European Explorers’ Links to the Islamic World
Overview
European Explorers’ Links to the Islamic World
One of the foundations of the European Age of Exploration consisted of links between European explorers and the Islamic World. These links were grounded in European trade aspirations across Asia and the evolving competition between Europe and the Islamic world, as defined by their religious differences. This competition is all the more ironic when considering that Christian Europe and the Islamic World worshipped the same god.
Learning Objectives
- Identify the dynamics of trade and political power that led to European exploration of the New World.
- Assess the contributions of these three empires to the early-modern world.
Key Terms / Key Concepts
Pax Mongolica - also known as the Mongol Peace, a system of relationships across Mongol-dominated Asia that allowed trade, technologies, commodities, and ideologies to be disseminated and exchanged across Eurasia
Marco Polo - Venetian merchant and explorer who travelled across Asia during the last third of the thirteenth century, and inspired later explorers, such as Christopher Columbus
Europe’s Early Trade Links
A prelude to the Age of Discovery was a series of European land expeditions across Eurasia in the late Middle Ages. These expeditions were undertaken by a number of explorers, including Marco Polo, who left behind a detailed and inspiring record of his travels across Asia. These expeditions also reinforced links between European explorers and the Islamic World.
Background
European medieval knowledge about Asia, beyond the reach of Byzantine Empire, was sourced in partial reports, often obscured by legends, dating back from the time of the conquests of Alexander the Great and his successors. In 1154, Arab geographer Muhammad al-Idrisi created what would be known as the Tabula Rogeriana at the court of King Roger II of Sicily. The book, written in Arabic, is a description of the world and includes a world map. The map is divided into seven climate zones and contains the Eurasian continent in its entirety, but only the northern part of the African continent. It remained the most accurate world map for the next three centuries, and it demonstrated that Africa was only partially known to Christians, Genoese, Venetians, and the Arab seamen. Its southern extent was unknown. Knowledge about the Atlantic African coast was fragmented and derived mainly from old Greek and Roman maps based on Carthaginian knowledge, which included information gathered during the Roman exploration of Mauritania. The Red Sea was barely known, and only trade links with the Maritime republics—the Republic of Venice especially—fostered collection of accurate maritime knowledge.
Indian Ocean trade routes were sailed by Arab traders. Between 1405 and 1421, the Yongle Emperor of Ming China sponsored a series of long-range tributary missions. The fleets visited Arabia, East Africa, India, Maritime Southeast Asia, and Thailand. But the journeys, reported by Ma Huan—a Muslim voyager and translator—were halted abruptly after the emperor’s death, when the Chinese Ming Dynasty retreated in the haijin: a policy of isolationism with limited maritime trade.
Prelude to the Age of Discovery
A series of European expeditions crossing Eurasia by land in the late Middle Ages marked a prelude to the Age of Discovery. Although the Mongols had threatened Europe with pillage and destruction, Mongol states also unified much of Eurasia and, from 1206 on, the Pax Mongolica allowed safe trade routes and communication lines that stretched from the Middle East to China. A series of Europeans took advantage of these and explored eastward. Most were Italians, as trade between Europe and the Middle East was controlled mainly by the Maritime republics.
Christian embassies were sent as far as Karakorum, during the Mongol invasions of Syria, from which they gained a greater understanding of the world. The first of these travelers was Giovanni da Pian del Carpine, who journeyed to Mongolia and back from 1241 to 1247. About the same time, Russian prince Yaroslav of Vladimir, and subsequently his sons Alexander Nevsky and Andrey II of Vladimir, traveled to the Mongolian capital. Though having strong political implications, their journeys left no detailed accounts. Other travelers followed, like French André de Longjumeau and Flemish William of Rubruck, who reached China through Central Asia. From 1325 to 1354, a Moroccan scholar from Tangier, Ibn Battuta, journeyed through North Africa, the Sahara Desert, West Africa, Southern Europe, Eastern Europe, the Horn of Africa, the Middle East, and Asia, finally reaching China. In 1439, Niccolò de’ Conti published an account of his travels as a Muslim merchant to India and Southeast Asia. Later, between 1466 – 1472, Russian merchant Afanasy Nikitin of Tver travelled to India.
Marco Polo, a Venetian merchant, dictated an account of journeys throughout Asia from 1271 to 1295. His travels are recorded in Book of the Marvels of the World, (also known as The Travels of Marco Polo, c. 1300), a book which did much to introduce Europeans to Central Asia and China. Marco Polo was not the first European to reach China, but he was the first to leave a detailed chronicle of his experience. His book inspired Christopher Columbus and many other travelers.
Attributions
Title Image - Christian And Moor Playing Chess. Libros de juegosd'Alphonse X le sage fol. 64r.0, c. 1251-83. Attribution: Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. Provided by: Wikipedia. Location: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:ChristianAndMuslimPlayingChess.JPG. License:CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike.
Adapted from: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-worldhistory/chapter/the-age-of-discovery/