Part I: Map analysis- Trade routes at 750.
Read the description above the map
Use the map and the description to answer the questions
Sources: Desmond Stewart and the Editors of Time­Life Books, Great Ages of Man: Early Islam, Time­Life Books Map created by various sources By the middle of the sixth century...Mecca was...prosperous and important. First, it was at the
crossroads of the lucrative caravan trade. Vast camel trains, bearing spices, perfumes,
precious metals, ivory and silk, filed through the town, headed north on the way from
Yemen...to the markets of Syria, and headed east from the Red Sea across the desert from
Iraq. Adding to the profits from caravans was a brisk pilgrimage trade, for Mecca was the site
of Arabia’s holiest pagan shrine [the Ka’ba].
Map analysis:
1. Muhammad was born in the year 570. This is also the year shown on the map. Why
do you think the map makers chose that year?
2. Name three cities that are easy to reach by trade routes from Mecca.
3. Two empires are shown on the map. What is their relationship to the Arabian
Peninsula?
4. Name four areas these trade routes went to that are outside the boundaries of this
map.
5. Judging from both the map and the description above the map, why was Mecca a trade
center for the Arabian Peninsula?
6. How does these pieces of evidence explain why Islam might have spread so quickly?
Part II: Map analysis- Muslim World at 1200
Important vocabulary you need to know to answer the questions:
Caliph- leader
Caliphate- empire
1. Compare the first map to the second. What do you notice about the Byzantine and
Sassanian Empires?
2. Around what year did each of the following cities come under Muslim control?
A. Mecca
B. Jerusalem
C. Damascus
D. Alexandria
E. Cordoba
3. How many years passed from the time the Islamic Empires conquered Mecca to Cordoba?
4. Why does this tell you about the Islamic Empires?
5. Once characteristic of an empire is that it governs diverse people. How does this map
support the claim that the caliphates governed an empire?
6. The Umayyad Caliphate ruled until 750. They moved the capital of the empire from Mecca
to Damascus. Why did the Umayyads think Damascus was a better location?
7. After the fall of the Umayyad Caliphate, the Abbasid Caliphate ruled from 750 to 1258 .
They moved the capital to Baghdad. Why do you think they thought Baghdad was a good
location for their capital?
8. Synthesis: The Abbasid Caliphate is considered the Golden Age of the Islamic Empires. Based on these two maps, why do you think the Abbasids were able to establish a Golden Age?