Description |
1 online resource (xii, 214 pages) : maps |
Series |
Cambridge studies in Islamic civilisation |
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Cambridge studies in Islamic civilization.
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Contents |
Cover; Half-title; Series-title; Title; Copyright; Dedication; Contents; Maps; Acknowledgements; Abbreviations; Introduction; Part I The pre-Islamic background; Chapter 1 Pre-Islamic postal systems; Part II Conquest and centralisation -- the Arabs; Chapter 2 al-Barid: the early Islamic postal system; Chapter 3 Diwan al-Barid: the Middle Abbasid period; Part III Conquest and centralisation -- the Mongols; Chapter 4 The Mongol Yam and its legacy; Chapter 5 The Mamluk Barid; Conclusions; Appendix: distances and speeds of the Barid; Bibliography; Index |
Summary |
"Adam Silverstein's book offers an account of the official methods of communication employed in the Near East from pre-Islamic times through the Mamluk period. Postal systems were set up by rulers in order to maintain control over vast tracts of land. These systems, invented centuries before steam-engines or cars, enabled the swift circulation of different commodities - from letters, people and horses to exotic fruits and ice. As the correspondence transported often included confidential reports from a ruler's provinces, such postal systems doubled as espionage-networks through which news reached the central authorities quickly enough to allow a timely reaction to events. The book sheds light not only on the role of communications technology in Islamic history, but also on how nomadic culture contributed to empire-building in the Near East. This is a contribution to the history of pre-modern communications systems in the Near Eastern world." |
Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 194-208) and index |
Notes |
Print version record |
Subject |
Postal service -- Middle East -- History -- To 1500
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Communication -- Middle East -- History -- To 1500
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Islamic civilization.
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BUSINESS & ECONOMICS -- Commerce.
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Civilization
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Communication
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Islamic civilization
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Postal service
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Post
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SUBJECT |
Middle East -- Civilization.
http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85090502
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Subject |
Middle East
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Naher Osten
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Genre/Form |
History
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Form |
Electronic book
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ISBN |
0511289693 |
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9780511289699 |
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9780511290299 |
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0511290292 |
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9780511497520 |
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0511497520 |
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9780521147613 |
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0521147611 |
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