The collapse of the eastern Mediterranean
Subtitle: climate change and the decline of the East, 950-1072
By: Ronnie Ellenblum
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 2012
Place of publication: Cambridge
Language: eng
Number of pages: 284
ISBN-13: 9781107023352
Subjects: Climate and civilization; Climate; Climatic changes; Mediterranean climate; HISTORY / Europe / General; Social change; History
Description: "As a 'Medieval Warm Period' prevailed in Western Europe during the tenth and eleventh centuries, the eastern Mediterranean region, from the Nile to the Oxus, was suffering from a series of climatic disasters which led to the decline of some of the most important civilisations and cultural centres of the time. This provocative study argues that many well-documented but apparently disparate events - such as recurrent drought and famine in Egypt, mass migrations in the steppes of central Asia, and the decline in population in urban centres such as Baghdad and Constantinople - are connected and should be understood within the broad context of climate change. Drawing on a wealth of textual and archaeological evidence, Ronnie Ellenblum explores the impact of climatic and ecological change across the eastern Mediterranean in this period, to offer a new perspective on why this was a turning point in the history of the Islamic world"--
Notes: Includes bibliographical references.
Table of contents: title: Machine generated contents note: Part I. The Collapse of the Eastern Mediterranean: 1. Presenting the events; 2. Deconstructing a 'collapse'; 3. 950-1027 - An impending disaster; Part II. Regional Domino Effects in the Eastern Mediterranean, 1027-60 AD: 4. The collapse of Iran; 5. The fall of Baghdad; 6. A crumbling empire: the Pechenegs and the decimation of Byzantium; 7. Egypt and its provinces, 1050s-1070s; Part III. Cities and Minorities: 8. Jerusalem and the decline of classical cities; 9. Water supply, declining cities and deserted villages; 10. Food crises and accelerated Islamization; 11. Reflections.