Tropical Africa
and Asia,
1200-1500
By: John Ermer
AP World History
Miami Beach Senior High
Miami-Dade County Public
Schools
The Tropics
 Muslim
world stretched from Spain to India and
to southeast Asia, and southern Eurasia to SubSaharan Africa
 Sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia share
religious and geographic similarities
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Arabic, Islam, tropical weather, monsoons
Ibn-Battuta travels through Muslim world
 Tropical
climates present difficulties, and many
different cultures emerge throughout the tropics
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Hunting and gathering
Biological changes among population (Pygmys)
Animal domestication
Water control & irrigation
 Delhi
 Mineral
Sultinate (1206-1526) canal system/dry season
wealth
Monsoons
Ibn Battuta
Tropical Islam

Mali (Bilad al-sudan)

Founded by Africans who earlier converted to Islam
Mostly learned of Islam through trade, not force
 Islam appealed to poor (alms) and leaders (military, admin)
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Grew rich through Sub-Saharan trade/gold
Sundiata leads Malinke people to victory, founds Mali
Mansa Musa’s pilgrimage to Mecca, gold & edu.
Mansa Suleiman & Ibn-Battuta’s travels
Sultanate of Delhi (India)

Turkish Muslims easily defeat small Indian states

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Eventually recognized as official by caliph, pacified
Some sultans tolerant, most used terror to control land

Muslim infighting and Hindu challenges end Delhi Sultanate

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Bahmani Empire (Muslim)
Vijayanager Empire (Hindu)
Timbuktu
Indian Ocean

1200: Indian Ocean=world’s richest trade zone
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Western trade made on dhows (Indian ships)
Eastern trade made on junks (Chinese ships)
Swahili Africa & Zimbabwe (Sawahil al-sudan)
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Arab and Iranian merchants establish trade on Swahili
Coast looking for gold
Trading towns and economies emerge on east coast
Gold came from Great Zimbabwe
Inland kingdom on plateau south of Zambezi River
 Declined due to ecological disaster


Aden

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The Malabar Coast and Gujarat
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Rich and tolerant trading post in South Arabia
Grows rich from exporting cotton and indigo West
Large textile manufacturing center
Malacca
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Main port city between Indian Ocean & South China Sea
Cosmopolitan city
Cultural Changes
 Growth
of noble and slave populations
 Swahili mosques combine local materials with
Middle Eastern architectural styles
 Hindu architecture influences mosque designs
 Islam spreads literacy in Africa & Asia
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Urdu Persian influenced Hindi literature
Arabic speaking Quarnic schools in Timbuktu
 Status
of Hindu women rise, but harems abound
 Tropical women produce most of the farm work
 Converting to Islam gave women more rights

Not all Arab social norms followed Islam, some nonArab Muslim women had more rights than Arab
women