Muslim Influence in the Age of Discovery: More then you may have thought

by

Alfie Cucuzella
Hist 392

In hearing the words Islam or Muslim, images come to mind. For

most people that don't know much about the Islamic culture, terrorism and

radical views are at the forefront. What many people don't realize is

that Islam has had a very important impact on the development of the

European culture, especially in the age of discovery. The movement of

Islam directly and indirectly affected European expansion out of the

confines of medieval Europe. The movement and incursion brought upon the

development of new technology and new thinking into Christian lands. What

I hope you get from reading this is that you get a better understanding at

what influence Islam has had on the age of discovery.

Christian Europe through much of the early part of this millennia

has always been plagued by the Islamic "menace". Both are very similar in

that the are missionary religions, both seeing each other as a principle

rival to each other's views. Ever since the Islamic expansion into the

areas around the Mediterranean, Islam was the rival, the neighbor, and

often the enemy of Christendom. (1) This rivalry broke down into many

parts. The rivalries were from faith, greed and the most prevalent reason

for this was fear.

Islamic expansion into Europe began in the seventh century and

continued until the Turks were beat back from Vienna in 1683. This

constant movement into Europe brought an excitability along with it, which

pushed the Europeans to guard themselves from Islam. Many of the Islamic

expansions took Christian lands with it Egypt, Syria, Palestine, and North

Africa all once were under the Christian umbrella. Also the Muslim

influence covered Spain, Portugal, Southern Italy, and parts of France.

This influence on western European soil lasted 800 years until the fall of

Granada in 1492. (6)

The expulsion of the Muslims from Iberia was the biggest turning

point in the age of discovery. A united Portugal pushed the Muslims out

in the thirteenth century. After the successful elimination of Muslims in

Portugal, the Portuguese looked overseas for conquest. In 1415 with the

capturing of the Islamic city of Ceuta in Northern Africa was the

beginning of European expansion. This one city sparked the Portuguese

push in western Africa. (4) They could now tap into the lucrative Saharan

gold trade. This became a staging area for other Portuguese conquests

into Africa. This conquest opened up an enterprise that they were never

able to compete in before. (3) The influence of Muslim expansion in Iberia

prompted the Iberians to take the fight across the Mediterranean and into

Africa. Ramon Llull, one of the theoreticians of the Christian war

against the Islamic forces said, in the thirteenth century, that it would

be necessary to carry the war beyond the Strait of Gibraltar to the other

side. (1) This was the driving idea of the conquering armies.

Spain under the Castillian influence of King Ferdinad and Queen

Isabella also began similar movements against the Muslims. The Muslims

colonized much of Spain during their long stay in the Iberian Peninsula.

With the colonization, Muslim ideas and culture became part of native

Iberian thinking. Three hundred years before the European Renaissance,

the Muslim Renaissance began in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. Their

new thinking can be seen in the Spanish and Portuguese push out of Europe.

Europe under Muslim influence never fully experienced the dark ages as the

rest of Europe. (7) They gained ideas, which were different, then other

parts in Europe. Ideas such as the possibility going west you might be

able to get to the east, for a quicker way to the Spice Islands and the

notion of profit were gained from the Muslim influence. Columbus

witnessed the fall of the last Muslim stronghold in Iberia at Granada only

months before his historic voyage. This was said to have made an impact

on him to find riches to undermine Muslim trade. (7)

On the other side of the Mediterranean a different influence was

taking place. An economic influence held the Venetians in check. Since

the tenth century the Venetians have been the dominant merchants and naval

presence in the Mediterranean. This changed with the rising power of the

Ottoman Turks. The Venetians enjoyed a very profitable trading business,

their trading post stretched into the Black sea then to Palestine and up

to Britain and to the shores of West Africa. During the Crusades of the

tenth through twelfth centuries, the Venetians stayed somewhat neutral.

They were slow to rally behind the Pope against the fear of losing their

Islamic trading partners. (2) Only entering after the Christians had taken

Jerusalem. This neutrality continued until a rising new power began to

shift the balance of power in the area.

These trading routes were lost to Turkish Muslims in the

fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The Ottomans created a navy that

rivaled and eventually took over the Venetians. The economic squeeze that

the Muslims placed on the Venetians was in the beginning a very gradual

process. Pushing their way into the Venetian controlled markets. (2)

Eventually completely pushing the Venetians out of their long established

trade routes. With the loss of their business, many Venetian and other

Italian sailors looked towards Iberia for profit. Sailors, navigators,

ship builders, all out of work moved into Iberia. With the beginning of

exploration in Western Europe, they could find work. (2)

The fall of Constantinople in 1453, to the Muslims was a crushing

blow to European business. This cut Christian Europe completely off from

the Silk route that ran through the city. Pushing many of the new

merchant class into poverty or forcing them to move to places more

profitable. The former merchants of Florence and Venice began placing

much of their money in the sponsoring of Iberian voyages of exploration.

(2) Portugal and Spain began to attempt to find away around the Muslim

monopoly on spices, silks, and other Far Eastern commodities. Europeans

wanted to get out of the Muslim pincers that held Europe from the East and

south. (1) This is what Columbus was looking for, a direct route to the

Spice Islands. He was sailing to find away around the Muslim held lands.

Their attempt was to cut out the middleman and directly control the

production of the needed commodities. Vasco da Gama, on is trip around

southern Africa was commented on saying he was looking for "Christians and

Spices." This was the reason for many of the discoveries, one for profit

and the other to find allies against the Muslims. (4)

As you can see the Muslim influence was certainly a great force in

making Europe what it is today. Its influence may not have been on the

good side, but it made the Europeans move out and explore foreign lands.

It forced the Europeans to grow economically and militarily. The Muslim

influence affected Christendom an all sides culturally, economically, and

technological. In hearing about many explorers and their discoveries, the

driving force was this underlying influence of the Muslim presence.

Works Cited

(2) Thubron, Colin The Venetians, Time-Life Books, Alexandra VA 1980

(1) Bernard, Lewis Clash of Culture, Oxford University Press, 1995

(3) Duffy, Portugal in Africa, Harvard University Press, 1962

(4) Chilcote, Ronald Portuguese Africa Prentice-Hall, 1967

(5) Madagan, Michael The City of Constantinople, Fredrick A. Prager Inc.

1968

(6) Read, Jan The Moors in Spain and Portugal, Rowman and Littlefeild,

1974

(7) Taggie, Benjamin F. and Clement Richard (edited) Iberia and The

Mediterranean, Central Missouri State University Printing Services 1995