Dbq Islamic Empires

The Islamic empire were undoubtedly affected by the gradual shift towards trade routes that bypassed their lands. For the most part the effects were negative that led to a decline in wealth as well as prestige of these Islamic empires. Conversely the new trade routes did allow agriculture to benefit because there was a spread of new crops. Similarly, merchants in the Islamic Empire contrived new was to take advantage of the new bustling European trade. Furthermore, two factors were instrumental in diminishing the preeminence of the Islamic Empires. These factors include European rivalry for trade in the Indian ocean, the amount of presence Britain had in India. Additionally, ingenuity on the part of the Islamic merchants did lead to some albeit small benefits to the Islamic empires. With attention to each of these factors in a more thorough fashion we can see both the negative positive effects that gradual shift towards bypassing trade routes had on these Islamic empires.

First, let us examine how European rivalry for trade in the Indian ocean affected the Islamic empires.
For example, India trade was greatly augmented by European trade which, in effect helped India’s merchants and by extension India’s economy. So much so, that many Indian merchants amassed massive fortunes. The way in which they grew in wealth was through a method called the “domestic” system which would later be adopted by the English. To further emphasize how much trade in India had exploded, Akbar was compelled to launch wide scale road building in order to easier facilitate trade. Similarly, the Armenian merchants of the Safavid Empire greatly benefited form European trade. In particular, was their trade of Persian silk which, was highly sought after. In fact, the Armenian merchants were so adept at long distance trade they were able to auspiciously operate in European dominated