The New Cambridge History of Islam: Volume 2, The Western Islamic World, Eleventh to Eighteenth Centuries

A history of the Western Islamic lands from the eleventh to the eighteenth centuries.

Leading scholars in the field chart the rise and fall, and the political and religious developments, of the various independent ruling dynasties of the Western Islamic lands from the eleventh to the eighteenth centuries. The volume concludes with an in-depth analysis of state building, conversation, finance, education and the military.Volume 2 of The New Cambridge History of Islam is devoted to the history of the Western Islamic lands from the political fragmentation of the eleventh century to the beginnings of European colonialism towards the end of the eighteenth century. The volume embraces a vast area from al-Andalus and North Africa to Arabia and the lands of the Ottomans. In the first four sections, scholars – all leaders in their particular fields - chart the rise and fall, and explain the political and religious developments, of the various independent ruling dynasties across the region, including famously the Almohads, the Fatimids and Mamluks, and, of course, the Ottomans. The final section of the volume explores the commonalities and continuities that united these diverse and geographically disparate communities, through in-depth analyses of state formation, conversion, taxation, scholarship and the military.