Arab Contributions
Last Updated 6/6/2011 12/4/2007 11/2/2007
Astronomy and
Navigation
Arab astronomers studied the heavens.
They gave stars names that they still have today.
They described eclipses of the sun.
They proved the moon affects the rise and fall of the oceans.
1154, astronomer-geographer al-Idrisi drew the first accurate map of the world.
Number System
Arab mathematicians invented algebra and taught it to Europeans.
They borrowed the numbers 0-9 from Gupta mathematician and passed them to Europeans.
Medicine
Arab doctors had to pass a test to practice medicine.
There were hospitals and many physicians in Muslim cities like Baghdad, Damascus and
Alexandria.
Indian, Persian, Syrian, and Egyptian Medicine flourished in those places.
They were interested in medicinal herbs.
The Arabs set up the world's first school of pharmacy.
They opened the world's first drugstore.
Arab doctors were the first to discover that blood circulates.
They were the first to diagnose diseases.
Ibn Sina
980, born in present day Afghanistan.
Ibn Sina (Avicenna's) wrote 270 documents and books on medicine and philosophy.
He was the doctor for many different rulers.
His Canon of Medicine was equivalent to 5000
pages of modern print.
It was the primary source of medical information in Europe until the mid seventeenth
century.
He found out the tuberculosis was contagious.
1036, died in Hamadan, Iran, where his grave is still shown.
Al-Razi
Al-Razi d. 923 AD was a Persian Muslim who wrote in Arabic.
He studied medicine and chemistry and wrote in both fields.
He discovered the differences between measles and small pox.
He also studied engineering.
He wrote an estimated 116 books covering the fields of philosophy, logic, engineering,
chemistry and medicine.
Art
Islamic beliefs does not permit artists to use living creatures as subjects.
Nobody could recreate the work of God.
Islamic art is full of color, geometric patterns, and beautiful calligraphy.
It is used on walls, books, rugs, and buildings.
Most of the art is made up of geometric designs entwined with flowers, leaves, and stars.
Writer
Muslims also translated many Greek writings into Arabic.
When Europeans began their Renaissance, they retranslated these works from Arabic into
their own language.
One of the best is The Arabian Nights.
Explorer Ibn Battuta
Ibn Battuta was the most famous traveler to
visit China.
From 1325-1354, Ibn Battuta traveled from his home in Morocco through India and on to
China
He traveled 73,000 miles.
He visited the East Coast of Africa, across the Sahara Desert into Mali, and north into
Spain, and also north into Russia.
He visited every area of the Muslim World as well as its perimeters.
He traveled further and longer than Marco Polo.
He traveled on the "Silk Road."
He found the world in general a friendly and hospitable place.
He could always find people who spoke Arabic as he did.
He wrote about his visit to China, describing the geography and the lives of the people
Bibliography
"Avicenna." Wikipedia Online Encyclopedia. 4 Dec. 2007. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avicenna.
Greenblatt, Miriam, and Lemmo, Peter. Human Heritage A World History. Columbus,
Ohio: McGraw-Hill, 2001.
"Ibn Battuta." Wikipedia Online Encyclopedia. 4 Dec. 2007. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibn_Battuta.
"Muhammad Ibn Zakar." Wikipedia Online Encyclopedia. 4 Dec. 2007. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Razi.