First, both religions entered Africa through trade routes, and the both had some lasting significance in East Africa. Islam and Christianity both also ended up gaining more significance than traditional African religions. For example, Islam’s influence over most of the North half of the continent ended up unifying city states and groups under one religion, and gave rise to massive population centers with education being highly valued, such as in Timbuktu. Similarly, Christianity allowed Ethiopia to have a stable history due to the fact that religion did not change much from
Another thing was that Islam promoted more equalitarian social arrangements that were new and attractive to the Indians. West Africa, experienced both the cultural influence of Islam and its own internal state building, for example, it civilizations had new developments that produced, in some places, great artistic accomplishments. In Africa, the spread of Islam empowered many things. For one Islam provided new influences and contacts without uniting the African cultures The spread of Islam across much of the northern third of Africa produced intense effects on those who converted and those who were against the new faith. Islam also linked Africa more closely to the outside world through trade, religion, and politics.
Mineral wealth flowed out of Moroë and luxury goods in Arabia and India flowed in When Roman Empire thrived, trans-Saharan route revived as one of the most important trading routes connecting Africa and Eurasia. During the days of this era, Africa supplied Italy with gold and wild animals, and Rome supplied luxury goods and some of the techniques from scientific product to city-building. The major change of functioning of trans-Saharan route was brought about by the use of the domesticated camel and the development of camel saddle. some camel bones have been found recently in the Senegal valley helped archeologist assume that the use of camel dates back to 300 A.D. Guide by Berber, which have begun in trade between northern Africa and kingdom of Ghana in about 500 A.D also helped the route thrive, ensuring safe trade passage. [ Through this development, the usage of trans-Saharan routes increased, and enabled Eurasian people to contact more often with southern Africa.
Sub-Saharan Africa had much longer exposure to Islamic culture influences than to European cultural influences. Scholars and merchants learned to use the Arabic language to communicate with visiting North Africans and to read the Quran. Islamic beliefs and practices as well as Islamic legal and administrative systems were prominent in African trading cities on the southern edge of the Saharan and on the Swahili coast. During the three and a half centuries of contact between Europe and Africa before 1800, Africans yielded minimal territory to Europeans. Local African kings scrutinized the European trading posts that they permitted along the Gold and Slave Coasts and collected profitable rents and fees from these traders and merchants.
Islam in South Africa Over the years, Islam has expanded around the world. Many people discovered Islam by seeing it and know how it is a nice religion. Islamic migrations have a perfect effect and a big print around the countries. This print, made an awesome picture about it so most of the humans saw that it is a nice religion by the nice picture about it. The migrations that we know it in Islam called Hijrat.
Although there are differences between the Arab people from Morocco to the Persian Gulf, Arab people enjoy a common bond of history, culture and tradition. It was in the Arab world where people first developed the system of writing; scientific advances were also developed. Rich cultures like Ancient Egypt, Assyria and Babylonia began in this region. The Arab culture has had many influences but Islam has shaped the culture like no other. The message of Islam appeared for the first time in the Arabian Peninsula in the early seventh century, and soon the faith expanded across North Africa, the entire Middle East and extended to the borders of China.
Access to commodities such as fabrics, spices, and gold motivated a European quest for a faster means to reach South Asia. It was this search that led the Portuguese down the coast of West Africa to Sierra Leone in 1460. Due to several technological and cultural advantages, Portugal dominated world trade for nearly 200 years, from the fifteenth to the sixteenth centuries. While, in the fifteenth century, the rest of Europe was decimated by the Black Plague, Portugal was protected by its physical isolation. Additionally, Portugal had an unusually strong national identity, due to its natural geographic borders, allowing the pooling of the considerable economic resources necessary to fund these ambitious explorations.
Most forms of coastal art in East Africa are characterized by geometric patterns and bold, vibrant lively designs (an influence from the Islamic cultural faith and arts) This was brought upon by the trade in Africa, whereby some of the fist settlers in the coastal regions were Arabs, bringing with them their Islamic influences in terms of architecture and design. Parts of Mombasa, a coastal town in Kenya are now referred to as ‘Old Town’, and are host to many ruins of the Muslim world such as ‘Fort Jesus’. The town consists of mosques once heavily adorned in intricate designs, but now old and un-kept remain as reminders of what they once were. After the defeat of the Portuguese, the Omani Arabs controlled the coast of East Africa (1697-1888), and it is this Arabic influence that can be traced around Mombasa town. Old town for example is renowned for its impressive carved doors.
Ashwin Naglla HIST 3704 Professor Azimi November 10, 2010 Quran: Significance in the Lives of Muslims As early Arab conquerors spread Islam outside of Arabia, they established an expansive and rich culture. Islamic civilization soon encompassed the core Middle East and spread west to Spain and as far east to the Indus River. The Islamic world developed a common culture highly influenced by the Quran. This holy book was the root of many social and cultural norms in the lives of Muslims historically and today, including treatment of false beliefs and equality between men and women. The Quran says a lot about treatment of false belief.
Such contacts promote widespread sharing of cultures. I agree that Western domination of the worldwide mass media is a huge influence the West has on many different cultures today. However, Western influence on the rest of the world’s cultures is actually rooted in the 19th century. Western domination of areas all over the globe left behind a legacy of Western customs and ideas. Western languages are spoken throughout the world, mainly because of Europe’s history of colonization in the Americas, Asia, and Africa.