Chapter 15 Study Guide

In 1200, the Middle East and north Africa were dominated by two powerful empires: Byzantine and Islamic caliphate. By 1400, this structure was in disarray: • Byzantine was in decline, pressed by invading Ottoman Turks. Constantinople fell to Turks in 1453, ending empire. • By 1200s, the Muslims had fallen to Mongols. Arabs never able to unite the entire region again.

Decline of Islamic caliphate: decline of caliphate and its economy was gradual and incomplete – not at all like the dramatic fall of Rome • authority of caliphate declined, landlords seized power, peasants became serfs on large estates • agricultural productively declined, tax revenues declined • Arab and Middle Eastern traders lose ground: European merchants began to exercise control of their turf and challenge the Arabs in other parts of the Mediterranean. Still, Arab and Persian commerce remained active in Indian Ocean. • The emerging Ottoman Turks expanded into southeastern Europe, and the power (both politically and militarily) was frightening to other people in other areas, such as western Europe.

A Power Vacuum in International Leadership

• Turkish rulers unable to reestablish Islamic position in international trade. Turks scornful of Arabs (though both were Muslim), did not promote trade, especially maritime trade, as vigorously as in past. • Turkic expansion was important well into 17th century, but real focus was on conquest and administration • Mongols developed first alternative international framework with influence in central Asia, China, Russia, Middle East, south Asia. Trade encouraged many opportunities for exchange of technology and ideas – western Europe was primary beneficiary. • end of Mongol empires turned attention to sea-born trade, as overland Asian trade routes disrupted

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