Agriculture Thrives
Outside the cities, agriculture flourished across a wide variety of climates and landforms. Both Umayyad and Abbasid rulers took steps to preserve and extended agricultural land. Small farming communities in desert areas faced a constant scarcity of water. To and drained swamplands between the tigris and Euphrates rivers. In medicinal herbs and flowers that were solid in far off markets. Farmers began to grow crops that came from different regions.
Social Structure and slavery
Muslim Society in the eighth and ninth centuries was more open that that of medieval Christian Europe. Muslims enjoyed a certain degree of social mobility, the ability to move up in social class. People could improve their social rank through religious, scholarly, or military achievements.
Social and Economic advances
The Muslims rulers united diverse cultures, including Arab, Persian, Egyptian, African, and European. Later on, Mongols, Turks, Indians, and southeast Asians joined the Muslim community. Muslim civilization blended and absorbed many of their traditions. Between 750 and 1350, merchants built a vast trading network across Muslim lands and beyond. Camel caravans the ships of the desert crossed the Sahara into West Africa.
ART, LITERATURE & ARCHITECTURE
As in Christian Europe and Hindu India, religion shaped the arts and literature of muslim civilization. The great work of islamic literature was the Quran itself because the Quran strictly banned the worship of idols, Muslim religious leaders forbade artists to portray God or human figures in religious art, giving Islamic art a distinctive style.
Persians also had a fine poetic tradition. Firdawsi wrote in Persian using Arabic script. His masterpiece, the Shah Namah, or Book of Kings, tells history of Persia.
Persians also had a fine poetic tradition. Firdawsi wrote in Persian using Arabic script. His masterpiece, the Shah Namah, or Book of Kings, tells history of Persia.
muslim advances in astronomy
During the Muslim Golden Age, scientists and mathematicians in Muslim regions made great advances in the field of astronomy. At observatories from Baghdad to Central Asia, astronomers studied eclipses, observed Earth's rotation, and calculated the circumference of Earth within a few thousand feet. When overland trade along the Silk Road became disrupted in the 1400s, new navigation tools paved the way for seafaring explorers like Christopher Columbus.
To the left is a Greek invention, the astrolabe is a projection of the sky as seen from a specific position on earth. Muslim astronomers added more information to it and made it more accurate.
To the left is a Greek invention, the astrolabe is a projection of the sky as seen from a specific position on earth. Muslim astronomers added more information to it and made it more accurate.
medicine
Building on the knowledge of the ancient Greeks, Muslims made remarkable advances in medicine and public health. Under the calphs, physicians and pharmacists had to pass a test before they could practice their professions. The government set up hospitals, where injured people could get quick treatment at a facility similar to today's emergency room. Physicians traveled to rural areas to provide health care to those who could not get to a city while others regularly visited jails.