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The Resource Sea of the caliphs : the Mediterranean in the medieval Islamic world, Christophe Picard ; translated by Nicholas Elliott

Sea of the caliphs : the Mediterranean in the medieval Islamic world, Christophe Picard ; translated by Nicholas Elliott

Creator
Translator
Contributor
Summary
"How could I allow my soldiers to sail on this disloyal and cruel sea?" These words, attributed to the most powerful caliph of medieval Islam, Umar Ibn al-Khattab (634-644), have led to a misunderstanding in the West about the importance of the Mediterranean to early Islam. This body of water, known in Late Antiquity as the Sea of the Romans, was critical to establishing the kingdom of the caliphs and for introducing the new religion to Europe and Africa. Over time, it also became a pathway to commercial and political dominion, indispensable to the prosperity and influence of the Islamic world. Sea of the Caliphs returns Muslim sailors to their place of prominence in the history of the Islamic caliphate. As early as the seventh century, Muslim sailors competed with Greek and Latin seamen for control of this far-flung route of passage. Christophe Picard recreates these adventures as they were communicated to admiring Muslims by their rulers. After the Arab conquest of southern Europe and North Africa, Muslims began to speak of the Mediterranean in their strategic visions, business practices, and notions of nature and the state. Jurists and ideologues conceived of the sea as a conduit for jihad, even as Muslims' maritime trade with Latin, Byzantine, and Berber societies increased. In the thirteenth century, Christian powers took over Mediterranean trade routes, but by that time a Muslim identity that operated both within and in opposition to Europe had been shaped by encounters across the sea of the caliphs. --
Language
  • eng
  • fre
  • eng
Work
Publication
Extent
vii, 395 pages
Note
"This book was originally published in French as La mer des califes: Une histoire de la Mediterranee musulmane, VIIe-XIIe siecle, copyright (c) Editions du Seuil, 2015"--Title page verso
Contents
  • Introduction: The end of the Noorish and Saracen pirate?
  • Part I. The Arab Mediterranean between representation and appropriation: The Arab discovery of the Mediterranean
  • Arab writing on the conquest of the Mediterranean
  • The silences of the sea: the Abbasid jihad
  • The geographers' Mediterranean
  • Muslim centers of the western Mediterranean: Islam without the Abbasids
  • The Mediterranean of the Western caliphs
  • The western Mediterranean: last bastion of Islam's maritime ambitions
  • Part II. Mediterranean strategies of the caliphs: The Mediterranean of the two empires
  • Controlling the Mediterranean: the Abbasid model
  • The maritime awakening of the Muslim West
  • The maritime imperialism of the caliphs in the tenth century: the end of jihad?
  • Islam's maritime sovereignty in the face of Latin expansion
  • Conclusion: The medieval Mediterranean and Islamic memory
Isbn
9780674660465
Instance
Label
Sea of the caliphs : the Mediterranean in the medieval Islamic world
Title
Sea of the caliphs
Title remainder
the Mediterranean in the medieval Islamic world
Statement of responsibility
Christophe Picard ; translated by Nicholas Elliott
Title variation
Mediterranean in the medieval Islamic world
Creator
Contributor
Translator
Subject
Language
  • eng
  • fre
  • eng
Summary
"How could I allow my soldiers to sail on this disloyal and cruel sea?" These words, attributed to the most powerful caliph of medieval Islam, Umar Ibn al-Khattab (634-644), have led to a misunderstanding in the West about the importance of the Mediterranean to early Islam. This body of water, known in Late Antiquity as the Sea of the Romans, was critical to establishing the kingdom of the caliphs and for introducing the new religion to Europe and Africa. Over time, it also became a pathway to commercial and political dominion, indispensable to the prosperity and influence of the Islamic world. Sea of the Caliphs returns Muslim sailors to their place of prominence in the history of the Islamic caliphate. As early as the seventh century, Muslim sailors competed with Greek and Latin seamen for control of this far-flung route of passage. Christophe Picard recreates these adventures as they were communicated to admiring Muslims by their rulers. After the Arab conquest of southern Europe and North Africa, Muslims began to speak of the Mediterranean in their strategic visions, business practices, and notions of nature and the state. Jurists and ideologues conceived of the sea as a conduit for jihad, even as Muslims' maritime trade with Latin, Byzantine, and Berber societies increased. In the thirteenth century, Christian powers took over Mediterranean trade routes, but by that time a Muslim identity that operated both within and in opposition to Europe had been shaped by encounters across the sea of the caliphs. --
Member of
Assigning source
Provided by publisher
http://library.link/vocab/creatorName
Picard, Christophe
Illustrations
  • illustrations
  • maps
Index
index present
Language note
In English; translated from the French
Literary form
non fiction
Nature of contents
bibliography
http://library.link/vocab/relatedWorkOrContributorName
Elliott, Nicholas
http://library.link/vocab/subjectName
  • Sea-power
  • Abbasids
  • Shipping
  • Navigation
  • Muslims
  • Mediterranean Region
  • Islamic Empire
Label
Sea of the caliphs : the Mediterranean in the medieval Islamic world, Christophe Picard ; translated by Nicholas Elliott
Instantiates
Publication
Note
"This book was originally published in French as La mer des califes: Une histoire de la Mediterranee musulmane, VIIe-XIIe siecle, copyright (c) Editions du Seuil, 2015"--Title page verso
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references and index
Carrier category
volume
Carrier category code
  • nc
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier
Content category
  • text
  • still image
Content type code
  • txt
  • sti
Content type MARC source
  • rdacontent
  • rdacontent
Contents
Introduction: The end of the Noorish and Saracen pirate? -- Part I. The Arab Mediterranean between representation and appropriation: The Arab discovery of the Mediterranean -- Arab writing on the conquest of the Mediterranean -- The silences of the sea: the Abbasid jihad -- The geographers' Mediterranean -- Muslim centers of the western Mediterranean: Islam without the Abbasids -- The Mediterranean of the Western caliphs -- The western Mediterranean: last bastion of Islam's maritime ambitions -- Part II. Mediterranean strategies of the caliphs: The Mediterranean of the two empires -- Controlling the Mediterranean: the Abbasid model -- The maritime awakening of the Muslim West -- The maritime imperialism of the caliphs in the tenth century: the end of jihad? -- Islam's maritime sovereignty in the face of Latin expansion -- Conclusion: The medieval Mediterranean and Islamic memory
Control code
ocn993134195
Dimensions
25 cm
Extent
vii, 395 pages
Isbn
9780674660465
Media category
unmediated
Media MARC source
rdamedia
Media type code
  • n
Other physical details
illustrations, maps
System control number
(OCoLC)993134195
Label
Sea of the caliphs : the Mediterranean in the medieval Islamic world, Christophe Picard ; translated by Nicholas Elliott
Publication
Note
"This book was originally published in French as La mer des califes: Une histoire de la Mediterranee musulmane, VIIe-XIIe siecle, copyright (c) Editions du Seuil, 2015"--Title page verso
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references and index
Carrier category
volume
Carrier category code
  • nc
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier
Content category
  • text
  • still image
Content type code
  • txt
  • sti
Content type MARC source
  • rdacontent
  • rdacontent
Contents
Introduction: The end of the Noorish and Saracen pirate? -- Part I. The Arab Mediterranean between representation and appropriation: The Arab discovery of the Mediterranean -- Arab writing on the conquest of the Mediterranean -- The silences of the sea: the Abbasid jihad -- The geographers' Mediterranean -- Muslim centers of the western Mediterranean: Islam without the Abbasids -- The Mediterranean of the Western caliphs -- The western Mediterranean: last bastion of Islam's maritime ambitions -- Part II. Mediterranean strategies of the caliphs: The Mediterranean of the two empires -- Controlling the Mediterranean: the Abbasid model -- The maritime awakening of the Muslim West -- The maritime imperialism of the caliphs in the tenth century: the end of jihad? -- Islam's maritime sovereignty in the face of Latin expansion -- Conclusion: The medieval Mediterranean and Islamic memory
Control code
ocn993134195
Dimensions
25 cm
Extent
vii, 395 pages
Isbn
9780674660465
Media category
unmediated
Media MARC source
rdamedia
Media type code
  • n
Other physical details
illustrations, maps
System control number
(OCoLC)993134195

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