Title: Europe through Arab eyes, 1578-1727
First published: 2008
Description: "Traveling to archives in Tunisia, Morocco, France, and England, with visits to Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, and Spain, Nabil Matar assembles a rare history of Europe's rise to power as seen through the eyes of those who were later subjugated by it. Many historians of the Middle East believe Arabs and Muslims had no interest in Europe during this period of Western discovery and empire, but in fact these groups were very much engaged with the naval and industrial development, politics, and trade of European Christendom." "Beginning in 1578 with a major Moroccan victory over a Portuguese invading army, Matar surveys this early modern period, in which Europeans and Arabs often shared common political, commercial, and military goals. Matar concentrates on how Muslim captives, ransomers, traders, envoys, travelers, and rulers pursued those goals while transmitting to the nonprint cultures of North Africa their knowledge of the peoples and societies of Spain, France, Britain, Holland, Italy, and Malta. From the first non-European description of Queen Elizabeth I to early accounts of Florence and Pisa in Arabic, from Tunisian descriptions of the Morisco expulsion in 1609 to the letters of a Moroccan Armenian ambassador in London, the translations of the book's second half draw on the popular and elite sources that were available to Arabs in the early modern period." "Matar notes that the Arabs of the Maghrib and the Mashriq were eager to engage Christendom, despite wars and rivalries, and hoped to establish routes of trade and alliances through treaties and royal marriages. However, the rise of an intolerant and exclusionary Christianity and the explosion of European military technology brought these advances to an end. In conclusion, Matar details the decline of Arab-Islamic power and the rise of Britain and France."--Jacket.
Subjects: Arab Foreign public opinion, Sources, Relations, Foreign public opinion, Arab, Attitudes, History, Arabs, foreign countries, Europe, history, 1492-1648, Europe, history, 1648-1789, Arabs, European economic community countries, relations, Arab countries, history, 1517-1918, Europe, history, 17th century, Arab countries, relations, foreign countries, Europe, relations, foreign countries, Arabs--attitudes, Ds63.2.e8 m38 2009, 303.48/24017492709032, World, Middle eastern, General, Social sciences -> history -> world civilization, English & college success -> english -> literary criticism, Social sciences -> history -> middle eastern history, Social sciences -> history -> european history
Places: Arab countries, Arabs, Europe
Time periods: 1517-1918, 17th century
LC classification: DS63.2.E8 M38 2008