Podcast Episodes
Back to Search
Crossing the Atlantic
Season 2
With the fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans in 1453, Europeans found themselves forced to deal with Muslim middlemen to access the prized goods o…
2 years, 9 months ago
The Safavid Empire
Season 2
The establishment of the Safavid state under Shah Ismail I in 1501 was followed by rapid territorial expansion, but conflict between factions of the …
2 years, 9 months ago
The Ottoman Empire
Season 2
The Ottoman Empire was one of the most diverse political entities of its time. Sultans such as Suleiman I encouraged people of all ethnicities to set…
2 years, 9 months ago
A Connected Islamic World
Season 2
By the sixteenth century, the religion of Islam had spread far beyond its point of origin in Southwest Asia. Islamic communities, large empires, and …
2 years, 9 months ago
The Trans-Saharan Slave Trade
Season 2
Kanem-Bornu, which dominated Central Sudan and maintained an active caravan trade with the states of North Africa in the thirteenth century, was dest…
2 years, 9 months ago
The Swahili Coast
Season 2
City-states on the east coast of Africa grew in size and prosperity as they took advantage of wind patterns to participate in Indian Ocean trade. The…
2 years, 9 months ago
The Songhai Empire
Season 2
The basis of the Songhai Empire’s wealth was much the same as for the kingdoms that preceded it: salt, cloth, and gold. Sunni Ali’s program of annexa…
2 years, 9 months ago
The Roots of African Trade
Season 2
Until the sixteenth century, caravans routinely plied the sands of the Sahara, moving goods, especially gold, from distant West Africa to centers of …
2 years, 10 months ago
Exchange in East Asia
Season 2
East Asia was drawn into the network of global maritime trade in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The Portuguese and Spanish arrived in Japan…
2 years, 10 months ago
The Malacca Sultanate
Season 2
The Malaccan Sultanate was established around 1400 by Parameswara, the last king of Singapura. The city’s location on both sides of the Malaccan Stra…
2 years, 10 months ago