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History of Islamic
conquest/jihad in Europe (700-today)
by James Mayfield (Chairman, European Heritage Library)
 Print
this Article About
the Author Bibliography/Sources
Below is an exclusive map
the EHL has published charting the history of Islamic jihad
and conquest in Europe from the 8th century until the 20th
-- from Islamic conquest of what is now Spain to the liberation
of now-Muslim Albania in 1912.
IMPORTANT NOTE:
We acknowledge that this historical and cultural issue is
highly controversial and has various interpretations on both
sides that are disputed by the other. Both sides are rife
with bias and ulterior agenda. The Muslims' depiction of a
civilized, multicultural and tolerant Muslim society liberating
Europeans from evil despots and cruel crusaders is just as
ridiculosly one-sided as the Europeans' depiction of refined
and innocent Europeans defending themselves from brutal scimitar-yieling
holy warriors demolishing churches. Both sides are ignorantly
deficient. This map does not seek to portray the Muslims as
blood-thirsty savages, nor Europeans as innocent victims,
but simply seeks to demonstrate the long-standing cultural
and ethnic antagonism between Europeans and Muslims that goes
far beyond religion and the crusades. The history of Europe
for the last 1,300 years has, regardless of one's view point,
been defined by an antagonistic war against Muslim encroachment
and in the interests of European expansionism, with guilt
attached in different forms to both sides.
To view our exclusive Muslim
Populations in Europe Map, click here.
For many countries in Europe, the current Muslim populations
are not a result of immigration, but as a result of the history
of Islamic conquest, forced or relegated conversion, and jihad
in Europe, as shown on the EHL map below. This map will allow
you to see how different nations have evolved given their
outward experience with foreign Muslim occupation.
Mapping Information &
Extra Notes:
The exclusive map has been
divided into three distinct colors. Green
signifies the Islamic conquest and Jihad of the North African
and Arabian caliphates and emirates into Spain from the 8th
century until the 15th. Red signifies
the Islamic conquest and Jihad at the behest of the Turkish
Ottoman empire from the 15th to the 20th centuries. Red-White
signifies regions or territories that were effectively overrun
and conquered by the Turkish Jihad but never actually annexed
or ruled, including Croatia, Hungary, and eastern Austria.
Dates have been marked to the most accurate degree possible
in each region to show the duration of Islamic authority over
European cultures and nations. Note that it is difficult to
chart the actual realm of authority of temporary conquests,
for example the very brief and unsuccessful Jihad into eastern
Spain and France have been shown in Green despite the fact
that the ineffectual and incoherent authority there during
the period. To prevent exaggeration, the RED boundary line
in central Spain is used to show the permanent Islamic state
to the south in contrast to the realm of temporary Jihad attacks
to the north. Note that the lack of RED on the western coast
of Montenegro/Crna Gora (in Zeta) is intentional, as the region
was never fully conquered. The Arabic used to show the Islamic
nature of the Caliphate and the Ottoman Empire is in the Standard
Arabic dialect. The non-independent regions of Transylvania
(Siebenbürgen) and Bohemia have been shown because of their
important historical role.
Click the below map
for the full-size version! Click on the map to zoom.
If an error has been made,
please notify the EHL Staff.
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ABOUT
THE AUTHOR:
James Mayfield is a historian
and the Chairman of the European Heritage Library. I have
a Cum Laude BA in History with a Minor in Germanic Studies
(language and history), am presently working for my Masters
in History, and plan to immediately progress to my PhD Doctorate.
I have a special academic interest in Europe's diverse ethnic
identities, languages, and cultures, and the political struggles
of native European and immigrant minority identities. See
my staff entry for more information.
BIBLIOGRAPHY/SOURCES
USED:
The image used as the basis
for the map is widely redistributed and is not protected.
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