Islam’s pork ban may have halted expansion into pig-farming regions

Evidence

Some historians have even argued that the ban on pork set the limits of Islamic expansion. The Islamic religion came out of Arabia in the seventh century, spread very rapidly eastward and westward and northward and southward, and then came to a stop in Spain, the Balkans, and China, three regions depending very heavily on pig husbandry. — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 244 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Another theory sets the limits of the Islamic expansion in terms of the olive, the cultivation of olives and the production of olive oil, a staple of virtually all cuisine in the Middle Eastern region. That idea seems even more far-fetched than the pork theory, since Islam has after all spread very extensively in lands where the olive is not cultivated or known. — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 245 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: The pork ban may have hemmed in Islamic expansion geographically — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans: Interpreting…, 244; Dietary staples cannot fully explain where Islam expanded — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans: Interpreting…, 245

Broader Connections

• The pork ban may have hemmed in Islamic expansion geographically #corroborates (0.95) — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 244
• Dietary staples cannot fully explain where Islam expanded #complicates (0.75) — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 245