HIME 201

The Middle East to 1800

This class will offer an overview of the history of the Middle East from the rise of Islam to 1800. The first part will focus on the classical age of Islam, the articulation of the religion, its expansion, and the formation of the first Muslim dynasties (Umayyads, Abbasids). We will pay a particular attention to cultural interactions between the indigenous (Christian, Zoroastrian, Jewish) and the Arab/Islamic cultures in the formation of an Islamicate civilization.

The second part will of this class will discuss the fragmentation of the Ababsid empire, the rise of local dynasties, and the impact of Turkic military and political rule over the societies and polities in the Middle East. The Mongol invasions of the thirteenth century was a turning point that paved the way for the rise of the Ottomans.

The final part of this class will examine the rise and axpansion of the Ottoamn empire in the Middle East, N. Africa, and the Balkans. We will also compare the Ottoman empire with another gun powder empire, the Safavids of Iran.

Throughout this class, we will consider not only political history, but the impact of economic, social and cultural changes on the societies and polities of the Midlde East. We will include primary sources in English translation as well as audio- visual material.

Requirements: Midterm, Final, Paper

Books

A. Hourani, Arabs in History

M. Hodgson, The Venture of Islam, vol. 2

W. McNeill and M. Walmann , The Islamic History

C. Finkel, Osman's Dream