Saturday, November 10, 2007

Agriculture in the Islamic Golden Age

I found this on an unknown blog. I don't usually blog from blog sources, but this seemed rigorous, if very long.

"The Islamic Golden Age from the 8th century to the 13th century witnessed a fundamental transformation in agriculture known as the Muslim Agricultural Revolution, Arab Agricultural Revolution or Green Revolution. Due to the global economy established by Muslim traders across the Old World, this enabled the diffusion of many plants and farming techniques between different parts of the Islamic world, as well as the adaptation of plants and techniques from beyond the Islamic world. Crops from Africa such as sorghum, crops from China such as citrus fruits, and numerous crops from India such as mangos, rice, and especially cotton and sugar cane, were distributed throughout Islamic lands which normally would not be able to grow these crops. Some have referred to the diffusion of numerous crops during this period as the "Globalisation of Crops", which, along with an increased mechanization of agriculture, led to major changes in economy, population distribution, vegetation cover. Agricultural production and income, population levels, urban growth, the distribution of the labour force, linked industries, cooking and diet, clothing, and numerous other aspects of life in the Islamic world."

Very interesting and very well referenced

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Fix the link, it's 404'd.