1300 Years of Islamic History in 3 Minutes
by Gaius Publius
Several years ago I had the opportunity to travel in Egypt. While there I hired a guide, a really well-informed man named Hussam, who walked and drove with me through Cairo and the region, showing Muslim sites and telling his nation’s Muslim history.
I’d never heard a word of that history till then. What on earth was the “Umayyad Caliphate”? Who were the Abbasids? It became obvious there was a huge hole in my sense of history. I knew more about the Chinese world — at least I’d heard of the Mings and Mongols — than I did about the region America is determined to burn its future in. (Literally “burn its future” — it’s still about unmonetized carbon emissions, right?)
So let’s begin to correct that together, starting with this cool video I found at Juan Cole’s Informed Comment. “1300 Years of Islamic History in 3 Minutes” … enjoy.
A good place to get oriented relative to European history: As the video starts, the Byzantine Empire sits strong in the upper left corner. Watch as it gets swallowed, piece by piece. And keep your eye on the white box with the date. It sometimes contains other information as well.
GP
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