Contextualizing Framework IV.i: 1000-1500

Contextualizing Framework IV.i: 1000-1500

The context of Berkey’s final medieval period starts grim but shows a reemergence of great Islamic empires. Factions were rife within the Islamic world, fracturing the influence of any large empire. Abbasid Baghdad’s decline ended in 1258 with the Mongol Invasion, which destroyed much of the city. The region experienced several affronts from the Mongol empire during this time from the North and East and Christian kingdoms during the crusades from the West. Add in the plague during this era and there were few great empires. However, more modest ones populated this time, such as the Fatimids, Buyids, and the Seljuks. Eventually, great empires emerged in the 14th century, such as the Mamluk empire, the Mali Empire, and most prominently the Ottoman Empire.

Jonathan Berkey

The Formation of Islam

Cambridge University Press

1000-1500

Berkey, Jonathan. The formation of Islam: Religion and society in the Near East, 600-1800. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012.