Hey guys I have a question about the rise of the islamic empire.

by IAMAchavwhoknocks

Please answer this is quite important to me. How did the geography of the Islamic Empire make it spread faster/easier. Any aspects that may have caused islam to grow faster to do with the geography (trade routes, the way the land was laid out...etc) Thank You.

[deleted]

This looks suspiciously like a homework question. Is there something specific more specific you have a question on?

Theconspiracyunfolds

I think it would be counter-productive to limit the Islamic Empires expansion solely to geographic situations. But you are right that they did play a very significant role.

There are dozens of theories as to the rate of expansion and its facilitating factors but I am inclined to say that it was due to largely political and cultural reasons. The pre-Islamic tribes of the Arabian Peninsula were highly fragmented existing in smaller tribes. The confederation of tribes which was to become the Islamic Empire in part succeeded by amalgamating those conquered tribes. The Quraysh Tribe for example was one of the first tribes incorporated into the confederation; it had not the manpower to resist any further and joined in turn bolstering numbers. The geography of the land certainly facilitated this; the harsh land made nomadic tribes the alternative and the exploitation of trade routes to pre-Islamic Mecca allowed this.

As an example on the other spectrum, the North of India as a rugged terrain largely prevented attacks from the Islamic Empire for years until the natives of the sub-continent were unable to resist. (I speak in very general terms here) Likewise the deserts and mountains of Africa made expanding south beyond the Sahara not militarily feasible at the time being. Similarly we see this with the expansion through Spain and into Europe where the costs vastly outweighed the benefits of conquest and thus the Battle of Tours in present day France where a ragtag, tired and underarmed Islamic army faced off against a comparatively small European army and lost. It simply becomes too expensive to proceed into these lands when many werent desirable; why have the extreme heat and humidity of south India when you have the cooler steppes and shores of the Peninsula. Similarly, why proceed into rainy and cold France when you have the southern shores of Spain?

This answer I do not feel does the subject justice and I could write a book on the matter. But thats my short and horribly generalized answer.