Islam. 11 1rule discovered that the Muslims controlled the high seas,
and that when they left their own lands they had to confront
Islamdom. Even when the European navigators made their
astonishing discoveries in the late fifteenth and early six-
teenth centuries, they could not dislodge the Muslims from
the seaways. Islam seemed invincible, and now Muslims were
ready to establish new empires, which would become the
most powerful and up-to-date in the world.