EL ISLAM (III). THE ECONOMY

7.1 New farming practices

Nomadic farming of camels and sheep continued in desert regions. Nevertheless, as a result of the enormous geographic extension of the empire, agriculture became the foundation of the Muslim economy and employed most of the population.

• The variety of crops was very large. In the irrigated valleys of the East they cultivated durum wheat, rice, cotton, sugar-cane, saffron, mulberry, citruses (bitter orange, lemon, lime) and vegetables (spinach and aubergine). Many of these crops spread to the western part of the Muslim empire.

• The farming techniques also changed. This meant that the irrigation systems improved with the use of waterwheels, used to extract water, the construction of ditches for its distribution, and wells and cisterns for storing it. The slopes of mountains were also farmed using terraces.

• The private property of conquered land generally remained in the hands of its original owners in exchange for taxes. However, the lands belonging to the conquered state were shared between the caliph, who got one fifth of the land, and the Muslim aristocracy.

7.2 Craftsmanship and trade

Other essential economic activities were crafts and trading, generally found in the cities.

• The craftsmen had small workshops where they also sold the items they made. Among these, cotton and linen fabrics; carpets and tapestries; leather goods, ceramics and metal; perfumes and paper.

• Trade benefitted due to the geographic position of the empire between Europe and the East. The products were transported across land using large camel convoys and by sea using sailboats. The trade routes covered great distances across the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean, through inland Africa, the Far East (China and India) and Northern Europe.

• The goods that were transported along these routes were mainly luxury items, such as metals, hides, silks, fabrics, salt, spices and slaves. For trading, the Muslims used different methods of payment, such as gold coins (the dinar), the bill of exchange and cheques

Skill progress

Pointing out historical contributions

1 ¿Qué novedades agrarias introdujeron los musulmanes en las tierras conquistadas?

¿En qué territorios del imperio predominaron y por dónde se extendieron?

Working with concepts

2 Look up the terms dinar, bill of exchange and cheques and explain what they have in common and the differences between them.

Working with maps

3 Look at the map and answer: a) Where did gold, silver, silk, amber, spices, salt, slaves, porcelain and ivory come from? b) Explain who the clients for the previously mentioned items would be. c) Group the trade products that appear in the key to the map into these five categories: metals, fabrics, condiments, slaves, luxury items.

Working with pictures

4 What means did the Muslims use to transport their goods? Search for images about these means of transport on the Internet.

Organising information

5 Make a diagram or a mind map about the economic activities of the Muslims.

New farming techniques

Water shortage in a large part of the empire’s territories forced the Muslims to develop irrigation techniques.

Water was extracted using waterwheels (1), which were wheels moved by water currents or animals, that were partially submerged and used buckets or containers to extract the water.

Main trade routes in the Muslim world during the Middle Ages

Europe-Mediterranean

Mediterranean Sea

Caspian Sea

From China

Main products Gold

From India

The main trade routes connected the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean with inland Africa, the Far East and Northern Europe.

Goods were transported on land using camel convoys. They used constructions or caravanserais along the route to store goods and to provide merchants with a place to stay. For sea transport, boats with triangular sails were used.

The dinar, or gold coin, was one of the payment systems used for trade.