ALBRECHT FUESS, Verbannes Ufer: Auswirkungen mamlukischer Seepolitik auf Beirut und die syro-palästinensiche Küste (1250–1517), Islamic History and Civilization, Studies and Texts, vol. 39 (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 2001). Pp. 530. $172.00 cloth.

Extract

Albrecht Fuess has written a detailed history of the Syro-Palestinian frontier during the Mamluk era in order to discover why this Turko-Muslim state, which occupied such an important geographical position astride Asian-to-Mediterranean trade routes, did not develop a naval force. Because this issue arises during a period that oceanic voyages of Europeans and the Indian Ocean expeditions of the Chinese marked the beginning of a new era in maritime history, his research will have wide appeal among historians.