By the 13th century, the political and religious influence of Islam traveled further south due to missionaries and new trade routes.
Islam is a religion with a universal pretension of expansion, it intends to convert as many people as possible, no matter their origin or culture. For these reasons, throughout History Muslims have tried to take Islam to other people using different means. During the 13th century, the Islamic world was going through a golden age where art, science and philosophy flourished, and the Caliphates took advantage of this prosper moment to send missionaries to distant regions, like the Horn of Africa and further south. At the same time, Islam was widely spread thanks to the new trade routes that gave Muslim merchants access to the Silk road in Asia and to Western Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa.
