Orthodox Christian country
after 500 years of Islamic rule.
- The Balkans. The
Crimea war 1853-1856
was England plus their new friend France (The English had just finally
beaten Napoleon 1815) against Russia, to stop the Russians getting
their much needed access to the Mediterranean Sea. Note; the Crimea had
been Ottoman territory and is in the north Black Sea area next to the
Balkans. The result was a draw, but Russia was kept out of the now
"British" Mediterranean and the Balkan states got their independence
from the Ottomans as follows: Romania 1878, Serbia 1878 GO, Bosnia RC
annexed by Austria 1908, Albania M 1912, Bulgaria 1908. This territory
has remained a political and religious tinder box ever since.
Note
above M= Muslim, RC= Roman Catholic Christian, and GO= Greek Orthodox
Christian.
All these countries are a mixture of cultures and religions
which had remained calm under the Islamic Ottomans and then later under
the strong leader Tito. Unless under strong central leadership, this
mixture of religions seem unable to live together in peace as we have
seen in the last 20 years with the Croatian, Bosnian and Kosovan
religious wars. Also the island of Cyprus known to many English as an
idyllic holiday destination was taken by the English from the Ottomans
in 1878. Cyprus like the Balkans is a tinder box which requires the
Christian Greek Orthodox and Muslim peoples to live in different parts
of the Island divided by a permanent United Nations military presence.
- Arabia including
Lebanon, Palestine and present day Israel plus Iraq
The Islamic Ottomans
were ruling this
territory until the end of World War One, 1914-1918, after which the
Christian English and the Christian French carved up the spoils between
them. The English ruled everywhere initially with the exception of
central Arabia which had been ruled by the Saud family on and off since
1746. (Nobody was interested in this desert area until oil became so
valuable) The Saudi area did not include either Mecca or Medina which
were in the coastal area of the Red Sea extending down to Aden which
was under English rule. The English gave Syria and Lebanon to the
French in 1920 and ruled in Iraq, Palestine and an area larger than
present day Jordan called Trans-Jordan. It should be noted that Jews
had been returning to their "Promised Land" in Palestine since about
1800.
- North Africa
including, Egypt, Sudan, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco
The huge and
historical country of Egypt
gained independence from the Ottomans in 1805 under the Islamic leader
Mohammed Ali. However as the English arch enemy, Napoleon of France,
invaded Egypt to cut off the English access to India. The English were
forced to counter attack and threw Napoleon out. The Christian English
then ruled the Islamic state of Egypt from 1882 onwards along with
Sudan from 1898.
The remainder of
Islamic North Africa
was split between the Christian countries of France, Spain and Italy.
Libya to Italy in 1911, Tunisia to France in 1881 and Algeria and
Morocco to a mixture of France and Spain. Indeed the north part of
Islamic Algeria become part of Christian Metropolitan France in 1881.
Then and now almost 50% of Africa (the whole of the north) is Islamic
making it the second largest Islamic area geographically in the world
Persia/Iran
The third centre of Islam is Persia which changed its name to Iran in
1935. As opposed to India and the Ottoman territories, the Iranians
were never ruled by a foreign power but on the other hand were not
strong enough to rule any other country over the last 1500 years. 200
years ago the English were vying with the Russians for influence in the
territory. Indeed the old Soviet empire bordered Iran to the north.
Tobacco was one of the main wealth creators in the region but the
powerful English soon gained sole foreign trading rights which further
depressed an already weak economy. Oil was discovered in 1908 in the
Zagros mountains close to the borders with Iraq. The powerful English
again gained exclusive rights to exploit this wealth which turned out
to be 10% of the total world's reserves. The last great Persian
dynasty, the Kajars ruled from 1794-1925 was marked with local
suppression of human rights and continuous conflicts between The
English and the Russians. During the second world war, Islamic Iran was
ruled jointly by Christian Britain and Christian Russia.
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