Mecca

The holiest of cities in the Islamic world, Mecca was the birthplace of Muhammad and served in the 16th century, as it does now, as the primary destination for Muslims making the hajj (pilgrimage) in accordance with the tenets of Islam.

Centuries before Islam’s founding, Mecca was a trading town on the caravan routes through the part of the Arabian Peninsula known as the Hijaz. Arabic for “barrier,” the Hijaz is part of a geologic fault between Africa and Asia. Its landscape, formed in part by volcanic activity, sustains little vegetation except in isolated areas. Although bounded by mountains on the east, and despite its forbidding climate and topography, the Hijaz was in a prime location to access various trade routes of the Red Sea, which formed its western edge. Mecca, most likely founded in the fifth century by one of Muhammad’s ancestors, Qusayy ibn Kilab, became a trading center by the sixth century, but its importance stemmed less from its commercial activity than from its connection to the Ka’ba—a local shrine built near the famous well of Zamzam.

The Ka’ba, which means cube, is a small, houselike structure reputedly built by Abraham and his son Ishmael, but probably built by Arab pagans in the first or second century. It has as its cornerstone a small black stone of meteoric origins and was already a place of pilgrimage and worship for numerous local and regional religions, including Christianity, by the time of Mecca’s founding. The shrine’s draw as a pilgrimage site proved to be lucrative for the traders who controlled the haram, or the sacred area of the shrine. These traders were the Quraysh, Muhammad’s ancestors. When Muhammad began preaching against the practice of any religion but Islam, which forbids the worship of any god but Allah (the Muslim word for God), he was forced out of Mecca because his teachings threatened the continuance of the lucrative pilgrimage. Muhammad went north to escape from his persecutors in 622 to the trading city of Yathrib, renamed Medinat an-Nabi, or

Medina, “City of the Prophet.” This flight to Medina, called the hijrah, marks the beginning of the Muslim calendar and the beginning of Medina’s rank as the second holy of Islam. Muhammad returned to Mecca at the head of an army, defeating the Meccan army at the battle of Badr in 623. He removed all idols from the Ka’ba, claiming it for the sole use of Muslims, and established it as the primary pilgrimage site for all who adhere to Islam.

Mecca’s importance as a pilgrimage site increased as Islam spread to Africa, Asia, and Europe. From the 13th to the 16th century, Mecca was under the control of the Islamic Mamluk Empire of Egypt, whose links to Spain, North Africa, the Sudan, India, and Malaysia encouraged greater pilgrimage numbers from those areas. Perhaps the most famous hajj was that of Mansa Musa I of Mali in 1324, during which this African king distributed so much gold in Cairo on his way to Mecca that he depressed the gold market in the Egyptian city. By the end of the 15th century, 30,000 to 40,000 pilgrims gathered annually in Cairo to make the hajj, 20,000 to 30,000 in Damascus, and smaller numbers traveled via other cities linked to the Hijaz.

Mecca’s reputation was known across the world. In the early 15th century it attracted a Chinese traveler named Ma Huan, who is now best known as one of the chroniclers of the long-distance expeditions launched by the Ming admiral Cheng Ho. Ma Huan, who was born around 1530, left a detailed commentary of his visit to the city (and other places along his journey). When he arrived in Mecca, he was impressed by the religious commitment of the people he met in the place he called “the country of the Heavenly Square.” The locals “profess the Muslim religion,” he wrote. “A holy man first expounded and spread the doctrine of his teaching in this country, and right down to the present day the people of the country all observe the regulations of the doctrine in their actions, not daring to commit the slightest transgression.” Ma Huan marveled at the extraordinary number of pilgrims who came to the city, each of whom took away a small piece of the woven hemp created to cover parts of the temple and repeatedly remade so that once a new covering was gone a new one would be ready to take its place.

From early on Mecca was closed to all but the faithful. This situation became more important with the growing threat of renegados (adventurers) to the Hijaz after the opening of the sea route around the Cape of Good Hope by Vasco da Gama. One of these renegados, Ludovico di Varthema from Bologna, disguised himself as a Mamluk and traveled through the Muslim holy land in 1503. He visited the Prophet’s tomb in Medina, made the hajj to Mecca, and left the first account of the cities written by a European, included in collections of travel accounts edited by Richard Hakluyt the Younger. Di Varthema’s tales were inaccurate on some counts (he described two “unicorns” kept in a pen near the Ka’ba) but were nonetheless important descriptions of the cities, the hajj, and the pilgrims themselves. In 1517 the Ottoman Empire took control of the Hijaz and the holy cities, which opened the region to greater European contact. The Ottomans, under Suleiman I conquered large areas of southern and eastern Europe, taking slaves from the region and converting them to Islam. Some of these European slaves were taken to the Muslim holy land either to sell or as part of the entourages of those making the pilgrimage to Mecca. Much of European understanding of the Hijaz during this period came from the accounts of these enslaved Europeans.

Further reading: Albert Hourani, A History of the Arab Peoples (Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1991); Ma Huan, Ying-Yai Sheng-Lam: The Overall Survey of the Ocean's Shores, trans. J. V G. Mills (Cambridge, U. K.: Hakluyt Society, Extra Series 42, 1970); F. E. Peters, Mecca: A Literary History of the Muslim Holy Land (Princeton: N. J. Princeton University Press, 1994); John Sabini, Armies in the Sand: The Struggle for Mecca and Medina (London: Thames & Hudson, 1981).

—Lisa M. Brady

Mendoza, Antonio de (1490-1552) viceroy The first viceroy of New Spain, who was instrumental in establishing the colonial administration of the Spanish empire in the Western Hemisphere, Mendoza also set the standard to which all subsequent officials aspired.

Mendoza was born in Granada, Spain, in 1490, the son of a powerful aristocratic family. He began his career as a diplomat in the court of Charles V, serving as an administrator and royal ambassador in Flanders and Hungary. His actions suggest that he was intensely loyal to the king and frequently used his talents to strengthen royal authority wherever he worked. He was intelligent and a skilled politician, which allowed him to rise through the ranks of the bureaucracy without making powerful enemies. He had become a trusted adviser to the king, and his talents and political finesse made him a natural selection in 1535 to be the first viceroy of the newly conquered territories in Mexico.

From the beginning Mendoza realized he had an extremely dangerous task. New Spain had only recently been conquered, and several Native groups were all too willing to rebel against Spanish rule. Moreover, the con-quisTADores were ranging across the area, ransacking villages and setting themselves up as regional powers in their own right. Hernan Cortes was particularly dangerous; the Crown was deathly afraid that this charismatic leader was becoming too powerful and too independent. Thus,

Mendoza had the difficult job of establishing royal authority, developing the colony, pacifying the Natives, and slowly quieting the conquistadores.

In many regards Mendoza succeeded admirably. He promoted the creation of royal officials such as the cor-REGIDOR, which would reign in the powers of the cabil-DOs and monitor the encomiendas of the region. Mendoza enhanced the power of the royal treasury by improving record keeping, creating a mint in Mexico City, and streamlining the collection of taxes and tribute. He also codified laws regarding the silver trade and built a foundry in the capital. Concerned with the plight of the Natives, he curtailed the activities of the conquistadores, attempted to regulate Native working conditions, constructed a school for sons of the indigenous nobility, and made it a point to hear their grievances regularly. He also sponsored further explorations of New Mexico, Guatemala, and the Yucatan Peninsula, in part to occupy the time of some of the more restless conquistadores. Finally, he commissioned Native informants to produce a document that would inform Charles about his newly conquered subjects: the Codex Mendoza. Today, the Codex Mendoza is one of the most important sources of information regarding the culture and politics of the former Aztec Empire.

In order to maintain royal power, Mendoza at times had to go against the express wishes of the king. For example, Mendoza realized that Charles’s elimination of the encomiendas in 1542 could lead to open rebellion in New Spain, as it had in Peru. Hoping to defuse the situation, he developed a political philosophy that is best expressed in his famous statement—”I obey but I will not comply.” In other words, while maintaining his loyalty to the Crown, he would not implement any law that would seriously undermine royal authority. Instead, he would send royal orders back to Spain for “clarification” or bury them in bureaucratic paperwork. As time went on, he became more and more cautious of passing controversial laws and delayed action on issues he considered “reckless.” While caution was not necessarily a bad thing, it did create a tradition whereby the government often avoided taking decisive action. At the end of his term in office, he proudly proclaimed a maxim that became a mantra for future viceroys: “I did little, and I did it slowly.” The Crown assigned him to become the viceroy of Peru in 1551, but he died a year later.

Mendoza became the ideal royal bureaucrat. Subsequent viceroys followed his political philosophies and closely examined his legal briefs and opinions. In office Mendoza stabilized the government, helped develop the colony, and maintained good order. On the negative side, his actions produced substantial bureaucratic tangles that tended to limit the effectiveness of the government he helped create.

Further reading: Arthur S. Aiton, Antonio de Mendoza, Fir. st Viceroy of New Spain (Durham, N. C.: Duke University Press, 1927); Frances F. Berdan and Patricia Rieff Anawalt, The Essential Codex Mendoza (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997); Michael C. Meyer and William L. Sherman, The Course of Mexican History (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995).

—Scott Chamberlain

Mercator, Gerhardus (1512-1594) geographer, cartographer

A geographer, Mercator pioneered the 16th-century boom in mapmaking while also contributing to Europeans’ better understanding of the earth’s spherical nature.

A pair of 15th-century events led to the 16th-century evolution and growth of the mapmaking business. Leading the way was the rediscovery of Ptolemy’s Geography, an event that advanced the profession of the mapmaker, making theirs a respectable trade. In addition, JOHANNES GENSFLEISCH ZUM CuTENBERG’s Bible, printed with moveable type (see PRINTING PRESs), first rolled off the

Gerhardus Mercator (Hulton/Archive)

Presses in 1454. Shortly thereafter, printers produced illustrative maps combined with texts, offering readers a rich combination of geographical images, illustrations, and printed material about sea voyages and exotic places in convenient packages during the age of growing curiosity and discovery. Ptolemy’s Geography led the way, possessing all the requirements of a beautiful book and a saleable product, all the while spreading knowledge about the planet. Printers turned out seven folio editions of the Geography, cementing its place in the geographical canon well into the 16th century.

Born in Flanders, Mercator studied philosophy and theology at the University of Louvain before turning to studies of mathematics and astronomy. Combined, the disciplines served him well as he added the skills of engraving, instrument making, and surveying to his resume. In 1537, at the age of 25, he produced a small-scale map of Palestine. Over the next three years he worked on a map of Flanders. Emperor CHARLES V was so impressed with the end product that he commissioned Mercator to make a terrestrial globe.

Because of religious fanaticism, Mercator found Louvain of the 1540s a dangerous place. Ruled by the Catholic regent Mary, the queen dowager of Hungary, Flanders was a hotbed of persecution. In 1544 authorities caught Mercator and 42 others in a roundup of suspected Lutherans. Two of the accused were buried alive, two burned at the stake, and one beheaded. Although all were supposed to be burned at the stake, the officials offered those willing to repent an escape from the torture. Instead, the men would be put to death by sword and the women buried alive. While imprisoned and awaiting his fate for months, Mercator was saved by the efforts of a parish priest who lobbied for and secured his release. Cognizant of the best route out of the area, Mercator left for safer territory.

In 1552 Mercator was invited to become professor of cosmography at a new university in the Prussian town of Duisburg on the Rhine. After the professorship failed to materialize, he assumed the duties of cosmographer to the duke of Cleves. He settled permanently in Duisburg, producing the first modern maps of Europe and Great Britain. In 1568 he published Mercator’s Chronology. . .from the beginning of the world up to 1568, done from eclipses and astronomical observations. One year later he unveiled his highly influential first world map based on the projection he invented. Building from knowledge based on Ptolemy’s grid of latitudes and longitudes, Mercator imagined the lines of longitude to be like cuts on an orange. This allowed him to peel the segments off the rind and lay them down next to one another on a table, thus allowing sailors to align their compass projections while gazing at a rectangular sheet of paper laid out on a table. Using this process, the shapes on the surface could keep their form, although their dimensions were slightly enlarged.

Along with his map of the world, Mercator established a new standard for map engraving and lettering. With the help of Abraham Ortelius, Aegidiuss Hooftman, and Chrisophe Plantin, Mercator and his friends helped bring forth the first modern, marketable atlas. An early version of the new medium rolled off Plantin’s Antwerp presses in 1570. Theirs was a product with immediate commercial success. Appearing in more than 40 editions by 1612, the atlas was translated into Latin, German, Dutch, French, Spanish, English, and Italian. Combined, the early cartographers, map makers, and printers brought the discoveries of Christopher Columbus, Ferdinand Magellan, Amerigo Vespucci, Vasco Nunez de Balboa, and others to countless people once the atlas became portable, although early versions adorned with fancy binding became expensive showpieces on noble and royal bookshelves.

Mercator had planned a three-volume atlas, of which he published two parts before his death in 1594. Mercator’s son Rumold completed the project under the title Atlas, or cos-mographical medications upon the creation of the universe and the universe as created.

Further reading: Leo Bagrow, History of Cartography (Chicago: Precedent, 1985); Lloyd A. Brown, The Story of Maps (Boston: Little, Brown, 1949); Robert W. Karrow, Jr., Mapmakers of the Sixteenth Century and Their Maps: Biobibliography of the cartographers of Abraham Ortelius, 1570 (Chicago: Speculum Orbis Press, 1993); John N. Wil-ford, The Mapmakers, rev. ed. (New York: Knopf, 2000).

—Matt Lindamann