Cultures and Traditions of Saudi Arabia and Turkey Essay

Cultures and Traditions of Saudi Arabia and Turkey - Essay Example The geographical location of Turkey makes the country a vantage point over the Middle East, Asia, and Europe. This largely influenced the interest of many neighboring countries to subjugate the area. Conquest did not only mean ruling the inhabitants of turkey. Conquest included the influx of foreign arts, culture, and traditions into Turkey. Records have it that from 1251 up to 1939, Turkey's respective government signed treaties, attended conventions, and signed agreements among different neighboring nations which had interest over the country as a colonizer (Shotwell and Deak 179- 181). For example, in 1251, the Turks took into custody Egypt. As a consequence, France who had a dispensation over the area must end the same. So, St Louis and the Sultan of Egypt concluded with a treaty, closing all of French interest in Egypt as well as in Turkey. But, the end of French concessions in the two countries did not mean that the Francs left with everything that they have brought into Egypt and Turkey. Many of their arts, genes, cultural practices, traditions were left behind with the Turks. Aside from that, merchandize exchanges continued as shipping vessels went through the Black sea reaching Constantinople (Shotwell and Deak 14-15). Many other Western... The Greeks too uses the same location to trade with other countries beside Turkey (Shotwell and Deak 14-15). Alongside, Turkey was also actively involved in trading for their needs and to sell their products outside the country. These activities hugely imported into Turkish people mixture of influences. In the early 14th century, the Ottomans' captured Turkey from the Byzantium emperors which were mostly Catholic Christians and established Islamic Faith in the area (Hitchcock, Lloyd, Rice, Lynton, Boyd, Carden, et al 161) which persist to date. In contrast, in Saudi Arabia since about the 5th century after the death of Christ and during the onset of Islam under Mohammed, Bedouins of the Arabian Peninsula shielded their territory from colonializations. Although, Arabs travel far and wide, and people from different races were allowed entrance and exit, this was only for trading purposes which practices persist to the present time. After the death of Mohammed, Islamic religion was vastly adopted and upon which basic lifestyles, mores and traditions were largely based. A Caliphate was installed as a civilian leader of the land. But as soon as the first Caliph died dominion was left to the family of Ibn Saud. Monarchy was established to maintain the tradition and lead the people into a solid society despite religious differences, and some influences from Western and Asian neighbors (Lipsky, Ani, Bigelow, Gillen, Larson, Matthews, Royce, and Gillen 8). Unlike Turkey, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia relies on their vast oil deposits which are regularly exported. The magistrate established large corporate companies in association with foreign