I am reading about Islam in India. The wiki article states it was initially spread through trade, and Islam is now the second largest religion in India. But how? How does trade influence the spread of religion? Did these early traders talk about religion and the Indian traders like it better than theirs? Or did they get deals with Islamic traders?
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It’s a lot like what you assume. As trade crosses borders, so too does culture – including religion. Back in the time when this was happening, people had to manually transport their wares to other places and have relationships with their trading partners. Also, the Arabic world was very powerful for a long time (until the Mongols came about and set them back.) A major catalyst of the Crusades was more about a power struggle similar to the US/USSR and Rome/Carthage. Religion played a major role, granted. But it was more about those religions power than “reclaiming the holy land for Christ/Allah.” Having that kind of influence means it’s easier to spread your culture’s dominant faith, thus increasing the origin power’s influence. Think of the Catholic church and how much it dominated European politics around the same time. The Muslim world also sought to expand it’s influence on it’s neighbors, and trade works as well as conquest.
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