I was in the Royal Ontario Museum this past Saturday and was viewing the late-medieval armors of the Safavid, Mughal, and Ottoman armies. I noticed that they all seemed to utilize the (from what I understand) more old-fashioned chain mail (as well as the "eggshell" spiked helmet, spear, scimitar, and small shield) rather than the plate mail that European knights were famed to use.
Why is this so? Did they not have the metallurgical knowledge to do so? Was it not suitable to their style of battle? I know the Ottomans fought with Europeans successfully and extensively; did they find an advantage in using such armors?
Thanks
Why did plate armor not catch on in Muslim, or for that matter any non-European lands?
You start by talking specifically about the Middle-East, but then extrapolate to any non-European country. I just wanted to clear up that Japan, at the very least, developed plate mail very early.
The earliest form of Japanese plate mail, tankō (短甲), came around in the 4th century. Here is an example of an early specimen on Wikipedia from the Tokyo National Museum. I can't seem to find any images, but at their most primitive, Japanese "plate mail" could literally be two iron plates--round, or square, plates--worn in front and in back of the torso, tied together with leather or ribbon.
Over the next few centuries, Japanese armors eventually evolved into what most of us recognize as samurai armor, consisting of hundreds of tiny iron plates tied overlapping each other, much like scales. Although this isn't exactly European-style plate-mail, it should have functioned similarly--the iron "scales" were overlapping, so warriors' torsos were essentially covered completely (no gaps like chain mail) by iron. edit: Lithpa says this isn't true. See this post.
In fact plate armour was exported for the middle east and for Japan. Many of the eastern armours also involved large plate pieces similar to European ones, especially after the XV-th century. That said, armour is related to the paradigm in which it was used. Many eastern armies relied a lot on horse archers and fast mobile squads. In such cases the armour can actually become an enchumbrance. And then there is just fashion
