Book contents
- The Cambridge History of Judaism
- The Cambridge History of Judaism
- The Cambridge History of Judaism
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I Jews in the Medieval Islamic World
- Part II Social and Institutional History
- Chapter 11 Demography and Migrations
- Chapter 12 Economic Activities
- Chapter 13 Jewish Religious and Communal Organization
- Chapter 14 Schools and Education
- Chapter 15 The Life Cycle and the Annual Cycle in Genizah Society
- Chapter 16 Family Life in Genizah Society
- Part III Spiritual and Intellectual History
- Index
- References
Chapter 11 - Demography and Migrations
from Part II - Social and Institutional History
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 August 2021
Edited by
Book contents
- The Cambridge History of Judaism
- The Cambridge History of Judaism
- The Cambridge History of Judaism
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I Jews in the Medieval Islamic World
- Part II Social and Institutional History
- Chapter 11 Demography and Migrations
- Chapter 12 Economic Activities
- Chapter 13 Jewish Religious and Communal Organization
- Chapter 14 Schools and Education
- Chapter 15 The Life Cycle and the Annual Cycle in Genizah Society
- Chapter 16 Family Life in Genizah Society
- Part III Spiritual and Intellectual History
- Index
- References
Summary
In his “Prolegomena to the Medieval History of Oriental Jewry,” Eliyahu Ashtor notes the poverty of sources documenting the demographic development of Jews in medieval Islamic lands. Although scholarly estimates draw on systematic methods in forming conjectures, they nonetheless admit of wide variation. The size of any population responds to “a complex of biological, social, and cultural factors,” including plague, socioeconomic transformations, migration, and conversion. In this chapter, I discuss population estimates for Jews in Islamic lands from the rise of Islam through the fifteenth century – critically evaluating the sources, methods, and assumptions that scholars have used to arrive at them.
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- Information
- The Cambridge History of Judaism , pp. 371 - 411Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2021
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