Maritime Trade and Economy relying on Nile River in time of Fatimids

Abstract

Fatimids were a Shiah government that settled in North Africa and after developing their political, cultural and military power, they added Egypt to their possessions. The main purpose of writing this article is to examine the economy based on maritime trade as well as agriculture and economy relying on the Nile river and its effect on the stable economy of Fatimid government for more than two and a half centuries from 297 to 567 A. H. The main purpose of the research is whether the Fatimids' maritime trade had any effects on the economic prosperity and consequently benefiting from a stable economy. The article has been written through the descriptive, qualitative, explanatory method of research relying on the documents and library sources. The result of the research indicates that the Fatimids benefited from a flourishing, powerful economy based on trading in the Mediterranean region, the Red Sea and the Nile with neighbors as well as with India and the Far East in order to achieve a stable economy that is the necessity of economic, political, and military social and cultural development

Keywords

• fatimids
• nile river
• maritime trade
• economic history