The trade of the Arabs, their wide conquests, and their
religious pilgrimages to Mecca vastly increased their knowledge of the world.
They were the best geographers of the Middle Ages. An Abbasid caliph, the son
of Harun-al-Rashid, had the Greek Geography of Ptolemy translated
into Arabic and enriched the work with illuminated maps. Arab scholars compiled
encyclopedias describing foreign countries and peoples, constructed celestial
spheres, and measured closely the arc of the meridian in order to calculate the
size of the earth. There is some reason to believe that the mariner's compass
was first introduced into Europe by the Arabs. The geographical knowledge of
Christian peoples during the Middle Ages owed much, indeed, to their Moslem
forerunners.
EDUCATION
Schools and universities flourished in Moslem lands when
Christian Europe was still in the "Dark Ages." The largest
institution of learning was at Cairo, where the lectures of the professors were
attended by thousands of students. Famous universities also existed in Bagdad
and Cordova. Moslem scholars especially delighted in the study of philosophy.
Arabic translations of Aristotle's writings made the ideas of that great
thinker familiar to the students of western Europe, where the knowledge of
Greek had all but died out. The Arabs also formed extensive libraries of many
thousands of manuscripts, all carefully arranged and catalogued. Their libraries
and universities, especially in Spain, were visited by many Christians, who
thus became acquainted with Moslem learning and helped to introduce it into
Europe.
