The Prophet’s Mosque in Medina, which has Mohammad's tomb inside.

In class this week, we learned about the Islamic religion and culture. The city of Medina, "city of the Prophet", interested me and I did some research to find out more about the city and what life was like in the ummah, or Muslim community. I stumbled upon some interesting information about The Prophet's Mosque as well. Medina and the Prophet's Mosque became central to the Muslim faith in uniting the community.

First, I will give a brief history of Medina and the Islamic community, or ummah. The city was originally dominated by Jews and called Yathrib. It was later renamed Medina soon after people of the city asked Muhammad to delegate and keep the peace between two opposing communities, called the Aws and Khazraj. In 622, Muhammad, his prophets, and believers, moved from Mecca to Medina, establishing it as a holy city. A website I found, globalsecurity.org, emphasizes the importance of Medina to Muslim beliefs when it states:

Considered to be the second most important holy city of Islam [after Mecca], the city of Medina is located in a well-watered oasis 110 miles (180 km) inland (east) of the Red Sea. Much fruit and some grain are raised in and around the city. When making the pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca, usually a visit to Medina is part of the trip.

The first ummah within Medina possessed some interesting characteristics that became the foundation for other Islamic communities. It surprised me to learn that instead of basing social status on wealth or family heritage, the ummah based social status on how pious and obedient one remained to the Islamic religion. Muhammad united his Muslim tribe because he gave them a strong force to follow. He kept one-fifth of money and goods from raids and gave the rest to members of the community. People in the community then distributed a part of their money to help the poor. This system established social order and organization that had previously been lacking in the different, feuding tribes.

Globalsecurity.org also states that the Prophet's Mosque (see picture above) is the second most holy Mosque for Muslims, millions of whom visit it still today. It is the resting place of Mohammad, his daughter, and the Caliph Omar. This large amount of visitors to the Mosque then and now illustrates that it unites believers in the Islamic faith. The Mosque became a center for economic and social activity in the community and, in this way, allowed cultural diversity and greater acceptance of others. Muhammad built this as the first building after his move from Mecca to Medina. The Mosque was important to the faith, as is revealed when one examines the amount of area added to it over the years. It is now one hundred times the size it was when Muhammad first had it built. Half a million people can easily fit inside.

It is clear that Medina and the Prophet's Mosque united the ummah, or community, of the Muslim world and still does today. For more information of the Islamic religion and culture in general another website I found has links to many other useful sources. In addition, this year I had to read Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson who is coming to visit our university this spring. David Oliver Relin wrote this book about Mortenson’s work building schools for children in Pakistan and Afghanistan. I would definitely recommend this book. It provides an interesting outlook into the Muslim community today and addresses some of the stereotypes we have against the Islamic religion.

The Byzantine Economy

In class we talked a lot about the characteristics of the Byzantine Empire but not about the significance of its material wealth. I am interested in how the trade of the Byzantine Empire affected the relations between East and West Europe. An article I found on the JSTOR database discusses this along with the general economy of the Byzantine Empire.

The economy of Eastern Byzantium differed from that of the Western Byzantine Empire. The Eastern Byzantine Empire's economy, trade, and the sacking of Constantinople by the Western Crusaders in the 4th Crusade (for more information click here and here), affected how it interacted with the Western Byzantine Empire. It soon developed an international economic system.

The Eastern Byzantine Empire had a strong monetary system and trade as part of its economy. I found a picture online of a bezant, one of its coins. It lasted around 800 years as a central form of currency in the Roman Empire, one of the longest-lasting currencies. This coin was from around 690 CE and was one of the first to show a picture of Christ. Our Strayer textbook states that other goods traveled throughout and beyond the Byzantine Empire, including textiles, dyes, jewelry, gold, silver, and silk. Cities became major centers for these goods to be traded for the currency.

After the siege of Constantinople (as shown in the picture on the right) and its recapture by the Eastern Roman Empire, the article's author (Laiou-Thomakis from above) states that the relationship between the two halves of the Empire changed. It surprised me to learn that the Eastern Byzantium became increasingly reliant on the Western economy after 1204. After the siege, more individuals from the West settled in the East. Eastern nobles began marrying Western noblewomen, who brought their cultural ideas and taste for Western goods with them. In addition, Italian goods in the East Mediterranean became important to the East.

Finally, the article points out that the Byzantine economy formed in a world of international markets. This means that supply and demand controlled the market, kept prices fairly stable, led to a common currency, started a bank system, and labor supported it. The system was so strong that merchants could easily find out the price of a good and that would tell them the market's current condition (reminds one of today's stock system indexes). Even in politically difficult times, the market for most goods remained fairly stable, which was an indication of a strong economy that did not fluctuate with every little problem.

This article supplies very interesting information. It showed how the East Byzantine Empire's trade, economy, and siege of Constantinople affected its relation with the West. It also came to have an international economic system. This reminds one, in this time when many individuals are so concerned about the economy, that historical events influence the economy. One may even argue that the Byzantine Empire led the way to a stronger economical system used around the world today.

Strayer, Robert W. Ways of the World: A Brief Global History. New York: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2009. Print.

The Importance of the Silk Road

This week in class, we discussed cross-cultural trade connections in the post-classical era. This reminded me immediately of the Silk Road trade routes, which we also talked and read about. I decided to do some more research on the topic because I thought it was unique in that goods, cultures, religions, and technology interacted globally for the first time. The information I found mentioned the history of the Silk Road, the goods that traveled it, how they traveled, and the social and cultural effects. Overall, one may say that the trade of the Silk Road became a foundation for the trade of the current world.

Brief Historical Overview

The Silk Road opened around the Second Century B.C.E. through Han Dynasty China Emperor Wu Di. One informational website I found states that there were actually many different trade routes, including Northern, Central, and Southern routes (across desert lands). The Road covered China, Asia, India, the Roman Empire, and other areas. The total length of the Silk Road was around 6, 500 kilometers. It reached its peak in the Tang Dynasty (618-907) in which China became united under a strong government. The Mongols strengthened the Silk Road as well because they made it more secure from nomad raiders. A third website states that the Silk Road declined in the latter half of the Tang Dynasty, partly as a result of conservative reactions to Buddhist integration in Chinese Culture.

What goods spread on the Silk Road?

China traded silk, furs, ceramics, spices, stones, and bronze with other countries. They traded many goods, like silk, iron, and bronze, with Rome. Rome used silk for looms, clothing, altar coverings, and burials. Porcelain, which found its way to central Asia from China in the 800s B.C.E., was also quite important. Horses came to China from Rome. China traded silk with India for goods like gold, silver, and jade.

How did the goods travel?

Much like the modern UPS system, trade goods on the Silk Road traveled through many different hands. The trader stayed within a specific area and passed the goods on to another trader who stayed within a specific area nearby. In this way, the goods traveled all the way from the Mediterranean to Central and Eastern Asia. The third website, imperialtours.net, states, “When the trader arrived at the edge of his operational region, he would sell the goods across a border usually to a different nationality and ethnic group who would continue the goods' passage along the east-west axis. Thus, going westwards from China, Chinese traders would sell to Central Asians, who would deal with Persians, who connected with Syrians, who did commerce with Greeks and Jews, who supplied the Romans.” Overall, this interesting quote reveals that the trade led to the travel of cultural ideas as well as goods.

Social and Cultural Effects?

The Silk Road trade system had cultural and social effects. It led to the expansion of Buddhism to China. The third website I recommended earlier said that around ninety percent of the population was exposed to Buddhism and many of them converted to it. Also, other religions, like Zoroastrianism and Islam, spread to China. The Silk Road further led to stronger, more centralized states that provided more protection. It was at this time in the Han Dynasty that Emperor Wu Di began to rebuild the Great Wall of China.

Therefore, one can clearly see the importance and effects of the Silk Road. It had a unique history, goods that moved on it and an interesting way in which they traveled, social effects, and cultural effects. The Silk Road became a foundation for the trade system that the world uses today.

Remembering Jenne-Jeno

After reading chapter seven in Robert Strayer’s Ways of the World, I wanted to know more about the infamous Jenne-Jeno in West Africa. The city was located along the Niger River, south of Timbuktu in present day Mali. Occupation of Jenne-Jeno began around 250 BCE, and started declining near 1200 CE. Interestingly enough, archaeologists have not found evidence of any kind of state structure in the city. They believe that Jenne-Jeno and other West African cities along the Niger River had a very different mode of operation.

There is evidence of settlements based on various occupations such as weaving, iron smithing, leather working, and potting. Such settlements were scattered around urban centers, organizing themselves into economic castes of a sort. There was even a caste formed of griots, people who recited oral traditions of the society in order to preserve its ways. Excavated remains of Jenne-Jeno show definite evidence of trade with other river valley cities. No sources of iron ore can be found in the Niger floodplain, but with such a booming use for metal to make tools and jewelry, it is certain that the ancient people must have had it imported. There is also evidence of imported stone grinders, salt, beads, copper, and in later years, gold. The floodplain was well-suited for farming, giving the people of Jenne-Jeno an ample supply of rice and grains to trade with. In addition they bartered with smoked meats, fish, and fish oils. In fact, Jenne-Jeno is considered to be one of the biggest trading hubs of ancient West Africa. The city became a commercial trading center, linked by the Niger River to Timbuktu.

Roderick and Susan McIntosh are American archaeologists who have been excavating Jenne-Jeno since the 1970s. Unfortunately, they have found that the site has continued to fall victim to pillagers who sell the ancient artifacts for millions of dollars on the black market. I came across a web page maintained by a woman who is trekking around the world and has written about her encounters with ancient sites such as Jenne-Jeno. She was led by a local guide, and her story of the trip is very interesting. An ancient 12 foot high, brick wall runs 1.3 miles city, where pieces of ground-up pottery scatter the site. The McIntosh’s claim that “next to Egypt, Mali has the richest deposit of artifacts in Africa,” which makes realizing that the majority of them may be lost to pillagers even more devastating.

Scholars speculate that Jenne-Jeno was abandoned due to drying of the region and Islamic influence. Perhaps Jenne-Jeno, which means “ancient Jenne” in languages of the region, was deserted for a new location that provided better trading with Muslims. PBS has compiled documentaries on oral traditions they have heard from local people regarding the decline of ancient civilizations and the influence of the Muslim world. Regardless of the reason, it is sad that the ancient ways of life of the people of Jenne-Jeno were lost due to a reckless black market. One can only wonder what more could be learned about the city if the numerous stolen artifacts were recovered.

Sources:
http://anthropology.rice.edu/Content.aspx?id=500
Strayer, Robert W. Ways of the World: A Brief Global History. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2009. Print.

Sub-Saharan Africa: The Batwa and Bantu

"The Batwa are a pygmy people who were the oldest recorded inhabitants of the Great Lakes region of Central Africa."

Our textbook states that the Bantu people dominated the Batwa (Pygmy) people. However, I found an essay by Dr. Kairn Kieman, which argued that the Batwa culture played a greater role in Sub-Saharan Africa history than previously believed. Therefore, the Batwa people helped shape the Sub-Saharan African culture of the Bantu people nearly to the extent that the Bantu affected them.

The textbook “Ways of the World” by Robert W. Strayer described the Batwa people as inferior. Yet Strayer believed they had some influence on the Bantu. The book said that when the Bantu spread and took over the Batwa lands, the Batwa began to speak Bantu languages. In addition, the book mentioned the metallurgy and technology of the Bantu that allowed them to gain control over the Batwa hunter-gather society (Strayer 190). Yet at the same time the Batwa led the Bantus to integrate Batwa culture. The book stated, “…the Bantu famers regarded their Batwa neighbors as first-comers to the region and therefore closest to the ancestral and territorial spirits that determined the fertility of the land and people. Thus…chiefs appropriated the Batwa title of “owners of the land” for themselves, claimed Batwa ancestry…” (191). So, the Bantu, in a way, took over Batwa land and, eventually culture, for themselves and claimed to be the Batwa, “the original land owners” of the region. The Bantu effectively decreased the importance of the Batwa and placed themselves as the “true” owners.

However, an excerpt from a book I found, The Pygmies Were Our Compass: Bantu and Batwa in the History of West Central Africa, Early Times to C. 1900 C.E., by Dr. Kieman stated that there is little evidence that the Batwa people were so inferior to the Bantu. Dr. Kieman said that the idea that the Batwa people used New Stone Age tools (horticulture with little use of metals which some historians claimed was the reason the Bantu dominated them so easily) lacked evidence. Also, she wrote that there is no evidence that the Batwa became a completely hunter-gather society, but instead they most likely mixed hunting and gathering with agriculture. One part of the essay struck me as very interesting:

The notion that Batwa societies have lived in a state of perpetual servitude to their agriculturalist neighbors is belied by the large body of Bantu oral traditions about the Batwa. Across the rainforest, and even south into the savanna regions of eastern and southern Africa, Bantu traditions relate that Batwa communities were not only the "first- comers’ on the land," but also the first teachers and guides to Bantu societies, instructing them how to use fire, find fertile lands, grow food, and produce iron.

I read about the Batwa in our reading and thought about them as simply another culture dominated by the Bantu. However, now I realized that the Batwa culture influenced the Bantu culture to a great extent. This essay has revealed to me that the Batwa were able for a time to remain “a separate identity” (Strayer 191), at least for a while. Yet the Batwa most likely influenced the Bantu more than the Strayer textbook described. The Bantu definitely integrated the Batwa into their society by declaring themselves, the true “owners of the land”, but, in a way, the Batwa integrated the Bantu in their society as well by teaching them important tasks. They taught the Bantu people aspects of survival and abilities that were important in making a more advanced society. These Batwa traditions taught to the Bantu would carry on Batwa culture for many years to come, however unimportant the Batwa may seem today to some historians.

I also found an additional website that discusses the origin of the Batwa and the aspects of their culture still alive today.

Textbook source:

Strayer, Robert W. Ways of the World: A Brief Global History. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2009. Print.