Postal systems in the pre-modern Islamic world / Adam J. Silverstein.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Silverstein, Adam J., author.

Series:

Cambridge studies in Islamic civilization.

Cambridge studies in Islamic civilization

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Communication and traffic--Middle East--History--To 1500.

Communication and traffic.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xii, 214 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2007.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Adam Silverstein's book offers a fascinating 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 long-awaited contribution to the history of pre-modern communications systems in the Near Eastern world.

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

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).

Includes bibliographical references (p. 194-208) and index.

ISBN:

1-107-17735-9

1-280-91710-5

9786610917105

0-511-29029-2

0-511-32228-3

0-511-28969-3

0-511-49752-0

0-511-28837-9

0-511-28905-7

OCLC:

476097394