Units: 3Explores the history of the region from the rise of Islam to the eighteenth century. Emphasizes the social and cultural background and circumstances of the rise of Islam; the formation and development of the early caliphate; the rise of Islamic successor states; the age of Ottoman and Safavid “gunpowder” empires; forms of cultural expression, such as art and literature; the role of women and ethnic and religious minorities, and the integration of the Middle East into an emerging world system.
