the three empires and the islamic phoenix 299although some succeeded in occupying Baghdad for a decade or so,
Iraq returned as a province of the Ottomans (ibid.). The strong link
between the Shì"ah regime in the flafawìd Empire, now Iran, and
the Shì"ah holy shrines and population in Iraq has always presented
a dilemma in war and peace until today. The strategic importance
of Iraq never ceased. Lying on the trade route between West and East,
Iraq was of a particular interest to the English East India Company
in the early seventeenth century, and having the second largest oil
reserve in the world, after Saudi Arabia, Iraq has recently become
of particular interest to the world at large.
The Discovery of the Cape of Good Hope
The discovery of the Cape of Good Hope added a further reason for
the economic decay of the Ottoman Empire. Although the discovery
of the Cape (1498) and the advance of the Portuguese and other
European nations into the Indian Ocean was beneficial to Europeans,
it had its negative effect on the trade route that was running through
the Arab eastern states. It diverted part of the European trade that had
for centuries pursued its routes through land in the north and the Red
Sea in the south, to another route outside the Islamic world. The
Muslims’ spice trade, for example, was severely damaged by European
competition, which had the opportunity to channel these valuable
products from the very source of production without having to pass
through the Islamic world (Raymond, 1981). The new route had
substituted the Portuguese for Muslims in the international trade.
Other provinces in the Empire suffered similar effect, as Islamic lands
were commercially avoided. Furthermore, the discovery of America
in 1492 shifted the centre of the universe westward. All had led to
undesirable economic effect on the Islamic world. It was three and
half centuries later that the route of the Cape of Good Hope was
to face sever competition when the Suez Canal was opened in 1869.
Only then, the Red Sea, which was once the centre of trade, came
back to life.
The Western Commercial and Political Influence
The Western influence in the Ottoman Empire began with marked
commercial, cultural and intellectual penetration of the Islamic world,
which was the inherited consequences of the Crusades. Although the
Crusades led to unfavourable political and military results, they helped