Desert Bloom A Desert Oasis, the Holy City of Mecca and Caravan Cities By Mike Zhang, Perry Liao, Casper Hsu
Jan 05, 2016
Desert Bloom A Desert Oasis, the Holy City of Mecca and Caravan Cities
By Mike Zhang, Perry Liao, Casper Hsu Block 1-3
Desert Bloom – a Desert Oasis
A desert oasis of trades In the Sahara Desert In the Saudi Arabian area
Caravans
Caravan cities surround Mecca Caravans carried supplies through
the Sahara Desert to Egypt, Syria, Mesopotamia and others
More materials added to the international trade route after the caliphs moved capital city eg. metal (gold)
Mecca Mecca is located in central western of
Arabia Mecca is surrounded by mountains Formerly an oasis About 150,000 sq. mi (388,500 sq. km) Contains the holy cites of Medina and
Mecca The most important caravan city because
it was visited by Arabs all over Peninsula Center of medieval Saudi Arabia trades Caravan cities surround Mecca
Mecca (Cont.) The heart of trade routes Mecca was an important religious
center, all Arabs come to worship god Arabs go to Mecca for religious
reasons, such as Hijaz fair Trading was a huge part in daily life Long distance trading is one of main
feats in Islamic life Muhammad effected economic
expansion greatly ( was merchant once)
Mecca (Cont.)
Contacts with outside world: Persians and Romans
It became a major caravan city after the Abbasid caliphs moved
Mecca (Cont.)
Mecca in 1910
(As you can see, Mecca is surrounded by mountains.)
Mecca in 1850
Trade
The Quraysh, a local tribe eager to increase Mecca’s trade
The Quraysh tribe had treaties with neighbours to ensure a safe passage
The Quraysh tribe took over control of Mecca in 5th century
Trade (cont.)
China: silk, peacocks, ink, porecelain, saddles, spices
India: stones, rare hardwoods, dyes
Scandinavia: furs, amber, ivory, swords
Africa: Slaves, gold, salt, herbs Arabia: Perfumes, spices Persain Gulf: Pearls
Abbasid caliphs
Really important in the economic world back then
Moved capital city from Damascus to Baghdad (moved East)
Huge change to the trade routes and its surrounding countries/cities
Moved for greater efficiency Baghdad: in the crossroads of both the major
land and sea trade routes
Abbasid caliphs (Cont.)
Trade route reached from China to the Mediterranean
Hosted many monthly trading fairs Baghdad quickly became wealthy due to
trading – caliphs made a good decision Benefitted neighboring cities economically Muslim Abbasids were the firsts to take
advantage of the burgeoning trades
Abbasid caliphs (Cont.) Also effected the international trade cycle Many caravans went to trade Muslim dinar quickly became prevailing currency
along with the Byzantine nomisma Most of the change happened in the late 8th
century Muslims were well situated in the sudden exploit
in trade Traders were well engaged in trading
Travel
Camels Camels were the most effective way of
transportation through deserts Camels were critical in all caravan
cities Fully loaded camels can cover 20-25
miles a day They can carry over 600 pounds Can cross shallow waters easily
Camels vs Wagons
Travel (Cont.)
Did not need paved roads Single driver can manage sever camels at
once Can eat almost anything Long periods without water (1
month in winter)Wagons Paved roads required Wagon is expensive itself
Travel (Cont.)
Need to carry the weight of the wagon as well (Cannot use the full potential of the mule)
One animal managed by one person
Camels were critical in all caravan cities Replaced nearly all wheeled transportations
in Middle East and North Africa Were very efficient and cheap
Travel (Cont.)
137 C.E. : Palmyrenes set law telling all merchants to provide a list of excessive goods that arrived on wheels
They wanted to protect their economic position in caravan trades within their city
Also for efficiency and for economic viability
Financial System Islam’s economic world divided into 2 parts: East
and West East currency: Persian silver dirham West currency: Byzantine gold denarius Coin value was really flexible Were based on amount of money-changers in
each market
Financial System
New profession introduced shortly after the rise of caravans - banking
Money-changers became Islamic bankers All started with being in the middle of the
international traffic of goods (Trading cycle) Lots of impact on the Western financial
system eg. check came from Arabian word sakk, and both share the same meaning
The End
Applause will be appreciated