26 chapter one
of nomad raids beyond the limits of their steppeland.83 only when gath-
ered in greater than usual numbers, and tightly bound together, did the
Bedouin, and the pastoralist Mongols, have the necessary strength to pour
forth from the deserts of arabia, or from the Mongol steppe, in an irresist-
ible tide that swept across the areas of the older civilisations.
Furthermore, these new forms of organisation, with their universalist
tendencies, allowed the conquerors to incorporate the conquered into
their ranks, meaning that there was in theory no limit to the growth of
Mongol and arab military growth, gathering strength like an avalanche.
the invaders from the arabian peninsula and from Mongolia chose
the same targets in asia once they had put some distance between them-
selves and the poor living conditions of their home regions, aiming for the
same great centres on the Silk road. In a short time the Muslims, like the
Mongols after them,84 had conquered the greater part of the long-distance
trade networks.85 once expansion had ground to a halt and there was no
more booty to reward warriors for their exertions or other servants for
their deeds, the caliphs, just like the chinggisid khans, were forced to find
new resources to maintain the apparatus of state.
Given this necessity, it became an absolute priority to revive long-
distance trade.86 this pressing need led both the arab and the Mongol
rulers to do everything in their power to serve the interests of the mer-
chants, given that these were fundamentally their own interests as well.87
as a result, commerce developed in step with the internal organisation of
these two empires, both able to ensure appropriate law and order and the
necessary infrastructure for trade over vast areas. early in their histories,
both states took shape as large realms where trade routes linked islands
of urban exchange.88
of cardinal importance for the whole economic, political and cultural
history of the Islamic states and of the Mongol Khanates was their geo-
graphical position, whereby they controlled trade on an intercontinental
83 cf. Voegelin, “orders,” passim; rachewiltz, “remarks,” pp. 21–36; ratchnevsky, Cinggis-
Khan, pp. 82–92.
84 cf. chapter 2.1.
85 nazmi, Relations, p. 57: “World trade came under arab control.”
86 Ibid., p. 212: trade was “in the primal position of the economic life in the Muslim
societies.”
87 Ibid., p. 48: “Generally, we can say that Islam established rules in the interest of
the merchants.”; p. 54: several of the towns were founded to serve clear commercial
purposes.
88 Ibid., p. 61.