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