POLS 3060 Chapter Week 1-5: POLS 3060 Required Readings

• School: University of Guelph
• Department: Political Science
• Course: POLS 3060
• Professor: Janine Clark

Document Summary

Part one: the history of state formation in the region. Chapter 1: the making of the modern middle east. The modern middle east emerged as a result of social, cultural, and political transformations that affected the region stretching roughly from morocco to the persian. It was the west that eventually labeled the region the middle east - created a sense of identification across the region, underpinned by notions of a common past, religion, and/or culture. The formation of this common identity begins roughly with the spread of islam in the 7th century ce. Islam spread remarkably quickly in the early period, establishing large empires, converting populations to islam, and spreading arabic language and culture. The abbasid, umayyad, and later the ottoman, safavid, and qajar empires extended across a vast territory, stretching from north africa to the gulf. By the 18th century, the two major political entities in the middle east, the ottoman.