Ancient Civilizations of North Africa and the Middle East Sumer: cuneiform writing and the first civilization Babylonia: Hammurabi’s Code—the first written laws for citizens to abide by Assyria: war-like with an expansive empire Phoenicians: one letter/one sound alphabet—sea trading empire Egyptians: science, astronomy, medicine Romans: technology, vast empire, concrete, road system and aqueducts Greeks: Alexander the Great—spread Greek culture throughout the Middle East Persians: In what is now Iran, descendants of the Aryan migration

The Beginnings of Islam— Medina, The prophet Muhammad was Allah’s last prophet, or messenger. He received the message from Allah through Gabriel and began preaching the word throughout Medina after being expelled from Mecca.

Muhammad expands control Muhammad took political and spiritual control. He led his followers into battle 80 times in 10 years and eventually took control of Mecca two years before his death. Mecca was established as the center of worship of Allah.

What do these terms mean? Caliph: Means “successor,” the title given to those who took over leadership of the Umma (the Muslim community) after the death of Muhammad. The practice of the caliphs is called the Caliphate. Sunni Islam: The followers of Sunni Islam make up the vast majority of Moslems, some 80 to 85 percent. Sunnis believe that Mohammed did not appoint a successor, and therefore one had to be appointed by the Moslems themselves. This led to the establishment of the Caliphate, a series of men who took over Mohammed's worldly and temporal power, but who made no claim to be Mohammed's spiritual successor. Shiite Islam: The Shiites believed that Mohammed had designed Ali as his successor and spiritual heir. There are two important aspects here. First, the idea that Mohammed's heir should be from Mohammed's family. Second, that unlike the caliphate, the successor should be a religious and spiritual leader.

In Medina and Kufa, Ali moved the Arab capital from Medina to Kufa in southern Iraq. Islam splits into Sunnis and Shiites Muslim troops conquered all of Arabia; north into Palestine, Syria, Iraq, and Iran; and westward into Egypt and North Africa By 643, Muslims had conquered Egypt and the Persian Empire

Empire in Damascus (Syria): The Umayyad Caliphate, After Ali’s death, the Umayyad dynasty established itself in Damascus. They were a political and military power who expanded the Islamic empire. After the Umayyad dynasty fell in Damascus in 750, a different line of the Umayyad dynasty continued in Spain until 1492.

Umayyad Dynasty in Damascus

Umayyad Empire in Cordoba, Spain; In 755 when the Umayyad Dynasty was ousted by the Abbasid dynasty (who made Baghdad the capital), the last Umayyad prince fled to Spain to take control there. He wanted to show the world the greatness of his caliphate. He recruited scholars by offering overwhelming gifts. Scholars, poets, philosophers, historians, and musicians soon made the trek to Cordoba. An infrastructure of libraries, hospitals, research institutions, and centers of Islamic study became commonplace. The Islamic intellectual tradition and educational system made Spain a world leader in this regard for the next 400 years. What is this called???

Cultural Diffusion!!!

The Abbasid Caliphate in Baghdad, During this time, Islamic art flourished, and the Sharia (Islamic law was developed) Also, Arab control over Islam was broken. All Muslims were seen as equal— Arabs and non-Arabs.

Islamic Art As it is not only a religion but a way of life, Islam fostered the development of a distinctive culture with its own unique artistic language that is reflected in art and architecture throughout the Muslim world. Although the often cited opposition in Islam to the depiction of human and animal forms holds true for religious art and architecture, in the secular sphere, such representations have flourished in nearly all Islamic cultures. The Islamic resistance to the representation of living beings ultimately stems from the belief that the creation of living forms is unique to God, and it is for this reason that the role of images and image makers has been controversial.

Islamic art and architecture

The Crusades From the 11 th century on, armies of Christian soldiers (spurred on by the Pope) led Crusades to liberate the holy land from the Muslims. Indiscriminate massive killings and death resulted, mostly by the Christians, with nothing really changing. As of 1250, Muslims still controlled Palestine. The impression left on the Muslims was that of ruthless barbarism, a view that still influences Muslim understanding of the West today.

The Ottoman Caliphate, After the destruction of Baghdad and the Abbasid Empire by the Mongols in 1290, the Ottoman Empire came into power. It was dominated by the Turks and centered in what is modern-day Turkey. The Ottoman state was born on the frontier between Islam and the Byzantine Empire. Turkish tribes, driven from their homeland in the steppes of Central Asia by the Mongols, had embraced Islam and settled in Anatolia. The Ottoman state began as one of many small Turkish states that emerged in Asia Minor during the breakdown of the empire of the Seljuk Turks. The Ottoman Turks began to absorb the other states, and during the reign (1451–81) of Muhammad II they ended all other local Turkish dynasties. In the late 14 th century, the Ottomans started to use Janissaries (which means “new troops” in Turkish). They were conscripted youths from Christian families in the Balkans. After conscription, they were defined as the property of the Sultan, and practically all of them converted to Islam. They became know for their military skills. In 1453, they conquered Constantinople (which had been founded as the capital of all Christendom by Constantine himself), renamed it Istanbul, and made it the capital of their Empire. Within a century the Ottomans had changed from a nomadic horde to the heirs of the most ancient surviving empire of Europe. Here the leaders are called Sultans ("emperors").

The Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire expanded into southeastern Europe (the Balkans and Hungary) and then east and south into Iraq, Arabia, and Egypt.

Suleiman the Magnificent Suleiman I (nicknamed 'the Magnificent' in Europe and 'the Lawgiver' in the Islamic World) was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1520 to At the age of seven he was sent to study science, history, literature, theology, and military techniques in the schools of the Istanbul palace. While he may have been seen as dangerous to the outside world, he was known as a fair ruler within the empire, fought corruption, and was a great supporter of artists and philosophers. He was also noted as one of the greatest Islamic poets. He earned his nickname the Lawmaker from his complete reconstruction of the Ottoman law system. The laws that he gathered covered almost every aspect of life at the time.

Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent Suleiman died in 1566, the night before victory at the Battle of Szigetvar, in Hungary. He is buried in a mausoleum with his wife Roxelana at the Suleymaniye Mosque. After rising to its peak under Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, the Empire gradually began to deteriorate before the increasing technological and industrial might of the European nations.

The End of the Ottoman Empire In the progressive decay that followed Suleiman's death, the clergy and the Janissaries gained power and exercised a profound, corrupting influence. The breakup of the state gained speed with the Russo-Turkish Wars in the 18th century. Egypt was only temporarily lost to Napoleon's army, but the Greek War of Independence and its sequels, the Russo- Turkish War of 1828–29, and the war with Muhammad Ali of Egypt resulted in the loss of Greece and Egypt. The rebellion (1875) of Bosnia and Herzegovina precipitated the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78, in which Turkey was defeated. Romania, Serbia, and Montenegro were declared fully independent, and Bosnia and Herzegovina passed under Austrian administration. Bulgaria was made a virtually independent principality. It did not come to a final end until World War 1, however, when the Allies managed to encourage many of the dissident factions within the Empire to bring about such internal strife that it fell as much from internal troubles as from the Allies’ external attacks.

Ataturk, the Father of the Turks The Turkish defeat in the First World War (in which the Ottoman Empire sided with Germany and the Central Powers) finally discredited the Young Turks, however, and paved the way for the success of a new nationalist movement under the leadership of an army officer named Mustafa Kemal, later known as Ataturk or "Father of the Turks." The nationalist government under Ataturk, dedicated to leading Turkey in the direction of secularism and Westernization, abolished the sultanate, declared a republic, and eventually (in 1924) abolished the caliphate as well.

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