Mosque in South India, 16th Century

Date Created: 1604

Original Source: Beinecke Library, Yale University.

Muslim communities were integral to spice trade throughout the Middle East and Asia. This engraving from the Itinerario of Jan Linschotten, published in 1604 in the Netherlands, shows a mosque in Southern India alongside a Hindu temple. Muslim traders were some of the leading spice merchants before the arrival of the Portuguese at the end of the 15th century.