There was cultural contact between Europe and the Islamic world (at the time primarily represented by the Ottoman Empire and, geographically more remote, Safavid Persia) from the Renaissance to early modern period.

Much of Europe's contact with the Islamic world was through various wars opposing the expansion of the Ottoman Empire.

There was limited direct interaction between the two cultures even though there was substantial trade between Europe and the Middle East at this time: merchants would often use intermediaries,James Chamber, The Devil’s Horsemen: The Mongol Invasion of Europe, (Edison: Castle Books, 2003), page 33. a practice that had been common since the time of the Roman Empire. Historians have noted that even during the 12th and 14th centuries the two parties had little interest in learning about each other.Jane I. Smith. "Islam and Christendom," in The Oxford History of Islam. Edited by John L. Esposito. Oxford Islamic Studies Online. http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article. (accessed January 29, 2008), page 1.

The history of the Ottoman Empire is intimately connected to the history of Renaissance and early modern Europe. The European Renaissance was significantly triggered by the Fall of Constantinople in 1453 (resulting in a wave of Byzantine scholars fleeing to Italy). The Ottoman Empire reached its peak in 1566, coinciding with the beginning of the Scientific Revolution in Europe, which would lead to the political dominance of Europe over the course of the following century.

Iberian Peninsula The kingdom of Granada was the last stronghold of Al-Andalus, which was for centuries a pinnacle of culture in the Islamic world."Andalusia." The Islamic World: Past and Present. Edited by John L. Esposito. Oxford Islamic Studies Online, http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article (accessed February 2, 2008). Trade from Granada included silk, ceramic, and porcelain. From 1230 until its fall to the Christians, the city was under the rule of the Nasrid dynasty."Granada." The Oxford Dictionary of Islam. Edited by John L. Esposito. Oxford Islamic Studies Online, http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article (accessed February 2, 2008). Ferdinand III of Castile had conquered almost all Andalusia by 1251."Andalusia." It was not until after the 1469 marriage between Prince Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile that Alhambra, the Nasrid palace of Granada, fell to Spanish forces.David Nicole, El Cid and the Reconquista: 1050-1492, (Great Britain: Osprey Publishing Limited, 1988), page 8. Alhambra fell to the combined forces of Isabella and Ferdinand on January 2, 1492.David Nicole, page 39.

Alhambra was known as one of the greatest achievements of urban art in the Muslim world during the time of the Nasrids."Granada." The Court of the Myrtles and the Court of the Lions are the only two portions of the palace to survive to present time."Alhambra." The Oxford Dictionary of Islam. Edited by John L. Esposito. Oxford Islamic Studies Online, http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article (accessed February 2, 2008).

While the Treaty of Granada (1491) allowed the new subjects to keep practicing Islam, soon forced conversion was applied. The Granada Moors joined the earlier Iberian Moriscos. Some of them were Crypto-Muslims while others adhered sincerely to Christianity. Part of the former Granada nobility tried an intermediate way issuing the Lead Books of Sacromonte, purported paleo-Christian documents establishing a view of Christianity more acceptable to former Muslims. However, the Christianity of Moriscos and their fidelity to the Spanish kingdoms was doubted. The rules of cleanliness of blood treated them as second-class subjects. The battles of Spain and Portugal against Barbary pirates and the Ottoman Empire inspired fear of a fifth column, resolving Philip III of Spain to expel the Moriscos in 1609. Even useful refugees like deposed prince Muley Xeque had to leave some years later.

Reception of Islam in Early Modern England

The first English convert to Islam mentioned by name is John Nelson.[/religion/religions/islam/history/uk_1.shtml BBC] 16th century writer Richard Hakluyt claimed he was forced to convert, though he mentions in the same story other Englishmen who had converted willingly.

This king had a son which was a ruler in an island called Gerbi, whereunto arrived an English ship called the Green Dragon, of the which was master one M. Blonket, who, having a very unhappy boy on that ship, and understanding that whosoever would turn Turk should be well entertained of the a yeoman of our Queen's guard, whom the king's son had enforced to turn Turk; his name was John Nelson.Voyager's Tales, 3, The voyage made to Tripolis in Barbary,1584, Richard Haklyut

Captain John Ward of Kent was one of a number of British sailors who became pirates based in the Maghreb who also converted to Islam (see also Barbary pirates). Later, some Unitarians became interested in the faith, and Henry Stubbe wrote so favourably about Islam that it is thought he too had converted to the faith.

From 1609 to 1616, England lost 466 ships to Barbary pirates, who sold the passengers into slavery in North Africa.Rees Davies, British Slaves on the Barbary Coast, BBC, 1 July 2003 In 1625, it was reported that Lundy, an island in the Bristol Channel which had been a pirate lair for much of the previous half century, had been occupied by three Ottoman pirates who were threatening to burn Ilfracombe; Algerine rovers were using the island as a base in 1635, although the island had itself been attacked and plundered by a Spanish raid in 1633.History of Lundy In 1627, Barbary pirates under command of the Dutch renegade Jan Janszoon operating from the Moroccan port of Salé occupied Lundy. During this time there were reports of captured slaves being sent to Algiers and of the Islamic flag flying over Lundy.

Ottoman presence in the Balkans

The Ottoman Empire emerged in 1299 and lasted until 1919. The Ottomans were strong proponents of Sunni Islam.Everett Jenkins, Jr., The Muslim Diaspora: a Comprehensive Reference to the Spread of Islam in Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas. (Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Company, Inc., 2000), 2:7. In the 13th century, the kingdom was only in a small portion of northwest Anatolia but by the 16th century, it expanded to the heartland of the Byzantine Empire and its capital, Constantinople. The height of the Ottoman Empire occurred under the sultans Selim the Grim, also known as Selim I (1512–1520) and Suleyman the Magnificent (1520–1566). Under their reigns, the Turks conquered Egypt, Syria, and the North coast of Africa, the Red Sea, the island of Rhodes, and the Balkans all the way to the Great Hungarian Plain.

Many members of Kosovo's higher class, such as the Serbs and the Vlachs, converted to Islam during the Dušan period (1331–1355). A large part of the reason for the conversion was probably economic and social, as Muslims had considerably more rights and privileges than Christian subjects. As a result, Kosovo’s three largest towns were majority Muslim by 1485, where Christians had once formed a dense population before the rise of the Ottoman Empire. The movement was effective due to the wandering of Sufis who traveled around the region teaching religion as they went. By the 16th century, towns like Prizren, Skopje, and Đakovica had established centers of learning that became crucial in inspiring and educating scholars who would then use their knowledge to benefit the Ottoman Empire and the Muslim world. From this time onward, a number of books circulated in the region that had a Persian influence while written in the Albanian language and Arabic alphabet. The oldest genre in this style is known as Bejtexhinji poetry.Isa Blumi. “Kosovo.” The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World. Edited by John L. Esposito. Oxford Islamic Studies Online. http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article. (accessed January 29, 2008)

Slavery

Slavery at the time of the European Renaissance was a socio-economic factor especially around the Mediterranean Sea region. It was accepted and approved for both Muslims and Christians. Most slaves came from warfare, privateering, or the international slave trade. Only some of the Arabian slaves in Europe were Muslims by origin.P.S. Konningsveld, P.S., page15. Many of the Muslim slaves were baptized before they were sold for the first time and then were given a new Christian name. There were, however, some Muslims who were not baptized and who kept their original names, but if they had children the newborns were immediately baptized. Most Muslim slaves converted to Christianity because there was hard social pressure at the time for them to convert. They also improved their social position by converting to Christianity, such as they would rise from a slave to a serf.P.S. Konningsveld, page16.

There were a small percentage of learned Muslim captives who were among the intellectual elite in their original hometowns among the Muslim prisoners and slaves. Captured Muslim scientists, physicians, and copyists were in high demand at slave markets. Learned Muslim captives were held in high regard by the authorities and they were sold for very high prices. They were wanted for the knowledge and advancements the Arabs had made over the Europeans. Copyists of Arabic manuscripts were needed in Spain to translate Arabic texts for the practice of medicine, the study of Arabic philosophy, and because of the popular interest in Europe for the translations of Arabic scientific texts. Learned Muslim captives played a very important role in the spread of Arabic science and philosophy over the Christian world.P.S. Konningsveld, page10.

The liberation of Muslim slaves was a state affair and elevated the popular esteem of the sovereign government. Muslim slaves were either freed or exchanged through special legislation and international treaties.P.S. Konningsveld, page6.

Examples of learned Muslim captives

One account of a highly esteemed Muslim slave is of Moroccan geographer al-Hassan al-Wazzan al-Fasi, who made important contributions to geography and Italian texts. In 1519, al-Fasi was captured by a group of Sicilian pirates while he was on his way home from Egypt. When he was picked up he had scholarly notes on him that he had made from his travels through Africa. The pirates soon realized his value and they gave him to Pope Leo X in Rome. Al-Fasi was baptized on June 6, 1520, and renamed Joannis Leo, but he became known as Leo the African or Leo Africanus. Leo Africanus learned Italian, taught in Barcelona, and made Arabic notes in a book called Description of Africa, which was used for a number of years as an important source of geographic information on Muslim Africa.

Barbary pirates

The Barbary States, who were allies of the Ottoman Empire, sent Barbary pirates to raid parts of Western Europe in order to capture Christian slaves to sell at slave markets in the Arab World throughout the Renaissance period. Contemporaneous accounts suggest that a population of about 35,000 European slaves was maintained on the Barbary Coast. One writer estimates, on the basis that about 8,500 fresh slaves per annum would be required to maintain such a population, that as many as 1.25 million Europeans may have been taken in the 250 years to 1780, though there are no records to confirm such numbers. The slaves were captured mainly from seaside villages in Italy, Spain and Portugal, and from farther places like France or England, the Netherlands, Ireland and even Iceland and North America, ultimately provoking the First Barbary War of the newly-formed United States.

Early Modern Orientalism