The+founding+geographic+extent+of+Muslim+empires+and+the+artistic,+scientific,+technological,+and+economic+features+of+Muslim+society.

Muslim Civilization's Golden Age

Social and Economic Advances Muslim civilization prospered under the Abbasids. Their empire stretched into Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and even Europe.

**Manufactured Goods Are Highly Valued** Artisans created manufactured goods for trade. Steel swords from Damascus, leather goods from Córdoba, cotton textiles from Egypt, and carpets from Persia were highly valued. Workshops also turned out fine glassware, furniture, and tapestries.

**Agriculture Thrives** The Abbasids organized large irrigation systems and drained swampland between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers. Farmers also cultivated cotton, sugar cane, flowers that were sold in distant markets, and medicinal herbs.

**Social Structure and Slavery** Muslim society allowed some social mobility, the ability to move up in social class through religious, scholarly, or military achievements. Slaves were often came from conquered lands. Most slaves were household servants, while some were skilled artisans and some were able to purchase their freedom. The children of some slaves could become free under another system. 

Muslim Art, Literature, and Architecture  The diverse cultures in the empire, as well as Islam, influenced art and literature. Early oral poetry told tales of nomadic life, while later poets developed elaborate rules for poems. Great Muslim poets include Firdawsi,who told the history of Persia, and Omar Khayyám,who wrote about fate and life in The Rubáiyát. Storytellers often used short anecdotes to entertain people.
 * Poetry and Tales of Adventure**

**Religious Buildings** In architecture, buildings reflected Byzantine inﬂuences, and mosques included domes and minarets. Muslim artists also used calligraphy, the art of beautiful handwriting, for decoration on buildings and in books.

Muslims Seek Knowledge Muslims made great improvements in education. Both boys and girls were educated so they could study the Quran.

**Centers of Learning** Some cities, such as Baghdad, supported learning centers with enormous libraries. In these cities, scholars made advances in mathemat ics, philosophy, medicine, and other fields.  Muslim scholars translated Greek, Hindu, and Buddhist texts. Known in Europe as Averröes, the philosopher Ibn Rushd believed that knowledge, “should meet the standards of reason.” Another Arab thinker, Ibn Khaldun, studied history scientifically and advised others to avoid errors.
 * Philosophy and History**

**Mathematics** In mathematics, al-Khwarizmi pioneered the study of algebra. He also developed a set of astronomical tables based on Indian and Greek discoveries.

**Medicine** Muslims made extraordinary advances in public health and medicine. The government set up hospitals and physicians travel to rural areas to provide care. Al-Razi, chief physician in the hospital at Baghdad, wrote very educated books on diseases and medical practices. Ibn Sina, a famous Persian physician, compiled an entire encyclopedia of medical knowledge. Both doctors’ works aided medical study in Europe for 500 years. Other physicians improved ways to help save eyesight and mix different medicines.

 India's Muslim Empires

<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 140%;">The Delhi Sultanate Opposing princes battled for control of India, after 550.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;">**The Sultan of Delhi Defeats the Hindus** Around 1000, Afghans and Muslim Turks proceeded into India. Included with the Muslim assaults were attacks that killed various Hindus and demolished Buddhist temples. Muslims succeeded due to competitions among Hindu princes, military dominance, and the various Hindus who changed to Islam. From 1206 to 1526 in Delhi, the capital, the Delhi government ruled.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;">**Muslim Rule Changes Indian Government and Society** Indian government was transformed and trade increased by Muslim rulers. Scholars ran away from Baghdad to India, during the Mongol attacks of the 1200s, delivering Persian and Greek education with them. Delhi turned into a place where architecture and art thrived all because of the new settlers.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;">**The Sultans Lose Power** Tamerlane assaulted Delhi, in 1389, demolishing much of its culture. Many artisans were enslaved to build Tamerlane’s capital at Samarkand. The sultans no longer had a large empire.



<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 140%;">Mughal India <span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;">

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;">**Babur Founds the Mughal Dynasty** Babur led Mongol and Turkish armies into northern India to set up the Mughal dynasty, in 1526, which lasted until 1857.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;">**Akbar the Great** Ruling from 1556 to 1605 was Babur’s grandson Akbar, also known as Akbar the Great. One great thing he did was being able to set up a strong central government that had paid officials. He ended the tax on non-Muslims. Along with that, he updated the army and supported international trade. He encouraged peace through religious acceptance and gave permission for Hindus to work in government.<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;"> Nur Jahan took over after Akbar’s death. She managed the government skillfully, and helped Indian culture. Until the twentieth century, she was the most powerful woman in Indian history. When Mughal art, architecture, and literature were at their highest point, Akbar’s grandson, Shah Jahan, ruled. The Taj Mahal, a tomb for his wife, was an impressive building and a significant monument of the Mughal empire, which Shah Jahan built.
 * A****kbar's Successors**

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;">Building a Muslim Empire Muhammad’s death caused his followers to fall into dejection. Both a pious man and a strong leader, the Prophet was able to unify numerous Arab tribes.

<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 140%;">Umayyad Caliphs Build an Empire A strong Meccan clan organized the Umayyad caliphate, a descent of Sunni caliphs that controlled the Muslim empire until 750, after Ali died. From Morocco in the west and Spain to the Indus River Valley in the east, were the places they extended Arab rule by directing these conquests. In turn, these conquests allowed the spread of Muslim and Islam civilization.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;">**Expanding the Muslim Empire** By moving west out of Egypt, Arab Muslim armies conquered Byzantine people across North Africa. Later, Muslim forces traveled across the Strait of Gibraltar and took over Spain, in 711. 20 years after that, finding a new place to settle in France, a Muslim army headed north; where Frankish forces overpowered the Muslims at the battle of Tours. Even though, unable to move forward into Europe, Muslims still controlled parts of Spain for centuries. Even with Muslim forces surrounding the Byzantine capital of Constantinople, they were unmatched with this well-protected city.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;">**Reasons for Muslim Success** One reason why Muslim had so many victories was the weakness of the Persian and Byzantine empires. By fighting amongst themselves for so long, they have weakened each other. As well, various people gladly received the Arabs as liberators from the cruel Persian and Byzantine power. Also, the Arabs’ organized, brave fighting methods was another factor. More classic armies were overwhelmed by the Muslim’s mobile offensives, horse cavalry, and the Bedouin camel. Muslims united an assortment of competing tribes into a joined state, under the first four Muslim civil and religious rulers. The lust to honor this new religion and the belief in Islam, caused Muslim armies to triumph. The rulers formed a system of governing as the empire grew.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;">**Conquered People Are Treated Fairly** Many people were brought under Muslim rule. Muslim leaders imposed a special tax on non-Muslims, but Jews, Christians, and Zoroastrians could worship their own faith and some held important positions such as, doctors, officials, and translators. Muslim leaders discouraged destruction and looting of conquered lands, ensuring prosperity and wealth for that empire. In addition, Arab settlers were suppose to stay separate from the native population, resulting throughout the empire, an upper class aimed at Arab people.

Many people converted to Islam. The reason for this was to gain economic or political benefits. They also were attracted to Islam’s direct and simple message, and they saw it as God’s favor. In North Africa and Central Asia, nomadic people chose Islam immediately. There was no religious order or class of priests in Islam. It stressed the equal rights of all believers, regardless of class, gender, race, or wealth. The Mongol and Turkish transforms to Islam helped extend Islam far across Asia, in later centuries.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;">**Decline of the Umayyad Caliphate** The Umayyads later faced economic tensions and resistance from those who did not have the same privileges as Muslims.

<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 140%;">Rise of the Abbasids

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;">**Changes Under the Abbasids** Abu al-Abbas founded the Abbasid dynasty, after conquering Damascus in 750, which they had strong help from non-Arabs and Shiites. The Abbasid dynasty lasted until 1258. The Abbasids put an end to large military conquests and helped learning and education. Discrimination against non-Arab Muslims ended. The Abbasids formed a more advanced bureaucracy.

They benefited from a golden age, with a more efficient government and the moving of the capital from Damascus to Baghdad, in the former Persian empire. This move enabled Persian officials to hold important offices in the caliph’s government and allow Persian traditions to impact the gro<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;"> wth of the caliphate.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;">**Splendors of Baghdad** Al-Mansur, the second Abbasid caliph, chose Baghdad as the place of his new capital. The walls took shape of a circle, with the rulers palace in the center. Philosophers, scholars, poets, and entertainers came to the Abbasid court from all over the Muslim world. Baghdad grew more in size and wealth than Constantinople.

Mosques, or Muslim place of worship, with minarets, or slender towers, decorated the cities, and markets sold many goods from Asia, Africa, and Europe. There was also gardens and palaces throughout the city.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;">**Muslim Culture in Spain** One of the Umayyads set up an independent Muslim state in Spain. Until 1492, Muslims controlled sections of Spain. They were unprejudiced of other religions, built magnificent buildings, such as the Alhambra, and supported scholars. Arts and learning thrived during this time.

<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 140%;">The Muslim Empire Declines

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;">**Seljuk Turks Take Control** The Abbasids rule over the rest of the Muslim empire shattered about 850. As the empire declined, independent dynasties governed states in Egypt and elsewhere. Seljuk Turks adopted Islam after migrating into the Middle East from Central Asia and built a large empire across the Fertile Crescent. A Seljuk ruler controlled Baghdad by 1055, keeping the Abbasid caliph as a figurehead.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;">**Mongols Sweep Across Central Asia** The Mongols managed different assaults across southwest Asia, starting in 1216. During this year, Genghis Khan led the Mongols out of Central Asia across southwest Asia. In 1258, the grandson of Genghis, Hulagu, looted and burned down Baghdad, which ended the last Abbasid caliph. Later on, the Mongols selected Islam. Also, a Mongol leader, Timur the Lame, or Tamerlane, led his armies into the Middle East in the late 1300s.

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;">Diverse Cultures of Southeast Asia <span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;"> <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 140%;"> New Kingdoms and Empires Emerge

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;">**The Pagan Kingdom Arises** Southeast Asia was home to a chain of empires and kingdoms. Arising in present-day Myanmar was the kingdom of Pagan. In 1044, King Anawrahta brought Buddhism to the Burman people and unified the region. He also supplied his capital city with spectacular stupas, or dome-shaped shrines.

After Anawrahta’s death, Pagan thrived for about 200 years, but fell in 1287 to conquering Mongols.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;">**The Khmer Empire** The Khmer empire was formed by Indian influences, which reached its height between 800 and 1350. Controlling much of present-day Cambodia, Malaysia, and Thailand, were the empires greatest rulers. Most people in the Khmer empire were Buddhists, but Khmer rulers became Hindus. The Khmer people adapted Indian mathematics, writing, art, and architecture.

King Suryavarman II built the temple multiplex at Angkor Wat in the 1100s. There are various carved figures that tell Hindu myths and praise the king.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;">**Srivijaya Empire Flourishes** The trading empire of Srivijaya, which was located in Indonesia, prospered from the 600s to the 1200s. Srivijaya brought in both Buddhism and Hinduism. Srivijaya managed the Strait of Malacca. The local people frequently mixed Indian beliefs into their own structure of praise based on nature spirits. <span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;">

<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 140%;">Vietnam Emerges The heart of northern Vietnam was the Red River delta. There, the river irrigated fertile rice paddies.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;">**Chinese Domination** In 111 B.C., Han armies conquered the region, and China remained in control for the next 1,000 years. During that time, the Vietnamese absorbed Confucian ideas. Unlike the rest of Southeast Asia, where Theravada Buddhism had the strongest impact, Vietnam adopted Mahayana Buddhism from China.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;">**The Vietnamese Preserve Their Identity** In A.D. 39, two noble sisters, Trung Trac and Trung Nhi, led an uprising that briefly drove out the Chinese. Finally, in 939, Vietnam was able to break free from China.

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