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12. Nordic-Muslim relations
Muslim activity seemed to be sparse in Northern Europe although a presence, especially economically did exist. Vikings made raids on Muslims lands in Spain and down from Russia to the Abbasid holdings in the east, so the Nordic peoples were not entirely ignorant of what the Islamic world had to offer. Even though not too many Muslims are known to have settled the Viking regions, many northerners did come to stay in Muslim lands, especially during the time of age of corsairs in the 16th and 17th centuries. | 910 | The dirham, a silver coin, begins to filter in large quantities to Sweden and Gotland from Islamic Central Asia. | | 921 | Ahmad ibn Fadlan, a 10th century Arab Muslim writer and traveler, began his travel to , as a member of an embassy of the Abbasid Caliph of Baghdad to the king of the Volga Bulgars. When he returned to Baghda, he wrote a famous account of his travel, the Kitab ila Malik al-Saqaliba. This text was one of the earliest detailed descriptions of the Vikings (whom he called Rus, or Rusiyyah = Russians) of the Volga, by the Black Sea, the Caspian and other northern regions. Ibn Fadlan's adventures were the inspiration for the well known novel Eaters of the Dead by Michael Crichton (filmed as The 13th Warrior (1999) directed by John McTiernan, with Antonio Banderas as Ibn Fadhlan) in which the Arab ambassador is taken even further north and is involved in adventures inspired by the Old English epic Beowulf | | 950 | Al-Tartushi, a Jewish merchant from Cordova, visits Hedeby in Denmark. Hedeby, the largest commercial center of the Vikings, attracts merchants from all over the Mediterranean and the Middle East. | | 1616 | Simon Danser –known as Diablo Reis, or "Captain Devil"– leads an Algerian fleet in an attack on Iceland. Despite remaining covertly Christian, Danser proves to be a great addition to the naval exploits of the North African realms. | | 1627 | Murad Reis –with a crew of Moors, English, and a Dutch pilot– raid Reykjavik, Iceland obtaining salted fish, hides, and four hundred slaves. | | 1672 | Forced baptisms of Muslims are reported in Sweden this year and again in 1695. | | 1709 | After losing to the Russians at Poltava, Swedish monarch Charles XII seeks asylum within the Ottoman Empire. He will remain in Turkish domains for five years. | | 1732 | The Ottoman ambassador Mehmed Said Efendi arrives in Stockholm to collect Swedish debt for the Empire (upon his departure from Ottoman lands, King Charles XII borrowed money from the empire) and assess the Russo-Swedish relations. | | 1978 | A Muslim school opens in Copenhagen. | | 1990 | Somali refugees start to arrive in Finland via Moscow. A previous Muslim community in Finland comprised of Mongol-descent people (Tatars) from the Russian Empire. | | | | |
Table of contents 1. Introduction
2. Conquest of Spain and campaigns into France
3. Andalusian caliphate
4. Post Caliphal Spain through the Reconquista
5. The last Muslim power in Spain
6. Muslims in the Iberian peninsula after Granada's fall
7. Early Excursions into Sicily and Other Mediterranean Islands
8. Muslim Sicily
9. Muslims in non-Muslim Sicily
10. Mediterranean Islands after Sicilian conquest
11. Muslims in Italy
12. Nordic-Muslim relations
13. Muslims in Britain
14. Franco-Muslim relations
15. Muslims in Alpine nations
16. Benelux-Muslim contacts
17. German-Muslim contacts
18. Converts, corsairs, renegades and rebels (14th-20th centuries)
19. Monks, historians, scholars
20. Literary and artistic presence
21. Glossary
22. References
by: Omar Mubaidin, Tue 19 February, 2008
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