Abbasid Trade Routes

Trade and commerce grew and expanded because of large trading network of Mediterranean, Indian Ocean, and the Silk Road that connected Spain and North Africa to China and India. Islamic Empires, such as Abbasids expanded from North Africa and Spain to Central Asia and Western India. Their early trading networks connected Damascus and Baghdad to Medina as well as Cairo to Jidda. On trading routes, there were camping stations, resting chambers, and eating houses, as well as Armed forces that defended it from nomads. Although the empire was very large, it was united economically due to trading routes, common currency, and common bank system. In Abbasid period, Banks were built in cities and single currency was used across the empire. Its economy depended on agriculture and long distance international trade, as well as taxes that were imposed on Non-Muslims, land, and import/export goods. These trade routes helped creating the Abbasids as the biggest economic domination throughout the 8th and 12th centuries.

They designed written instructions that set up government policies, banking system, and postal service; they also created trade routes and commercial projects that joined the far corners of the Islamic Empire. The House of Wisdom in Baghdad was center for intellectual Muslims, Christians, Jews, and others that shared information, worked together on research, and made new science discoveries. Short Overview of Medieval Islam “Intellectuals preserved and transmitted the knowledge and culture of earlier civilizations¬¬¬—Greek, Roman,