ABSTRACT
The specifically maritime history of Muslims during the eleventh through fifteenth centuries is substantial but seems at first glance to defy the political history which is so firmly attached to land. Sketches of imperial history, given in this chapter, reveal both disinterest in maritime affairs and significant interconnections between land and sea. The Asian maritime expansion of Islamic commerce and society was brought about in a variety of ways conveyed in this chapter: foreign Muslim merchants enjoyed positions of privilege in China’s ports under the early Yuan dynasty; independent merchants relocated far distances from Islamic centers of power and established networks among themselves; Muslim-dominated port towns enacted policies to cultivate and dominate regional trade.
