Urban Autonomy in Medieval Islam : Damascus, Aleppo, Cordoba, Toledo, Valencia and Tunis
Urban Autonomy in Medieval Islam :
Damascus, Aleppo, Cordoba, Toledo, Valencia and Tunis
by Fukuzo Amabe
English | 2016 | ISBN: 9004310266 | 236 Pages | PDF | 2.2 MB
Damascus, Aleppo, Cordoba, Toledo, Valencia and Tunis
by Fukuzo Amabe
English | 2016 | ISBN: 9004310266 | 236 Pages | PDF | 2.2 MB
In Urban Autonomy in Medieval Islam Fukuzo Amabe offers the first in-depth study on autonomous cities in medieval Islam stretching from Aleppo to Toledo.
It has been assumed that Western Europe was the only area to develop autonomous cities, virtually independent of large- or medium-sized monarchies, in which citizen-notables were normally power-holders. However, the Middle East was the first area to develop cities and then empires. The Islamic World with its extension to Gujarat and the Konkan coast in western India was the first to transform ‘political and farmer cities’ of ancient origin to economic and commercial-industrial cities, followed by China and then parts of Western Europe. This book is a modest attempt to rectify the traditional view, showing that not a few Muslim cities were virtually autonomous, albeit mostly of short duration, after the collapse of traditional large-sized states.